Anonymous. “An Examination of Class Struggles in Ratatouille.” Bina Nusantara University Library (2009): 1-4. Binus University: Library and Knowledge Center. PDF file. < http://thesis.binus.ac.id/Asli/Bab1/2009-2-00298-IG%20Bab%201.pdf >


Regarding this study of Ratatouille through the Marxist critical lens I find that I am on the same side as, as well as at odds with, the author of the study; I certainly agree with the author’s beliefs about what Remy and his fellow rats represent in the scheme of socio-economic class struggles, but I also disagree with what message the author thinks that Ratatouille sends to its viewers. It is stated that “Remy the rat represents the lower-class people which have limited educational and career opportunities which keep them struggling to support their families, living in fear of being homeless, and also disgusting upper-class people” (Anonymous 2-3). And in the film, Remy and his extended family live in poor, dirty conditions in which they eat garbage that they have deemed safe for consumption, all the while remaining safe as long as they stay out of the paths of the humans. This is reflective of the lives led by many human members of the lower class. Those in the lower class are allowed access to whatever the upper class’ members no longer want or need (food, clothing, etc.), are confined to low-quality living conditions, and are expected to keep the standardized social order and be happy with what they are given. But when Remy (a member of the lower class) tries to better his own life by working to succeed in the culinary arts, the humans (the upper class) go up in arms and try their best to prevent the rat from succeeding, despite his clear talent with food – because for a member of the lower class to succeed alongside those of the upper class is to disrupt society’s previously established socio-economic order. The message that the author thinks Ratatouille is selling, however, is less easily agreed with.

The author says that “a successful person has to eliminate the distinction among human beings by appreciating every class in society, for example the rich build a good relationship with the poor and eliminate the gap between them, encourage teamwork, develop friendship, as has been presented in the movie Ratatouille” (Anonymous 1) – a message that is a positive one which should be heeded to, yes, but not one that can be correctly taken from the film. It can be seen instead as a cautionary tale for those members of one social class who look to interact with those of another class, Remy being used as an example to reinforce that idea. To begin, Remy is a rat that shares a skill possessed by only by humans – cooking. He looks to showcase his talents and to work alongside the humans, but is faced with the obstacle which is the humans’ disdain for rats (particularly rats in the vicinity of food). Nonetheless he persists, ignoring the risks and pursuing a culinary relationship with the humans (beginning with one) in a Paris kitchen, in the end succeeding as everyone gets along and forgets their differences. But in the process of achieving his goal, Remy blatantly ignores the well-being of his family – by getting so close to the humans, Remy places his clan in the position to be found and eliminated by the humans who are not content with allowing a rat to sit upon his or her head. It is true that everything turned out well at the conclusion of the film, but with Remy’s recklessness events could have soured just as quickly. He and his family could have been caught by the humans, killed, and disposed of alongside all of the other rats that were foolish enough to get close to people. None of those risks, however, would have been so imminent if Remy, per warning of his father, had stayed away from the dangerous humans altogether and stuck with his family. This effectively makes Ratatouille an admonitory story for those who look to solve class differences with interaction.

Allen, Brenda. “Family, Friendship, and Work in Ratatouille.” Screen Education Magazine. Atom, 2009. Web. 8 March 2014. < https://www.academia.edu/1630042/Family_Friendship_and_Work_in_Ratatouille >



