LOL: Fox News Upset Over 'The LEGO Movie'
Considering the massive, well-deserved opening weekend The LEGO Movie just had, odds are many of you got out to the theater and saw it. Hopefully you agree it's a fun, beautiful movie layered with a couple wonderful and touching messages. However, when it comes to messages the film has, "Anti-Business" isn't one of them. If you take it literally, yes, the film's bad guy is named "Lord Business" and our heroes are trying to defeat him. It's "anti-business" in that way but the character isn't pushing "business." He's pushing ultra-conformity and lack of change, two things actual "business" is usually against.
Fox News however, didn't quite get that. Varney and Co host Charles Payne claims the film is another example of Hollywood movies (you know, one of the biggest domestic exports America has) pushing anti-business agendas to the nation's youth. He's so off base, it's pretty entertaining. Check out the video below.
Thanks to Uproxx for the heads up:
Philip Lord, one of the film's co-directors, took to Twitter to discuss the clip with several fans, and here's just one of his responses.
@JackGi this is amazing. They are actually confusing one another
— Phil Lord (@philiplord) February 8, 2014
Film is an art and art, by definition, has any number of interpretations. Each is valid because we view it through out own experiences. If Charles Payne thinks The LEGO Movie is making kids hate business, that's fine. He has every right to say that. And maybe younger kids who love this movie will hear the word "Business" growing up and view it with a negative connotation. That seems doubtful, but anything is possible.
The bigger issue is even if someone does see that in the film, they'd have to be blind to let it overshadow all the film's much more prevalent, obvious messages. Messages like the fact anyone can be "special" with hard work and determination. That creativity can lead to bigger and better things. Teamwork achieves greater results than isolation. If you ask me, those messages are much more central to the film and lend themselves to the business world much better than anything else the movie may or may not say. In that way, I'd go so far to say The LEGO Movie is almost pro-business if anything. Don't believe me? What happens to the character at the end of the film? Is he vilified or redeemed?