As the book alludes, there are deeper meanings to movies than perceived.
In order to find those deeper meanings, though, one must pay attention
carefully. As a casual movie critic myself, I am always searching for deeper
meanings, because (a) I like to write about them and (b) sometimes it is fun to
dissect a movie.
Before I watched the Lego's movie a few
days ago, I had no intentions of writing about this movie whatsoever. In fact,
I was rather skeptical about watching it in the first place. Sometimes, kids movies have the tendency to insult my intelligence, although Lego Movie did not end up insulting
my intelligence and it didn't even come close of doing so.
Inside and out, the Lego Movie was a beautiful picture. The
animations and effects were incredible, as it was one of the most surreal
visuals ever designed, in addition to being funny, loving and endearing. Most of all, though, it had a compelling plot. Even though the majority will simply comprehend this movie as
an enthralling and happy-go-lucky movie, wherein good triumphed over evil, it
actually has a more elaborate and deeper meaning and story than one would
believe.
The plot is mainly about a president (whose name is Business, ironically) who relishes power and
will obtain that power by any means necessary. In fact, he is so narcissistic that
he wants to rule the world, and to do this, he builds an army and uses brainwashing
and propaganda tactics to convince the majority that he is an ethical and good-willed
person, so the nation will not see it coming in advance.
Long story short, before I give away the entire movie, Lego Movie's purpose was to convey to people that leaders and businesses are
not always who they say they are, and what they say is not always true. It is up
to the people of the nation to formulate their own opinions and think for
themselves, in contrast to believing everything the government tells them to believe. It also showed the evil side of business and showed that the average man or woman can still build things just as good as machines can, if not better.
Kyle I really enjoyed your analysis of the Lego movie. I had seen it with my nephews when it first came out and loved it. And you're right, I love the deeper messages the film has. I feel like a lot if not all of the animated movies coming out all have this strong underlying meanings that aren't necessarily just for children. I feel like adults can really get a lot out of these stories and can be positively affected.
ReplyDeleteI love how you wrote about this. I haven't seen the Lego movie, but I also agree that a lot of animated movies have deeper messages that can apply to any age group. I usually end up enjoying the movies I watch with the kids I babysit because they have great story lines and display important messages. Great point.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed residing this blog because I feel the exact same as you about an animated or child's film. I rarely get up the motivation to watch any (with the exception of Despicable Me 1&2). Anyways, I think the reason the Lego movie was different was because they implemented a lot of really good actors and they played the roles as if they were people (not animated characters like lion king etc..). They played the role like a super hero and I think that went a long way with bringing in the adults and young adults enjoying their film.
ReplyDeleteI like it when movies have deeper meanings as well. In the example of "The Lego Movie", the general plot may seem like a good guy vs. bad guy plot to a child, but it can communicate a different message to a more analytical adult like you said. Other examples of movies that relate to your point of underlying themes that I can think of would be the X-Men movies. Again, there are good guy vs, bad guy plots like "The Lego Movie", but if you look closer at them, they clearly deal with the issue of racism and social non-acceptance in their own way.
ReplyDeleteI love symbolism, it's one of my favorite facets of cinema to talk about. In a few of my classes for English, we just talked about the symbolism that occured through what we read/watched, most notably with Alien, the Blair Witch Project, and The Crying Game
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