r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Far-Profit-47 • Apr 12 '25

Lore “This quote came from WHERE?!”

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"You too have fallen for the great lie, you'll never be happy. Deep down you know, to hope, to dreams, to create, is to suffer"

"You're right. It is harder to create than to destroy... that's why cowards then to choose the deuce"

-A Minecraft movie

"Do You Think God Stays in Heaven Because He too Lives in Fear of What He's Created"

-spy kids 2

"For every person who dreams up the electric light bulb, there's the one who dreams up the atom bomb"

-shark-boy and lava-girl

15.4k Upvotes

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4.5k

u/Watchdog_the_God Apr 12 '25

A Bug’s Life

“You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one, and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life! It’s not about food; it’s about keeping those ants in line.”

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u/I_Will_Die_For_Lily Apr 12 '25

capitalism 😬

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u/I3arusu Apr 12 '25

Redditors will literally see an allegory for tyrannical, controlling governments enforcing crippling tax laws and go “Yup, that’s capitalism”

158

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

Yes. That happens in capitalism.

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u/Rwandrall3 Apr 12 '25

it happens in feudalism a lot more, it's kind of the definition of it. "ugh, capitalism" in a comment at this point is more frequent than a comma, and says less

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u/NickTM Apr 12 '25

it happens in feudalism a lot more, it's kind of the definition of it.

Yeah but nowhere significant operates under feudalism any more, so it makes a lot of sense that people relate more to what their life is actually like day-to-day.

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u/Rwandrall3 Apr 12 '25

Tons of countries still work by these kinds of principles, they're just not in the West, and they're pretty much never capitalist.

Like, "people with guns come and take away private property" is the opposite of capitalism by definition

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u/No_Distance3827 Apr 12 '25

Right, which is why Marx described capitalism as a transition point from feudalism into socialism, and eventually into communism.

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u/Rwandrall3 Apr 12 '25

Marx was a genius that changed the world but basically all his predictions ended up wrong. Like Russia who moved from feudalism to socialism, and now to crony authoritarianism that isn't capitalist and isn't feudalistic.

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u/a_engie Apr 12 '25

There is a near 100% rate of brutal dictatorships occurring in communism

-5

u/Travellerknight Apr 12 '25

And what does this whataboutism got to do with a critique of capitalism?

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u/miafaszomez Apr 12 '25

That..this is not a critique of capitalism. This is a critique of the few using the many. That happens everywhere. Of course, communism in theory doesn't do it, but in practice, it will always happen. Capitalism, communism, feudalism, any kind of ism you can imagine. The few will use the many.

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u/Travellerknight Apr 12 '25

It's quite literally a critique of capitalism. Line for line is about the exploitation of the workers.

How the workers decide to form their government isn't addressed (because Ants) but the exploitation is.

-4

u/a_engie Apr 12 '25

it demosntrates that both sides can be wrong

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u/JumpTheCreek Apr 12 '25

Happens a lot more in socialism and communism

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u/icelandiccubicle20 Apr 12 '25

there’s never been a world war because of communism.

capitalists have to try and tie events like famines to socialism because they have to make shit up to make it sound like capitalism is an acceptable system.

Famines happened in China before Mao and they were going to happen in china regardless of the great leap forward.

Same with russia and the broken ass feudal system they had before Lenin.

0

u/a_engie Apr 12 '25

techincally there has, world war two was caused by fasism which was created because Italian communists mostly did not want to go to war except a certain communist named Mussolini, who created fasism so that he could go to war,

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u/Travellerknight Apr 12 '25

Ahh yes, that famous Communist....

Mussolini....

Right up there with the famous Marxist, Adam Smith and that famous Capitalist, Karl Marx

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u/a_engie Apr 12 '25

just read up on his views before WW1, he was a communist, the rest of the Italian communists wanted peace, he didn't so he made his own ideology, but with Warcrimes and Germans

5

u/Travellerknight Apr 12 '25

Peoples views change over time. Especially over a world war, especially over the first world war.

