YMMV / The Grasshopper and the Ants

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
  • Even in the original ending, where the grasshopper is left to starve, there is room for discussion aplenty on whether the moral is to be taken as "the grasshopper was lazy, irresponsible and got what was coming to him" or "poor grasshopper, the ants are Jerkasses". Jean de la Fontaine's version goes with this ending. Given how his other fables tend to be critical of misers, chances are he meant the grasshopper as sympathetic.
  • Some versions of the original ending (and more cynical takes on those where the ants show mercy on the grasshopper) also interpret that loaning wouldn't teach the grasshopper responsibilities anyway, and had the ants taken pity he would simply act the same and take advantage of them the next winter. The weight of this in each interpretation often depends on whether the Grasshopper merely has an uncomfortable comeuppance or outright dies.
  • Some people who take the grasshopper's side interpret the moral as Living Is More than Surviving; the ant survives at the cost of anything to actually live for, while the grasshopper lives a short but meaningful life.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Villefranche's rendition is considered as this to the crueler depiction of the ants. After shooing away the grasshopper, their own stock is destroyed by fate and they are forced to plead to the nearby bees the same way the grasshopper had to them. The bees (who had already taken pity on the grasshopper) do let them in, but only after repeating their harsh words from before and letting them dwell in guilt.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Weighting between the careless grasshopper/cicada and the empathy-starved ants has been a problem for authors across the centuries. By contrast, the retooled versions where the ants take pity on the humbled and thankful Grasshopper are often seen as a Heartwarming Moment.

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