Growing up, "The Lorax" was my favorite bedtime story. I was enthralled by its colorful pictures, furry creatures, and quirky characters. When the Once-ler arrived, I rooted for the Lorax’s efforts to save his home with every fiber of my being; at the same time, part of me felt bad for the Once-ler. It’s easy to sympathize with both characters: one wants to follow his dream and make himself into a success, the other seeks protection for his home from the outside forces of greed and carelessness. The ambitious side of some will likely see part of him or herself in the former; the activist side of others will see themselves reflected in the latter. However, I always wanted to be the one to fix it all; I wanted to be the “UNLESS” and undo all of the harm of the Thneed.
When the movie was made back in 2012, I remember not watching it for some time after its premiere. The idea of Danny DeVito voicing the character who had become the voice of my conscious (“I speak for the trees!” was saying, to me, “I speak for those who cannot!”) felt odd; the book was so effectual that the place of a movie felt inappropriate - like it was ruining a good thing.
It was fairly recently that, while babysitting, I re-watched the movie for the first time in many years. And my God, it made me cry. Twelve-year-olds — like me in 2012 - watching this film aren’t able to grasp the corporate accuracy of the creation of the Thneeds (still a ridiculous name that manages to make me laugh every time). They don’t see the scary accuracy of corporate America that is represented in the expansion of the Once-ler’s company. A character who shows up with blind ambition suddenly becomes maddened with power and greed, willing to show out his welcoming hosts to further his own interests. He destroys the local environment to the point of it becoming completely arid, all while maintaining that his actions are for the greater good - increasing the economy, becoming successful — whatever he wants to call it. And it can’t be argued: he became successful. He was dumb rich.
But at what cost?
In modern America, the concern is often raised about the negative impacts of capitalism, consumerism, and materialism. We know we consume too much. We know that the environmental damage caused at the hands of multinational companies is irreversible. We know that in a system where we only want to buy the newest, hottest item, we lose functionality and become so attached to “stuff” that we become incapable of recognizing its toll on ourselves and others. While we recognize these problems, it often stops there. This is one of the harshest truths of our society - when we recognize a problem and choose to do nothing, we bear the responsibility of our inaction.
What we must remember, however, is that there is hope. Just like the Once-ler eventually learns to accept the harm he’s caused and seek to remedy it, we can too choose to act rather than sit on the sidelines when we see injustice occurring in its many forms. We must all strive to be the “UNLESS” in our varyingly sized worlds. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to others, and we owe it to the Lorax.
