Boy Meets Girl, Boy Likes Girl, Boy Changes Underlying Social Order: The representation of leadership in Antz and a re-presentation inspired by ants

This paper offers a critical analysis of Antz, Dreamworks Animation’s first feature film. In many respects Antz is faithful to what is known about ant colonies. Yet the film departs significantly from ecological reality in its representations of hierarchical leadership and gender. The paper offers a re-evaluation of the manner in which leadership is represented in Antz, drawing upon Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT). Exploring the taken-for-granted assumptions that frame Antz, we offer, in contrast, two subsequent ‘re-presentations’ of the film located firstly in an account of ant ecology and secondly within an account of organizing that lacks gendered leaders and social hierarchy. We use these re-presentations to illuminate the implicit theorization that frames Antz and which in so doing prepares children for organizational membership. In addition, we suggest the need to refine ILT to take fuller account of the manner in which context is rendered and incorporated within this framework.