A tubby panda bear becomes a kung fu master. A snail races in the Indy 500. A forgotten garbage-robot saves humanity. Our cultural products for children these days often reflect the fact that we live in the age of empowerment. It’s become something of a cliché, frankly — the outcast or nobody who wins the big race and/or saves the world. And at first glance, The LEGO Movie, , appears to be no different. The film’s hero, an average construction worker named Emmet, is told that by finding a sacred object, called “the Piece of Resistance,” he has fulfilled a prophecy and become “the Special,” the most interesting and important person in the universe. Wielding the Piece of Resistance, the Special is to lead a rebellion against the dark forces of President/Lord Business, who rules LEGO land with an iron (plastic) fist.
If you think you know where the story goes from here, that’s
because narratives of empowerment have become practically the norm in
American culture. We believe that children need encouragement in order
to become their best selves, and our movies and stories often reflect
that. But have we taken it too far? In an eloquent Luke Epplin criticized children’s films for what he termed the
“magic-feather syndrome” — so named for the feather that Dumbo once
thought could make him fly. (Of course, the feather wasn’t magic at all;
the real feather was Inside Him All Along™, or rather inside his giant,
flapping ears.) Epplin writes:
