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The Meta-Marketing of ‘The Lego Movie’

124 points by ot 13y ago

GuiA 13y ago
Isn't "meta" the keyword of the 21st century? I remember reading articles about "meta modernism" being the thing we're in right now (after modernism, post modernism and post post modernism)- everywhere from art to culture to, as this article points out, advertising. I'm waiting for a plane to take off right now and can't dig up articles, but maybe a more knowledgeable HN'er can fill in for me.
- JimmyM 13y ago
  I have difficulty distinguishing between what has been described to me as "meta-modernity" and what older textbooks describe as "eclectic post-modernism", and between that and what Orwell described as "double-think", albeit with more positive overtones (plus-good, not plus-bad). I don't really think it's a separate phenomenon from post-modernity, more a natural emergent property of a post-modern culture, but I would add to that that I am not really knowledgeable in this area, just interested in contributing to the discussion and maybe getting some clarification & correction on my views.
- Jacqued 13y ago
  "meta" in art and literature was more of a 20th century thing, even an early 20th thing (as you can see in the work of the Avant-gardes) and you can find a lot of earlier examples, at least in literature, maybe most notably through books that experimented with diegesis. I think it's just coming back in fashion in ways that are both a lot more naive (in their content and their approach) and more sophisticated (in their forms and that of the subcultures that they use as a substrate) than what the 20th saw.
r0h1n 13y ago
This paragraph from the article represents all that I feel about the rise of anti-marketing marketing, but couldn't articulate: > It’s a counterintuitive sleight of hand: By acknowledging that their central message is unbelievable or at least exaggerated, the branding masterminds gain our trust and bolster our faith in the brand. Will Ferrell, for example, promoted “Anchorman II” and Dodge at the same time by appearing on talk shows as Ron Burgundy and declaring that Dodge’s cars were “terrible.” Dodge sales spiked. (Ferrell also voices President Business.) In New Zealand, Burger King ran YouTube ads of two guys eating Burger King while complaining about YouTube ads. Nearly every Super Bowl ad this year referred to the fact that it was a Super Bowl ad. The brand — and the TV ad, the movie and the fictional spokesman — is hyperaware of its own fictionality and thus earns the right to simultaneously denigrate and elevate itself as divine.
- samstave 13y ago
  This is the exact problem I have with shows like Jon Stewart and Colbert: when they can make you laugh at all the corrupt shenanigans in politics and government; it diffuses the actual need to do anything about it. It creates a false sense of superiority in the viewers whereby they think "I'm so smart to recognize how corrupt the government is! Ha ha" and then people go on about their lives not changing anything because anger has now become nil via humor.
  - mwexler 13y ago
    Is it really that humour defuses anger in these cases, or is it perhaps that the humour is a way to highlight an issue to people who normally wouldn't care? Perhaps it says that something is now "so bad that it's funny"... and that now it's time to fix it before it becomes "so bad that it's just plain sad".
    - samstave 13y ago
      I'd agree with you if I actually saw anything being fixed. Find me one banker or one politician who has been held accountable for anything of sizable matter.
  - kirse 13y ago
    It's not just the inaction, I despise the subtler shenanigans, which is the tremendous influence of using humor to establish truth or falsehood. "Well it's funny and I'm hilariously entertained, so their message must be true!" Humor is a great wrapper for the sour pill of deception. At first our conscience might reflect on the acidity, but given enough exposure, eventually the mind will heartily consume the sour pill as if it was the sweet truth all along. We're firmly at a point in society where truth is not often established by a hard and uncomfortable examination of facts, but whether or not we feel comfortable and entertained by whatever thoughts are presented before our minds. Feelings rule supreme over facts in this country, by far. Does it make me feel good? / Does it make me feel bad? / Do what makes you happy. -- Just a few of the feeling-oriented mantras society uses for decision making.
facepalm 13y ago
Sounds as if she started from the premise that corporations that earn millions (or billions? don't know) can never be good, then scrambled for evidence throughout the piece. Is there any reason to assume that LEGO is really evil? I for one am thankful for it's existence, because my kid is having a lot of fun with it. Also, apparently LEGO is being held responsible for girls liking pink now. (Hint: pink is not the problem - girls want to signal they are girls, and by random chance pink got selected as a predominant signal).
- icebraining 13y ago
  The article is not a justification; it's merely an exposition of the latest manipulation technique employed by them (and others). It should be noted she never uses the word "evil" or any such synonym. The claim is that LEGO is an indifferent entity that tries to manipulate people into buying their stuff religiously, and the article demonstrates the latest form of such manipulation. Whether that's "evil" is left to you, even if the author clearly has an opinion on the subject.
  - facepalm 13y ago
    She doesn't use the word "evil", but her language implies it. For example, near the top "that’s when those Danes have us in their whimsical Scandinavian clutches forever". So she evokes the image of LEGO being some entity with "clutches" - sounds pretty evil to me. Seems the author is not beyond using manipulation either. "The claim is that LEGO is an indifferent entity that tries to manipulate people into buying their stuff religiously" Really - are they not just a company trying to sell it's products? It seems to me the way you or the author words it is simply reframing that as something negative. If the brand is "creativity is good, and you can actually build whatever you want with LEGO, not just the Star Wars model the evil empire suggests", where exactly is the problem? I'm pretty fine with such a brand. Maybe they simply like their own product, and the enthusiasm shows in the movie? I am not a LEGO expert - I am waiting for somebody to tell me why they are supposedly evil, other than them being successful? I just don't like articles that sort of imply that somebody who is successful has to be evil. It's also banking on the envy we all have in us. Yes it feels good to read such an article, makes us feel better about our own mediocrity. In fact, it being in the NYT, that is probably exactly the point of it: it's OK to be mediocre and never try to change the status quo, as long as you keep reading the NYT and click on it's ads. You're a loser, but hey, you are a better person.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- true_religion 13y ago
