Fox Business: LEGO Movie "Anti-Capitalist"

[Mirrorknight]

So I -was- going to wait until it came out on Netflix or something to see this, but now I just ordered tickets for me and my roommates. I'm thinking emailing this guy the receipt, thanking him for the the push to go see this in the theater and paying for other people to do so.

 

[Kuala BangoDango]

Honestly I think this is Fox using reverse psychology to help sell a product.

Fox KNOWS how much people hate them and KNOW that them being "against" something will drive consumers to do the opposite which in this case is make the movie more popular, sell more toys, etc.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Fox has business ties somewhere with the movie-makers/Lego.

 

[razer17]

Considering how they, and I imagine a large part of their viewership, indoctrinate their kids into religion, I'm going to go ahead and say that's the pot calling the kettle black.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I pretty sure that I had typed this out already but I gonna typed it again, there are people who view Fox are a serious news channel?

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

These are the moments when I hide my head in shame and wish that Fox would stop making the rest of us Republicans look bad.

You're more right than you know. Honestly - I consider myself Independent verging on get me the hell out of here - there's this Republican running for governor in my state and? he seems okay, he seems sane, he seems like his agenda isn't far from what I'd like to see happen here specifically, but I'll be damned if I vote for him because I live in terror of giving any power base to the nut jobs and whackos that have the loudest screeching voices for Republican sides on the larger stages. Sorry but, there it is. Cull the herd and get back on message is what I think y'all have to do.

 

[Baresark]

Well... if anything, the movie is pro-capitalist. The Master Builders represent the free economy and people's right to choose. Lord Business wants to eliminate peoples right to choose. He is a dictator with the title, "CEO". He wants no one to choose anything about the world but him. Here is the thing.. CEO's are not the cornerstone of business, but Fox fails to realize this. People are: Consumers, workers on all levels... CEO's don't actually do a lot (as demonstrated by a great many business studies, they simply give the impression they are the most important. Fox and other media back up this fundamental misconception). But... I wouldn't expect Fox to understand that either. CEO is a title, it doesn't mean, "purveyor of the free market".

 

[Alpha Maeko]

The Hutts in Star Wars are made out to be evil, greedy, selfish toads with immense financial power.

Norly.

 

[Callate]

Because there are still people who insist on trotting out the "all news sources are equally bad and all trying to push an agenda" chestnut (no, they're not), a couple of offerings.

One, not for the first time, and probably not for the last: Fox News is quite literally responsible for the legal precedent in the U.S. that the news media can lie to the public.

Two, more unscientifically, I took the liberty of jotting down the "metered" responses on the first 100 results on Politifact when searching for "Fox News", "CNN", and "MSNBC".

Fox News had about 44% of their metered results rated "mostly false" or worse; CNN and MSNBC each had about 29%. Fox News also had as many "Pants on Fire" results as CNN and MSNBC put together.

Other media sources, particularly in the 24-hour news cycle, certainly have their flaws and biases. They're sensationalist, afraid of getting scooped, slow to make corrections and retractions, and quick to jump on promising false leads.

Fox is worse. Far worse. Multiple studies have concluded that people who make Fox their only source of news are less informed than those who get news from other sources, and one infamously concluded that they were less informed than those who claimed to watch no news at all.

So if you want to claim Fox is no worse than anyone else, you should back that up; from where I stand, that's dogma, not reality.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

The part that really stunned me was when he said "Why would the CEO be an easy target??"

That just shows an incredible disconnection from reality. Even if you hold the opinion that all CEOs are righteous and wonderful, you simply cannot deny that public opinion of CEOs is generally incredibly negative.

 

[Muspelheim]

I'm an American and this man and Fox news do not represent me.

Don't worry. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together ought to know that, already. Although that isn't always the case, I'm afraid.

Honestly this is the stupiest part:

why would the CEO be an easy target?

