樂高玩電影 賣創意還是品牌？
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/2/28
2014-02-24 Web
only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/wwworks/ |
它擁有熱門強片所需的一切條件：荒唐又滑稽的情節、一流的主題曲，以及不只是整過形、根本完全就是由塑膠製成的明星。也難怪《樂高玩電影》稱霸了北美票房；不過，正當小孩（筆者的也不例外）在每段鬧劇都笑得開心無比之際，自命不凡的成人想的則是更嚴肅的問題：這部電影想傳達的政治訊息是什麼？
《紐約》雜誌的部落格大吼，那實際上就是共產主義；左派記錄片導演摩爾（Michael Moore）也同意，認為這部電影「聰明又諷刺」。福斯財經電視網的一位主持人憤怒地表示，好萊塢在向我們的小孩推廣其反商訊息。
本電影的反派叫作商業大王（Lord Business），是個長得有點像羅姆尼（Mitt Romney）、打算征服世界的企業老闆。艾米特（Emmet）則是電影中的英雄，他是個憨厚的建築工人，卻發現自己得在革命中帶領樂高人物組成的聯盟，將權力交還人民（嗯，看起來像人的樂高人物）。
到這裡為止，《樂高玩電影》都符合好萊塢對小孩宣傳反資本主義的刻板印象。等等，但這部電影同時也是一部長達一個半小時的昂貴玩具廣告，這些玩具是由總部位於丹麥的跨國企業索製作；更重要的是，你得花錢才能看這部廣告。
每個人對《樂高玩電影》都有各自的看法，但筆者覺得它傳達的訊息十分自由派：質疑由上至下的權力，而且支持個人權利（例如樂高人有權不要一生都做商業大王認為他們該做的事）。
這部電影開了許多組織的玩笑，樂高公司亦不例外。曾經，樂高積木是以大盒包裝，讓小孩用這些積木組合成任何他們想做的東西；今日，盒子裡裝的則是數量精準、用途明確的積木。這部電影的主題是，學習掙脫盒子上的指示；如果它真的有錯，那也是它輕描淡寫了家長光腳踩到樂高積木的痛苦──不管是保守派還是自由派，都得面對這樣的命運。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
"The Lego Movie"
The politics
of little bricks
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published:
February 24, 2014
Feb 22nd 2014 |
ATLANTA | From the print edition
You can make what
you like of it.
IT HAS all the
building blocks of a blockbuster: a ludicrous plot, a cheesy theme song
("Everything is awesome") and stars who are not merely enhanced by
plastic surgery but actually made of plastic. Small wonder that "The Lego
Movie" rules the American box office. But while children (including your
correspondent's) fall cackling out of their seats at all the slapstick,
grown-up pundits are pondering a more serious question: what is the film's political
message?
"Practically
Communist," screamed New York magazine's Vulture blog. "Smart [and]
satirical," agreed Michael Moore, a left-wing documentary filmmaker.
"Hollywood pushing its anti-business message to our kids," fulminated
a host on Fox Business Network.
The film's villain
is Lord Business, a corporate boss who looks like Mitt Romney and is bent on
world domination. The hero is Emmet, an amiable doofus of a construction worker
who somehow finds himself leading a rainbow coalition of Lego figures in a revolution
that seeks to return power to the people (well, to the Lego figures that look
like people).
Thus far,
"The Lego Movie" fits the old stereotype of Hollywood peddling
anti-capitalist propaganda to kids. But hold on. The film is also an
hour-and-a-half-long commercial for costly toys made by a multinational
corporation based in Denmark; a commercial, moreover, that people must pay to
see.
You can make what
you like of "The Lego Movie", but your correspondent found its
message to be pleasingly libertarian: suspicious of top-down power and
supportive of individual rights (such as the right of Lego people not to spend
eternity in the position Lord Business deems correct). Its target is dull
conformity. "Take everything weird and blow it up!" are the instructions
to Emmet's crew at the beginning of the film.
Among the
institutions it pokes fun at is Lego itself. Once the bricks came in a giant
box, and kids were supposed to build what they liked with them; today they are
packaged with precisely the right number and type of blocks for a specific
purpose, such as building a Death Star. The film is about learning to break
free of the instructions on the box. If it has a fault, it is that it
underplays the suffering of parents who tread on Lego bricks in bare feet—a
fate that befalls conservatives and liberals alike.
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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