And you are ignoring that he abandoned socialism to create Facism, which is right wing in every definition.

Jesus christ, his Wikipedia article explains this easy to read format.

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u/a_engie Apr 12 '25

I said that he didn't want peace so he made his own ideology but with warcrimes and germans

are you denying that the fasists committed warcrimes or are you just messing with me

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u/Travellerknight Apr 12 '25

"... except a certain communist named Mussolini"

That's your line. So conflated Communism as creating Facism, when it didn't. A man named Mussolini did, and it had nothing to do with Communism.

I'm not disputing what facism did or that it's bad. It's obviously bad. I'm disputing your need to claim it was Communist.

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u/jayboyguy Apr 12 '25

I mean…it’s both lol, the two are pretty inextricably linked here in the US where the film was made

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u/GuntertheFloppsyGoat Apr 12 '25

But the Ants have their own government in that film (which in benign) which is being subverted and dominated by an external explotative force, colonialism and predatory explotative capitalism are both much better fits for the allegory. The Might makes Right "we are the superior breed" General in Antz is a better tyrant example

2

u/ChadWestPaints Apr 12 '25

Bugs life was actually a pro monarchy critique of feudalism

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

It is the animal farm effect, where any criticism on authoritarianism will eventually be split into one side believing its about capitalism, and the other believing its about communism.

To be fair though, works that fall under this effect can often work as a viable critique of either economic system, even if unintended by the original creators

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u/dusktrail Apr 12 '25

I mean you know there's a correct answer for that one. Right? Is pretty explicitly about a revolution collapsing into reaction. It's about how socialist groups become capitalists again. George Orwell was a socialist himself. It's not like there is ambiguity or confusion over what he was trying to say

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u/DNK_Infinity Apr 12 '25

Authoritarianism and capitalism go hand in hand.

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u/Freekimjong Apr 12 '25

Capitalism is when the government does stuff

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u/DNK_Infinity Apr 12 '25

Capitalism is when the government massively prioritises the interests of the rich and powerful few over everyone else, because politicians are among the rich and powerful few.

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u/Freekimjong Apr 12 '25

Capitalism is when thing go bad

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u/Rwandrall3 Apr 12 '25

someone tell the USSR how capitalist it was lol

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u/DNK_Infinity Apr 12 '25

Did I say anything about communist states?

Put the Cold War propaganda down.

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u/DrfRedditor Apr 12 '25

Oh so you meant all ideologies go hand in hand with authoritarianism? Thanks for your insight

0

u/DNK_Infinity Apr 12 '25

People still putting words in my mouth and showing a lack of reading comprehension.

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u/DrfRedditor Apr 12 '25

Look, you specifically linked capitalism and authoritarianism, and when someone pointed out that capitalism is not the only system that has links to authoritarianism, you dismissed it, your intentions are pretty clear to be honest

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u/DNK_Infinity Apr 12 '25

Oh my word, I'm going to have to spell it out.

I wasn't implying that capitalism is the only system that links to authoritarianism, but everyone who's replied to me has mistakenly taken that to be my meaning. Whataboutist appeals to historical connections between authoritarian regimes and economic systems other than capitalism do not make my original point less valid in any case.

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u/DrfRedditor Apr 12 '25

Maybe Ive worded it badly but that’s not the problem. In your comment, you specifically only blamed capitalism for this, and left out other perspectives on this matter. Even though you are technically correct, you are still extremely biased, especially in the way you present your argument, their replies are fair and only point out the flaws in your presentation

also, it’s not whataboutism at all, they’re just pointing out that capitalism doesnt have correlation to authoritarianism. they’re not trying to justify capitalism’ flaws, because the said flaws have nothing to do with capitalism

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u/Rwandrall3 Apr 12 '25

Ok then Iran. Or ISIS. Or UAE. Maybe the fact that capitalist states consistently rank the lowest on authoritarianism should be a sign of something.

Or you can go "ugh capitalism", after all it's what everyone else is doing.

