Servitude's Reward and other Barriers to Action: The Political Lessons of Toy Story

When we witness how Andy (the “real” character in the film) treats his toys in the opening sequence of Toy Story, we get our first hint that toys don't exactly have ideal working conditions. (Later, this idea gets reinforced when we find out that Andy, in contrast to Sid, is a “good” kid.) The toys endure physical abuse at the hands of Andy in this first scene, but this only sets the stage for the real terror that ensues: Andy's birthday party, where he will receive new toys that threaten to make his current ones, in the words of Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), “next year's garage-sale fodder for sure.” This threat, which, as the appearance of Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) makes clear, is a very real threat, aligns the toys with workers in a global capitalist economy. Like the toys, workers today—and this is precisely what someone like Pat Buchanan speaks to—live in a constant state of fear, fear that transnational corporations will find more attractive replacements for them, either in the form of new technologies or workers in other countries. Toy Story is significant because it speaks to this fear and points beyond it. It is this initial parallel between the situation of Toy Story's toys and contemporary workers, however, that allows us to see the importance of what follows in the film, i.e., the toys coming to class consciousness.

As early as Andy's birthday party, we can see that the toys have already formed an organization to look out for their collective interests. Woody (Tom Hanks) is the leader of this organization, a position he seems to have acquired because he is Andy's favorite toy. When the birthday party begins, Woody calls an emergency meeting of all the toys and directs a reconnaissance operation designed to keep all the toys informed about the gifts—read: potential replacements—that Andy receives at the party. He dispatches the toy army armed with a walkie talkie for communication, and they report back to the other toys. Things seem to have gone pretty w