  > They implement total control by owning both sides of the spectrum. I've seen this same view on politics as well. Yet just because Party A is trying out propaganda does not mean they have 'won control of the debate' and everyone else who was addressing the same topics is now quiet and sheepish. In fact, you could say the idea that 'we talked about it, therefore our reponse reigns supreme' is part of the propaganda message---that because it is mentioned by a mainstream source, it has become mainstream belief by default.
- colomon 13y ago
  I dunno, my five-year-old son has no problem what-so-ever re-purposing those specific elements to be whatever he wants in completely different contexts. If anything, all the newer pieces seem to make Legos much more flexible than they were back in my day (the late 70s). It certainly has been a good marketing move for Lego -- despite having more Legos than I ever had, he still wants more, more, more -- but in no way has it been a damper on creativity.
  - kaybe 13y ago
    Did you have enough legos in the past? (Is that even possible?)
    - colomon 13y ago
      Well, true, no, I would always have loved to have a few more sets. :) But I don't remember it ever being that big a deal; certainly when I had money, I rarely (if ever) spent it on Lego sets. On the other hand, it verges on all-consuming passion for my boy. (Complete with comments like "This set has a piece I don't have in it!") That said, I absolutely love the creativity he shows playing with them.
- cstavish 13y ago
  I've been out of the Lego game for about a decade at this point, but it was very easy to re-purpose most "specialty" pieces. Depending on what type of things you wanted to build, it often would be preferrable to re-imagine a specialty piece because they often looked slicker/cooler than what a similar construction of generic bricks would look like.
yoha 13y ago
tl;dr: the author thinks the movie is about corporations and seeks for meta-buzzwords The beginning of the movie (until the escape) is more of a double-reference to 1984 and A Brave New World. What comes next emphasizes more on the philosophy of Lego construction: combining and inventing instead of following the instructions. At no point in the movie the means of productions and the society based consumption are questioned. There is not even one clear reference to liberalism/communism (or such). Some satires do critic specific things (Starbucks), but that's it. If you are looking for a hidden marketing message in a movie named "The Lego Movie", you probably have time to waste. I may sound a little aggressive but I was unnerved by the fact that the author consider plain activities as hiking or cooking as necessarily better than creative ones (well, maybe I do not identify sarcasm). I really don't get how playing with games from Lego can be such a bad thing: it's just a game, you are not locking them in some corporation's golden prison.
- MoosePlissken 13y ago
  > I was unnerved by the fact that the author consider plain activities as hiking or cooking as necessarily better than creative ones Cooking involves just as much creativity as Lego, it's a useful skill, and it's not governed by one massive corporate entity. "Better" is a subjective word, but those are some nice qualities.
- beat 13y ago
  If you think cooking isn't creative, you probably can't cook beyond "don't put spoons in the science oven" and don't eat very well. Cooking as creativity can run the gamut from simple games for toddlers to fine art that rivals any other art form. I find cooking to be the kind of artistic challenge that pits imagination and experience against a physical reality totally unforgiving of ignorance and mistakes - much like writing software or playing music. It's like sculpture and chemistry that you can eat!
- mrxd 13y ago
  Are you saying that a movie where the villain is a character called Lord Business, and who is the president of the country and CEO of the largest corporation that makes all history books, voting machines and owns all TV and radio has nothing to do with corporations?
delinka 13y ago
"Overpriced" - I'd like to see someone attempt to compete with LEGO on their terms. Mega Bloks don't cut it because they're not the same quality. So build a new 'LEGO' company, build the bricks to the same quality standards as original LEGO does, and let's see if you can beat their price.
- specialist 13y ago
  Lego is not over priced. In the mid 90s, I worked for a toy design startup making plastic parts. Think "Lego + N-scale trains". (It flopped.) At the time, there were two awesome toy makers, with two very different strategies. Lego was open about their manufacturing, but would hide their designs. PlayMobile was very guarded about their manufacturing, but would happily preview the designs. Methinks Lego deterred competition by showing just how hard it was to compete on quality, PlayMobile competed by making plastic parts more cost effectively than anyone else. We play tested everything we could. Made me a toy snob. Sad, I know. Little Tikes and Duplo are the best bang for the buck for their target age group. I snear at Brio, Tonka, MegaBlocks, and many others.
  - vidarh 13y ago
    My son has lots of LEGO and the occasional little set from some other sources. It's sad - most of the "inferior" bricks stand out like sore thumbs. You can spot individual bricks in a sea of LEGO from a decent distance because of the difference in quality of edges etc. The only Lego-compatible brand I've come across approaching them in quality are Kre-O.
- mickeyp 13y ago
  I grew up with Lego. I love Lego -- the older stuff anyway; the newer bricks are too specialised -- and what's amazing about Lego is that it is almost impossible to destroy a Lego brick. I still have all my old Lego and all of my dads' Lego from when he was a kid. They do get a bit grimey and dirty after a while -- thankfully they're easy to clean in sudsy water and they'll look good as new, even 40 years later. Buy it once and give it to your kids' kids one day.
