Lego Movie Explained: Symbols & Deeper Meaning

We take an in-depth look at the Lego movie, its symbolism and its hidden meaning, to reveal what it’s all about.

Transcript provided by Youtube:

00:02
who ever expected that an animated movie
00:05
about a child’s toy could tie together
00:07
the deepest revelations of Plato The
00:09
Matrix
00:10
Aristophanes Gnosticism capitalism and
00:12
George Orwell all while teaching us a
00:14
thing or two about how to live free more
00:17
aware lives see everything written and
00:20
directed by Phil Lord and Christopher
00:22
Miller the lego movie is a many-layered
00:24
story with a rich meta-narrative far
00:26
from the shallow glorified promo many
00:28
expected walking into the theater beware
00:30
this video will contain spoilers I’m so
00:33
pumped up Emmet is your average guy
00:35
living his life according to
00:37
instructions and rules we can all relate
00:39
to the feeling that our society or
00:41
workplace binds us to a daily existence
00:43
full of rules but here it’s taken to an
00:46
extreme Emmett has instruction manuals
00:48
for how to breathe shower commute and
00:51
live wear clothes look fer got that what
00:55
a prevalence of instructions cleverly
00:57
plays on the instruction books of
00:58
advanced Lego constructions but it also
01:00
makes a point that reflects our own
01:02
society mass obedience to common rules
01:05
helps the Lego people build
01:07
sophisticated structures in a well-oiled
01:09
Society but it also forces conformity
01:12
conformity is so extreme we realize this
01:14
is an Orwellian world of total state
01:17
control cameras watch the civilians
01:19
alongside massive billboards of
01:21
President business saying I’ve got my
01:23
eye on you an allusion to the ubiquitous
01:25
big brother is watching you poster in
01:27
1984 is Oceana the leaders name
01:30
President business tells us that Lego
01:32
movies dystopia is a corporate
01:33
capitalist one an exaggerated version of
01:36
our own capitalist society there is no
01:38
separation between the government and
01:40
business both are ruled by President
01:42
business whose second name is Lord
01:44
business just as 1984 s totalitarian
01:47
states distracts the proletariat with
01:49
mindless or sentimental entertainment
01:51
president business dominates the media
01:54
with Taco Tuesday this had come honey
01:57
where are my pants
02:01
and the song everything is awesome anata
02:03
oh my gosh I love this song those who
02:11
break the rules such as the
02:13
master-builders are taken to the think
02:15
tank much like Orwell’s room 101 in 1984
02:18
the think tank is a reeducation center
02:21
that tortures and brainwashes to destroy
02:23
individuals will and free thoughts the
02:26
think tank transforms the
02:27
master-builders imaginations into ox and
02:29
corpse easy to follow instructions
02:31
turning rule-breakers into bricks in the
02:34
corporate monolith even though women
02:36
feels close to his fellow citizens like
02:38
1984’s comrades they don’t actually know
02:41
anything meaningful about one another
02:42
I know that guys but I know like it be
02:44
that about him people have become unable
02:47
to communicate or connect and Lord
02:48
business’s society Emmet follows the
02:51
instructions perfectly but still feels
02:53
lonely and anxious sleep down if we
02:56
follow our own society’s rules
02:57
unthinkingly we will feel the same lack
02:59
of personal satisfaction and fulfillment
03:01
Emmet’s world of instructions is
03:03
shattered when he finds the mysterious
03:05
piece of resistance and meets wyldstyle
03:08
I’m going to have to report you and it
03:12
meets the master-builders those who
03:14
build without instructions and are
03:16
defined by their independence they
03:18
actively fight against Lord businesses
03:20
brainwashing corporate world they are
03:22
led by Vitruvius ascend up of the wise
03:24
master trove I am a blind man and cannot
03:27
see his name comes from the ancient
03:30
Roman architect Vitruvius whose treatise
03:32
de arquitectura was considered the first
03:34
and most fundamental document on
03:36
architecture and engineering during the
03:38
renaissance even Leonardo da Vinci was
03:40
inspired by Vitruvius in his famous
03:42
Vitruvian Man the Vitruvius in the lego
03:45
movie
03:45
likewise understands the deeper purpose
03:48
and nature of Legos the prophecy states
03:50
