the lorax movie essay

Environmental Issues in The Lorax Movie

The lorax environmental issues: essay introduction, movie summary, the lorax: environmental issues analysis, the lorax environmental issues: essay conclusion.

The natural environment is important to all living things since it is the primary source of oxygen and water. The movie The Lorax narrates the story of a walled city that is characterized by an artificial way of life. This is the case since its leaders have supported inappropriate practices that have eventually left the surrounding environment uninhabitable by both animals and human beings. This essay gives a detailed summary and discussion of this film. It goes further to offer comparisons with the environment and how people can transform the situation.

The selected film gives a detailed analysis of Thneedville and the issues many populations face today. Ted Wiggins is presented as a young boy who adores and admires Audrey. Ted is forced to find a real tree in an attempt to astound her. This personal mission eventually makes it possible for him to meet the Once-ler and understand what happened to the environment. Ted realizes that the surrounding region is a barren and contaminated wasteland. The mayor of Thneedville is a shareholder of the main company that produces and markets bottled oxygen to different residents. According to O’Hare, trees are unacceptable since they threaten his business directly. He later learns that the Lorax, also the guardian of the surrounding environment, once cautioned the Once-ler and encouraged him not to cut another tree. However, the success of his business venture eventually triggers mass deforestation. This desire for wealth eventually destroys the natural environment. The Once-ler later realizes that he has disoriented the lives of both human beings and animals. He gives Ted the remaining Truffula seed. This action eventually becomes a new opportunity for reminding the people of Thneedville about the role of nature. After the seed germinates and becomes a mature tree, a new forest grows and life returns to normal.

The studied movie gives a detailed analysis of the major issues affecting many communities today. Although Thneedville is artificial, the outstanding comparison is that deforestation has become a reality in many urban regions. The story of Ted and his desire to impress Audrey becomes a new opportunity for transforming this city. This instinct exhibited by Lorax can become a good example for today’s society. The film reveals that Lorax’s friendship with the Once-ler ends after he cuts more trees. This kind of practice can guide more people in every community to conserve the environment and reduce different malpractices, such as contamination and pollution.

The experiences and challenges many people in Thneedville go through echo the issues that human beings are facing today. For instance, the city has a company that produces and markets artificial oxygen since forests have been destroyed. This means that many have increased chances of leading unhealthy and difficult lives unless something is done. The movie goes further to reveal how the areas surrounding the city are barren, empty, and contaminated. This is a clear indication that any action that does not promote or result in environmental conservation is inappropriate. Human pollution is another malpractice that is capable of delivering similar challenges to the ones described in the selected movie. This is true since it contaminates water and air, thereby killing living organisms and plants.

The actions and initiatives Ted and the citizens of Thneedville undertake are worth emulating since they eventually transformed the environment. Human beings can consider these developments in this movie to plant more trees, reduce forest interference, and engage in sustainable practices. The challenges experienced in the world today should also become meaningful lessons, such as increased global temperatures, rising sea levels, and changing climatic or weather patterns. Business processes that can result in deforestation and distortion should be abandoned. Failure to do so will result in numerous challenges, such as reduced food production, lack of clean air, and contamination of water sources. These issues should, therefore, guide human beings in different parts of the world to do what is right, plant more trees, conserve existing forests, and promote sustainable activities. There is also a need for policymakers and governments to promote proper guidelines that have the potential to address challenges affecting today’s society, including pollution and the use of plastic materials. The movie supports the introduction of community-based efforts to address existing problems and hold politicians, businesspeople, and capitalists accountable for their actions. The ultimate objective is to create a global environment that is characterized by trees, forests, clean air, and undamaged hydrological systems.

The above discussion has presented evidence-based measures and practices for protecting forests and ensuring that the greatest number of people lead high-quality lives. The analyzed movie has indicated that the main aim of every capitalist is to amass wealth while at the same time disregarding the issue of posterity. The realities described in this film should, therefore, become guidelines for conserving the natural environment and implementing policies that will reduce pollution and overuse of resources. Such measures have the potential to transform the world and make it a better place for all.

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‘The Lorax’ movie analysis

By: Ellie Mulvaney and Irene Cohen

Many children’s movies are made with themes that are much less superficial than the frivolous, kid-friendly plots that house them. Often, messages and lessons are disguised in how the characters interact and the way conflict is resolved in order to teach life skills in an intertwining way. ’The Lorax’, originally written by Dr. Seuss, and directed by Chris Renaud, is no exception.

The story follows one Ted Wiggins, a teenage boy living in a seemingly perfect town, though one that is almost entirely artificial. In his quest to find a real tree for the girl he likes, he travels outside the gates of town, against the wishes of the mayor, and antagonist, Mr. O’Hare. He finds a barren and dead landscape, and a man by the name of The Oncler, who retells the story of how his business ruined the surrounding land, resulting in the fake city with no real plants that Ted lives in.

