Questions I have about The Bee Movie
In which I overthink a film about bee named Barry who fights for interspecies love, social justice, and pollen.
Why do so many of the bees wear glasses? Is myopia especially common in bees? Are there bee opticians? It takes around five years to get a (human) degree in optometry, and the lifespan of a worker bee is a few months tops. Do bees take less time to learn optometry? Are bees just naturally better at optometry than us?
Why is Vanessa (the human) attracted to a bee? Is it because he’s vulnerable? He’s a bee. She could kill him with a magazine – but who’s to judge, maybe that’s what she likes in a man. I mean bee.
When Barry’s friend frets about what Barry’s parents would think if he brought home a wasp, does he mean a wasp as in the insect or a WASP as in a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant? Because if he meant the latter then would that cause future problems in Barry’s romance with Vanessa? I mean, I’m assuming he didn’t, but it would be an interesting concept for The Bee Movie to explore.
Why is Vanessa even in a relationship with the smug tennis guy? He’s strange, hysterical, and capable of murder. They live together and they host whatever ‘yoghurt night’ is. That sounds serious. Why would she enter a serious relationship with a man who delivers such lines as “Ew. Poo water.”? Anyway, they were clearly incompatible. Vanessa likes her boyfriends like she likes her dinner guests: bees.
Barry expressly claims to be wearing Ralph Lauren. Does Ralph Lauren produce a line of clothes specifically for bees in this universe? Do they make a lot of money from it? Do bees even have a disposable income? What currency do bees use to buy Ralph Lauren jumpers? Dollars? Pollen? Does Stefan Larsson, CEO of Ralph Lauren, have a large vault inexplicably filled with pollen? How does he explain that to dinner guests?
How is Barry, a bee, speaking fluent English? Does he also buzz like you'd expect him to, and then without warning switch to a human man’s voice, several octaves lower? Does he just buzz cutely onto a flower and then suddenly start delivering observational quips in the voice of Jerry Seinfeld? Why are they okay with this?
I get Barry’s problem with bee exploitation, but why does he decide that the only acceptable response to this is to sue the entire human race? He even enlists a little bee lawyer with a little bee briefcase. They’re in court. They’re bees. Oprah is there.
How did they get Sting to cameo solely for a scene about bee social justice? There is a scene where Barry accuses Sting of appropriating bee culture. In court. Barry B Benson, a bee, takes Emmy Award winning musician Sting to court to accuse him of bee cultural appropriation.
What’s with this line: "When I'm finished, they won't be able to say 'Honey, I'm home' without paying a royalty!" Is this royalty going to be literal hard cash? What is Barry going to do with this? Is Barry a capitalist?
When Barry proclaims, “What in the name of mighty Hercules is this?” what does that imply? Do bees worship classical demigods? Is their interpretation of Hercules the same as ours, or is he a bee? Are their gods bees? Is Zeus a bee? Is the underworld the domain of a bee? Does an aquatic bee Poseidon govern the ocean? What would that even look like?
At the end of the day I do love this film. I would put a disclaimer here saying that this is just for fun and that I don’t actually have a problem with any of this, but then again I think that phrases like “aquatic bee Poseidon” make that sufficiently clear.
But for the record I am 100% kinkshaming Vanessa. Get it together.
