Lego Movie Intertextuality and Target Audience

Monday 5th March Lego Movie Intertextuality and TA

L.O. to explore the intertextuality of The Lego Movie and the target audience; to apply Propp's theory.

Postmodernism

Postmodern films often contain the following characteristics:

• Challenged genre conventions: might be a mixture of many genres; challenge typical character roles etc.
• Pastiche: imitates other texts, humorous take on society/culture.
• Hyper-reality: makes the audience aware that they are watching a movie.

'Postmodernism questions what is real and what is absolute.' (Palmer 2014)

Explain how The Lego Movie is a postmodernist film:

• The Lego Movie is a postmodernist film because it is a mixture of genres. Some genres included in the movie is action/adventure, fantasy, romance, sci-fi and comedy.
• The Lego Movie also challenges character roles. For example, the hero of the film (Emmet) is not a typical hero and he is just an ordinary man. Another example of the movie challenging character roles is Emmet's sidekick Wildstyle, as she is not the typical female sidekick, she is an emo and is stronger than the hero of the movie.
• It also uses other films in a simpler form, like The Matrix.
• It uses pastiche to get across that society lacks in imagination.
• Hyper-reality is also used when characters break the fourth wall and speak to the audience.

Intertextuality

• The Lego Movie focuses on a character called Emmet who is just a regular man and a builder. One day Emmet falls down a hole and finds out he is the prodigy by Vitruvius and is given the piece-de-resistance. Emmet then meets a girl called Wildstyle who is Batman's girlfriend, and they travel through many different worlds to try and keep Emmet and the piece-de-resistance safe from Lord Business from his destructive weapon 'The Kraggle' (which is human superglue) that can end the world. Lord Business has locked the super-builders away to use their bran power for his weapon and then he locks up Emmet's friends as they are super-builders. The movie ends with Vitruvius dying and Emmet jumping out of Lord Business' top floor office window and into the real world. Then Emmet is a normal lego figure controlled by a boy and his Dad in their massive Lego city. Then Emmet manages to come to life in the real world and the human boy puts him into the tube which sends him back to the Lego world and Emmet saves the world from the Kraggle with Wildstyle and they fall in love.

• The main themes of The Lego Movie is that creativity and imagination in society is not as strong as it used to be. Another message is that you don't have to be a stereotypical hero to be a hero.

• The Lego Movie also references to other Warner Bros by using Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Dumbledore, Gandalf, Han Solo, C-3PO, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Lando and relates to The Matrix film. 

• Lego Duplo, Lego Ninjago and the different worlds are all different Lego products within The Lego Movie.

Propp's Spheres of Action

Vladimir Propp says that characters take up the role of narrative 'spheres of action'.

He identified character roles necessary to make up a narrative.