Chabon's Outcast: The Evolution Of Legos
Chabon’s podcast explains the evolution of Legos over time and how it is taking away creativity from children. He first starts the podcast by explaining what Legos were during his childhood time, which were solid square and rectangular blocks offered in many colors which encouraged children to use their creativity to make whatever came to their mind. He fast-forwards to when his three-year old daughter became interested in Legos so he decides to buy her a Lego set which was quite complex and came with war painted mini figures, horses, a canoe, a rocky cliff, and much more. When he started playing with Legos in the late 1960s, it was abstraction driven but when he bought that Indian Lego set for his daughter in the late 90s, abstraction was
dead. He states that Legos are now sold in kits that come with wordless manuals that are filled with steps that you must follow instead of a printed booklet that suggested what you might want to make. Legos building that was once open-ended and exploratory was now is much more associated with puzzle solving where there is one provided solution. He later references the movie Toy Story and how it shows what is the right way and wrong way to play with your toys by using Sid as an example because he puts a wrestler action figure in a dress. Basically, children are finding their own way towards creativity even though toys are changing. One key quote from the podcast that I found curious was, “Lego realism was doomed.” I don’t completely agree with the quote because I feel that now since there are way more different types of Legos that it makes creativity more expandable. This makes Lego realism a bit greater instead of doomed in my point of view. Lastly, my question that is left unanswered is, “Will creativity be diminished in the future once technological advances take place?”
dead. He states that Legos are now sold in kits that come with wordless manuals that are filled with steps that you must follow instead of a printed booklet that suggested what you might want to make. Legos building that was once open-ended and exploratory was now is much more associated with puzzle solving where there is one provided solution. He later references the movie Toy Story and how it shows what is the right way and wrong way to play with your toys by using Sid as an example because he puts a wrestler action figure in a dress. Basically, children are finding their own way towards creativity even though toys are changing. One key quote from the podcast that I found curious was, “Lego realism was doomed.” I don’t completely agree with the quote because I feel that now since there are way more different types of Legos that it makes creativity more expandable. This makes Lego realism a bit greater instead of doomed in my point of view. Lastly, my question that is left unanswered is, “Will creativity be diminished in the future once technological advances take place?”