Angels and Insects

In Angels and Insects, we see natural science as a metaphor for human behavior, specifically throughout the parallel of the ant farm. It is obvious that the Alabaster family shows as a model for a sort of “natural hierarchy” in the sense that they believe themselves to be pure bred. Edgar especially makes many references to his belief that human hierarchical tendencies are simply a consequence of being “well bred.” Although this is clearly a complicated theme because this belief implies that humans contain some natural sense of superiority to each other.

Another interesting moment I found which exhibits natural science as a human metaphor is when Matty is describing why she adores the ants so much. She says that admires the insects because they have altruistic and socialist tendencies. This is interesting first of all, because she is anthropomorphizing the inherent qualities of the ants, she is imposing human sentiment on a creature that likely has no awareness of these qualities. And secondly, she is using the ants as an ideal model for human behavior. It’s interesting that a creature so simple and seemingly insignificant can have a perfect, idealistic society.

I think the movie simultaneously uses nature as a metaphor to show both the natural tendencies and hierarchical motives of human beings, but also to critique the flaws of these tendencies. For example, incest is obviously immoral and unnatural, which is presented as something that is so abhorred in not only the human world but the animal world.