Conley Hausle

Dr. Ouelette
ENGL 327W
14 November 2018
Response Three: Classmate C
One part of Classmate C’s essay I would like to give a star to is his discussion of Legos
being a cultural accessory. He seems to feel that buying Legos for one’s children is simply a part
of being a parent, and I am inclined to agree. Legos are very much a part of culture that endures.
What the company offers absolutely changes, but the Legos themselves remain. Baudrillard
states that “… the whole system becomes weightless, it is no longer itself anything but a giant
simulacrum, that is to say never exchanged for the real, but exchanged for itself, in an
uninterrupted circuit without reference of circumference (Baudrillard, 1990).” This is seen in the
parents who buy their children Legos even if the children do not appear to be interested in the
toys. Rather, they buy them because Legos are a symbol of childhood, and the entire concept is
one giant simulacrum.
Another star I have for Classmate C is his discussion of how Horkheimer and Adorno
would view the way Legos are marketed. Legos are absolutely aimed at children. However, I had
not considered the idea that, by using fandoms that the children are already familiar with in
making their toys creates consumers. This is absolutely true though! For example, as a child I
was a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings. As a result, I was far more likely to request a Lego set
that was based on the series than I was to request a regular Lego set. This indeed falls back on
Horkheimer and Adorno’s idea that the industry creates it’s own consumers by making them
desire something, whatever that may be.
One thing I wish Classmate C would have explored more is his conjecture that Benjamin
would see Legos as diminishing the value of the source material. I feel like this was an excellent
point. Benjamin makes the point that “the conventional is uncritically enjoyed, while the truly
new is criticized with aversion (Benjamin, 2010).” In other words, by utilizing concepts that
already exist, Lego is simply rehashing established concepts to avoid any kind of risk-taking.
This in turn splits the way people see it, as seen in the issue of how consumers seem to prefer
Lego Batman to the Batman in the live action films (Davis, 2017). Both of these characters are
Batman, but one receives preference, and that takes away from the source material. All of these
are things Classmate C could have included, instead of barely touching on his original point. I
think he made a great point, but simply needed to explore it further.

References
Baudrillard, Jean. "Precession of Simulacra." Simulations, Semiotext(e, 1990).
Benjamin, Walter. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Prism Key Press,
2010.
Davis, Johnny. "How Lego Clicked: the Brand That Reinvented Itself | Johnny Davis." The
Guardian, 4 June 2017, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/04/how-lego-
clicked-the-super-brand-that-reinvented-itself. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
Horkheimer, Max and Adorno, Theodor W. “The culture industry: enlightenment as mass
deception.” Media and cultural studies: Keyworks (2006) 41-72.