Adam Smith and The Lego Movie Midterm Paper In the Warner Brother’s production, The Lego Movie, many of the characters, scenes, themes, and movie lines illustrate the ideas of the economist, Adam Smith. Smith expresses his ideas through two of his books, The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith explains “what it means to be ‘wealthy’ in a commercial society,” and in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith explains “how deeply flawed humans learn to be civil, cooperative, happy, and free” (Garnett). In these two books, Smith writes about not only what he thinks is most beneficial for a growing economy, but also about what is most detrimental. The Lego Movie illustrates both of Smith’s views of the economy through the components and make-up of the movie. One Smithian idea appears in the lines of The Lego Movie’s theme song, “Everything is Awesome.” The lyrics are as follows: “We’re all working in harmony. Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you’re a part of a team.” Smith’s example of the woolen coat from The Wealth of Nations is represented through these song lyrics. “The woollen coat… is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of workmen” (WNS). This definition from Smith’s work states that the “woolen coat,” which symbolizes wealth, is created through the cooperation and harmony of workmen who all hold different jobs and have different specialties (Garnett). The ‘woolen coat,’ and furthermore, the division of labor is one of the key concepts for creating an efficient commercial society, according to Smith (Garnett). If the workmen were to work individually or without the help of others, they would not nearly be as productive, efficient, or wealthy as if they were to work as a team. As the song states, “everything is cool when you’re a part of a team.”
Emmet Brickowski, the protagonist of