Female
# 5: The female is used to tease, attract, and give the male a reason for achieving his goal.
A Bug's Life (1998) was Disney's second full-length computer animated film. It follows the adventures of clumsy Flik, an ant who tends to ruin everything for every other ant in the anthill. After ruining the yearly offering that the ants collect for the grasshoppers, he is sent to 'find help' to the problem. He comes back with circus performers that he thinks are warriors, and is then forced to come up with an outlandish plot to foil Hopper, the evil grasshopper. Flik is anxious to keep his secret from Princess Atta because he feels he needs to impress her to win her heart.
Flik is the clumsy dork who by chance ends up saving the day. He is very naive to what all of the other ants think of him: when he actually comes back with help, he doesn't realize that they were just trying to get rid of him; as he starts on his
journey and everyone cheers, he thinks they are cheering for him; when someone tries to avoid him, he doesn't notice. He is, however, very clever, and plots to make a bird to scare away Hopper and the rest of the grasshoppers. Princess Atta slowly starts to like him once she sees that there's a chance that he might actually save the ants from starving. Their romance blossoms when she sees how he kept talking back to Hopper even when Hopper tried to get rid of him. She is obviously impressed with his courage and good morals.
Princess Atta is Flik's love interest. What keeps him going is the thought that if he is found out, Princess Atta will be terribly upset and disappointed in him, not to mention all of the other ants.
Atta is faced with the pressure of becoming the queen and trying to run the colony all by herself. She often questions her decisions and wonders if she is making the right choices. One reason she starts to like Flik is because he is morally stable and doesn't worry about decisions. Once all of Atta's attention is focused on beating Hopper, Flik feels the pressure to be her hero.
Hopper, 
the evil grasshopper, forces the ants to collect twice as much food before Autumn arrives, no matter if they starve or not. He is a very aggressive and power-hungry character who thrives on forcing the ants to abide his will. He is also very worried about losing his high status once Flik stands up to him. Its this flaw that causes his downfall when he becomes too hasty with decisions.
Princess 
Dot is very different from her sister. She is very independent, a natural leader, and cannot stand around and worry about what is going to happen. She is made fun of because she's so short and can't fly. Dot always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially when Hopper is involved. Flik saves Dot every time, which adds to Atta's appreciation of him.
The 'warrior bugs' are all male except for two of them. The two female characters are a spider (a black widow) and a moth. 
In their circus performance, they are typically the beautiful assistants who disappear into thin air. Only the male bugs perform the death-defying acts. Francis, a male ladybug, is always upset over other bugs mistaking him for a female. He is another character that feels pressure about his 'manhood', this time the questions coming from his external appearance.
To sum up, the female is the primary reason driving the male to achieve his goal. If she wasn't in the movie, Flik would not feel any real pressure to beat Hopper to impress Princess Atta or anybody else. Of course, even the underdog comes out victorious in the end.
Conclusion: Cross-era gender role comparison
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