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Deconstructing LEGO

The Medium and Messages of LEGO Play

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jonathan Rey Lee

    1. Cascadia College, Bothell, USA

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  • Uses the concept of bricolage to explore how LEGO meaningfully participates in popular culture as a toy medium and media toy

  • Draws upon different influential theories or concepts such as the philosophy of architecture, gender performativity, digitality, transmedia storytelling, and psychoanalysis

  • Includes many multimedia reflections and comparisons that bring LEGO into conversation with miniatures, toy theaters, dolls, videogames, films, animation, and toys-to-life narratives

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xlii
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  2. Theorizing LEGO Bricolage: Medium, Message, Method

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 1-26

  3. Housing Play in LEGO Construction Toys

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 27-64

  4. Playing House with LEGO Friends

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 65-107

  5. Digital Analogs: Bricks, Worlds, and Dimensions

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 109-146

  6. Story Toys: Transmedia Play in LEGO Star Wars

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 147-186

  7. Toy Stories: Attachment Play in The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 187-229

  8. After Words: The LEGO Sandbox

    • Jonathan Rey Lee
    Pages 231-239

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 241-281
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Keywords

About this book

This book investigates a paradox of creative yet scripted play—how LEGO invites players to build ‘freely’ with and within its highly structured, ideologically-laden toy system. First, this book considers theories and methods for deconstructing LEGO as a medium of bricolage, the creative reassembly of already-significant elements. Then, it pieces together readings of numerous LEGO sets, advertisements, videogames, films, and other media that show how LEGO constructs five ideologies of play: construction play, dramatic play, digital play, transmedia play, and attachment play. From suburban traffic patterns to architectural croissants, from feminized mini-doll bodies to toys-to-life stories, from virtual construction to playful fan creations, this book explores how the LEGO medium conveys ideological messages—not by transmitting clear statements but by providing implicit instructions for how to reassemble meanings it had all along.

Reviews

“Jonathan Rey Lee’s Deconstructing LEGO: The Medium and Messages of LEGO Play brings a media studies approach to the critical consideration of LEGO’s popular plastic bricks and minifigures, which have become near-ubiquitous icons of childhood (and, increasingly, adulthood). … the difficulty in breaking beyond the ‘spaces of LEGO play’ indicates LEGO’s deeper success in naturalizing its tightly controlled, self-contained brand as synonymous with play itself.” (Colin Fanning, American Journal of PLAY, Vol. 14 (1), 2022)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Cascadia College, Bothell, USA

    Jonathan Rey Lee

About the author

Jonathan Rey Lee teaches just outside Seattle at Cascadia College. In the spirit of “hard fun,” he deconstructs material play media such as toys and tabletop games.  Jonathan has previously published articles on the material philosophy of the LEGO System and the ideology of creativity in The LEGO Movie.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Deconstructing LEGO

  • Book Subtitle: The Medium and Messages of LEGO Play

  • Authors: Jonathan Rey Lee

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53665-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-53664-0Published: 09 September 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-53667-1Published: 10 September 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-53665-7Published: 08 September 2020

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XLII, 281

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 37 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Youth Culture, Global/International Culture, Popular Culture

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