In “Family, Friendship, and Work in Ratatouille”, Brenda Allen states that “Remy is more like an illegal immigrant: his position has changed from that of nurtured son to that of a foreigner in unfriendly territory. He must remain hidden or be hunted and hounded” (138), presenting an argument that I find to be agreeable. Despite differing from his many family members with his love for cooking, the numerous other rats still provide a nurturing environment for Remy – one in which everybody watches out for one another’s safety, works for the well-being of the clan, and maintains close relationships with each other. Even Remy’s father Django, who angers when his son recklessly allows himself to be around humans, cares dearly for Remy. But in leaving his tight-knit family behind for the sake of the culinary arts, Remy effectively alienates himself and begins to tread upon volatile ground – behavior which inevitably gets him into trouble. Being the leader of the entire family Django is viewed firmly as a rat who knows what is best for the clan, whose decisions are always followed without question with the belief that no harm will come of them, and it is when Remy breaks the traditional rat-family structure that Django is placed in a difficult situation. As said by Brenda Allen, “Django must choose between maintaining his credibility and supporting his son” (139-40). As the unanimously accepted head of the family Django is expected to hold fast to traditional values, those being that all humans are out to kill all rats and that therefore humans cannot be trusted, something which initially influences him to let Remy go and to see his son as a traitor of the traditional rat-family unit. If Django himself tore through the set of family values in order to encourage Remy’s dreams, he would be no better than the traitor in the eyes of the other family members – and to the rats, credibility as a leader is everything. Family is everything, and to break from the links of tradition is the highest offense.

Sandhu, Sukhdev. “Ratatouille: Pixar’s French recipe for a delectable film.” The Telegraph 12 Oct. 2007. Web. < http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/3668488/Ratatouille-Pixars-French-recipe-for-a-delectable-film.html >

In “Ratatouille: Pixar’s French recipe for a delectable film”, The Telegraph’s Sukhdev Sandhu writes, “Remy is a rat, a creature that has been traditionally seen as a symbol of diseased, alien immigrants eager to encroach on and take over the pure land of the native population / there is a telling moment in Ratatouille when Remy sees the corpses of some of his pals hanging in a shop window; their inert bodies are a reminder that not all Frenchmen are fans of inter-species mixing” (57). Not only does this claim place Remy as a member of the lower class, but it also names the rat, in this case in the eyes of the French, as a symbol for immigrants – correctly so. For when an immigrant arrives in a new country and tries to better his or her own life, he or she is extremely far from being welcomed by the native population with open arms. Instead, he or she is perceived as a threat – as a carrier for pestilence, as a pest his or herself, as someone who is bound to get stuck in the cogs of the societal machine and bring everything to a grinding halt –, and in turn becomes the subject of degrading, abusive treatment. There is vehement resistance in allowing the immigrant to integrate into society. Remy himself is met with the same adversity. In most of his initial encounters with the humans he later becomes friends with (his encounter with Linguini being the exception), Remy faces severe bodily danger – being captured more than once, threatened all the while with various means of death.  He is seen, like the immigrants, as a contaminant, something that has to be gotten rid of before he causes any damage to the established human order within Gusteau’s.

Link, Russell. Living With Wildlife. Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, 2014. Web. 10 Marc h 2014. < http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/rats.html >

Remy’s demonstrated family structure in Ratatouille, while accurately depicting the family structure of actual rats, also serves as a representation of the close-knit group that is the lower class. Rats are creatures which rely heavily on the dominant male which serves as the leader of their given group, working to serve the family under the dominant rat’s rat instructions – just as Remy’s family all rely upon Django, Remy’s father, to tell them what to do and decide what’s best for the clan. And again under the command of the dominant male rat, the other rats remain close together as a group, only going 50 to 300 feet from their nest when they branch off to forage for food. However, Remy takes his own initiative and ignores the warnings of his father – the dominant male –, deciding to go much farther than 300 feet in order to delve into the world of cooking – and subsequently the world of humans. Django, of course, is upset, and for good reason. He had warned his son that humans were dangerous, that humans would harm a rat without a second thought because rats were seen as disgusting, yet Remy went and interacted with the humans anyway – and in that, Remy had committed a betrayal against his own family. Such is how it goes with the lower class and upper class’ relations with one another. The upper class sees the lower class as diseased and offensive, and the lower class, with the treatment at the hands of their oppressors, view the upper class to be cruel and dangerous. So for a member of the lower class to interact with one of the higher class – much as Remy did with Linguini and the others he later became friendly with – was not only seen as an unsafe thing to do, but as a betrayal of one’s own social family. It was a fraternization with the enemy.