The Maoist International Movement’s movie archives are on-line. They are really fun. You feel kind of silly when you realize that you have never thought of the opening bit of Conan the Destroyer as an example of the Hegelian master/slave dialectic, although of course it is. I think their review of A Bug’s Life could have done more to emphasize the film’s Maoist roots. Yes the ants are the oppressed peasantry, (and thus Flick is Mao) but MLM don’t point out that the ants succeed only when they realize the iron necessity of creating a untied front with the urban proletariat represented, obviously, by the the circus bugs. Maybe they see this as Li Lisan-ism? One can also quibble with them aesthetically on occasion. They claim that the film should make it more clear that the grasshoppers represent U.S. imperialism, but that seems so obvious as to go without saying.
Its an enjoyable read that in general reminds me of being an undergraduate. We had a lot of Marxist history professors, and you actually can get a lot from listening to people who think totally differently from you.
via LGM who link this to Jonah Goldberg, who I find is someone who thinks differently than me but is never interesting and never makes me look at anything differently.
