Bee Movie – you know, the movie written by Jerry Seinfeld and three other dudes that’s saturating entertainment news and advertising – is just a silly animated movie, right?

Not if you ask apiarist and budding feminist Susan Brackney, who wrote a fascinating op-ed piece for the NY Times today called The Real Life of Bees about the roles of the females and males in the hive. Here’s an excerpt:

“In Hollywood’s version, there are more than three times the number of male roles than female ones, but a cartoon of my own hive would have thousands of leading ladies and only a handful of male extras. …non-animated (male) drones don’t collect pollen, or make beeswax, or even have stingers. If Mr. Seinfeld wanted realism (and an R rating), his male bees would be sex workers who do little more than mate with the queen — after which their genitals snap off. Worse: when winter comes, worker bees shove the freeloading males out into the cold. If drones are required in the spring, the queen will simply make more of them.”

I know, I know – it’s simply an animated movie, right? It’s not March of the Bees; one can’t expect the greatest of accuracy. But should we? What’s wrong with doing a little actual research on what really happens in a hive? I sympathize with Susan, because I’m always giving films accuracy ratings.

Anyway, just thought this was interesting and worth noting for all you animated movie/bee/Seinfeld fans who might go see Bee Movie. I’m still gonna see it, I figure it *will* be funny. But you can rest assured that I’ll be smirking when I’m not laughing.

—Natalie