I grew up with Dr. Seuss, and I have good memories of reading The Lorax in my younger days. So, I was excited when The Lorax was finally made into a movie. However, one thing that kept me from seeing it in the theatre was that my overly-environmentalist, anti-war friend loved it and was telling me about how the environmentalist message is very clear in the film. Although I agree that we shouldn't needlessly destroy nature, I do not like to support media that is heavily staunched in "green" politics.
This didn't come as a surprise to me, since the media is trying to drive home the "green message" - save the environment. I have no problem with that message. I think littering is wrong, I think destroying the forests is wrong, and I also think that depriving God's creatures of their natural habitats is wrong. However, I'm not "green". I have a special bin in my room for paper to be recycled. I save empty boxes to wrap presents. But, my family is not all solar, nor do we harvest rainwater. We use non-recycled paper products, we have real grass in my backyard, and the only reason I use a stainless steel water bottle is because my family believes it to be healthier than drinking from a plastic water bottle.
But, after watching The Lorax, more or less, twice (yes, I did eventually watch it) it is my opinion that Hollywood tried way too hard to demonize the bad guys and drive the environmental message home.
Allow me to elucidate.
As I write this, I'm watching the scene from the Lorax where the Once-ler is singing "How Bad Can I Be?" while his factories sprout up and his relatives savagely chop down the trees. At the end of the song, a gigantically out-of-proportion Once-ler is stomping through the remains of the forest, towering menacingly over the trees as they fall, singing "Who cares if a few trees are dying? This is all so gratifying. How bad could this possibly be?" I have to admit, the guy looks absolutely demonic as he sings that last line of the song. And then there's O'Hare, the air guy. He's just down-right villainous. In fact, both O'Hare and the Once-ler get so villainous that they cease to be realistic characters. Especially O'Hare seems so much like every other villain that he's actually almost comical. I ask you, am I a villain because I use non-recycled paper products? Am I a villain for starting my own business? (more on this later)
I will not deny that the Lorax does have a "save the environment" theme. Lines like, "I speak for the trees" testify to that theme. But, I think that the environmental theme is only the surface, and possibly even a "harmless" cover for a deeper, larger, broader message that may not be as innocent as "save the planet". Actually, I think that a stronger message the Lorax portrays is greed. Good old fashioned "the love of money is the root of all evil".
Allow me to explain.
The Once-ler makes his thneed, then make his promise to the Lorax never to cut down a tree. He, the Lorax, and all the woodland creatures are all buddies…until a demand for thneeds pops up. Then, the Once-ler starts growing his business. During the aforementioned "How Bad Can I Be?" song, we see the Once-ler and his family dancing on a spiral staircase which seems to rise up in between huge stacks of money. Later, in the same song, the Once-ler is shown ignoring the Lorax and the suffering of the woodland creatures, but if you look carefully, you can see that he's counting out a handful of bills as he walks by.
Okay, let's give the Once-ler some grace. His family thinks he's a failure even before he gets started, so he's probably under a ton of pressure to make them happy and to prove his worth. They only start "loving" him when he gets successful and rich. Once the forest is destroyed and the thneed company falls apart, his family leaves him, and his mother has the audacity to proclaim that he other son is "now my favorite child" in front of him. No, I do not think the Once-ler is bad, just misguided.
Earlier, before things get out of control, the Lorax tells the Once-ler, "A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean." This could be taken as an environmental statement, but I think what the Lorax means is, "Congratulations, you're successful. Just don't let it get to your head." It's once the Once-ler starts thinking (and consequently singing) about growing his business that things get out of hand. At that point, he's stopped caring about the Lorax, the trees, or his woodland creature friends because all he can think about is selling more thneeds to make more money. After the aforementioned song, the Lorax asks the Once-ler, "Happy yet? [Did] you fill that hole deep down inside you? Or [do] you need more?" This, I think, is a very telling question. A greedy person cannot be satisfied.
This is the same story with O'Hare. He doesn't want really trees to grow because real trees produce air through photosynthesis, which would make his mega-company, O'Hare Air, to become obsolete. It really has nothing to do with the environment. It all comes back to greed and the lust for money, money, and more money.
Which brings me to another less obvious point. Perhaps it's just me, but it kinda seems like there's an underlying theme to this Hollywood rendition of The Lorax. And that underlying theme seems to be that starting a business, and striving to grow that business is bad. However, I'm willing to submit that the company that made The Lorax happens to be a big company which makes a lot of money, and a lot of that money goes into the savings pool for the next movie on the assembly line. All that aside, is it wrong to start a business? Nope. But, there is something called responsibility. It's really quite logical. If your company requires a certain natural substance, like trees, then grow your own, and don't cut them all down at once. If trees are allowed to function and grow the way they were made to, they will leave seeds for new trees. Ever wonder why there seems to be an abundance of Christmas trees? When I was in Oregon a few years ago, the friend I was staying with lived across the street from a Christmas tree farm. Tons and tons of Christmas trees come out of Oregon every year, yet Oregon remains one of the greenest places in the continental United States. Not because they're green. Because they understand that if your business involves trees, grow your own. Also, have you noticed that there hasn't been a national shortage of chickens? With all of the chicken we consume on a weekly basis, you'd think chickens would be extinct by now. The reason they're not extinct is because farmers and chicken companies have figured out that if their business requires chickens, they should produce their own. When I was in Ireland several years ago, our B and B was on a sheep farm. The owners of the B and B/sheep farm explained that one half of the field were wool-producing/breeding sheep, while the other half of the field was for slaughter. This really isn't a hard concept. Do I think the Once-ler's company might have survived and thrived if he'd kept his promise to the Lorax, kept things under control, and practiced the principle of moderation and reproduction (as I've explained in this paragraph)? Yes, I do.
When it all comes down to it, the Once-ler let things get out of control because of a lack of self worth and pressure to be big, rich, and successful to make his family (and especially his mother) love him. In the end, he's left with a big empty factory in the middle of a destroyed forest, and "that hole" the Lorax asks him about remains unfilled. Truth is the only thing that can fill that "hole" is Jesus. Just imagine life as a puzzle with a missing piece. You can try all the different sized and shaped pieces you want, but only one will fit the space perfectly. In real life, Jesus is that missing puzzle piece. All we have to do is pick Him up and put Him in place, right in the center of our hearts and our lives. Jesus is the only One who can give us true self-worth, no matter what others may think or say. It is my opinion that things would not have gotten so out of hand if the Once-ler knew Jesus as Lord and Savior.
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