the Bee Movie as an allegory for liberation
how a silly movie opened my eyes to economic justice
When I first saw the Bee Movie in middle school, I thought it was a silly movie. Today, I still think it’s a ridiculous movie, but I’ve also discovered it to be a profound paradigm through which I began exploring my own projects of social justice, liberation theology, and political-economic transformation.
I know it sounds ridiculous (and I admit it is), but hear me out. When I watched the Bee Movie again in the fall of my sophomore year in college, it became a fun and helpful way to explore what economic justice might look like.
The film introduces us to a community of working-class bees who are entirely content with the processes of their honey production and how their lives revolve around work. But unlike the rest of the beehive, an idealistic bee named Barry B. Benson decides to upend the status quo. Exploring the complicated capitalistic web of the modern honey industry, Barry discovers how human corporations have been exploiting thousands of working-class bees for many years. Eventually, Barry unveils the machine of American industrialism and how land and animals have been extracted as a means for economic gain.
Thus, Barry stands up for his fellow working-class bees and protests against the injustices enacted against them. Indeed, they have one demand: give us back our honey. In many ways, Barry becomes an image of a nationwide revolution as he rallies bee communities across New York City to present their case in court and fight for their freedom.
In a statement to the jury, Barry earnestly pleads:
Ladies and gentlemen, there's no trickery here. I'm just an ordinary bee. Honey's pretty important to me. It's important to all bees. We invented it! We make it. And we protect it with our lives. Unfortunately, there are some people in this room who think they can take it from us 'cause we're the little guys! I'm hoping that, after this is all over, you'll see how, by taking our honey, you not only take everything we have but everything we are!
Barry argues for the interwoven nature between work and identity in the passage above. For Barry, what we do is not separate from who we are, or vice versa. In this way, he argues that bees should not be exploited for what they can produce (honey) but instead be considered valued members of the social and ecological fabric of creaturely life. Despite being the “little guys,” Barry believes that the bees' role is crucial for the health and cultivation of the ecosystem — which is revealed when the film shows how the earth deteriorates when bees do not participate in the ecosystem.
Through a series of legal battles, the judge eventually rules in favor of the bees. Their honey is returned to them, and the bees enjoy the abundance. The film ends with bees liberated from former practices of exploitation, through which they begin owning their honey, ethically contributing to society at large, and being compensated by humans for their honey production. In this way, the film promotes an allegory for economic justice that critiques the capitalist status quo and argues for social equality, proper compensation for workers, and the working class owning the means of production.
Yes, the Bee Movie is outrageously silly and ridiculous. Especially with the romantic “relationship” between Barry and Vanessa, the movie continues to bewilder me in certain ways. But in other respects, I find it to be a helpful medium to think of what a common life together might look like. Of course, I think we also ought to critique the film for its reductionistic portrayal of economic theories (capitalism, Marxism, socialism, etc). But in the end, it’s just a silly movie that explores our modern economic system in order to make us question what a good life truly ought to look like in our time today.
And for Christians, it ultimately makes us ask: do we truly worship God… or Mammon? I am convinced by the movie’s argument that many human beings, lands, and animals across the world are being exploited by the constructs of modern industrialism for the sake of economic gain. Whether it be sweatshops in low-income contexts, the segregation of racial minorities through gentrification, or many modern forms of slavery, these are all lived realities for many people today (whose experiences remain unseen and dismissed). Because of this, it is important to understand Jesus’ prophetic admonition, saying:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.1
Indeed, what are we doing today to follow God and not money, or capital? What are we doing to protect and advocate for the oppressed among us? How are we fighting for their liberation?
Reading:
Theology Without Metaphysics: God, Language, and the Spirit of Recognition by Kevin Hector (Cambridge University Press)
The Christian Faith by Friedrich Schleiermacher (Westminster John Knox Press)
Watching:
Werewolf by Night: A Marvel Studios Special (Disney+)
Rings of Power, episode 7 (Prime Video)
Listening:
Beatopia by beabadoobee
All the Emotions by Kings Kaleidoscope
Matthew 6:24, NIV.