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Comment by markbnine | Hacker News Reader

Why do people here sympathize with this movie? It starts out as an amusing corporate satire, but if you really follow the plot, it is disturbing on numerous levels:

- the consistent message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine - the only save-the-day solution provided by the hero is to "follow instructions" - all the creatives (the master builders) are captured and tortured - Emmit saves the day by martyring himself in some bizarre Christian allegory where he ends up in the "real" world - the psychopathic manager-type tyrant who rules the world and wants to freeze everyone is declared okay and special at the end

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The psychopathic manager-type tyrant is brought over to the side of good when he changes his behavior due to a realization that he is hurting people with his actions. He becomes less selfish and more empathetic. He is not redeemed by believing in the power of a savior; if anything, it's a Buddhist tale, not a Christian one.

Also, Emmett is a cog who learns to be an individual. Two paths to the same goal, one from the enslaved worker and one from the slave-master.

Your point about faith in a savior being important to a Christian allegory is apt, but...

> if anything, it's a Buddhist tale, not a Christian one

I don't know why any philosophy (religious or otherwise) should get dibs on the "it's better when people care about each other" message.

The one which doesn't try to, should. Bokononism maybe?

Re "message provided by the hero, is that it's okay to be a cog in the machine." Well that's kind of true to life - a lot of people do fine in regular corporate jobs and a lot of creative types have problems. Many of the best movies show some part the world that's mucked up eg. the top three movies on imdb are about a corrupt prison system and the mafia. You can like a movie without it saying everything is rainbows. Maybe that's why the Lego movie is more enjoyable for adults than most of the kiddie pap.

The instructions they're following are ones they just drew up themselves in crayon.

Hi man, saw the suicide thread was killed, odd. Anyway, that's a lot of deaths and 2014 still has 9 months left.

> It starts out as an amusing corporate satire

Actually I saw it as an allegory for Lego - the specialized sets with instructions to build one thing vs the older, more general blocks that (with imagination) you can use to build anything.

The Lego Movie inserted itself directly into my top five of all time. Every line of the script is brilliantly written, it is roll-on-the-ground hilarious, the comedic timing of the action is perfect, and it even hits philosophical points. It's like an older Pixar movie on speed.

However, I couldn't be less interested in what anybody thinks the 'message' is.

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