‘Postmodern film’ analysis

The Lego Movie

TASK

Select two of the three films studied and create TWO revision PowerPoints. These MUST answer the questions on the slides which follow. Include screen grabs where appropriate

NOT ALL QUESTIONS WILL BE RELEVANT

Questions

• How is this episode postmodern (pomo features)

• How can you apply/relate Baurillard theory

• How can you apply/relate Focault theory

• How does it differ or challenge other media (could compare to other current media or traditional media)

• How is it similar to other media? (could be other platforms)

• What type of audience is this episode made for? What sort of impact does Charlie Brooker want on this audience? Why?

• What types of technology and media are explored in black mirror?

How is ‘The Lego Movie’ postmodern?The Lego Movie is pastiche as the dialog seems very fundamental. The silly style of scripts allows the audience to enjoy themselves and opens up opportunities for some absurd things to happen. The Lego Movie also includes a lot of intertexuality this is created by the characters they use within the story. These characters bring personality that the audience already knows. For example there is no explanation as to who batman is and why he behaves the way he does. This is because the audience already know batman, therefore the backstory is skipped and the action begins. Metafiction has purposely been created as the film begins by sounding like it is written by a story as the main plot is what a child has created. However, although the audience is immersed into a silly plot about a chose one and a special weapon, the underlying meaning of the story is actually engaging the audience into a story about fathers, sons and childhood. When bat man strikes the button ‘first time’ this shows the parody into how everything in action movies are always done first time by the hero. It purposely plays on the idea that the hero can never get anything wrong, however batman has to take many attempts to succeed, yet still calls It ‘first time’. Just as with Lego kits, the coffee board advert shows instructions on how to buy a cup of coffee for an extremely expensive price. This imitates the fact that now in modern society, places like Costa and Starbucks are extremely overpriced.

• How can you apply/relate Baurillard theory?Within The Lego Movie, Emmet lives is a hyper real world were ‘everything is awesome’. This world

he lives in is created and stimulated from models of real life. The purpose of Emmet's world is over emphasise the real world. It creates a new social reality, which Baudrillard terms hyperreality.

• How can you apply/relate Focault theory?The Lego movie relates to this theory as it explains that people assume everyone has an inner

essence. (Qualities beneath the surface which determine who everyone is). Focault rejected this view. As does Emmet in The Lego Movie. Everyone is telling him he’s the ‘special’ one. However, Emmet realises he doesn't have a specific identity. An 'identity' is communicated to others in your interactions with them, but this is not a fixed thing within a person. It is a shifting, temporary construction. Emmet realises that he is not possessed as a master builder, it needs to be exercised. A line in the movie states “ We all have something that makes us something, Emmet is.. Nothing”. This supports Focaults theory that identities are not something your stuck with, they shape and shift all the time.

• How does it differ or challenge other media (could compare to other current media or traditional media)? There is a twist in the tale that completely fits with the spirit of Lego without looking artificial, but even without that, the crazy and inventive way the story zips along is like an advert for playing with these toys. There are no rules. The limit of the story is the limit of your imagination. It sells the product within the film.

• How is it similar to other media? (could be other platforms)The way that The Lego Movie is similar to other media is the concept of the story. The tale is

loaded with gleeful pop-culture references and great voice-acting . There is a hero, a villian and a fight. The Lego movie as an underlying story portrays classic conventions of a an action film.

• What type of audience is this film made for? As a product, Lego is for kids, so the Lego marketing team's main challenge is to make their

products appealing to children; however, it is the parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents who hold the enjoyment. The Lego Movie is an exciting adventure for kids, but is also great fun for adults.

• Discuss the concept of narrative in your chosen film, does it challenge or reinforce?The Lego movie is Non- Linear as so many random, strange and unexpected things happen. The

movie doesn't tend to be in a straight line. As it is meant to be from a Childs imaginative perspective it means that the storyline isn't arranged.

However, you may also argue that it is slightly linear due to the fact the story has a three part structure (very basic beginning, middle and end. Although the middle is very bizarre it is still noticeably the foundation of the movie.

The Lego Movie has a narrative arc as it introduces every character we meet apart from batman. This is shows that the conventions of an action film are being challenged as it is an intertexual reference that has been purposely enforced as the audience already knows who batman is.