Very easily...? Have you not been paying attention Fox? There was this whole "occupy" thing that happened. And even before that there has always been a section of whiny naive college students people who think that everyone with more money than them is a horrible bloodsucking monster.

That said, LOL @ the idea of a LEGO movie being "Anti-Capitalist"

Well, while everyone with more money than them consider them nothing but lazy sods and borderline terrorists attempting to make someone else do their work for them.

It's an odd arrangement, but there we are.

 

[InvisibleMan]

Oh, boy... here goes Fox News again...

I don't want to spoil anything about the movie, but let me just point out that "Mr. Business" has very little to do with the character running a business, fictional or not. Fox News is just harping on the character's title. This would be very clear to them if they had actually watched the movie.

Yes, "RoboCop" was anti-corporate. No, "The LEGO Movie" is not anti-corporate, and the "corporation" has next to nothing to do with an allegory of actual corporations. If anything, LEGO pokes fun at itself at times as a corporation in this movie, but it is just a side joke.

 

[RicoADF]

Yes because a ceo is such a caring and generous person for paying people that do the actual work while he/she sits around and eats all the bananas. Double true for American CEOs.

 

[Gigano]

...if two major corporations actually were to make good money out of selling anti-capitalist messages to anti-capitalists, surely such would be celebrated as the ultimate victory for capitalism?!

Anyway, I'd be more concerned about how "Dr. Evil" from Austin Powers is obviously a slanderous misrepresentation of the scientific community. That is to say, not concerned in the least.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I haven't seen the movie and won't comment on it, but the responses to Fox's claims here are incredibly weak.

- "What about Superman/Alien/every other movie on earth with evil corporations?"
That directly contributes to Fox's points. Anti-business attitudes are rampant in Hollywood. Businessmen are the single most common villainous and murdering profession presented on TV and in movies (I don't have the study on hand).

I know the study you're referring to (Lichter and Rothman). The problem I have with it is that 'businessman' is an utterly generic moniker for basically any high paying white collar job that involves chasing money. CEO, banker, financial planner, investment analyst, accountant, stockbroker, economist, treasurer, venture capitalist, small business owner... there are so many professions that the study crushes together to give a false pretense that business is being unreasonably demonised. If were to conflate every blue collar job, you'd find a similarly high figure.

What's more, the study neglects to consider that the employment of other villains is not always disclosed because they don't always have professional motivations to commit the crime (many of them being crimes of passion, for instance). The professions of white collar criminals are usually disclosed in TV and film because there is a professional motive for the audience to consider.

 

[Vigormortis]

And I suppose every form of entertainment that features an evil corporation is anti-capitalist. Things like Aliens, Resident Evil, and Superman.

Well, of course.

Come on, Canadamus! Get with the times, man!

 

[TotalerKrieger]

Granted that Fox News and Fox Broadcasting are separate divisions...but maybe these people should take a look at their own productions before bitching about other's work.

Best Simpsons character by far. The early seasons really wouldn't have the been same without the subtle and sometimes less than subtle anti-capitalist tendencies.

 

[Jeroenr]

Is it me, or did the guy they interviewt was trying to keep his face straigt.
It really lookt to me he could burst in to laughter any moment.

 

[Saltyk]

These are the moments when I hide my head in shame and wish that Fox would stop making the rest of us Republicans look bad.

I totally understand. Most of the people I know are Republicans. None of them are against things like gay marriage, abortion, or any number of other things that "Evil, slimy, money grubbing Republicans" are against. They are simply for low taxes and small government that doesn't interfere in their lives.

At worst, most of them don't even care one way or the other about those other subjects. Most of them would even support legalizing marijuana for medical, if not recreational, use.

 

[The_Echo]

Isn't the "bad guy in a business suit" kind of the staple of children's movies?

Y'know, because they represent adulthood and a "NO FUN" mentality?

I mean, jeez Fox, if you're about to slander a children's movie, at least do it for a reason that hasn't already happened countless other times.