Representation

Representation

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Key themes of stereotyping and gender are shown though Emmet and Wyldstyle. There is also much you can write about Vitruvius.





EMMET

Emmet is the main male protagonist and both the film and the video game revolve around his transition from a normal, everyday guy to the hero that saves the world. "The story of a nobody, who saved everybody" - tagline

Emmet is male and white which on one hand conforms to the stereotype of a typical hero or a typical man. However he also counteracts the stereotype that men are dominant and strong as he gets help from a woman (when women are stereotyped to be weak and overly-sensitive), he shows fear and comes across as quite vulnerable and unintelligent. 

In his poster, Emmet is running away from the danger rather than racing it head on. In the TV trailer he says "I want to go home!" in a terrified voice which the producers have done intentionally so that the audience can relate to him much more.



WYLDSTYLE

She does not adhere to beauty ideals. For example, she wears dark clothing, has unnatural hair colours, and has freckles, but she is still depicted as beautiful. This is important because women who challenge beauty ideals are oftentimes depicted as undesirable in the media.

Her name Wyldstyle completely reflects her and her personality. She has a wild style and she is generally a wild person. She links to a post-feminist context of the entire franchise. She is represented as a strong, independent character who is equal if not superior to men. This is supported in the main poster and character poster because her facial expression shows a smirk, although the danger behind her would expect a different reaction. In the poster, the black outfit, catsuit and choker supports this too. As well as this, she mainly assists Emmet and is the strong, brave one as shown in the trailer.




VITRUVIUS

Vitruvius is named after a Roman philosopher with this name, who is best known for writing a 10 volume series book about architecture - which is rather appropriate for a movie about lego.

His character is a noble wizard, with dark skin and a much older man. He is represented as a wise and skilled fighter. This is important as Vitruvius is blind and in the media people with disabilities are often depicted as powerless, evil or less attractive.

As well as this, Vitruvius has completely white hair and is shows to be of an old age which usually contributes to the connotations of a disabled person - powerless and weak.



Analyse how representations of gender have been used in The Lego Movie advertising campaign to appeal to a younger audience. You must talk about the poster campaign as well as the trailer. In your answer you must also refer to relevant media contexts. (10 marks)

Representations of gender have been used in The Lego Movie's advertising campaign to appeal to a younger audience. Evidence of this is through the character of 'Wyldstyle'. Her character does not conform to the typical stereotypes attached to women including overly-sensitivity, vulnerability and weakness. Instead of this - as shown in the poster for her character - her sense of style is very different and have connotations of strength. She wears a black catsuit and a black choker this represents her as an independent woman. Additionally, her facial expression shows calmness despite the mass amount of chaos in the scenery behind her. 

Moreover, Emmet is the ordinary man and the 'accidental hero' who shows that anybody can be a hero - a message which is very appealing and influencing to a younger audience. This is because people can relate to Emmet's sense of normalness - he is not fearless, he does not have superpowers, he is not strong. People that relate to him would aspire to be like him. In The Lego Movie trailer, it is evidential that the film conforms to Propp's theory of heroes and villains. The sterotypical villain is a man with authority - which The Lego Movie conforms which can be considered strange due to the fact that nearly all of the other characters do not conform to their genders representations or stereotypes.