Hear Me Out: ‘The Lego Movie’ is a horror movie about the collapse of American democracy
“President Business is going to end the world? But he’s such a good guy! And Octan, they make good stuff: music, dairy products, coffee, TV shows, surveillance systems, all history books, voting machines…”
Everything is awesome! From oppressive dictators to the threat of violence and constant surveillance, it’s all awesome! Over the years, we’ve seen many strands of anti-capitalist messaging in the movies, from the timely relevance of Parasite, American Psycho, and Fight Club to the biting satire of The Big Short and Sorry to Bother You. While all of these films deliver on their hard-hitting messages and succinct observations about modern living, they’re missing a few things: a musical sequence, tacos, and lots of plastic bricks.
An omnipresent dictator and oppressive police force slowly brainwash and strip people of their individuality in order to better control them, enforcing their dictatorial values over a nation of people to fuel their own ego. Am I describing the shitshow that is the United States or the masterpiece that is The Lego Movie? Unfortunately for everyone, this description is applicable to both, but today, let’s talk about Lego.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in 2014, The Lego Movie follows the life of Emmett, an ordinary guy who leads an ordinary life until being mistaken for a prophetic figure who will save the world from a devastating tyrant who is intent on controlling all people and ending creativity as we know it. Despite the fact that it was marketed as a kid’s movie, the film’s messaging is heavy: a social satire that reflects the dangers of an increasingly undemocratic world, with an uncanny resemblance to the political climate in America today.
The dictator in The Lego Movie is hell-bent on stripping people of their individuality. He is terrified of free-thinkers and the change brought about by creativity, which threatens his rulership. There’s a police force run by an officer who’s both a good cop and bad cop, reflecting the bait-and-switch nature of law enforcement in America and how your treatment depends on who you are and the privilege you hold. While the aforementioned films that criticise capitalism are more serious in tone, The Lego Movie captures something truly terrifying by framing it through the light-hearted context of talking toys, highlighting our own complicity with the machine through the character’s blasé way of speaking about their own oppression.
It wakes us up to our desensitisation of the horrors around us with its casual observations about the small and large-scale injustices that have crept into every corner of our lives. We may laugh at the bad cop that essentially kills Emmet’s parents with an eraser, but on another level, the film is speaking to the horrors of police brutality, with over 1,000 people fatally shot by police in the United States last year alone. We may laugh at the master builders who rebel against the system by creating new Lego pieces without an instruction manual, but in its own way, the film is commenting on the increasing restrictions placed on creative people who aren’t allowed to share their work, with more bans on freedom of speech and political ideology in our art. We may even laugh at the ridiculously overpriced coffee that Emmett pays $37 for, but it mocks our own reluctant acceptance of the unsustainability of everyday living.
OK, yes, in some ways, I’m exaggerating to make a point, but you get what I’m saying. And when the absurdity of our own precarious world only continues to escalate, I find myself baffled at the increasing relevance of The Lego Movie and how the points that were exaggerated for satire have now become uncanny to our real world. How scary that we live in a place where we have our own President Business, someone that threatens the rights, dignity and personhood of people all over the United States, all for the sake of a power trip and ego boost.
While The Lego Movie may seem like a joke on the outside, the fact that it is no longer a melodramatic fantasy world that makes a few comparisons to real life and is now a direct comparison to the horrors that hang over us is very scary and makes me question whether it was intended to be a horror movie this whole time. Because who knew that The Lego Movie would prophesise the demise of the United States as we know it? But as the film teaches us, sometimes it’s best to just bury our heads in the sand, pay for the damn coffee, and remind ourselves that everything is awesome. It really is.
