View source for The Grasshopper and the Ants (film)

{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Grasshopper and the Ants
| image =
| alt =
| caption = Title card
| director = [[Wilfred Jackson]]
| producer = [[Walt Disney]]
| story = Bill Cottrell
| narrator =
| starring = [[Pinto Colvig]]<br>[[Dorothy Compton]]
| music = [[Leigh Harline]]
| animator = [[Art Babbitt]]<br>[[Dick Huemer]]<br>Albert Hurter
| layout_artist =
| background_artist =
| studio = [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]]
| distributor = [[United Artists]]
| released = {{Film date|1934|02|10}} (USA)
| color_process = [[Technicolor]]
| runtime = 8 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
}}
'''''The Grasshopper and the Ants''''' is a 1934 American animated [[short film]] produced by [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]] and released by [[United Artists]]. Part of the ''[[Silly Symphonies]]'' series, the film is an adaptation of ''[[The Ant and the Grasshopper]]'', one of [[Aesop's Fables]]. It was directed by [[Wilfred Jackson]] and stars [[Pinto Colvig]] as the voice of the grasshopper Hop.<ref name="symphony1">{{cite book |last1=Merritt |first1=Russell |last2=Kaufman |first2=J. B. |year=2016 |title=Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series |location=Glendale, CA |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Disney Editions]] |pages=140–141 |isbn=978-1-4847-5132-9}}</ref>
The film introduced the song "The World Owes Me a Living" (later "I Owe the World a Living") by [[Leigh Harline]] and [[Larry Morey]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/search/workID/530109016|title=World Owes Me A Living|work=ASCAP|access-date=January 12, 2018}}</ref> which later became associated with the character [[Goofy]] who was also voiced by Colvig. According to [[Leonard Maltin]] on the ''Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies'' DVD, this was an early example of the idea of having a character turn blue with cold, when full-spectrum Technicolor was still new at the time.
The cartoon is believed to be a commentary on the [[Great Depression]] and the [[New Deal]], which at that time had just been introduced by the [[FDR|Roosevelt]] administration.<ref>[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1746847719829838 Mollet, T. ''Cartoons in Hard Times: The Animated Shorts of Disney and Warner Brothers in Depression and War, 1932–1945''.] London: Bloomsbury, 2017</ref><ref>[https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/stories/jeff-david-unending-conflict-between-ant-and-grasshopper,58435 David, J. ''Unending conflict between ant and grasshopper''.] Livingston Parish News. Retrieved 7 May 2024</ref>
==Plot==
[[File:The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934) screenshot.png|thumb|left|The grasshopper entertains the ant colony after they take him in during the winter.]]
The grasshopper is playing his [[fiddle]], dancing and eating leaves. He notices some ants working hard collecting food. He laughs and calls an ant to him. He tells the ant that there is food on every tree and he sees no reason to work. He dances and sings that ''The world owes us a living''. The ant begins to dance too. The queen ant arrives, carried in a [[sedan chair]], and sees the ant playing instead of working. The ant notices the queen and immediately goes back to work. The angry queen warns the grasshopper that he will change his tune when winter comes. The grasshopper blithely dismisses the queen's warning, saying that winter is a long way off.
Autumn passes and winter arrives. The grasshopper trudges through the snow, cold and hungry. He finds one withered leaf, but it blows away before he can eat it. Meanwhile, the ants are feasting on their stored food. The grasshopper knocks on their door and collapses. The ants carry him inside and warm and feed him. The queen ant approaches him, and the grasshopper begs to be allowed to stay. She tells him that only those who work may stay, and tells him to take his fiddle. Thinking that he is being dismissed, the grasshopper starts to leave, but when the queen tells him to play the fiddle, he happily does and sings that ''I owe the world a living!'', having acknowledged the ants were right.
==Home media==
The short was released on December 4, 2001, on ''[[Walt Disney Treasures: Wave One#Silly Symphonies|Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Silly Symphonies: The Historic Musical Animated Classics DVD Review|url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/sillysymphonies.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=20 February 2021}}</ref><ref name=symphony1/> in 2005 on ''[[Walt Disney's Timeless Tales|Walt Disney's Timeless Tales Volume 1]]'' and again on ''Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films Volume 5: Wind in the Willows'' in 2009.
It was released on Blu-Ray in 2009 as a bonus feature on ''[[A Bug's Life]]''.
==Voices==
* [[Pinto Colvig]] – Hop the Grasshopper<ref name=symphony1/>
* [[Dorothy Compton]] – Ant Queen
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0025200|The Grasshopper and the Ants}}
* [http://www.intanibase.com/shorts.aspx?shortid=201#page=general_info ''The Grasshopper and the Ants''] at The Internet Animation Database
{{Silly Symphonies}}
{{Wilfred Jackson}}
{{Aesop}}
{{The Ant and the Grasshopper}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasshopper And The Ants}}
[[Category:1930s Disney animated short films]]
[[Category:Silly Symphonies]]
[[Category:Films about criticism and refusal of work]]
[[Category:Animated films about grasshoppers]]
[[Category:Films directed by Wilfred Jackson]]
[[Category:Films produced by Walt Disney]]
[[Category:1934 films]]
[[Category:1930s color films]]
[[Category:Animated films based on Aesop's Fables]]
[[Category:Fictional ants]]
[[Category:Fictional grasshoppers]]
[[Category:Films scored by Leigh Harline]]
[[Category:Animated films about ants]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:American animated black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1934 animated short films]]