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AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
positive attitude toward work, but also the seemingly random, recombinatory
mechanism behind the plot, its construction which relies on intermediality
and media convergence, and the narrative’s very self-conscious intertextuality. At the same time, the movie offers what I will argue is a complex,
self-reflexive view of many of the current global predicaments with which
we are confronted on a daily basis. The larger implication is that, while it is
goes without saying that The LEGO Movie concept derives from various media,
including the interlocking bricks, and borrows characters from any number
of other narrative franchises, it also foregrounds the kinds of monetary and
economic systems through which the film was produced and disseminated.
Importantly, while the f ilm does all of the aforementioned, it also
holds up a comedic view of labor and creativity to contemporary Western
neoliberalized audiences that remains, as I want to suggest, profitably and
productively ambiguous in the film. 1 As I will argue in detail below, then, The
LEGO Movie promotes the company and its products while at the same time
autoreflexively ironizing the various ways in which transmedia storytelling
practices, and indeed LEGO bricks, purport to encourage creative freedom
while expanding potential markets. In so doing, the film offers numerous
points of entry or engagement for a wide range of viewers from children and
adults who are already enthusiastic fans, to argumentative academics who
might be somewhat skeptical about the film’s feel-good message. Therefore,
by making fun of LEGO itself, as well as various industries with which the
company is complicit in ways that I will elaborate below, the film neatly
ensures that consumers and viewers will continue to enjoy LEGO.
The Plot
In order to illustrate how The LEGO Movie signifies through the toys and the
industry that produces them, as well as through the multi-platform economic
1 The way that the film adapts other narrative franchises and toys while foregrounding the
kinds of monetary and economic systems through which it was produced and disseminated,
is also discussed in my work on the Ocean’s film series, finance, and gambling. (Joyce Goggin,
“Casinos and Sure Bets: Ocean’s Eleven and Cinematic Money.” In Money and Culture, ed. Fiona
Cox and Hans-Walter Schmidt-Hannisia (Bern: Peter Lang, 2008), 285–297; “From Remake to
Sequel: Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve.” In Second Takes: Approaches to the Film Sequel, ed.
Caroline Jess-Cooke and Constantine Verevis (New York: State University of New York Press,
2010), 105–121; “Qu’est qu’on réadapte? Ocean’s Eleven et l’esthétique de la finance,» in De la page
blanche aux salles obscures: Adaptation et réadaption dans le monde Anglophone, trans. Ariane
Hudelet, ed. Ariane Hudelet ad Shannon Wells-Lassagne (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de
Rennes, 2001), 49–59.)
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
positive attitude toward work, but also the seemingly random, recombinatory
mechanism behind the plot, its construction which relies on intermediality
and media convergence, and the narrative’s very self-conscious intertextuality. At the same time, the movie offers what I will argue is a complex,
self-reflexive view of many of the current global predicaments with which
we are confronted on a daily basis. The larger implication is that, while it is
goes without saying that The LEGO Movie concept derives from various media,
including the interlocking bricks, and borrows characters from any number
of other narrative franchises, it also foregrounds the kinds of monetary and
economic systems through which the film was produced and disseminated.
Importantly, while the f ilm does all of the aforementioned, it also
holds up a comedic view of labor and creativity to contemporary Western
neoliberalized audiences that remains, as I want to suggest, profitably and
productively ambiguous in the film. 1 As I will argue in detail below, then, The
LEGO Movie promotes the company and its products while at the same time
autoreflexively ironizing the various ways in which transmedia storytelling
practices, and indeed LEGO bricks, purport to encourage creative freedom
while expanding potential markets. In so doing, the film offers numerous
points of entry or engagement for a wide range of viewers from children and
adults who are already enthusiastic fans, to argumentative academics who
might be somewhat skeptical about the film’s feel-good message. Therefore,
by making fun of LEGO itself, as well as various industries with which the
company is complicit in ways that I will elaborate below, the film neatly
ensures that consumers and viewers will continue to enjoy LEGO.
The Plot
In order to illustrate how The LEGO Movie signifies through the toys and the
industry that produces them, as well as through the multi-platform economic
1 The way that the film adapts other narrative franchises and toys while foregrounding the
kinds of monetary and economic systems through which it was produced and disseminated,
is also discussed in my work on the Ocean’s film series, finance, and gambling. (Joyce Goggin,
“Casinos and Sure Bets: Ocean’s Eleven and Cinematic Money.” In Money and Culture, ed. Fiona
Cox and Hans-Walter Schmidt-Hannisia (Bern: Peter Lang, 2008), 285–297; “From Remake to
Sequel: Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve.” In Second Takes: Approaches to the Film Sequel, ed.
Caroline Jess-Cooke and Constantine Verevis (New York: State University of New York Press,
2010), 105–121; “Qu’est qu’on réadapte? Ocean’s Eleven et l’esthétique de la finance,» in De la page
blanche aux salles obscures: Adaptation et réadaption dans le monde Anglophone, trans. Ariane
Hudelet, ed. Ariane Hudelet ad Shannon Wells-Lassagne (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de
Rennes, 2001), 49–59.)