The Working Masses Mobilise in The Lego Movie

The setting of The Lego Movie is a dystopian one. The Octon Corporation, a super-monopoly ruled over by President Business, controls all major ongoings in the various realms of the Lego Universe. The mass media, voting machines, and major businesses are simple subsidiaries of the Octon Corporation. And behind the facade of a functional society there is a police state, manned by an army of infallible robots. Their loyalty to Octan is uncompromising and they are not susceptible to the emotions of solidarity and sympathy that an a human being may have. The only human involved in the police industry, “Good Cop Bad Cop”, has to erase (quite literally, with nail polish remover) his human side after he hesitates to murder his own parents on order. “I have a job to do” he says, before proving that not even his family can escape police violence.

The work force of Bricksburg is a highly concentrated one, skyscrapers and synchronised traffic, alongside public transport, are necessary to bring the workers from their homes to their workplaces. It is here that we are introduced to Emmet, a construction worker. Alongside a hundred others, he works with immense coordination and teamwork to build skyscrapers. Despite it appearing so on the surface, this is not simply out of his passion for teamwork. It is also a necessity for the scale and time frame of projects that are being built. The complexity and physical size of industry in Bricksburg has reached a level where it is no longer possible for individuals or small groups to complete projects. The masses of workers have to work together to get the job done.

Emmet soon finds himself, taken along by fate, amongst a group of revolutionary-minded intellectuals who call themselves “Master Builders”. These Master Builders reveal to us that President Business (now referred to as Lord Business) intends to use the “Kragle” (a brand name for super glue) to solidify the Lego realms. His drive to do this is a hatred of how the citizens keep “changing” everything – that is, attempting to build a world that works for them and not the fetishized perfection of Lord Business.

The Master Builders, however, have seemingly failed to overpower Lord Business up to this point, and we are shown the flaws in their power system and revolutionary strategy. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, the congress they hold to discuss strategy contains only Master Builders. No representatives of the workers or citizens of the Lego realms are present. The only worker present, Emmet, is shunned as unintelligent.

When police forces carry out their raid on Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Master Builders construct a submarine in an attempt to escape. Without any coherent or unified plan, they all build parts onto the submarine separately. This poorly coordinated design results in the structural instability and eventual implosion of the submarine. The intelligentsia have completely failed to grasp “freedom of discussion, unity of action”. They are individuals whose contributions to discussions and debate are invaluable, but only with unified action can they move the frontlines of the revolution forwards.

The issues with the revolutionary strategy of the intellectuals furthermore lies in their condescending assumption that they can bring about the revolution on their own. This is manifested throughout the movie with Wildstyle (a Master Builder) constantly iterating that Emmet (a worker) cannot possibly be the “chosen one” that their prophecy states will bring about an end to Lord Business’ plans.

Yet, Emmet is the one who figures out how to break into Lord Business’ tower to retrieve the Kragle, where it is hidden on the “infinitieth floor”. Emmet literally conquers what the intellectuals deemed was impossible. It was Emmet, whose familiarity with the system gave him a unique insight into how to conquer it.

Even with Emmet’s plan however, our heroes are unable to take down Lord Business alone and we see them crushed when their small team is captured. In their darkest moment, Emmet sacrifices himself to rescue the Master Builders. In awe at the loss of the only person they thought could progress their cause, one of our protagonists solemnly states “if only there were more people in the world like he”.

“Maybe there are”

Maybe there are other people like Emmet, the Master Builders realise, turning to see the carnage in the city of Bricksburg. With the masses of workers on their side, mustered by a rousing speech, true revolution begins to unfold. It is clear now that the vanguard of the revolution is not, and cannot be, an elite few. The vanguard is the working masses.

Alongside this, we see a truly beautiful portrayal of the nature of dialectics. The way in which, a system which generates increasing contradictions will eventually reach a boiling point where the old systems must be replaced with a new. The character Unikitty is a Master Builder who up until this point has preached positivity on the basis that change can be manifested with pure attitude. At the moment of revolution, this character finds themselves unable to strike back against the violence of the Octon Corporation with her positive attitude alone. She takes action at last, standing up and physically fighting the soldiers of oppression.

The Lego Movie is an excellent portrayal of the necessity to mobilise the masses to enact revolutionary change, and how an elite few cannot progress change on their own. It is a perfect example of how the vanguard of a revolution cannot be the intelligentsia, detached from the system of oppression that they intend to overthrow. It must be the working masses whose united power and material circumstances have put them in a position where they can mobilise to enact change.