Abstract
In this chapter, author Derek Johnson explores how LEGO’s investment in media diversity discourses extends from its licensed themes to new proprietary endeavors that acknowledge consumers—and their play objects—as raced and gendered. By considering the bodies that can and cannot be built with LEGO products, as well as who The LEGO Group imagines as part of its branded culture of play, Johnson argues that LEGO has begun to challenge the politics of universality that it formerly embraced. These dynamics reveal both how the licensing practices of media franchising can catalyze more diverse and inclusive cultural commodities and how that capacity for change gets incorporated within the design, product differentiation and branding strategies of construction play.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Admin. (2018). LEGO Mosaic Maker coming to New York! The Brick Blogger. http://thebrickblogger.com/2018/06/lego-mosaic-maker-coming-to-new-york/. Accessed on June 4, 2018.
Banet-Weiser, S. (2012). AuthenticTM: The politics of ambivalence in a brand culture. New York: New York University Press.
Brzeski, P. (2016). “Rogue One” lands China release date. Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/rogue-one-lands-china-release-date-953678. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Ching, A. (2012). Marvel NOW! gets an all-female team of FEARLESS DEFENDERS. https://www.newsarama.com/10480-marvel-now-gets-an-all-female-team-of-fearless-defenders.html. Accessed on April 1, 2019.
Cohen, J. (2017). Disney Store is selling an official Ms. Marvel costume. Comic Book Resources. https://www.cbr.com/disney-official-ms-marvel-costume/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Corporate social responsibility update 2017. (2017). The Walt Disney Company. https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2017disneycsrupdate.pdf. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Desta, Y. (2016). The year Disney started to take diversity seriously. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/disney-films-inclusive. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Dev, A. (2015). American Muslims were proud of “Kamala Khan”. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/American-Muslims-were-proud-of-Kamala-Khan/articleshow/42473218.cms. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Dinh, C. (2017). Marvel to launch new animation franchise “Marvel Rising”. Marvel.com. https://www.marvel.com/articles/marvel-to-launch-new-animation-franchise-marvel-rising. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
duCille, A. (1996). Skin trade. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Duke, A. (2013). Marvel’s newest superhero is a Muslim-American teen. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/showbiz/ms-marvel-muslim-superhero/index.html. Accessed on April 1, 2019.
Ford, R. (2016). Black Santa and hip-hop “Oliver Twist”: Disney’s diversity push. Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/black-santa-hip-hop-oliver-twist-disneys-diversity-push-942983. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Gerald. (2016). LEGO announces their brand new BrickHeadz range! Geek Culture. https://geekculture.co/lego-announces-their-brand-new-brickheadz-range/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Go Brick Me. (n.d.). LEGO shop. https://shop.lego.com/en-US/product/Go-Brick-Me-41597. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Graser, M. (2014). Marvel introduces first female Thor in new comicbook series. Variety. https://variety.com/2014/biz/news/marvel-introduces-first-female-thor-in-new-comicbook-series-1201262561/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Gray, J. (2010). Show sold separately: Promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York: New York University Press.
Hayes, B. (2015). “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the little casting choice that makes a huge impact. Screen Crush. http://screencrush.com/star-wars-diversity-casting/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Holloway, D., & Lang, B. (2016). Casting directors under pressure to represent today’s America in film, TV. Variety. https://variety.com/2016/tv/features/diversity-movies-tv-casting-directors-1201905037/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Johnson, D. (2014a). Chicks with bricks: Building creative identities across industrial design cultures and gendered construction play. In M. J. P. Wolf (Ed.), LEGO studies: Examining the building blocks of a transmedial phenomenon (pp. 81–104). New York: Routledge.
Johnson, D. (2014b). Figuring identity: Media licensing and the racialization of LEGO bodies. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(4), 307–325. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877913496211.
Kokas, A. (2017). Hollywood made in China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lopez, L. K. (2012). Fan activists and the politics of race in The Last Airbender. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 15(5), 431–445. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877911422862.
Lopez, R. (2017a). Despite dollars in diversity, Hollywood still averse to making inclusive films. Variety. https://variety.com/2017/film/news/diversity-box-office-winners-hollywood-1202603438/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Lopez, R. (2017b). Women and non-White characters are speaking more in recent Star Wars movies. Variety. https://variety.com/2017/film/news/star-wars-diversity-dialogue-bechdel-test-rogue-one-1202633473/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Ouellette, L. (2018). MTV: #ProsocialTelevision. In D. Johnson (Ed.), From networks to Netflix: A guide to changing channels (pp. 147–156). New York: Routledge.
Responsibility report 2013. (2013). The LEGO Group. https://www.lego.com/r/www/r/aboutus/-/media/aboutus/media-assets-library/progress-report/lego_group_responsibility_report_2013.pdf?la=en-US&l.r=-1861804705. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Responsibility report 2016. (2016). The LEGO Group. https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/responsibility/our-policies-and-reporting/responsibility-report-2016-downloads. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Responsibility report 2017. (2017). The LEGO Group. https://www.lego.com/r/www/r/catalogs/-/media/catalogs/aboutus/csr/reports/2017_responsibility%20report_final_online_2.pdf?l.r=-1411253497. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Scott, S. (2017). #wheresrey? Toys, spoilers, and the gender politics of franchise paratexts. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 34(2), 138–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2017.1286023.
Statt, N. (2015). Director J.J. Abrams weighs in on diversity in the Star Wars universe. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/news/director-j-j-abrams-weighs-in-on-diversity-in-the-star-wars-universe/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Toymaker Lego wins court case against Chinese copycats. (2018). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lego-china-copyright/toymaker-lego-wins-court-case-against-chinese-copycats-idUSKCN1NA2QF. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Tran, A. (2016). LEGO 2016 color palette. The Brick Fan. https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-2016-color-palette/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Tran, A. (2017). LEGO Friends 2018 design change explained. The Brick Fan. https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-friends-2018-design-change-explained/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Tran, A. (2018). LEGO Asia region exclusive set images. The Brick Fan. https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-asia-region-exclusive-set-images/. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Tussey, E., & Bak, M. (2019). Get your cape on: Target’s invitation to the DC Universe. In D. Herbert & D. Johnson (Eds.), Point of sale: Analyzing media retail. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Wade, C., & Riseman, A. (2017). See every line spoken by a woman in the original Star Wars trilogy. Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2015/12/star-wars-all-female-lines-excluding-leia.html. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Wieners, B. (2011). LEGO is for girls. Businessweek. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-12-14/lego-is-for-girls. Accessed on December 7, 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Johnson, D. (2019). A License to Diversify: Media Franchising and the Transformation of the “Universal” LEGO Minifigure. In: Hains, R., Mazzarella, S. (eds) Cultural Studies of LEGO. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32664-7_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32664-7_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32663-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32664-7
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)