Ralph Breaks the Internet frames capitalist consumption as child independence

Evidence

Stormtroopers from Star Wars chase Vanellope for advertising “unauthorized clickbait” of Ralph’s videos, before she escapes with the help of the entire Disney Princess Line. Ralph, afraid of change in this wired new world and worried that his friendship with Vanellope is in danger because she wants to move from the arcade to an online game, enlists a virus that escapes his control. … Ralph, the surrogate for the film’s older audience and their inability to understand their children’s online lifestyle, accepts that Vanellope deserves her independence. He also accepts the branded triviality that her independence entails. Again the ideology is clear. Spot the reference. Buy the merchandise. Bring your kids, but don’t be overbearing. Let them grow up unaccompanied in this toxic, branded world. “Let her go,” Ralph tells the horde, fixing his insecurity and instructing parents everywhere. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 438

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the logic of The Reluctant Fundamentalist’s ambivalence about American consumer culture — the film actively celebrates absorption into a branded world as maturity.