markbnine 13y ago
Why do people here sympathize with this movie? It starts out as an amusing corporate satire, but if you really follow the plot, it is disturbing on numerous levels: - the consistent message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine - the only save-the-day solution provided by the hero is to "follow instructions" - all the creatives (the master builders) are captured and tortured - Emmit saves the day by martyring himself in some bizarre Christian allegory where he ends up in the "real" world - the psychopathic manager-type tyrant who rules the world and wants to freeze everyone is declared okay and special at the end
- dsr_ 13y ago
  The psychopathic manager-type tyrant is brought over to the side of good when he changes his behavior due to a realization that he is hurting people with his actions. He becomes less selfish and more empathetic. He is not redeemed by believing in the power of a savior; if anything, it's a Buddhist tale, not a Christian one. Also, Emmett is a cog who learns to be an individual. Two paths to the same goal, one from the enslaved worker and one from the slave-master.
  - humanrebar 13y ago
    Your point about faith in a savior being important to a Christian allegory is apt, but... > if anything, it's a Buddhist tale, not a Christian one I don't know why any philosophy (religious or otherwise) should get dibs on the "it's better when people care about each other" message.
    - spiritplumber 13y ago
      The one which doesn't try to, should. Bokononism maybe?
- tim333 13y ago
  Re "message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine." Well that's kind of true to life - a lot of people do fine in regular corporate jobs and a lot of creative types have problems. Many of the best movies show some part the world that's mucked up eg. the top three movies on imdb are about a corrupt prison system and the mafia. You can like a movie without it saying everything is rainbows. Maybe that's why the Lego movie is more enjoyable for adults than most of the kiddie pap.
mathattack 13y ago
Remarkably, the Lego Movie is PG. I used this as the excuse to keep my wife from taking the kids. I'm a huge fan of the toys, less so of the advertising. I used Legos as building blocks to teach the kids letters. They build trucks, castles, and learn to count with them. I've even been to Legoland, which is great for kids. To the point of the original post, it's just the branding and consumerism that's over the top. I can't wait for them to replace all the Lego Movie ads at the bus stops and train stations.
- sp332 13y ago
  The Lego movie didn't strike me as hyper-consumerist, and I saw it twice. It mentioned a lot of sets but didn't promote collecting them or anything. I figure a lot of people will download the soundtrack, since it's pop electronica that also works as a hipster-ironic parody of itself. What I got from the movie was a well-developed cynicism of authority. It wasn't nihilist, but very anarchic. The message I got was: have fun making things, but don't expect anyone else to respect or even understand them.
mavhc 13y ago
Lego, not Legos. That is all.
- MarkTee 13y ago
  "Legos" always sounded weird to me. Interestingly enough, LEGO used to have this on their site: “The word LEGO is a brand name, and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our products as “LEGO bricks or toys” and not “LEGOS.” By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud, and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you!”
reedlaw 13y ago
This article reminded me of how much things have changed since I was a child. I had a yellow Lego castle. There were no movie tie-ins. It was the archetypal medieval castle, enough to thrill the imagination. Then I thought of another childhood thrill: tinkering around on an Apple II+. In this case the transformation is even more obvious. What used to be a company that produced hobbyist equipment that booted into a BASIC programming language REPL now has deep ties to the entertainment industry and produces locked-down consumer devices.
- thatthatis 13y ago
  You have to remember that Lego has two parallel businesses: Box of bricks - the only thing they were when we were kids. Models - when we were kids models required xacto knives and volatile glue. They don't make those models any more (at least they don't sell them in Target like they used to). Lego has taken over the modeling market, and I think in net their model products are superior. You can still buy boxes of bricks, I do frequently for my Lego obsessed son. Unfortunately, in some respects, Lego is now more a modeling company than a box of bricks company. In other respects, I've seen it argued that the transition is the only thing that has kept Lego from shutting down, so the models enable boxes of bricks to still be sold.
- coldpie 13y ago
  Eh, you can still make programs for Apple computers. Sure you have to go disable GateKeeper or whatever garbage, but GCC is out there and there's way more available information now than there was for the Apple II. And that's just for system programming.
- PhasmaFelis 13y ago
  Apple computers are still just as open and customizable as they have ever been. Arguably more so, since OSX came along with a proper Unix.
- jianshen 13y ago
  I can't find the original article but this might explain the change. The Lego business was on a serious decline a decade ago (2003ish) while it was still a family run business. They knew they needed to get out of "pure" Lego and diversify (licensing, older demos) but went about it the wrong way (trying to become a lifestyle brand). What we see today is a turnaround effort by brought-in CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp who figured out how to help the Lego brand adapt and survive the changes in the market, one major component being all of the tie-ins to the entertainment industry. [1] Today, we're seeing a decline in toy sales due to video games [2], something which Lego seems to be ahead of the curve on as well. I'm just glad they still produce the Technics line. [1] http://www.economist.com/node/8083013 http://www.economist.com/node/8083013 [2] http://kotaku.com/toys-are-dying-and-its-all-video-games-fault-1521023811 http://kotaku.com/toys-are-dying-and-its-all-video-games-fau...
ozmbie 13y ago
