Deconstructing LEGO

The Medium and Messages of LEGO Play

By: Jonathan Rey Lee

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Hardcover | 9 September 2020

At a Glance

Hardcover
324 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.0 x 14.8 x 1.91

Hardcover

$169.00

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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.

Industry 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)

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