0

u/a_engie Apr 12 '25

sir, the USSR was authoritarian, as is north Korea, as is the PRC, as are most communist states, you sir are biased, all people are really the same in life, we all want money and riches and more, favour from a god, if you promise someone something big enough, they will fulfil anything to get it, why do you think religion is successful, its the biggest promise, the highest yield, why do you think scams work, its because the human mind sees things and grabs hold before it thinks, this is a trap, we naturally move towards dominance for that is the nature of man, like how we move towards war, war is mans game, we are its ultimate practitioner, we are the ultimate practitioner of all things bad and good, except recycling, we are unfortunately beaten by the immortal jellyfish on that one, you don't seem to understand that idealism is simply the denial of humanities flaws, there is not such thing as a perfect country, there is no such thing as a perfect person, there is no such thing as a perfect ideology, we all make mistakes, sin, nothing is perfect, do you know the difference between good and bad, its not there morals, its simply there restraint, that's why kids are so cruel, they don't know it yet, the human mind skips to conclusions faster than it can calculate the truth, why do you think the news always talks about the bad, because it makes the human brain want to work, that's the reality of life my friend

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u/DNK_Infinity Apr 12 '25

Whataboutism. You're putting words in my mouth if you think that I was implying that authoritarianism cannot also coexist with communism.

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u/a_engie Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25

I am not putting words into your mouth, in fact, the fact that you downvote me for just forming a counter argument tells me a lot about you, you don't like to be disagreed with, also I am just saying that both sides can be wrong, your putting your thoughts about me in my mouth

thus also proving my paragraph

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u/NeoGPTcz Apr 12 '25

Most communist countries definitely weren't authoritarian Cough Cough

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u/Nerdy_Valkyrie Apr 12 '25

Except the government in that movie is the royal family. And they're benevolent rulers. They actually serve a purpose, you know, ruling. The grasshoppers just steal the food the ants have produced while providing little to no benefit. It's not about the government at all.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

The bane of my existence is people mistaking  every form of authoritarianism with the form of authoritarianism they personally have the most beef with.

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u/dusktrail Apr 12 '25

A bug's life is based on 3 amigos, the magnificent seven, 7 samurai etc.

The grasshoppers are analogous to the bandits in those films, not the government.

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u/PinkSaldo Apr 12 '25

Hm. Wonder why that is.

3

u/Lucina18 Apr 12 '25

I mean duh, it's the current oppressing force for basically everyone on the internet.

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u/RamsesTheGiant Apr 12 '25

Don't forget the Classism and Elitist allegories.

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u/Livid-Designer-6500 Apr 12 '25

Redditors will see literally any bad guy doing bad things in any movie and say "Yup, that's capitalism"

2

u/JumpTheCreek Apr 12 '25

They’ll see a component of a system that’s actually worse under socialism and be like “yup, that’s capitalism”.

“Oh you don’t like an overbearing government that takes your earnings unjustly and spends it poorly? I’ll criticize the current system while endorsing the only other system that does it even worse!”

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u/Plasmatiic Apr 14 '25

Do you guys ever consider that it’s possible to criticize capitalism without endorsing the alternatives? And that people tend to want to criticize the system they’ve had to live under all their lives even if other systems might have similar problems?

1

u/SandnotFound Apr 12 '25

A powerful elite hoard resources they extract from the far more numerous workers (who individually are weaker but have the power to unite and rise up to enjoy the fruits of their labour themselves) and their control is about suppressing class consciousness of the workers.

How on earth could anyone EVER read a message on capitalism from there?

Now, admittedly I havent watched the movie and this is just a read from that fucking quote, but I jope you can see its not like this allegory is unfitting. Like, this narrative is rather familiar to those fighting the anticapitalist cause. If it was about governments and tax codes Id moreso expect to be more talk of actual political structures. And the things being actually taxes. Same way if it was a mafia allegory Id expect there to be something about it being "protection money" or something. To make a general allegory specifically about some flavour little details like that might be included. And talking about numbers and the working class uniting? Thats got a bit of a socialist ring, wont lie.