Meta-marketing strategies aren't new, but the LEGO movie is a brilliant example. David Foster Wallace covered the topic in his essay, "E unibus pluram": http://www.thefreelibrary.com/E+unibus+pluram%3A+television+and+U.S.+fiction.-a013952319 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/E+unibus+pluram%3A+television+... > You can find successful television ads that mock TV-ad conventions almost anywhere you look, from Settlemeyer's Federal Express and Wendy's spots, with their wizened, sped-up burlesques of commercial characters, to those hip Doritos splices of commercial spokesmen and campy old clips of Beaver and Mr. Ed. > Plus you can see this tactic of heaping scorn on pretensions to those old commercial virtues of authority and sincerity - thus (1) shielding the heaper of scorn from scorn and (2) congratulating the patron of scorn for rising above the mass of people who still fall for outmoded pretensions - employed to serious advantage on many of the television programs the commercials support. Show after show, for years now, has been either a self-acknowledged blank, visual, postmodern allusion- and attitude-fest,
cushychicken 13y ago
Haven't seen the movie, don't watch TV so missed the marketing, but I have to say that Lego would have to do something SERIOUSLY wrong to cancel out the sum total of my positive childhood memories of their brand and product. I mean, goddamn, I almost want to have a kid just so I can justify buying more Legos.
coldcode 13y ago
Lego is what made me into a programmer, the idea of using my imagination to create things followed me into adulthood. I still remember old WWDC lunches where Apple supplied each table with a random collection of lego to create something and then displayed all of them (I think it was a contest). A room full of programmers hacking on lego using not just the pieces but anything handy including uneaten food and implements was pretty amazing.
talmand 13y ago
I could be totally wrong but I think she dislikes herself more than LEGO. She too easily gives in to simple marketing to do things she feels she should not be doing, she buys things she shouldn't be buying, and doesn't the spend the kind of time with her kids she feels would be best. LEGO is a scapegoat for her own perceived failings with her kids. I bet her kids would disagree. After all, they are just kids playing with kid toys. I saw the LEGO movie, I thought it was really good. It's a good story about being yourself, being creative, and standing up for what you feel is right. I saw the movie with my children and none of us felt the need to suddenly go buy LEGOs afterwards. We didn't see the movie as a big infomercial, it's just a movie for gosh sakes. An enjoyable one at that. Every movie that resulted in retail items selling big was not necessarily intended to be an infomercial. And the movies that were? So what? As for her complaint about the girl sets not having fire fighters, why not buy the sets that have fire fighters? If she only buys the sets supposedly made only for girls then who is at fault with that?
- dwaltrip 13y ago
  Advertising affects you, whether you like to admit it or not. To steal a line from the movie, "you are not the special" (sorry couldn't resist). It wasn't "just a movie". The affect may be subtle, subconscious, or non-obvious, but it is undeniably there. Disclaimer: I really enjoyed the movie also.
  - talmand 13y ago
    I would say more that it more influences than affects. But realizing that influence goes a long way in denying it. If the movie was made for that specific purpose then I would have to say I am the special because as I said elsewhere, I don't feel the need to purchase LEGOs after seeing the movie. I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one. After all, my children who saw the movie have not started asking for LEGOs. But it was a fun movie, wasn't it?
    - dwaltrip 13y ago
      I would say influencing is one way of affecting. Marketing and branding are far more than simply converting purchases. Despite me trying to remain self-aware, I undoubtedly have stronger positive mental associations for Lego related things after watching the movie. I would be surprised if you didn't also, regardless of your lack of intent to purchase :) And it was most definitely quite fun, both on a surface level and for sparking discussions like these. They did quite an impressive job.
benched 13y ago
The idea that a legitimately great movie can't be based on a product doesn't make any sense to me. My reigning, hardly ever challenged, favorite movie of all time was based on a line of toys, and could have been called an advertisement. But if so it was an ad with a huge all-star cast, one of the greatest wall-to-wall soundtracks ever arranged, action unrelenting in its cadence, an epic reveal, and a great script with dozens of memorable one-liners. The fact that it was part of a larger mini-storm of culture that included selling toys... means what? Now I have to find room somewhere in my top 5 for The Lego Movie, because it was that good. What do I care that it was about a well-known toy? Why would I care whether it was good or bad for the line of toys? Why would I care whether the toy company influenced the script at all, when the script is that good?
- penguindev 13y ago
  Do tell what the movie is. I like the original transformers movie, great dialogue and outstanding jap. animation.
  - benched 13y ago
    That's the one.
    - penguindev 13y ago
      Awesome! I won't lie, it's my favorite movie too (perhaps there is a support group for us somewhere?). I also got a kick out of transformers prime. The megatron-starscream interactions were always hilarious. SPOILER BELOW And as someone who recently built a 4x8 table with a full sheet of plywood to build legos with my 4 year old son, I got a huge kick out of the end of the lego movie. It had some surprisingly dark scenes, but I didn't notice the product placement - but then again, legos were/are my favorite toy.
- NoahTheDuke 13y ago
  What's your favorite movie? I'm wracking my brain, trying to figure out which movie you're talking about, but I can't quite think of it.
radley 13y ago
Fraking books. I'm sure we all feel the guilt of letting our kids read books too early. Fiction, non-fiction, magazine, and gasp graphic novels. And the movie tie-ins, the fantasy worlds, the sci-fi realms. I knew as soon as I shared A Wrinkle in Time it was all over. Now they're reading everything and deep diving into over-consumption. Star Wars fiction, biographies, current events, and even internet sites. Fiction is the worse. All the best books get made into movies that my boys have to see. Sometimes I wish I never picked up a book and instead took them on hikes and taught them to shoot guns. (That's about the point I gave up reading...)

