The Lego Movie: Two Readings

Yeah, thematic discussion, therefore: SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS!

The Conflict of Interest Reading

The Lego Movie is a fun, quick-paced romp with an uncertain moral. The movie is bogged down by the conflict between wanting to tell a story about an evil corporation taken down by the little guy when the storytellers are in fact on the side of the villain.  Pitting teamwork and rule-following against individual achievement is a problematic theme to present to children, unless you want them to see their teachers and parents as the bad guys.  The convention switch 2/3 of the way in is too abrupt and makes the search for a moral even more muddied.  The climax of the movie attempts to solve the thematic problems with a sort of "work together to do whatever you want" attitude.  The conclusion of the moral "Everyone is the Special" is no better or more revealing than "Everything is awesome." The movie boils down to being a nostalgia vehicle for the viewers old enough to carry credit cards.


The Unreliable Narrator Reading

To understand The Lego Movie, you have to look at it from the perspective of Finn as storyteller.  Apparently conflicting themes, derivative story arcs mashed together, and a general sense of naiveté about societal structures pervade the film because the story is the product of the mind of a young boy.  Children's logic, only a step away from dream logic is the ideal framework for a movie about legos. And the prevailing themes are surprisingly sophisticated. The real world presents a fully-fleshed struggle of a father who must discover that the best way to recapture his childhood is by connecting with his son.  The implicit theme of the lego world by the climax of the movie is one of teamwork through creativity and flexible thinking.  The idea that you make your own destiny was perhaps underdeveloped when reduced to the trite "Everyone is the Special," but an overly elegant moral would contradict the convention that the story is being told by a child.


Which is the better interpretation? I probably fall somewhere in-between the two (and need to re-watch to see if I missed anything thematically).

A Love Letter to Psych

USA announced that Psych will be cancelled in its 8th season. During, mind you, not after. And with no real advance notice to the producers and writers. I greeted this information with sadness but not shock.

For the first 3 seasons or so, I was the only person I knew who watched Psych. I loved it enough to buy seasons as they came out, rather than my traditional wait-six-months-and-pay-half-price route.  I watched all the commentaries. I looked for pineapples. I have the Psych refrigerator poetry set. So I never quite understood why it took people so long to catch on to how amazing this series is. 

Psych has only been nominated for 1 Emmy (for original score, 2010) and has only won 1 People's Choice Award (Favorite Cable TV Comedy, 2014!).  So, except for—apparently—this year, neither critics nor viewers thought much of this plucky show. 

In a television age of overstated pathos and passion, Psych is an ode to the music, movies and television shows that brought joy and fun to our lives. From episode themes (See: Dual Spires) to guest stars (Ally Sheedy, Cary Elwes, and William Shatner) to character names (a character named Jason in the Friday the 13th ep. "Tuesday the 17th"), Psych was devoted to reminding its viewers that it's ok to acknowledge those who came before and to build on them.  

I don't understand why Psych occasionally gets billed as a drama. Psych was always intended to be a comedy along the lines of Moonlighting and Remington Steele. Like Moonlighting, Psych is more romantic comedy than crime-solving drama, however, the central relationship is a friendship of the highest order.  Having sexual tension play a secondary role to fun-loving characters who constantly get in over their heads (wow, just realized the similarities to Scooby-doo) means that no character's dating life is allowed to high-jack the show.  

Psych stays true to its message: the joys and consequences of irresponsibility and making light of the serious.  Beyond the characters, the independent and silly nature of the show can be found from the top down.  Steve Franks is the creator, producer, director, writer, and composer AND performer of the show's theme song.  This is a guy that my generation would expect to find making a web series, not 8 seasons of cable TV (because nobody does everything in the corporate world). 

Everyone talks about the amount of improv in shows featuring former SNL stars.  No one talks about how Psych scripts include lines like "/angry whisper fight/" or that every button of a scene with James Roday is the funniest take of him talking until the cameras stop rolling.  What other show would resurrect an outtake of an improved line at the end of a scene (thus cutting something else) and turn it into the icon of the entire series?  

What other show would quote movies so obscure that they feel compelled to explain what was quoted in the commentaries? (But only the truly obscure ones.)

What show would reference popular products regardless of sponsorship? (Then end up getting sponsorship in a burst of serendipity.)

What show could get away with openly mocking another show on a different network as being a blatant rip off? "'If I were a fake psychic, it would be eerily similar. ' 'Exactly the same' 'A virtual carbon copy.'"

And of course, what other show would have a pregnant interim police chief, a feline witness, a tap-dancing detective, an apartment in a dry cleaning store, a falsely accused polar bear, a lovable-yet-creepy mortician, even more lovable criminals, and of course a fake psychic detective?

No other show. Psych stands alone.