Cinema Therapy by Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D.

The Ant Bully

Using contemporary films in a therapeutic setting can be a useful tool. Movies are a major part of society and cross all lines: racial, socio-economic, and gender. They can help clients address uncomfortable issues. They are easy to acquire, pose no literacy barriers, and provide clients with fictional situations to discuss instead of talking about real situations which might feel threatening or painful. The fictional equivalent allows the conversation to begin, and personal concerns to be addressed, hopefully culminating in learning effective and healthy coping strategies. Films can be used in the treatment of individuals, couples, or in group therapy. They are particularly effective when working with children who are fearful, don't know how to stand up for themselves, or how to handle a situation where a family intimidates them.

The Ant Bully is such a film, adapted into an animated work from John Nickle's picture book. The story, told from the ant colony's perspective, focuses on Lucas (Zach Tyler Eisen), a 10-year-old boy who is new in town, friendless, and tormented by neighborhood bullies whose creed is "the best defense is offense." The bullying leads Lucas into becoming one, too. He vents his anger and frustration on a tiny anthill in his yard, earning him the nickname of "The Destroyer" by the ants. Why did he do this? "Because I'm big, and you're small!" he yells at the ants. The ant colony, encouraged by an ant wizard (voiced by Nicholas Cage), comes up with a potion that shrinks Lucas down to ant size to give him a taste of his own vengeance. The result is that Lucas is forced to "walk in their shoes" and live like an ant in their colony. He experiences what the colony experiences, including a mosquito attack and a harrowing chase scene involving frogs.

In this strange new world Lucas embarks on what turns out to be a remarkable journey during which he is taught important lessons about friendship, gets a new perspective on life, and ultimately finds the courage to stand up for himself. The story points out many common issues related to bullying ― violence, victimization, narcissism, oppositional-defiance ― and offers insights into the importance of family, connection, belonging, teamwork and co-operation. In the movie, the ants utilize the strength of each member of the colony ("it takes a village") for the benefit of all. Kids can identify with the different perspectives of the various characters, from the bully, to the victim, to the many other unique members of the ant community, voiced by such actors as Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep. On the human side, we meet a pest exterminator named Beals (Paul Giamatti). To avoid being exterminated, all the bugs, large and small, band together to support one another and use their individual strengths to defeat the exterminator. By so doing, the community survives, and individual self-esteem is raised. The bully who victimizes ends up missing out on cooperation, success, community, and belonging.

Psychological Perspectives
Just as in Aesop's Fables, The Ant Bully uses the world of an ant colony to send a moral message to humans, in this case lessons on the benefits of co-operation, working together, and being aware of your environment. All families/schools/communities can certainly use more of this attitude: we are all in this world together.

About Bullies:
It is not normal to act like a bully. Bullies usually model what has happened to them at home. When parents fight, and one parent intimidates the other, the child learns survival by instilling fear and intimidation. They learn to feel that the world around them is a fearful, scary, negative place, so picking on others makes them feel powerful. That's why they tend to pick on those who are younger, smaller and weaker. The bully may build a neighborhood "bully gang," intimidating other children and creating a false sense of self by dominating others through threats, fear, abuse, and retribution, and terrorizing the victim who is afraid and has no tools to cope. Not surprisingly, bullies get yelled at and criticized more often which only makes them come to expect poor treatment, so they attack first.

About Victims:
Being a bully calls for a willing or unsuspecting counterpart, a victim, perhaps a child who is targeted to be teased and ridiculed by peers. Passive victims tend to be anxious, insecure, sensitive, weak, have usually done nothing to provoke attacks, and fail to defend themselves. They have few good friends at school, and many are tattlers, complainers, and seek attention from peers and adults.

In The Ant Bully, the story seeks to resolve the bully/victim problem by illustrating what a healthy, cooperative societal norm looks like. The ant community teaches the victim how to survive through cooperation and teamwork through creating alliances, in this case with the monster bugs, in order to defeat a common enemy.

What To Do?
Bulling is prevalent in schools today, so using a film like The Ant Bully in a therapeutic way can be helpful by allowing adults to bring up the issues such as labeling, stigma, and victimization, and start conversations with students that can bridge the gap between the make-believe characters in the film and the real-live situations that are happening to them. The film offers some constructive ways to deal with bullying:

1. Create a climate that shuns bullying ― humiliation punishes a bully;
2. Encourage students to use their strengths to help each other;
3. Engage in community building through cooperative learning, peer tutoring, and teamwork;
4. Strongly encourage bullies to learn conflict-resolution skills;
5. Include parents by using open lines of communication to develop home and school strategies;
6. Make certain all students understand there's peer support for seeking help, as well as help from adults when bullying takes place.

Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D. (PSY22909) is a clinical psychologist who practices in Encino. She leads Women's Empowerment Groups that help women learn the tools to move beyond self-destructive relationship patterns. She may be reached at 818.501.4123 or cgelt@earthlink.net. Her website is www.drgelt.com. Her office address is 16055 Ventura Blvd. #1129 Encino, CA 91436.