124 points by ot 13y ago

GuiA 13y ago

Isn't "meta" the keyword of the 21st century? I remember reading articles about "meta modernism" being the thing we're in right now (after modernism, post modernism and post post modernism)- everywhere from art to culture to, as this article points out, advertising. I'm waiting for a plane to take off right now and can't dig up articles, but maybe a more knowledgeable HN'er can fill in for me.

JimmyM 13y ago
I have difficulty distinguishing between what has been described to me as "meta-modernity" and what older textbooks describe as "eclectic post-modernism", and between that and what Orwell described as "double-think", albeit with more positive overtones (plus-good, not plus-bad). I don't really think it's a separate phenomenon from post-modernity, more a natural emergent property of a post-modern culture, but I would add to that that I am not really knowledgeable in this area, just interested in contributing to the discussion and maybe getting some clarification & correction on my views.
Jacqued 13y ago
"meta" in art and literature was more of a 20th century thing, even an early 20th thing (as you can see in the work of the Avant-gardes) and you can find a lot of earlier examples, at least in literature, maybe most notably through books that experimented with diegesis. I think it's just coming back in fashion in ways that are both a lot more naive (in their content and their approach) and more sophisticated (in their forms and that of the subcultures that they use as a substrate) than what the 20th saw.

r0h1n 13y ago

This paragraph from the article represents all that I feel about the rise of anti-marketing marketing, but couldn't articulate: > It’s a counterintuitive sleight of hand: By acknowledging that their central message is unbelievable or at least exaggerated, the branding masterminds gain our trust and bolster our faith in the brand. Will Ferrell, for example, promoted “Anchorman II” and Dodge at the same time by appearing on talk shows as Ron Burgundy and declaring that Dodge’s cars were “terrible.” Dodge sales spiked. (Ferrell also voices President Business.) In New Zealand, Burger King ran YouTube ads of two guys eating Burger King while complaining about YouTube ads. Nearly every Super Bowl ad this year referred to the fact that it was a Super Bowl ad. The brand — and the TV ad, the movie and the fictional spokesman — is hyperaware of its own fictionality and thus earns the right to simultaneously denigrate and elevate itself as divine.

samstave 13y ago
This is the exact problem I have with shows like Jon Stewart and Colbert: when they can make you laugh at all the corrupt shenanigans in politics and government; it diffuses the actual need to do anything about it. It creates a false sense of superiority in the viewers whereby they think "I'm so smart to recognize how corrupt the government is! Ha ha" and then people go on about their lives not changing anything because anger has now become nil via humor.
- mwexler 13y ago
  Is it really that humour defuses anger in these cases, or is it perhaps that the humour is a way to highlight an issue to people who normally wouldn't care? Perhaps it says that something is now "so bad that it's funny"... and that now it's time to fix it before it becomes "so bad that it's just plain sad".
  - samstave 13y ago
    I'd agree with you if I actually saw anything being fixed. Find me one banker or one politician who has been held accountable for anything of sizable matter.
- kirse 13y ago
  It's not just the inaction, I despise the subtler shenanigans, which is the tremendous influence of using humor to establish truth or falsehood. "Well it's funny and I'm hilariously entertained, so their message must be true!" Humor is a great wrapper for the sour pill of deception. At first our conscience might reflect on the acidity, but given enough exposure, eventually the mind will heartily consume the sour pill as if it was the sweet truth all along. We're firmly at a point in society where truth is not often established by a hard and uncomfortable examination of facts, but whether or not we feel comfortable and entertained by whatever thoughts are presented before our minds. Feelings rule supreme over facts in this country, by far. Does it make me feel good? / Does it make me feel bad? / Do what makes you happy. -- Just a few of the feeling-oriented mantras society uses for decision making.

facepalm 13y ago

Sounds as if she started from the premise that corporations that earn millions (or billions? don't know) can never be good, then scrambled for evidence throughout the piece. Is there any reason to assume that LEGO is really evil? I for one am thankful for it's existence, because my kid is having a lot of fun with it. Also, apparently LEGO is being held responsible for girls liking pink now. (Hint: pink is not the problem - girls want to signal they are girls, and by random chance pink got selected as a predominant signal).

icebraining 13y ago
The article is not a justification; it's merely an exposition of the latest manipulation technique employed by them (and others). It should be noted she never uses the word "evil" or any such synonym. The claim is that LEGO is an indifferent entity that tries to manipulate people into buying their stuff religiously, and the article demonstrates the latest form of such manipulation. Whether that's "evil" is left to you, even if the author clearly has an opinion on the subject.
- facepalm 13y ago
  She doesn't use the word "evil", but her language implies it. For example, near the top "that’s when those Danes have us in their whimsical Scandinavian clutches forever". So she evokes the image of LEGO being some entity with "clutches" - sounds pretty evil to me. Seems the author is not beyond using manipulation either. "The claim is that LEGO is an indifferent entity that tries to manipulate people into buying their stuff religiously" Really - are they not just a company trying to sell it's products? It seems to me the way you or the author words it is simply reframing that as something negative. If the brand is "creativity is good, and you can actually build whatever you want with LEGO, not just the Star Wars model the evil empire suggests", where exactly is the problem? I'm pretty fine with such a brand. Maybe they simply like their own product, and the enthusiasm shows in the movie? I am not a LEGO expert - I am waiting for somebody to tell me why they are supposedly evil, other than them being successful? I just don't like articles that sort of imply that somebody who is successful has to be evil. It's also banking on the envy we all have in us. Yes it feels good to read such an article, makes us feel better about our own mediocrity. In fact, it being in the NYT, that is probably exactly the point of it: it's OK to be mediocre and never try to change the status quo, as long as you keep reading the NYT and click on it's ads. You're a loser, but hey, you are a better person.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

