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Framing Megan Fox: Lindsay Ellis on Feminist Theory and Transformers

Nerd culture apologia is never in short supply. I'm glad you found some that was to your liking. No matter how "human" they made her "arc," the camera was mostly interested in something else, and I'm not interested in pawing through garbage in search of plausible deniability.

Who is apologizing for the way Mikaela Baines was portrayed in the movie? This video isn't trying to justify it. Ellis is showing that Mikaela is a good character on paper, but the film just makes her into an object. Because film is a visual medium, we are left with the overriding images of Mikaela's body instead of her character. I think that was worthy of a video.
 
She makes a lot of good points, although I still don't think Megan Fox's acting does much to bring that character to life. Yeah you can assume that the weird kinda tired kinda frustrated demeanor that the character has is acting, but after TMNT 2, I don't think it is. I think that might just be Megan Fox's default. It's just more noticeable in TMNT 2 because you know April O'Neil isn't supposed to act like that while you don't know Mikaela at all so that could just be the character, and it actually ends up working for that character. That combined with the framing work mentioned in the video don't make the character work as well as she did on paper.

That said it's no worse than any of the other acting in those films and is far from the worst performance. Maybe I should go track down the novelization and see if that character works any better when I don't have to worry about acting and there's no camera being like "LOOK AT THAT BODY!"
Never saw the first one. Just got convinced with GF and her family to see the 2nd and saw the 3rd with some family. So I can't comment on her acting in the first movie. However, Megan Fox acts and speaks the same way in every movie I've seen of her. She always sounds bored, annoyed and haughty in every movie she is in. Her facial expression and voice are the same flat emotion. Michael Bay's Transformers are among the worst big budget blockbusters that I've ever seen.
 

Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
Yep. Despite how smart, quick thinking, and useful she was, you only remember her as the hot girl sexily bending over her car.

Now as I type this I wonder if it's the framing or am I the problem for being left with that image as if she can't be smart and dress sexy. Hmm.

Both. The former subtly influenced the former for you. That's how insidious sexism is.
 

Media

Member
I've always wondered why people hate Megan foxes acting in this movie, I thought she did a great job, but yeah, just like not noticing her character because of the framing I think most people just saw an empty shell of t&a and discounted her acting as well.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Thank you for linking this. The video on Sam was interesting, but the guy's video on Fight Club enlightening. Great, great channel.
Dan and Lindsay are probably the two most interesting YouTube film essayists working now that Tony Zhou has largely stopped working
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Re: the part about the Mikaela narrative transition to Carly

giphy.gif



That's actually dark yo
 

Wolfe

Member
Interesting stuff, and yeah it is easy to lose track of her "character"
when the camera is constantly trying to give you eyeball boners.

That's nice, but she is also the recipient of male gaze camerawork for like half of her time on-screen.

Lmao dude, this and your subsequent posts in this thread, what are you doing?
 

Monocle

Member
Yes and I should appreciate Bayonetta's "irony" more too -- except not, because I can actually have an opinion of my own, because I saw the movies and played the games myself.
You should tho, unless you're wilfully blinding yourself to context in the name of having an "opinion." I don't know many sexist caricatures that show up every male character and basically operate as their world's Superman without sacrificing any of their feminine qualities.

But keep on truckin'. Maybe one day a sneering derisive tone will be a valid substitute for rational even-handed analysis.

Nerd culture apologia is never in short supply. I'm glad you found some that was to your liking. No matter how "human" they made her "arc," the camera was mostly interested in something else, and I'm not interested in pawing through garbage in search of plausible deniability.

Frankly, the movie is such underwritten garbage for even the male characters I'm amazed anyone is interested in this conversation. The film itself doesn't even pretend to take itself seriously. Why should we?
It's safe to assume this isn't addressed at all in the video.
 
Wow, is this the first time someone presented this character in a positive light? If it isn't, its definitely the first time for me.
 

caliph95

Member
Wow, is this the first time someone presented this character in a positive light? If it isn't, its definitely the first time for me.
It's a combination of Megan Fox acting imo and as presented in this video the direction are more focused on sexualizing her than anything so most people remember her as eye candy because of that
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Wow, is this the first time someone presented this character in a positive light? If it isn't, its definitely the first time for me.

Folding Ideas brought this up as an example of ludonarrative dissonance in his video a while ago, but this is much more in depth
 

Aselith

Member
Really great breakdown. Gonna have to watch the rest of these!

The movies provide a ton of support for her larger thesis for this video that visual storytelling supercedes written narrative.


I don't get it.

My Kale Labanes

He's saying Obama was Lebanese all along!
 

Cheerilee

Member
Random other issue that points out a disconnect between Kurtzman & Orci's script and Michael Bay's directing:

Mikaela: "You've got a high-rise double-pump carburetor. That's pretty impressive Sam." But GM gave Michael Bay a Camaro with a fuel injection system (fuel injection being the modern, alternate technology to the classic carburetor), with a sideways design intended to reduce height.

Michael Bay doesn't know shit about cars, so he lovingly pans the camera over the engine while Megan Fox reads lines from K&O's script, which describe something entirely different.

One could dismiss the issue as Mikaela messing with Sam, throwing out BS information and waiting for pretend-expert Sam to call her on it, but no... this movie does not deserve such mental gymnastics.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Man, imagine if Megan Fox was the lead in these movies with the foundation of her character in the first movie.
 

Cheerilee

Member
Man, imagine if Megan Fox was the lead in these movies with the foundation of her character in the first movie.

You're basically asking for Transformers to rise from the level of Michael Bay to the level of Kurtzman & Orci.

Which is what Transformers Prime is for.
 
