(Most of the analysis from this post comes from this amazing video here: Link I’m not trying to claim that I made all of these connections I merly thought they were interesting and worth writing about to improve by writing skills)
Something interesting I’ve been learning about lately is a scrapped/initial song for the lorax called ‘biggering’. First of all its an amazing song that doesent get the credit it deserves but second, it being a pre-cursor to the phenomenon of a song ‘how bad can I be’ means a lot more than meets the eye. Something that me (and the YouTuber I saw talking about this) have always wondered about is how movies like the lorax, apparently so pro environment and anti capitalism/corpratism, ever get produced by massive corporations that profit off of these things. The answer is actually pretty straight forward and is corporations oldest trick in the book, plausible deniability. They didn’t know that their safety systems were terrible, they feel awful for the people that died and promise it will never happen again but it wasent their fault. Sound familiar? This is the tried and true method for big companies that profit off of ecological damage, human suffering and the general destruction of everything that apposes them.
The song ‘how bad can I be’ is the embodiment of this idea, the once-ler did’nt mean to cut down all the trees, it was a one time thing, he came from nothing and only because of the pressure of his family was he forced to destroy the planet. Not once does the once-ler look at the destruction he can caused, as it is happening. Sure he looks at it afterwards with a devistated and grief stricken face to show how sorry he is, but not once does the movie give the once-ler agency. Not once is the once-ler responsible or aware of the damge he is causing. This is in stark contrast to say, the antagonist of the movie, the overly comical, red herring of a villan, O’Hare. This guy is so over the top its hillarious. And thats by design, O’Hare is what the movie “tries to warn you about” he’s the guy to look out for! But you will never find a person so obviously devilish and geedy as O’Hare. This movie tried to teach children that people like O’Hare are ones to look out for, knowing full well that they will never find that person, whilst portraying big CEO’s like the once-ler as chill goofy guys who didn’t mean to fuck up the earth, they have PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. This is how movies like the lorax get green-lit, as much as they spout anti-corporation talk, they portray companies in such a way to give them the goofy everyman role, the one to NOT watch out for. And this is why, ultimatly, ‘Biggering’ was cut. If you listen to it after reading this (or watching the video, it does a much better job at explaining this) you will immediately undersrand why big executives would want this song cut, ASAP. (second to being a banger) It actually gives the once-ler agency for his actions, he explicitly knows what he is doing and wants more. It goes into detail about his desire for growth, talking about his greed and pride, how ‘biggering, keeps triggering, more biggering’ It is also obviously where most of ‘how bad can I be’ gets its lyrics.
Either way the song also portrays the once-ler in a very different and darker tone than most of the rest of the movie (even when he is in dark environments he still has a funny voice to undercut the darker setting). Its an amazing rock/metal song (give me a break I know jack shit about music genres, it feels like those ones alright) and thats probably one of the reasons it was cut, they didn’t want to portray the once-ler as anything other than a goofy, happy, loveable guy who made some mistakes, or in other words having, say it with me, PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. The movie tries so hard to keep up this image that some amazing songs that both sound good and would have enhanced the overall plot of the movie, were probably cut because they portrayed the once-ler in a slightly negative tone. What ‘biggering’ eventually morphed into (how bad can I be) spits further in the face of any anti-corprate messages by being SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO BE CATCHY. I bet there are so many people out there that nad never watched the lorax, heard how bad can I be, and then watched the lorax because of it. They took what could have been the strongest element of the movie and mangled into a corporate product, a cruel twist of fate (wow that sounds cliche but you get my point)
I haven’t read the book but I would bet that the original does a better job of representing and warning against corporations greed than this movie ever could.
All this is to say that despite the editorial decisions that seem to portray the once-ler in a very specific and suspicious light, the lorax on the whole suffers as both a movie and as a genuine, anti-corporate film.
The lorax is still a pretty good movie don’t get me wrong and no one should ever feel bad for enjoying it. I just think It’s important that people know through what lense the thing they are watching is being presented to them.
