The Lorax Theme by Gregor

The Lorax Theme (Movie)

The Lorax was originally created by Dr Seuss as a book in 1971 and was made into a movie in 2012 by Universal and Illumination Entertainment. There are many themes in this movie but I have chosen to take mine from the Lorax’s quote, “A tree falls the way it leans, be careful which way you lean.”

This can relate to a large number of meanings but I interpreted it as leaning too far the wrong way will be your downfall. As the later part of the movie shows the Once-ler who didn’t take the Lorax’s warning becomes his own downfall with no money, no job and no friends living in a desolate place of his own despair and destruction. Thinking about what the Lorax had said and about how one wrong decision sent him into a world he could never had imagined.

As both the story and the movie show greed and the thought of ‘bigger is better’ can ruin a person. In the book the young Once-ler sees an opportunity in the tufts of the truffula trees in which he needs to make his thneeds. He begins to chop down trees and build a huge factory. As the Once-ler progresses he calls in his family and not listening to the Lorax who has been summoned by his deeds he continues ‘Biggering’. first all of the truffula trees are chopped down and there are no truffula fruits for the Bar ba loots the Lorax has to get them to leave. then sky is full of smog and smoke the Swomee Swans can’t fly they to leave. Finally the rivers are filled with slimy slop. The Humming fish can’t live there anymore they leave, The Lorax leave a message on a circle of stones Unless. Then he lifts himself up by the seat of his pants and ascends up and away through the thick smog. The Once-ler is left alone as even his family have left. Every day he looks at the stones Unless. When a boy comes to see him he tells him his story and realises what he must do so he says to the boy. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better it’s not.” The boy is given the last truffula seed and the story has a happy ending.

As you can see from the stories plot greed can lead you to your downfall but it only takes one person no matter how big or small to make it a happy ending I think Dr Seuss had chosen a great topic and that environmental matters are out there and young children should know that. So what happened to this great theme when it was made into a movie?

Ted is a young boy living in Thneedville a city that is plastic and fake with nothing natural. Ted spends a lot of his time trying to impress his wannabe girlfriend, Audrey. On one of these occasions Ted is dragged into Audrey’s back garden where he is shown a realistic painting of truffula trees which don’t exist anymore. With the knowledge that Audrey would marry the finder of a tree on the spot Ted decides to find one. When his Mum is out of the way granny tells Ted about the once-ler who for two cents, a nail and the shell of a great, great Grandfather snail would tell you all about trees. That night Ted sneaks out of town to find the Once-ler, in the outside of town where the grincle grass grows and no birds sing excepting old crows. Over the next few days the once-ler tells his story about the thneeds, the truffula trees, and how he biggered and biggered and how the animals and the Lorax left and how all of this was his fault. (The Once-ler's story is the same as in the book.) Then the Once-ler gives Ted the very last truffula seed. Ted has to outwit the Millionaire air seller Aloysius O’Hare who thinks that the trees who make air for free will be a threat to his business, as well as his two bodyguards/Cronies. With the help of granny who recaptures the seed off of O’Hare and digs the hole with a giant excavator. Mum who drives her car in a convincing dummy manovre and the people of Thneedville who overpower O’Hare Ted plants the seed and new life begins.

The theme stayed and the movie was great promoting safety for the environment and standing up to people who think that they can rip others off and lord over them. Ted shows that we don’t need to all be the same and live a boring life because it only takes one small person to make a big difference good or bad and it only take one person to tip the tables.

Corruption is a big thing in the world today and resembles more or less O’Hares intentions and fits the quote “A tree falls the way it leans, be careful which way you lean.” If you try to control the people like O’Hare, the people will come back and will be your downfall. It was the same with the Once-ler he made a promise not to chop down any trees however harvesting the tufts took too long and driven by parental pressure he started to chop down trees again. The magical valley is polluted and all of the animals leave to find better homes. The Once-ler’s company gets to big, all of the truffula trees are chopped down and no new ones are planted. The company collapses because there are no more tufts. The Once-ler also leaned too far the wrong way and became his own undoing. Leaning is ok, just don’t lean the wrong way.

The leaning quote theme is not the only theme in the story there are some other such as Communication, Forgiveness and Compassion.

Communication. In the movie there is a lot of communication. Especially between the Once-ler and the Lorax. During the film when the Lorax tells the Once-ler to stop cutting down the trees and to leave the valley the Once-ler is listening however he does not obey and lets the demanding Lorax’s words pass right over his head. Like as the saying goes the words go in one ear and out of the other. Because of this the Once-ler carried on and on and destroyed the valley singlehandedly. When he eventually saw his mistake it was too late and the Lorax was gone. There was no one to talk to until Ted came.

In the movie there is a lot of forgiveness. When the Once-ler tells Ted about how he destroyed the forest and cut down all of the trees leaving the animals with nothing. Ted would have been annoyed about what the Once-ler had done and at the cruelty and injustice of it. However O’Hare is not forgiven for his crimes of selling air when the truffula seed was always there for someone to find and make a difference. He also tried to get rid of the seed that would make all the difference as well as running a corrupt business that was making him far too much money. He is attached to a jetpack and the last we see of him he is a little black streak of smoke flying out of Thneedville. Sometimes it’s easier to let things go that to forgive.

Compassion is also a big part of the movie as is portrayed by the Lorax’s love for trees and the animals of the forest. There is also a large amount of comradeship shown when the animals try to get rid of the Once-ler and when they leave the valley. Not all of the Compassion is good like when the Once-ler is forced by compassion for his Mum to begin cutting down trees. Ted has compassion for Audrey and it is this compassion which originally makes him visit the Once-ler to get a tree. Fate works in strange ways.

The Lorax, a book of many themes. Telling us that the environment matters and that leaning the wrong way in life will be our failure and our downfall. I hope that Dr Seuss has managed to convince everyone of the matters around us and that that legacy is carried on in the amazing transition from Lorax book to Lorax movie.