theatlantic:
The Lego Movie: Further Evidence of Will Ferrell’s Subversive Genius
Who knew that The Lego Movie would create political controversy? Audiences have embraced the movie to the tune of a $69-million opening weekend. But its plot—in which an oppressed people living under totalitarian rule defeat their evil overlord named “President Business”—has drawn scorn from Fox commentator Charles Payne, who went after the film for “pushing its anti-business message to our kids.” Film critics, who tend to be more liberal, have celebrated the message; Bilge Ebiri of Vulture, for example, lovingly described the film’s climax as a “downright proletarian Lego revolution.”
This reading of the film is a bit amazing, considering the product was designed to promote two corporate interests: Hollywood (in the sense that every studio film is a promotional tool for the industry) and The Lego Group. Of course, the children who watch The Lego Movie are unlikely to pick up on its anti-business ethos, and the film will probably still make them want to buy Legos. Adults on the other hand can chew on the movie’s subversive content and perhaps even use it content to spark meaningful conversations around the dinner table.
This sort of layered narrative is difficult to pull off—not to mention convince a studio to go along with—but maybe Will Ferrell, who voices President Business, had something to do with it. To be fair, I have no idea whether he had input into the script of The Lego Movie or not. But the mere fact that he was cast as the movie’s villain should have been a giveaway as to its ideology. For more than a decade now, Ferrell’s starred in big, dumb films of surprising political complexity, again and again playing the regressive oaf who eventually comes around to progressive ideas.
Read more. [Image: Warner Bros.]