Lindsay Ellis is probably the best film critic on Youtube right now and she makes a good argument. Maybe if Transformers had a better director Mikaela's arc could shine more and not be distractingly objectified.
 

Fat4all

Banned
this "The Whole Plate" breakdown of the Transformers series has been fascinating to see, I recommend everyone give them a watch from the start
 

blakep267

Member
Man, imagine if Megan Fox was the lead in these movies with the foundation of her character in the first movie.
In theory, Sam as the goofy annoying sidekick BF works much better than him being the main character. Like the movie could be wholely left the same and just add scenes of mikayla and her father/home life and have her interact more with the transformers
 

blakep267

Member
I've always wondered why people hate Megan foxes acting in this movie, I thought she did a great job, but yeah, just like not noticing her character because of the framing I think most people just saw an empty shell of t&a and discounted her acting as well.
Here's the thing, Fox can act in certain roles without being considered bad. Ex transformers 1 and her stint in New girl. Her style doesn't work ok other stuff ex TMNT. Her in TF is what I would expect from the character. She has some brains to her and is more than meets the eye but she's not going to be super articulate or unrealistic, as a lot of real film characters are that we praise.

Shia as Sam you could say did a better job acting in the sense that he's convincing as the character written on paper. But that's a bad unrealistic character. You could also say the same for Tyrese vs Josh duhamel. Duhamel is more convincing as a soldier than tyrese but tyrese is playing his role better
 

ArjanN

Member
To be fair it's not hard to be the most well-rounded character when all the other characters are one-dimensional.
 
Good video. I still don't see Mikaela as being the most well-rounded character in the series, but compared to the most of the crap that gets called characters in the series she's not that bad. Ellis makes some good points though.
 
Good video. I still don't see Mikaela as being the most well-rounded character in the series, but compared to the most of the crap that gets called characters in the series she's not that bad. Ellis makes some good points though.

The question then becomes: which character is better?

I have a hard time thinking of another answer.
 

Media

Member
Here's the thing, Fox can act in certain roles without being considered bad. Ex transformers 1 and her stint in New girl. Her style doesn't work ok other stuff ex TMNT. Her in TF is what I would expect from the character. She has some brains to her and is more than meets the eye but she's not going to be super articulate or unrealistic, as a lot of real film characters are that we praise.

Shia as Sam you could say did a better job acting in the sense that he's convincing as the character written on paper. But that's a bad unrealistic character. You could also say the same for Tyrese vs Josh duhamel. Duhamel is more convincing as a soldier than tyrese but tyrese is playing his role better

I completely agree and I'm glad you could put it into words better than I could lol. She really stunk in TMNT, but that whole movie was... Well, so I give her a bit of a pass. She was the only reason I even liked the first transformers movie, framing aside, because she was a bit of a role model.
 
You're basically asking for Transformers to rise from the level of Michael Bay to the level of Kurtzman & Orci.

Which is what Transformers Prime is for.

I hate to ask, but does that mean it's terrible or just really mediocre? I want to know this because of reasons.


As for the video: this whole series is great, and I love the constant sneaking in of 'the whole plate' even when it's factually unconnected.
 

Oersted

Member
I completely agree and I'm glad you could put it into words better than I could lol. She really stunk in TMNT, but that whole movie was... Well, so I give her a bit of a pass. She was the only reason I even liked the first transformers movie, framing aside, because she was a bit of a role model.

Her best role still is in Jennifer's Body.
 
I see her point, but I don't think the framing makes you "not take her seriously". That seems to equate sex appeal inherently with immaturity and frivolity. I don't take her seriously because I can't take any character in the movies seriously, because the film itself doesn't. The human parts are just connective tissue for a bunch of CGI slugfests. (Probably Turturro is the most terribly-served overall, but it's a deep bench of examples.)

Mostly this episode reminds me how much poorly-done stuff there is going on in Transformers movies that I totally forgot. The digression into the minor female supporting characters I had no recollection of, following into minor male characters I likewise had no recollection of, cemented that further.

But it's a good dissection into why you didn't care for the entire package. To simply dismiss it as filler for the CGI is not enough to explain the problems of these movies.
 

knkng

Member
I mean way to literally be an example of what was wrong with how her character was handled I guess....

But Megan Fox isn't her character. Her acting is barely acceptable at best. She does not excel at her profession based on skill or ability. The only reason that she currently holds her position in the industry (tenuous as it may be), is because of how she looks.

"Megan Fox is pretty" is the definition of her career. The poster HarryKS is the reason why she currently has everything she has. That may not be true forever, but that's the truth of the matter for the time being. It may sound shitty, but you can either accept that's she's gotten by on her looks, or sit around wishing that her career never got off the ground based on merit.

Another great video by Lindsay by the way.
 
Another great video. I think my favourite thing about Lindsey is how concerted an effort she makes to present a neutral viewpoint (which in current society you really really need). She has effectively changed my mind about many topics and many films.
 
But Megan Fox isn't her character. Her acting is barely acceptable at best. She does not excel at her profession based on skill or ability. The only reason that she currently holds her position in the industry (tenuous as it may be), is because of how she looks.

"Megan Fox is pretty" is the definition of her career. The poster HarryKS is the reason why she currently has everything she has. That may not be true forever, but that's the truth of the matter for the time being. It may sound shitty, but you can either accept that's she's gotten by on her looks, or sit around wishing that her career never got off the ground based on merit.

Another great video by Lindsay by the way.

One of the key points of the who thesis is that folks like Bay decided to completely undercut Fox's character by focusing solely on her looks.

It's pretty funny then that someone's entire engagement with the video is to solely comment on how good looking Fox is.
 
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