Movies & TV

The movie is WAY too fucking soft on the Once-ler and humanizes him in ways that the book never did. It really ruins the whole thing, because it creates a bypolar message that if you just don't listen to the corrupting influences (the Once-ler extended family), then maybe none of this would have happened to begin with. Making a movie out of The Lorax is a hard task and should probably prompt the question "Should we make a movie out of The Lorax?" But hey, business is business, you know? The book is very critical of the nature of business; it's very explicit that the Once-ler isn't concerned about the impact he's causing until everything is burned to the ground and he's lived in the waste. The movie pitches the Once-ler as a plucky runt, a black sheep of the family, a entrepid entrapanuer who is just trying to get his idea into the world. All he wants to do, his only motivation in the movie, is to prove his family wrong, and show that he can actually amount to something. In the end, it's his family that inspires his greed. He betrays the Lorax to retain the love and adoration of his mother, brothers, and uncle, only to lose it anyway when the cash flow dries up. He's become fully sympathetic, and the thing he is most sad about is breaking his promise to the Lorax.

When you contrast him against the other villain in the film, the person selling people air, he doesn't seem so bad at all. I mean, he just wanted to sell a nice sweater and was caught up with interpersonal drama, and that's the only reason he cut down all the trees. Not because businesses must grow, not because business inherently demands a shortsighted perspective. The book has a strong message: This is what businesses do, and unless someone speaks for the trees, this is going to happen over and over again. It causes so much damage that even the capitalists can't ultimately escape. The movie, however, is different. The movie tells us that some capitalists are just plucky little guys who could do the right thing and sometimes don't, who try to make good or useful things even though it might have harm to the environment, while others only exist to exploit you and the things you need to live. The reality is that all capitalists exploit the things you need to live because man does not exist outside of nature.

I'm old school so the 60s cartoon is canonical, idk about the cgi one

I think he speaks for the trees

The 1972 animation version/book? Hell yeah. It's actually one of my favourite videos (even if it does make me kinda sad). It's not perfect, but it's a serious call to people to re-evaluate their impact on the world and think about what's truly sustainable. Should be required watching for all people.

The 2012 movie? Never seen it, but my understanding is it's utterly corrupted meaningless shite, and I'm meaningfully convinced it's deliberate propaganda to obscure the original message.

I mean jesus, they then licensed Lorax IP to a fucking ICE SUV. Dr Seuss must've been spinning in his grave

Mazda used the likeness of The Lorax's setting and characters in an advertisement for their CX-5 SUV. ... Universal chose to partner with the Mazda CX-5 because it is "a really good choice for consumers to make who may not have the luxury or the money to buy electric or buy hybrid. It's a way to take the better environmental choice to everyone."

I've always interpreted the character of the Lorax as being a version of Jesus who didn't have any inherent power to absolve our sins through suffering and death, and so could only save who he could before escaping to heaven and leaving behind a fundamentally doomed world.

he's a liberal

Great moustache

That motherfucker wants me to care about trees and shit? Fucking gay. Get that commie outta here.