“ every thing is AWesoMe.” spreAdibilit y And THE LEGO MOVIE
181
Herein however, resides an irony so blatant that I mention it only for the
sake of advancing my argument, namely that, beginning as early as 1955 when
LEGO released the “Town Plan” marketed as a toy system, the company itself
has steadily introduced measures to “Kragle” the bricks into play systems
or themed sets. Indeed, it was LEGO that invented the playset and LEGO
that began marketing their bricks increasingly in play systems and sets with
instructions for structured, correct play from the 1960s onwards. Moreover,
it was only in response to customer complaints about not being able to buy
spare parts that the company began marketing buckets of bricks on occasion,
including “Creative Bucket 10662,” advertised as offering “a world of unlimited
building fun.” 9 Here again, however, the set contains instructions for specific
scenarios, guiding child “master builders” in their selection of themes and
configurations. So while LEGO constantly promotes itself as encouraging
out-of-the-box thinking, it is evidently more cost-efficient and profitable
for the company to sell their bricks in boxed sets, so that even the creative
bucket is ultimately another building system that invites children to follow
instructions, and to produce prefabricated scenarios and constructions.
The implicit self-conscious irony of holding out a kind of prescribed,
supposedly unlimited freedom to create anything and everything that
actually serves to regulate creative play is staged repeatedly throughout
The LEGO Movie. Hence, we watch as the characters move fluidly from the
generic Bricksburg cityscape, to the Old West, to a nautical setting and so on,
which really amounts to moving from one set of rigidly defined parameters
and clearly stipulated contents – “Middle Zealand. A wondrous land full of
knights, castles, mutton, torture weapons, poverty, leeches, illiteracy, and,
um… dragons” – to the next. This answers to Maaike Lauwaert’s description
of how toy manufacturers like LEGO configure the “user and uses” of toys
and set the parameters for user action. Therefore practices – what you can
do with a toy like LEGO – are inscribed into its technical make-up, along
with “norms and values,” and “rules and requirements” that are “embedded
into the design and promote specific user behavior.” 10 In other words, The
LEGO Movie trades on what I read as a cynical form of irony that invites
9 On this point, see CNN’s coverage of Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei’s tussle
with LEGO that began in October 24, 2015, when the company refused to sell him a large quantity
of bricks without his disclosure of the “thematic purpose” of a project that would require ordering
in bulk. LEGO later claimed that they “do not censor or ban creative use of LEGO bricks”.
“Everything awesome again? LEGO changes guidelines for bulk orders.” CNN, January 14, 2016,
accessed March 1, 2016, http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/26/arts/gallery/lego-artists/index.html.
10 Maaike Lauwaert, The Place of Play: Toys and Digital Cultures (Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP,
2009), 13.
181
Herein however, resides an irony so blatant that I mention it only for the
sake of advancing my argument, namely that, beginning as early as 1955 when
LEGO released the “Town Plan” marketed as a toy system, the company itself
has steadily introduced measures to “Kragle” the bricks into play systems
or themed sets. Indeed, it was LEGO that invented the playset and LEGO
that began marketing their bricks increasingly in play systems and sets with
instructions for structured, correct play from the 1960s onwards. Moreover,
it was only in response to customer complaints about not being able to buy
spare parts that the company began marketing buckets of bricks on occasion,
including “Creative Bucket 10662,” advertised as offering “a world of unlimited
building fun.” 9 Here again, however, the set contains instructions for specific
scenarios, guiding child “master builders” in their selection of themes and
configurations. So while LEGO constantly promotes itself as encouraging
out-of-the-box thinking, it is evidently more cost-efficient and profitable
for the company to sell their bricks in boxed sets, so that even the creative
bucket is ultimately another building system that invites children to follow
instructions, and to produce prefabricated scenarios and constructions.
The implicit self-conscious irony of holding out a kind of prescribed,
supposedly unlimited freedom to create anything and everything that
actually serves to regulate creative play is staged repeatedly throughout
The LEGO Movie. Hence, we watch as the characters move fluidly from the
generic Bricksburg cityscape, to the Old West, to a nautical setting and so on,
which really amounts to moving from one set of rigidly defined parameters
and clearly stipulated contents – “Middle Zealand. A wondrous land full of
knights, castles, mutton, torture weapons, poverty, leeches, illiteracy, and,
um… dragons” – to the next. This answers to Maaike Lauwaert’s description
of how toy manufacturers like LEGO configure the “user and uses” of toys
and set the parameters for user action. Therefore practices – what you can
do with a toy like LEGO – are inscribed into its technical make-up, along
with “norms and values,” and “rules and requirements” that are “embedded
into the design and promote specific user behavior.” 10 In other words, The
LEGO Movie trades on what I read as a cynical form of irony that invites
9 On this point, see CNN’s coverage of Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei’s tussle
with LEGO that began in October 24, 2015, when the company refused to sell him a large quantity
of bricks without his disclosure of the “thematic purpose” of a project that would require ordering
in bulk. LEGO later claimed that they “do not censor or ban creative use of LEGO bricks”.
“Everything awesome again? LEGO changes guidelines for bulk orders.” CNN, January 14, 2016,
accessed March 1, 2016, http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/26/arts/gallery/lego-artists/index.html.
10 Maaike Lauwaert, The Place of Play: Toys and Digital Cultures (Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP,
2009), 13.