true_religion 13y ago
> They implement total control by owning both sides of the spectrum. I've seen this same view on politics as well. Yet just because Party A is trying out propaganda does not mean they have 'won control of the debate' and everyone else who was addressing the same topics is now quiet and sheepish. In fact, you could say the idea that 'we talked about it, therefore our reponse reigns supreme' is part of the propaganda message---that because it is mentioned by a mainstream source, it has become mainstream belief by default.
colomon 13y ago
I dunno, my five-year-old son has no problem what-so-ever re-purposing those specific elements to be whatever he wants in completely different contexts. If anything, all the newer pieces seem to make Legos much more flexible than they were back in my day (the late 70s). It certainly has been a good marketing move for Lego -- despite having more Legos than I ever had, he still wants more, more, more -- but in no way has it been a damper on creativity.
- kaybe 13y ago
  Did you have enough legos in the past? (Is that even possible?)
  - colomon 13y ago
    Well, true, no, I would always have loved to have a few more sets. :) But I don't remember it ever being that big a deal; certainly when I had money, I rarely (if ever) spent it on Lego sets. On the other hand, it verges on all-consuming passion for my boy. (Complete with comments like "This set has a piece I don't have in it!") That said, I absolutely love the creativity he shows playing with them.
cstavish 13y ago
I've been out of the Lego game for about a decade at this point, but it was very easy to re-purpose most "specialty" pieces. Depending on what type of things you wanted to build, it often would be preferrable to re-imagine a specialty piece because they often looked slicker/cooler than what a similar construction of generic bricks would look like.

yoha 13y ago

tl;dr: the author thinks the movie is about corporations and seeks for meta-buzzwords The beginning of the movie (until the escape) is more of a double-reference to 1984 and A Brave New World. What comes next emphasizes more on the philosophy of Lego construction: combining and inventing instead of following the instructions. At no point in the movie the means of productions and the society based consumption are questioned. There is not even one clear reference to liberalism/communism (or such). Some satires do critic specific things (Starbucks), but that's it. If you are looking for a hidden marketing message in a movie named "The Lego Movie", you probably have time to waste. I may sound a little aggressive but I was unnerved by the fact that the author consider plain activities as hiking or cooking as necessarily better than creative ones (well, maybe I do not identify sarcasm). I really don't get how playing with games from Lego can be such a bad thing: it's just a game, you are not locking them in some corporation's golden prison.

MoosePlissken 13y ago
> I was unnerved by the fact that the author consider plain activities as hiking or cooking as necessarily better than creative ones Cooking involves just as much creativity as Lego, it's a useful skill, and it's not governed by one massive corporate entity. "Better" is a subjective word, but those are some nice qualities.
beat 13y ago
If you think cooking isn't creative, you probably can't cook beyond "don't put spoons in the science oven" and don't eat very well. Cooking as creativity can run the gamut from simple games for toddlers to fine art that rivals any other art form. I find cooking to be the kind of artistic challenge that pits imagination and experience against a physical reality totally unforgiving of ignorance and mistakes - much like writing software or playing music. It's like sculpture and chemistry that you can eat!
mrxd 13y ago
Are you saying that a movie where the villain is a character called Lord Business, and who is the president of the country and CEO of the largest corporation that makes all history books, voting machines and owns all TV and radio has nothing to do with corporations?

delinka 13y ago

"Overpriced" - I'd like to see someone attempt to compete with LEGO on their terms. Mega Bloks don't cut it because they're not the same quality. So build a new 'LEGO' company, build the bricks to the same quality standards as original LEGO does, and let's see if you can beat their price.

specialist 13y ago
Lego is not over priced. In the mid 90s, I worked for a toy design startup making plastic parts. Think "Lego + N-scale trains". (It flopped.) At the time, there were two awesome toy makers, with two very different strategies. Lego was open about their manufacturing, but would hide their designs. PlayMobile was very guarded about their manufacturing, but would happily preview the designs. Methinks Lego deterred competition by showing just how hard it was to compete on quality, PlayMobile competed by making plastic parts more cost effectively than anyone else. We play tested everything we could. Made me a toy snob. Sad, I know. Little Tikes and Duplo are the best bang for the buck for their target age group. I snear at Brio, Tonka, MegaBlocks, and many others.
- vidarh 13y ago
  My son has lots of LEGO and the occasional little set from some other sources. It's sad - most of the "inferior" bricks stand out like sore thumbs. You can spot individual bricks in a sea of LEGO from a decent distance because of the difference in quality of edges etc. The only Lego-compatible brand I've come across approaching them in quality are Kre-O.
mickeyp 13y ago
I grew up with Lego. I love Lego -- the older stuff anyway; the newer bricks are too specialised -- and what's amazing about Lego is that it is almost impossible to destroy a Lego brick. I still have all my old Lego and all of my dads' Lego from when he was a kid. They do get a bit grimey and dirty after a while -- thankfully they're easy to clean in sudsy water and they'll look good as new, even 40 years later. Buy it once and give it to your kids' kids one day.