that you are the special which people
03:53
living under president business’s sway
03:55
failed to contemplate on their
03:56
fundamental level Legos are blank
03:59
starting material the true Venus has
04:00
taught the master builders had to use
04:02
their imagination and write their own
04:04
instruction manuals his mission is to
04:06
teach free will to create liberated
04:08
free-thinking individual but flaws
04:11
appear in the master builders world
04:12
cloud cuckoo-land the
04:14
master-builders home is chaotic and
04:16
immature the name cloud cuckoo-land is a
04:19
reference to ancient Greek writer
04:21
Aristophanes is comedy the birds in the
04:24
play a man convinces a flock of birds to
04:27
create a city in the sky so he can
04:28
control all communication with the gods
04:30
the allusion speaks to an over
04:32
optimistic idea of something that’s
04:34
ultimately out of reach the
04:36
master-builders characters are as wild
04:38
and larger than life is their home but
04:40
they’re also OneNote and one-dimensional
04:42
any idea is a good idea except for not
04:46
happy one they’re all trying hard to be
04:48
different
04:49
Batman constantly reminds everyone how
04:51
cool and dark he is this is a song I
04:54
wrote for wyldstyle as if those two
04:57
qualities constitute an entire
04:59
personality despite their potential to
05:01
be free individuals the master-builders
05:03
trap themselves with arbitrary
05:05
self-imposed
05:06
new rules the Master Builders are slaves
05:09
to their own taste if anybody has
05:11
blackboards I need okay
05:13
I only work in black they are confined
05:16
by their limited self images in order to
05:19
save Vitruvius the master builders have
05:21
to follow instruction manuals to break
05:23
into Lord business’s fortress they’re so
05:25
used to breaking the rules that can’t
05:27
follow instructions to perform a larger
05:29
act of organized disobedience this is
05:32
where Emmett’s talent for rule-following
05:34
becomes the key the strikingly unspecial
05:37
Emmett becomes the everyman the stand-in
05:40
for anybody in the audience
05:41
jokes are played on Emmett’s lack of
05:43
imagination introducing the
05:45
double-decker couch and its taste are
05:48
also bland he literally likes everything
05:51
$37.00 awesome master builders like wild
05:55
style and Batman want to ditch Emmet but
05:57
can’t because the piece of resistance is
05:59
glued to his body
06:00
unlike heroes who choose to accept
06:03
greatness or must channel their own deep
06:05
inner greatness Emmet is simply there
06:07
later the idea that he’s the special
06:10
turns out to be a lie made by the true
06:12
vyas to inspire hope I’m not special
06:15
but Emmet’s lack of particular quality
06:17
is what makes him able to rise to the
06:20
occasion and it is the only one who can
06:22
be anything because he’s not
06:23
specifically anything unlike anyone else
06:26
in the instruction world or the
06:28
master-builders world he can both use
06:30
his imagination and follow instruction
06:33
manuals the piece of resistance the camp
06:35
to the Krazy Glue is the key that opens
06:38
up our understanding that there is an
06:39
entire other level of consciousness
06:41
unknown to these characters when we the
06:44
audience see the piece we recognize it
06:47
as the cap to lure businesses cragwitch
06:49
a tube of Krazy Glue both the kragle and
06:52
the piece of resistance are alien to
06:54
lego world not only in design but in
06:56
function as well they’re one of the few
06:58
objects not made out of Lego bricks
07:00
their introduction intentionally breaks
07:03
the fourth wall both of the joke remains
07:06
a sword of exact zero and an allusion to
07:09
a dimension outside of Lego Emmett’s
07:11
discovery of the piece sets everyone on
07:13
the path to another dimension of
07:15
understanding including us in the major
07:18
revelation of the movie we find out that
07:20
the events of the story have been caused
07:22
by a young boy Finn playing with his
07:24
father’s Legos for Finn Legos are all
07:27
about imagination and building from
07:29
instinct since dad the man upstairs
07:31
Revere’s the instructions that come with
07:33
his Lego set in a busy stressful adult
07:36
life building something perfectly gives
07:38
him some sense of control and
07:40
achievement the man upstairs decides to
07:42
permanently glue his Legos together to
07:44
