The Word is Egalitarian

The larger trend that includes Akeelah and the Bee has catapulted the once esoteric activity of spelling competitions into commercial pop culture. Cable television and ABC have covered the national bee and since 2000 there have been two bee-related books three bee-related movies, and a bee-themed Broadway musical. Of course, the bee trend isn’t really about a sudden celebratory interest in the practice of spelling. It’s about values. But even without the vast evidence for inequality of opportunity sociologists often point to, looking at actual bee demographics suggests Akeelah and its surrounding ideals is, more than anything else, a myth.