The Grasshopper and the Ant
About The Grasshopper and the Ant
An ant hauls food on a wheelbarrow while a grasshopper fiddles, dances, and drinks with a stag beetle, and at one point kicks the ant away from the table. Winter comes. The beetle dies. The grasshopper begs to be fed until spring. The ant tells it to go and dance, shuts the door, and the grasshopper dies of cold and hunger.
Cast & crew
More about The Grasshopper and the Ant
Ladislas Starevich directed, wrote, designed, and photographed the puppet film for Aleksandr Khanzhonkov. He shot it in his own workshop. The release length is 158 meters. Khanzhonkov had a print prepared for Tsarevich Alexei in a silver box lettered with Krylov's title and the company mark. Starevich received a gold medallion with a Pegasus, and Khanzhonkov a ring with a diamond. The picture was shown in the empire, in Europe, and in the United States.
Themes
Making
Starevich built the insects on wire joints so the limbs could be posed. He shifted the dragonfly's wings, legs, body, and head on every frame, using black wire that does not show.
Audiences
Renters tried to buy prints before the official release. The showing for Tsarevich Alexei was approved.
Look
Starevich photographed the puppets himself in his workshop, one frame at a time.
Technique
Stop-motion insect puppets with wire joints, including a rubber dragonfly whose wings change position every frame.
Notes
- The Russian title, Strekoza i muravey, means 'The Dragonfly and the Ant.' In Krylov's time the word strekoza covered both insects, and the puppet is a grasshopper.
- The fable is Krylov's version of Aesop.
- Designer Boris Mikhin saw a rubber copy of a dragonfly on Starevich's table, next to insect boxes with glass lids. Starevich would not let him watch a take.
- P. Novitsky said Starevich moved a dragonfly's leg or an ant's antenna with tweezers between frames. One character's upper lip moves.
Scenes
- The grasshopper kicks the ant away from the table.
- The stag beetle dies in the snow.
- The ant shuts the door and the grasshopper is left outside.
Influenced by
- Ivan Krylov's fable The Dragonfly and the Ant
- Aesop