In this, the viewer sees the once thriving ecosystem that once existed, and the Lorax, a creature who protected it. As The Oncler went against the Lorax’s demands to leave the trees alone, we can see the depleting resources for the animals who live there, and the further destruction as the company becomes more large scale. By creating these animal characters, that children come to befriend during the former half of the film, it builds their empathy for when these same animals eventually have to leave what was once their home due to the pollution.

The film even includes a famous Dr. Seuss quote spoken by The Oncler; “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” By teaching children the importance of their actions and their own effect on the world they live in, ‘The Lorax’ film effectively helps raise an awareness of oneself in the future generations, and an understanding of the human footprint on our planet.

Much like in the real world, the depletion of these natural resources, the Truffula trees, and resulting pollution is not the goal, it is a mere side effect of the Onceler’s greed. The Onceler doesn’t care about anything other than his objective of being as wealthy as he can possibly be, no matter the consequences.

In the beginning of the movie, the Onceler is not respected by his relatives because of his lack of his success, but as the plot progresses, and he makes more and more profit off of the Thneeds he produces, he begins to gain their respect. This criticizes our society’s standard of success, because even though his production of these Thneeds is devastating the environment, it doesn’t matter as long as it is “helping the economy.”

In the song “How Bad Can I Be?” it is explicitly stated by the Onceler what he thinks is important in life. It says:

The people with the money (people with the money) Make this ever-loving world go ’round So I’m biggering my company, I’m biggering my factory, I’m biggering my corporate size.

Everybody out there, take care of yours and me? I’ll take care. of. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.

This is an excerpt from the song. We see that the Onceler knows that the people in power are the people with the money, so he will continue to expand his company at the cost of decimating entire forests of Truffula trees and polluting the ecosystem. He believes he should be able to continue this pollution in the name of his company without anyone criticizing him so he can continue generating profit.

All of this ravaging of the ecosystem results in the extinction of Truffula trees, which were the main source of oxygen for the people of the town. Since this natural resource is now scarce, Mr. O’Hare takes advantage of this and commodifies oxygen, a basic right. He begins to sell bottled oxygen to the citizens of his town, something that was once free and natural is now just another commercialized item.

‘The Lorax’ movie cautions its viewers of what capitalist greed could ultimately lead to. When those in power are those who control the economy, society will not progress. To be in control of the economy, you first have to let go of human decency in order to exploit and ruin the lives of others. Basic human rights should never be commodified or considered a luxury.

'The Lorax': A Campy And Whimsical Seussical

David Edelstein

The Once-ler (voiced by Ed Helms) and the Lorax (Danny DeVito) are surrounded by bar-ba-loots in Truffula Valley in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax . Universal Pictures hide caption

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Director: Chris Renaud, Kyle Balda
Genre: Family, Fantasy
Running Time: 94 minute

Rated PG for brief mild language

With: Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift

Watch Clips

'Visiting the Once-ler'

Credit: Universal Pictures

'The Truffula Forest'

'House Guests'

At the far end of town Where the Grickle-grass grows And the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows And no birds ever sing excepting old crows ... Is the Street of the Lifted Lorax.

It's such a joy to read Dr. Seuss aloud, with those serpentine, nonsense words flying out of your mouth as if on their own current. It's a shame there's no narration in the animated feature, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax , and little in the way of verse. Early on, a character not in the book, Audrey, voiced by Taylor Swift, tells lovelorn 12-year-old Ted, voiced by Zac Efron, that once, nearby their now paved-over town, there were truffula trees: "The touch of their tufts was much softer than silk, and they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk" — and Ted says, "Wow, what does that even mean ?" and Audrey says, "I know , right?" So one of the only lines that is from the book, that does have Dr. Seuss' sublime whimsy, is basically made fun of, or at least dragged down to Earth.

The directors and writers made the delightful Despicable Me, and some of them made the last and much better Seuss feature, Horton Hears a Who , but this time they don't seem to trust their material. And maybe they have reason. The book The Lorax tells the story, in flashback, of a young, energetic entrepreneur known as the Once-ler who grows rich by indiscriminately hacking down truffula trees and inadvertently wipes out an entire ecosystem. It's an environmentalist classic, a walloping argument against unchecked growth. But it's nowhere near Seuss' top tier: It doesn't have that thrilling mixture of anarchism and elegance.

It's pure agitprop, with no surprises and a title character — a mysterious creature who "speaks for the trees" — that even Theodore Geisel seems to find a pain, describing him as "shortish. And oldish. And brownish. And mossy," who speaks "with a voice that [is] sharpish and bossy." Fortunately, the Lorax doesn't appear in the book very much and you don't actually have to hear his voice. As opposed to the movie, with its long and loud serenades in the unmellifluous New Jersey tones of Danny DeVito.

Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) tries to impress Audrey (Taylor Swift) by running into the wasteland to talk to the Once-ler. Universal Pictures hide caption

I don't blame DeVito: It's not as if he was hired for his subtlety. He's a good, pushy sitcom actor with expert timing. But given nonstop, crass one-liners, he comes to embody the spirit of the movie in ways I don't think the filmmakers intended.

The movie is broad and raucous and rather campy, and the songs, among them an ironic celebration of capitalism, barely pass muster. There are too many whack-a-mole sight gags featuring adorable bar-ba-loots (bears to you) and three warbling fish. The screenwriters add a stock villain to the framing story, a pint-sized mogul who pollutes by design, since unbreathable air drives up sales of his canned air. He and his goons chase after 12-year-old Ted when the boy ventures into the denuded wasteland to talk to the aged, reclusive Once-ler — not because the kid cares about the environment but to impress the teenage Audrey. I guess that makes him easier to relate to than if he were just, you know, curious about why there are no animals and the landscape looks like the moon.

Don't worry, this one isn't as eyeball-searing as the live-action The Cat in the Hat . The diaphanous texture of the truffula blooms is lovely, and the movie gets more compelling in the last 20 minutes, when the cute animals — not to mention the Lorax — take a hike. For a brief spell, it has the book's sense of loss, its droopy melancholy. You can still discern the stark parable beneath the movie's jokey, facetious tone, but this kind of studio 3-D feature animation is all wrong for the material. The Lorax speaks for the trees, but I must speak for The Lorax .

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Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site., the enduring message of the lorax, years later, dr. seuss’ prescient message in 1971 continues to be relevant and powerful..

One of my all–time favorite children’s books when growing up was The Lorax . I loved the smooth and satisfying rhythm of its rhyming scheme and the detailed and colorful illustrations. I would turn each page slowly as to drink everything in—and I was fascinated by the story.

The Lorax is a Dr. Seuss classic. The book is set in a depressingly decrepit world eroded by pollution. It begins with a young boy visiting a mysterious man called the Once–ler to learn about the disappearance of the magical being called the Lorax. The Once–ler explains to the boy that their world used to be beautiful, filled with cute little creatures and vibrant nature, until the Once–ler began cutting down all the Truffula Trees to make Thneeds, a multi–purpose fabric. He tells the boy that the Lorax tried to stop him. But the Once–ler’s greediness and insatiable desire for more caused him to ignore the Lorax’s pleas and warnings until eventually there was nothing left: no cute little animals, no beautiful nature, no Truffula Trees, and no Lorax.

In 2012, around forty years after the book’s publication, this beloved Dr. Seuss classic was turned into a successful animated musical. I remember dragging my family to see it, my twelve–year–old self eager to see one of my favorite stories on the big screen and ecstatic that the cast featured icons like Zac Efron and Taylor Swift.

The movie was different from the book, with a more intricate plot, cute subplots, and new characters. The movie version names the boy who visits the Once–ler Ted, and the town Thneedville, a society that bought all of the Once–ler’s Thneeds. This town’s infrastructure is completely artificial—they even sell and produce bottled air—and so Ted goes on a quest to find a real tree, hoping to impress his crush who’s a staunch environmentalist.

But since that viewing all those years ago, I haven’t thought much about The Lorax— until recently.

On July 7, The Lorax was uploaded to Netflix . Years later, Dr. Seuss’ prescient message in 1971 continues to be relevant and powerful.

At surface level, the story is a fable about the importance of environmentalism. It reprimands and criticizes big companies and corporations whose products are gradually destroying our ecosystem, and calls out the consumers who perpetuate this vicious cycle.

Indeed, our world is currently in danger, with greenhouse gasses, toxic waste and global warming all causing irreparable damage to our environment. Soon, the detrimental effects of climate change will be irreversible , a fact that is often overlooked by many. Dr. Seuss' warning, therefore, could not be more needed.

But in rewatching The Lorax , it is clear that the moral of Dr. Seuss’ story transcends the call for environmentalism. It’s about activism in general—standing up for justice as a voice for the voiceless. When the Lorax first appears to the Once–ler, he famously introduces himself by saying, “I speak for the trees,” appealing to the Once–ler on their behalf and speaking up against injustice.

It is a story about empathy and caring enough to take action. Dr. Seuss writes, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” This iconic line is how the Once-ler finishes telling Ted his life's story. The Once–ler then tosses Ted the last seed for a Truffula Tree and tells him to plant it. He gives Ted the opportunity to implement change, to right wrongs, to fix what was broken.

The Lorax , therefore, serves as a reminder—one that is desperately needed right now—to speak up against injustice and oppression, and to work to make change. Though The Lorax may be a children's book and movie, this pertinent and powerful message is one to carry on in our adult lives.

