The Lego Movie - Unlocking Mass Culture's Prison?

Wow, who knew we would be taking a philosophy class disguised as a pop-culture class! Module 3’s readings gave my brain a workout, and it took me some time to wrap my mind around it’s concepts. Especially the teachings of the Frankfurt school, which seemed to conclude we are all just bags of meat and chemical reactions, mindlessly executing the whims of evil big business and politics. The Frankfurt School make some very valid points, but I prefer Stuart Hall’s musings in his Notes on Deconstructing the Popular. Like him I believe instead that “there is a continuous and necessarily uneven and unequal struggle, by the dominant culture, constantly to disorganize and reorganize popular culture…There are points of resistance; there are also moments of supersession.” Although it may not be obvious in most of popular culture, there are moments of resistance to pop-culture clichés and hegemony. I cannot think of a better pop culture example than “The Lego Movie” released in 2014. 

What was expected to be a ninety-minute commercial for plastic toy blocks, instead is a funny play on many of the Frankfurt and Birmingham schools of thought. Inside of a world built from Legos, the hero of this story is a dopey Lego “every man” Emmet who has so little free thought, he needs an instruction manual to get ready for work. See hilarious video below:

Emmet accidently finds himself involved in a plot by supervillain “Lord Business” to superglue everything and everyone on Legoland together into “perfect” uniformity forever.  The Lego movie later takes Lord Businesses character (voiced by Will Farrel) one step further by revealing that Lord Business and all of Lego land are in fact imagined by real-life boy, who created the character of Lord Business to represent his strict father (also known as “The Man Upstairs”) who only follows Lego instructions, and glues together his Lego blocks vs. inventing and playing with them as a kid would.  See Will Farrel’s take on both characters and the movie here. It's pretty great. 

Another part of the Lego movie that cleverly points out how pop-culture can be a tool to sublimate the masses into submission is theme song and ear worm “Everything is Awesome” by Tegan and Sara. 

Eric Brown’s review of the song in the International Business Times put it well when he said “What the words are really saying is: Don’t focus on your problems because everything is great. Stay in line with other people just like you. Nothing is more special than anything else. Most importantly, always be a “team player.” The lyrics aren’t just a generic call for teamwork and positive thinking, they’re Lord Business’ call for conformity and consumerism.” You can read Brown’s full article here: https://www.ibtimes.com/how-lego-movie-everything-awesome-parody-creeping-everyday-fascism-1555165

Emmet joins forces with a group of “master builders” to foil the evil plot, while also mashing live action shots with animations – giving the illusion of breaking the Fourth Wall into the viewers reality. The Lego movie is incredibly clever, sweetly subversive and gives lots of food for thought in a fun way. I recommend everyone watch it again after Module 3’s readings!

Last of all, I would be failing a key part of Module 3’s teachings if I also didn’t scrutinize the Lego Movies message with a critical and analytical eye (as both the Frankfurt and Birmingham Schools of thought would want me to do…) I see the irony of a (hugely lucrative, big business) toy company telling me to be creative – by watching their movie, buying their products, and laughing at their parodies, voice by big Hollywood actors, voicing copyrighted characters…  

 

So my question is, do you think the Lego Movie represents “authentic culture” better than most animated films? Or is it just another manipulation by the "man upstairs"?