markbnine 13y ago

Why do people here sympathize with this movie? It starts out as an amusing corporate satire, but if you really follow the plot, it is disturbing on numerous levels: - the consistent message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine - the only save-the-day solution provided by the hero is to "follow instructions" - all the creatives (the master builders) are captured and tortured - Emmit saves the day by martyring himself in some bizarre Christian allegory where he ends up in the "real" world - the psychopathic manager-type tyrant who rules the world and wants to freeze everyone is declared okay and special at the end

dsr_ 13y ago
The psychopathic manager-type tyrant is brought over to the side of good when he changes his behavior due to a realization that he is hurting people with his actions. He becomes less selfish and more empathetic. He is not redeemed by believing in the power of a savior; if anything, it's a Buddhist tale, not a Christian one. Also, Emmett is a cog who learns to be an individual. Two paths to the same goal, one from the enslaved worker and one from the slave-master.
- humanrebar 13y ago
  Your point about faith in a savior being important to a Christian allegory is apt, but... > if anything, it's a Buddhist tale, not a Christian one I don't know why any philosophy (religious or otherwise) should get dibs on the "it's better when people care about each other" message.
  - spiritplumber 13y ago
    The one which doesn't try to, should. Bokononism maybe?
tim333 13y ago
Re "message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine." Well that's kind of true to life - a lot of people do fine in regular corporate jobs and a lot of creative types have problems. Many of the best movies show some part the world that's mucked up eg. the top three movies on imdb are about a corrupt prison system and the mafia. You can like a movie without it saying everything is rainbows. Maybe that's why the Lego movie is more enjoyable for adults than most of the kiddie pap.

mathattack 13y ago

Remarkably, the Lego Movie is PG. I used this as the excuse to keep my wife from taking the kids. I'm a huge fan of the toys, less so of the advertising. I used Legos as building blocks to teach the kids letters. They build trucks, castles, and learn to count with them. I've even been to Legoland, which is great for kids. To the point of the original post, it's just the branding and consumerism that's over the top. I can't wait for them to replace all the Lego Movie ads at the bus stops and train stations.

sp332 13y ago
The Lego movie didn't strike me as hyper-consumerist, and I saw it twice. It mentioned a lot of sets but didn't promote collecting them or anything. I figure a lot of people will download the soundtrack, since it's pop electronica that also works as a hipster-ironic parody of itself. What I got from the movie was a well-developed cynicism of authority. It wasn't nihilist, but very anarchic. The message I got was: have fun making things, but don't expect anyone else to respect or even understand them.

mavhc 13y ago

Lego, not Legos. That is all.

MarkTee 13y ago
"Legos" always sounded weird to me. Interestingly enough, LEGO used to have this on their site: “The word LEGO is a brand name, and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our products as “LEGO bricks or toys” and not “LEGOS.” By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud, and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you!”

reedlaw 13y ago

This article reminded me of how much things have changed since I was a child. I had a yellow Lego castle. There were no movie tie-ins. It was the archetypal medieval castle, enough to thrill the imagination. Then I thought of another childhood thrill: tinkering around on an Apple II+. In this case the transformation is even more obvious. What used to be a company that produced hobbyist equipment that booted into a BASIC programming language REPL now has deep ties to the entertainment industry and produces locked-down consumer devices.

thatthatis 13y ago
You have to remember that Lego has two parallel businesses: Box of bricks - the only thing they were when we were kids. Models - when we were kids models required xacto knives and volatile glue. They don't make those models any more (at least they don't sell them in Target like they used to). Lego has taken over the modeling market, and I think in net their model products are superior. You can still buy boxes of bricks, I do frequently for my Lego obsessed son. Unfortunately, in some respects, Lego is now more a modeling company than a box of bricks company. In other respects, I've seen it argued that the transition is the only thing that has kept Lego from shutting down, so the models enable boxes of bricks to still be sold.
coldpie 13y ago
Eh, you can still make programs for Apple computers. Sure you have to go disable GateKeeper or whatever garbage, but GCC is out there and there's way more available information now than there was for the Apple II. And that's just for system programming.
PhasmaFelis 13y ago
Apple computers are still just as open and customizable as they have ever been. Arguably more so, since OSX came along with a proper Unix.
jianshen 13y ago
I can't find the original article but this might explain the change. The Lego business was on a serious decline a decade ago (2003ish) while it was still a family run business. They knew they needed to get out of "pure" Lego and diversify (licensing, older demos) but went about it the wrong way (trying to become a lifestyle brand). What we see today is a turnaround effort by brought-in CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp who figured out how to help the Lego brand adapt and survive the changes in the market, one major component being all of the tie-ins to the entertainment industry. [1] Today, we're seeing a decline in toy sales due to video games [2], something which Lego seems to be ahead of the curve on as well. I'm just glad they still produce the Technics line. [1] http://www.economist.com/node/8083013 http://www.economist.com/node/8083013 [2] http://kotaku.com/toys-are-dying-and-its-all-video-games-fault-1521023811 http://kotaku.com/toys-are-dying-and-its-all-video-games-fau...