The Lorax Movie Analysis Essay Sample

The Lorax is a film directed by Hawley Pratt and written by Dr. Suess that exhibits Pathos, Logos, and Ethos as its primary appeals. The greater significance of the cartoon can be understood from these appeals. When industrialization expands, you will notice that nature is compromised, which isn't a good thing. The more significant symbolism behind this is that the children watching the cartoon have to understand that they are the next generation who must stop deforestation, and this is done with the introduction of wacky characters and the backstory of the Lorax, which signifies that he stands for what's good.

The film’s thesis is that you can see things such as nature go away with the growth of industrialization. In the last scene, the Onceler gives a tree seed to a child. Since the show is aimed at children, Pathos is appealed to more in order to make some colors more prominent than others so that he can show what is negative or positive. Logos is presented with the idea of the expansion of industrialization resulting in the reduction of natural resources.

Throughout the movie, we can see that The Lorax is often neglected and ignored when he tries to voice his opinion on what he cares about; in this case, he cares about the trees and the environment. A universal message throughout all stages of life, for the dispatch to reach the target audience, children, the director appeals to Logos and chooses a wacky character in The Lorax to demonstrate the message. The visual appeals of the movie set a happy and cheerful tone. The trees are in good condition, the animals live in harmony, and the audience can recept this and understand the general idea.

The music used in the show tries to help the audience embody a sense of a joyful feeling when the time is right and a gloomy feeling when the Onceler starts to take over. Not showing the face of the Onceler helps make the audience wonder who exactly is behind this and explain to them it isn’t a specific person and it is instead a general idea. In this case, that idea is Industrialism. Although, some may argue that the predominant devices used in this are different or that there wasn’t a target audience and it was meant for all ages. I believe that with the decision to make a cartoon based around characters such as The Lorax and the Onceler. And the usage of music and rhymes to help further bring out the Pathos, which each event in the show was meant for children.

In conclusion, as stated previously, the more significant symbolism behind this is that the children watching the cartoon have to understand that they are the next generation that has to stop deforestation; this is done with the introduction of wacky characters and the backstory of The Lorax and the Onceler and what they both stand for. The effects of Onceler’s ideology being pushed more than The Lorax’s powerfully shows Pathos for the audience to make a greater connection.

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The Lorax – review

T he Dr Seuss children's books have been adapted by Hollywood before – How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2003) were live-action versions with frantically zany and conceited lead performances from Jim Carrey and Mike Myers respectively; both films were pretty well unwatchable. A mention perhaps should go to the drama I Am Sam (2001) with Sean Penn giving a highly mannered performance as Sam, a grown man with learning difficulties who likes Dr Seuss's book Green Eggs and Ham. In that desperately well-meaning film, Penn was having a bit of a "Jerry Lewis" moment.

In its insidious way, The Lorax is more infuriating, more exasperating and more objectionable than any of these. It is a fantastically boring, soulless animation that could have been written by a computer programme, an animationbot. The basic finger-wagging eco-tale is expanded into a cutesy, over-extended movie about a boy who visits a creepy old fellow called The Once-ler who destroyed all the trees thereabouts: the name perhaps alludes to rapacious logging industries which use up resources once and for ever, with no sustainability. There's another little guy called the Lorax (voiced by Danny DeVito), who is on the side of trees and nature, but can apparently do nothing to help, other than address our better natures.

The distinctive jaunty rhyme-scheme of the children's book is abandoned, except for The Lorax's introduction. The film has a surface sheen of plausibility: it looks and sounds as if it should be as charming as witty as some of the terrific animated movies from Pixar and Dreamworks that we've been spoiled by over the last decade or so. But it isn't: there is something dead inside it. The young romance subplot is perfunctory, and the basic anti-logging message contrives to be both didactic and pious, while being at the same time mystifyingly impotent. The Lorax never does anything much but raise his great cute bewhiskered face and look accusingly. Perhaps new generations of young cinemagoers will be encouraged to think that this kind of doe-eyed concern will be enough to protect nature. And in any case, this plasticky, production-line multiplex product does not make a compelling argument because it looks so very unnatural.

There are no complaints to make about the technical work here: it looks bright and clean and sharp. But there is no charm or life. Maybe the time has come for some Ned Ludd to rampage through the studios, throwing laptops out of the window and forcing animators to do some freehand drawing and make up the technical shortfall with some exceptionally good scripts.

Animation in film

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Environmental Conservation and Corporate Greed: the Film Lorax

Category: Entertainment
Topic: Lorax , Movie Review

Pages: 1 (619 words)

Downloads: -->

Works Cited

Seuss,Dr. ‘’The Lorax’’, Directed by Chris Renaud, Universal Pictures, 02 Mar. 2012. Amazon Prime, www.Amazon.com/The-Lorax/dp/B001E6V6HO

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