Interpreting Trump's America: What we can learn from the 2014 Lego movie.

What can a 2014 children’s movie about plastic toys teach us about the current Trump administration? In the case of The Lego Movie, a surprising amount. The film’s narrative of a business mogul-turned tyrant offers a powerful, if not unintentional, allegory for the political landscape of modern America. 

The film’s plot provides the framework for this analogy. The Lego Movie follows Emmet, a perfectly average, law-abiding worker who is mistaken for a prophesied hero destined to save the world. He is recruited by rebels, in particular Wyldstyle to stop the tyrannical Lord Business, planning to use a superweapon called “Kragle” to permanently glue the Lego world into a state of rigid, unchangeable order. Emmet's role is a classic protagonist tale of finding his inner hero and thwarting the evil plan.


As you might imagine, Lord/President Business of the Octan Corporation, draws similarities to Trump, however, not simply in the way of Trump’s transition from real estate mogul to the presidency; but his business acumen being the primary and arguable sole qualification for office. Much like Trump, President business’ worldview is shaped by his corporate background, having a strong desire to run the world with a rigid, top-down authority. This mirrors a recent interview on Times Radio where Trump’s role was framed as CEO of America Incorporated; viewing every decision as a transactional matter of surplus or deficit. It’s important to remember that for Trump a deficit is seen not simply as poor business but personal weakness, something even worse!


President Business represents this notion of corporatism and oligarchy, using money and power to inform and influence government policy, and eventually take full control. What is evident throughout the movie for the characters is that it hides in plain sight! Right at the beginning of the film President Business goes on TV talking about his evil plan, before the channel is abruptly switched. 


Is this not the perfect analogy for project 2025, Trump's ramblings on Truth Social and various interviews his cabinet have done. We all knew Trump’s agenda because it was laid out right in front of us. Granting Trump power meant that certain basic rights would become at risk of being revoked. The shock is therefore, not that we had no idea of Trump's intentions, but that he is actually enacting them on a mass scale.


The role of Kragle (super glue) in the movie permanently sticks the world together in President Business’ vision. The Kragle here serves as a physical manifestation of the type of authoritarianism Trump admires and advocates. The act of gluing everything in place creates a static, ordered world in which the status quo is maintained. With no room for deviation, Trump is using Kragle to glue education, healthcare, trans rights and immigration, all with the aim of accumulating more power for him and his associates. 


What then is the role of Emmet? The movie's protagonist. I don’t think it is the case that Emmet represents the antithesis of Lord Business, which in the context of the United States might be the democratic party. Instead, Emmet is the embodiment of mass complicity, aimlessly going about their personal life, free from any critical engagement from the world around him. The movie’s theme song “everything is awesome” highlights the state of enforced, blissful ignorance where the song serves as a type of propaganda, discouraging critical thought. This mindset of blissful ignorance provides fertile ground for authoritarianism. While Emmet represents a general societal complicity, this specific brand of determined optimism—insisting 'everything is awesome' even as the world is being glued together—finds a clear parallel in the uncritical loyalty of the American populist right towards the Trump administration.


Wyldstyle’s function is to bring Emmet out of this complicity, and peer behind the narrative pushed by President Business. In doing so, Emmet learns that complicitly following instructions can only get you so far, and that there lies a deeper meaning behind life, when this façade is taken away.


This leaves us with the crucial question: what form will our Wyldstyle take? Escaping a state of mass disavowal requires the intervention of an outsider—Lacan's 'Other'—an external force that shatters our shared illusions. And though a groundswell of activism suggests a collective awakening has begun, the work is far from over. There is still much Kragle to break

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