ozmbie 13y ago

Meta-marketing strategies aren't new, but the LEGO movie is a brilliant example. David Foster Wallace covered the topic in his essay, "E unibus pluram": http://www.thefreelibrary.com/E+unibus+pluram%3A+television+and+U.S.+fiction.-a013952319 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/E+unibus+pluram%3A+television+... > You can find successful television ads that mock TV-ad conventions almost anywhere you look, from Settlemeyer's Federal Express and Wendy's spots, with their wizened, sped-up burlesques of commercial characters, to those hip Doritos splices of commercial spokesmen and campy old clips of Beaver and Mr. Ed. > Plus you can see this tactic of heaping scorn on pretensions to those old commercial virtues of authority and sincerity - thus (1) shielding the heaper of scorn from scorn and (2) congratulating the patron of scorn for rising above the mass of people who still fall for outmoded pretensions - employed to serious advantage on many of the television programs the commercials support. Show after show, for years now, has been either a self-acknowledged blank, visual, postmodern allusion- and attitude-fest,

cushychicken 13y ago

Haven't seen the movie, don't watch TV so missed the marketing, but I have to say that Lego would have to do something SERIOUSLY wrong to cancel out the sum total of my positive childhood memories of their brand and product. I mean, goddamn, I almost want to have a kid just so I can justify buying more Legos.

coldcode 13y ago

Lego is what made me into a programmer, the idea of using my imagination to create things followed me into adulthood. I still remember old WWDC lunches where Apple supplied each table with a random collection of lego to create something and then displayed all of them (I think it was a contest). A room full of programmers hacking on lego using not just the pieces but anything handy including uneaten food and implements was pretty amazing.

talmand 13y ago

I could be totally wrong but I think she dislikes herself more than LEGO. She too easily gives in to simple marketing to do things she feels she should not be doing, she buys things she shouldn't be buying, and doesn't the spend the kind of time with her kids she feels would be best. LEGO is a scapegoat for her own perceived failings with her kids. I bet her kids would disagree. After all, they are just kids playing with kid toys. I saw the LEGO movie, I thought it was really good. It's a good story about being yourself, being creative, and standing up for what you feel is right. I saw the movie with my children and none of us felt the need to suddenly go buy LEGOs afterwards. We didn't see the movie as a big infomercial, it's just a movie for gosh sakes. An enjoyable one at that. Every movie that resulted in retail items selling big was not necessarily intended to be an infomercial. And the movies that were? So what? As for her complaint about the girl sets not having fire fighters, why not buy the sets that have fire fighters? If she only buys the sets supposedly made only for girls then who is at fault with that?

dwaltrip 13y ago
Advertising affects you, whether you like to admit it or not. To steal a line from the movie, "you are not the special" (sorry couldn't resist). It wasn't "just a movie". The affect may be subtle, subconscious, or non-obvious, but it is undeniably there. Disclaimer: I really enjoyed the movie also.
- talmand 13y ago
  I would say more that it more influences than affects. But realizing that influence goes a long way in denying it. If the movie was made for that specific purpose then I would have to say I am the special because as I said elsewhere, I don't feel the need to purchase LEGOs after seeing the movie. I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one. After all, my children who saw the movie have not started asking for LEGOs. But it was a fun movie, wasn't it?
  - dwaltrip 13y ago
    I would say influencing is one way of affecting. Marketing and branding are far more than simply converting purchases. Despite me trying to remain self-aware, I undoubtedly have stronger positive mental associations for Lego related things after watching the movie. I would be surprised if you didn't also, regardless of your lack of intent to purchase :) And it was most definitely quite fun, both on a surface level and for sparking discussions like these. They did quite an impressive job.

benched 13y ago

The idea that a legitimately great movie can't be based on a product doesn't make any sense to me. My reigning, hardly ever challenged, favorite movie of all time was based on a line of toys, and could have been called an advertisement. But if so it was an ad with a huge all-star cast, one of the greatest wall-to-wall soundtracks ever arranged, action unrelenting in its cadence, an epic reveal, and a great script with dozens of memorable one-liners. The fact that it was part of a larger mini-storm of culture that included selling toys... means what? Now I have to find room somewhere in my top 5 for The Lego Movie, because it was that good. What do I care that it was about a well-known toy? Why would I care whether it was good or bad for the line of toys? Why would I care whether the toy company influenced the script at all, when the script is that good?

penguindev 13y ago
Do tell what the movie is. I like the original transformers movie, great dialogue and outstanding jap. animation.
- benched 13y ago
  That's the one.
  - penguindev 13y ago
    Awesome! I won't lie, it's my favorite movie too (perhaps there is a support group for us somewhere?). I also got a kick out of transformers prime. The megatron-starscream interactions were always hilarious. SPOILER BELOW And as someone who recently built a 4x8 table with a full sheet of plywood to build legos with my 4 year old son, I got a huge kick out of the end of the lego movie. It had some surprisingly dark scenes, but I didn't notice the product placement - but then again, legos were/are my favorite toy.
NoahTheDuke 13y ago
What's your favorite movie? I'm wracking my brain, trying to figure out which movie you're talking about, but I can't quite think of it.

radley 13y ago

Fraking books. I'm sure we all feel the guilt of letting our kids read books too early. Fiction, non-fiction, magazine, and gasp graphic novels. And the movie tie-ins, the fantasy worlds, the sci-fi realms. I knew as soon as I shared A Wrinkle in Time it was all over. Now they're reading everything and deep diving into over-consumption. Star Wars fiction, biographies, current events, and even internet sites. Fiction is the worse. All the best books get made into movies that my boys have to see. Sometimes I wish I never picked up a book and instead took them on hikes and taught them to shoot guns. (That's about the point I gave up reading...)