“ every thing is AWesoMe.” spreAdibilit y And THE LEGO MOVIE
195
I intimated above, toys mold us as children into the adults we become – as
the existence of the term AFOL would imply. In a related essay on World of
Warcraft, Scott Rettberg has commented on how toys and games prepare
us as adults for the labor market and how the game
serves as a tool to educate its players in a range of behaviors and skills
specific to the situation of conducting business in an economy controlled
by corporations. The game is training a generation of good corporate
citizens not only to consume well and to pay their dues, but also to climb
the corporate ladder, to lead projects, to achieve sales goals, to earn and
save, to work hard for better possessions, to play the markets, to win
respect from their peers and their customers, to direct and encourage
and cajole their underlings to outperform, to become better employees
and perhaps, eventually, effective future CEOs. 45
While this is the view of an academic, it is important to note that it is shared
by IBM who published a report on games and entrepreneurship in 2007, in
which we read, “[i]f you want to see what business leadership may look like
in three to five years, look at what’s happening in online games,” claiming
that video games, of which LEGO has produced many, train leaders to
deftly navigate the motivational, emotional and social needs […] in a highly
competitive, distributed, virtual environment.” 46
Perhaps it is equally important to view the transmedial spread of narrative
as an industrialized process “where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed
systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating
a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” while generating
profits. 47 If we connect this thought to Thomas Elsaesser’s observation that
narratives and games “‘rehearse’ life at the same time as they replay it” and
that narratives and storytelling serve as “collective memory, as problemsolving mechanism, as imaginary resolution to real contradictions, as ordering
principle of contingent events, as therapy for life’s traumata, as consolation
and agent of redemption,” then the implications are vast. 48 To point to just
45 Rettberg, 33. It is something of a truism that play shapes us as children; hence Wallis Simons’
piece entitled “Why Lego is ruining our kids’ imaginations” for CNN news (CNN, accessed
March 2, 2016, http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/01/opinion/lego-imagination-opinion/index.
html) in which he argues that “play is a vitally important part of a child’s development, and toy
manufactures are uniquely placed to influence their lives – for the better or for the worse.”
46 “Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders.”
47 Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101.”
48 Elsaesser, 309.
195
I intimated above, toys mold us as children into the adults we become – as
the existence of the term AFOL would imply. In a related essay on World of
Warcraft, Scott Rettberg has commented on how toys and games prepare
us as adults for the labor market and how the game
serves as a tool to educate its players in a range of behaviors and skills
specific to the situation of conducting business in an economy controlled
by corporations. The game is training a generation of good corporate
citizens not only to consume well and to pay their dues, but also to climb
the corporate ladder, to lead projects, to achieve sales goals, to earn and
save, to work hard for better possessions, to play the markets, to win
respect from their peers and their customers, to direct and encourage
and cajole their underlings to outperform, to become better employees
and perhaps, eventually, effective future CEOs. 45
While this is the view of an academic, it is important to note that it is shared
by IBM who published a report on games and entrepreneurship in 2007, in
which we read, “[i]f you want to see what business leadership may look like
in three to five years, look at what’s happening in online games,” claiming
that video games, of which LEGO has produced many, train leaders to
deftly navigate the motivational, emotional and social needs […] in a highly
competitive, distributed, virtual environment.” 46
Perhaps it is equally important to view the transmedial spread of narrative
as an industrialized process “where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed
systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating
a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” while generating
profits. 47 If we connect this thought to Thomas Elsaesser’s observation that
narratives and games “‘rehearse’ life at the same time as they replay it” and
that narratives and storytelling serve as “collective memory, as problemsolving mechanism, as imaginary resolution to real contradictions, as ordering
principle of contingent events, as therapy for life’s traumata, as consolation
and agent of redemption,” then the implications are vast. 48 To point to just
45 Rettberg, 33. It is something of a truism that play shapes us as children; hence Wallis Simons’
piece entitled “Why Lego is ruining our kids’ imaginations” for CNN news (CNN, accessed
March 2, 2016, http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/01/opinion/lego-imagination-opinion/index.
html) in which he argues that “play is a vitally important part of a child’s development, and toy
manufactures are uniquely placed to influence their lives – for the better or for the worse.”
46 “Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders.”
47 Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101.”
48 Elsaesser, 309.