Transmedia: Legos' Logos

In the opening chapter of Literacy Playshop Karen Wohlwend uses the term transmedia to describe popular media that is bound up with the sale of consumer goods, be they toys, movies, etc.  She cautions us not to be too quick to dismiss the literary potential of such media forms.  She writes that teachers often steer students away from these types of media for fear that it is likely inappropriate for young children.  The result, she writes, is that "children with fewer economic resources are particularly disadvantaged" by this policy, going on to quote Seiter who claims that toys "most available to and popular with working class children are the toys most likely to be excluded from the classroom." 

In my own field experience this year, however, I have noticed what, at a gut level, seems to be a disturbing trend in the other direction.  I am referencing the Legos books that a number of children have brought into the classroom.  I call them "books" when, upon closer inspection, they seem to be cleverly disguised catalogs.  I find this (again, I am speaking from the gut and am happy to be corrected by anyone who knows better) particularly egregious since Legos, in their origin, were intended to be simple blocks which could be used to build any toy a child might desire.  But since their inception, they seem to have become training wheels for a generation of compulsive consumers.  A quick walk through the toy aisle will confirm that the "special" sets command outrageous prices, considering what they are.  Made of cheap molded plastic, I can't shake the feeling that the company is stockpiling and rationing their toy sets like the De Beers would blood diamonds. 

These slick catalogs market the expensive special sets exclusively.  The end result, from what I have observed, is the opposite of that described by Seiter.  By using a book or magazine format to create such a fascination with these pricey products, Legos effectively monetized literacy in my classroom.  We are accustomed to well off students bringing in toys that other children may not be able to afford, but bringing in text that markets toys (that creates an entire subculture around them) that many children's families can't afford feels like salt in the wounds.