New Legos Movie Theme: Big Government is Bad
Legos have always been a big deal in our house. So it was no surprise, when The Lego Movie recently opened in theaters, our family would be there. I’m not a movie critic, nor do I claim to be one, but it was a pretty good movie, especially for the adults. What intrigued me about the movie was not the way the producers used cinematography to bring plastic, brick people and their city to life, but how the writers hit upon a cultural nerve–a nerve which hit me the first time and yet again the second time through.
With little or no spoiler alerts necessary, the audience spends 100 minutes with Emmett (a not so special Lego City citizen), President Business, and an underground group of Master Lego Builders.
From the start Emmett, an always happy, rule-following, construction working Lego, did exactly what society laid out for him to do. With no original thought given to his daily activities, Emmett joyfully emerges from his sleep to follow every step laid out by President Business, who has laid out life so systematically, no one has to think about their day or what they will do. They rise each morning, following the rules of what to eat and with whom, and how they should greet neighbors and co-workers. Citizens watch one particular government-produced television program and listen to the same brain washing song on the government-run radio station. The song is aptly named “Everything is Awesome”, and no one questions the proclamations and decisions of President Business. All the while, citizens are watched on President Business’ closed-circuit televisions.
Is any of this sounding familiar to you yet—perhaps NSA/IRS scandals with Orwellian overtones? Although many are waking up, the majority of Americans have blindly believed whatever the White House spits out each day as factual, all the while living their lives in a fog of “Awesome”. The Lego citizens, never questioning their leadership and blindly trusting everything given to them, sadly called to mind how Americans have so willingly given up their freedoms of individuality, originality and creativity. Members of society today are systematically beginning to follow the lulling sounds of the same song coming out of Washington D.C. The continual babbling of Democrats such as Nancy Polosi, Secretary Sebelias and the President himself, singing “Everything is Awesome”. Life is better than you think; you’re just too stupid to know it.
While this constant stream of nothing is wrong, nothing to see here propaganda comes out of the WH, Americans are losing jobs and losing hope. When people lose their will to fight and make life better for themselves, they slip into a robotic world of believing lies, believing someone in power will be taking care of them forever.
In this Lego world of art mimicking reality, there is an underground world of Master Builders–the Lego citizens who didn’t want to be ruled by the ways of President Business (called “Lord Business” in the underworld). The Master Builders are the ones who saw beyond the offerings of life, realizing that the path laid out by President Business would lead to destruction, loss of individuality and creativeness. In a “prophecy” created to maintain hope, the Master Builders look for “The Special”, individuals who see through the hype and will help find a way to stop Lord/President Business. (In our world, these people are the independent thinkers, those who know and trust what they believe and live it out–the citizens who aren’t afraid to find creative ways to make life better for all. The independent thinkers are those who embrace their ideas and share them boldly in an incredible effort to save their society.)
President Business’s well-planned and calculated intent from the beginning was to enslave the citizens whom he was leading, not to a life of dreaded work and pain but to a life of being stuck in the same place, to figuratively die. His goal was to have all the pieces glued together so no one would “mess it up” or change his ultimate plan of a perfect society. Once President Business’ plan was in place and his “world” was created in his image of perfection, creativity and individuality would cease.
Think about it. When we are ensnared in a pattern of life where we believe we don’t need to grow or expand ourselves, we become stuck. When we allow another person to convince us we don’t know what is best for ourselves and our families, we begin to follow their plan instead of our own. In submitting, we give permission to the ones who have made this position in life permanent for us, the power to rule over us and to dictate our lives and control our every move.
This is not a new revelation. The producers at Warner Brothers didn’t have a vision of something we couldn’t see; every one of us who cares about our country understands our situation. It is more about the realization of doing something about it.
In the fight for political justice and maintaining our individuality and independence, we cannot be brainwashed into believing “Everything is Awesome”. We cannot be lulled into the idea that we cannot change anything, that we are no longer special.
There isn’t just one Special Person who will stand up and “save” us from the destruction we are moving toward; everyone is capable of standing up and using their creativity to stand against mediocrity and the selling out of our independence.
Legos are a magnificent toy for child’s play and I highly recommend this movie for you and your family as a reminder that despite what the current administration seems to think, politics and our country’s future is not child’s play.