save his work from Finn’s destruction as
07:47
a stand-in for the man upstairs is
07:48
playtime with his Legos ironically the
07:51
seemingly all-powerful Lord business is
07:53
just as much a slave as the people he
07:56
controls he’s nothing more than the
07:58
physical representation of the man
08:00
upstairs and lego world cloud
08:02
cuckoo-land and the master builders the
08:04
extension of since playtime are also
08:06
limited
08:07
they have variety and uninhibited
08:09
spontaneity but they lack focus or death
08:11
based here right back here thus the
08:13
conflict between President business’s
08:15
world and the Master Builders becomes an
08:18
ideological battle between kids and
08:20
adults is the purpose of play to be
08:23
purely original and have fun in the
08:24
moment or to create a larger outcome
08:27
with lasting impact even if the building
08:29
is less fun or exciting at the time is
08:31
it about the process just playing or the
08:34
result and everything is thought-out
08:36
meanwhile the meta-narrative makes all
08:39
of the Lego characters part of someone’s
08:41
imagination without agency or free will
08:43
the story has a strong connection to a
08:46
concept and Gnosticism called
08:48
the Demiurge what is Gnosticism it’s a
08:51
philosophy of thoughts and religions
08:52
that are rooted in Kabbalah neoplatonism
08:55
and proto Christian thought that mainly
08:57
existed in the second century the
08:58
Gnostic Demiurge is a corrupt god-like
09:01
entity like a middle man God the
09:03
Demiurge created a material world we all
09:05
inhabit but that material world clouds
09:08
the real spiritual one human should
09:09
strive for think of it like Plato’s
09:12
allegory of the cave a bunch of people
09:14
are chained inside a caves where they
09:16
watch shadows on the walls believing
09:18
that is the whole world or to use a more
09:20
recent example consider the matrix both
09:23
Emmett and neo must break out of their
09:25
limited worlds to understand a greater
09:27
reality both eventually become the
09:29
chosen one to help others escape the
09:32
veil of their limited understanding
09:33
after meeting a wild girl and a wise
09:35
prophet and hearing a disproven prophecy
09:38
that helps them discover their own inner
09:40
potential I’m not alone Finn and the man
09:43
upstairs are the demiurges for the
09:45
matrix’s machine to the Lego world after
09:48
Emmett’s heroic sacrifice he becomes
09:50
stuck on the floor of the basement his
09:52
lego world inhabits Emmett has escaped
09:55
the cave like neo Emmett is able to step
09:57
outside the rules of civics and
09:59
physically will himself to move so Finn
10:01
can see what he’s holding the piece of
10:03
resistance the cap of the crazy blue
10:05
this small act made entirely by Emmett’s
10:08
free will his denial of the rules of
10:10
what’s possible or impossible inspires
10:12
Finn to build again forces beyond
10:15
comprehension are acting upon Lego world
10:17
but its citizens find the will to fight
10:19
as creative individuals unified in
10:22
purpose what I see are people inspired
10:26
by each other people taking what you
10:29
made and making something new out of it
10:33
in the end
10:34
Lord business’s monolithic business
10:36
gives way to a balance of individualism
10:38
and collective purpose
10:40
importantly Emmett doesn’t get rid of
10:41
instructions they allow people to build
10:43
great things with clarity the master
10:45
builders let go of their ham-fisted
10:47
attempts to be self-consciously unique
10:49
at the expense of true freedom and
10:51
individuality see what that was my real
10:56
name abs for the Lego citizens they
10:59
learn to incorporate both instructions
11:01
and spontaneity into their lives and in
11:03
the meta-narrative both child and
11:05
parents have learned parallel lessons in
11:07
order to play in peace together our own
11:09
freedom faces challenges from all
11:11
directions external systems like
11:13
capitalist culture and totalitarian
11:15
governments existential questions of
11:17
false realities disagreements with our
11:19
parents or kids and self-imposed
11:21
internal pressure to be hewe or not
11:23
against all these pressures we can
11:25
channel our inner special to expand our
11:27
consciousness and live the most
11:28
authentic free existence we can imagine
11:32
there’s enough air to climb we are here
11:36
to destroy you oh man
11:43
[Music]