On this week’s Movies vs. Capitalism, hosts Rivka Rivera and Frank Cappello are joined by comedian and climate activist CJ Koepp for an analytical discussion about the 2007 animated feature and Jerry Seinfeld vehicle Bee Movie.
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A rough transcript of the episode is available here.
If you’ve been paying attention to the knocked-on effects of the climate crisis, you may be aware that bee colonies are collapsing at an alarming rate — roughly 30 percent each year — due to chemical pesticides, loss of natural habitat and, of course, climate change. That’s a major problem, since honeybee pollination is crucial to ecosystems, and is responsible for one of every three mouthfuls of food in the American diet.
In 2007, comedian Jerry Seinfeld decided to make a movie about this issue. But rather than tell a story about the violent exploitation of the natural world, he chose to make a film about how everyone — including honeybees — should just shut up and do their job.
In today’s discussion, Rivka, Frank, and CJ unpack the status quo-reinforcing themes of Bee Movie. They also lambast the film for being deeply unfunny, and size it up against the other animated bug movies from the same era (of which, surprisingly, there are a lot).
For next week’s movie, MVC will be watching the 2018 satire Sorry to Bother You, with special guest Boots Riley, writer and director of the film.
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