Framing Megan Fox | The Whole Plate: Episode 7

Was this the final "Whole Plate" episode? I enjoyed binging this a while back and hope for more.

I just have to say that this series made me a patreon. This was really well done and you deserve my measly money for this. Also, congrats on the 2500 patreons. I'm glad I could put you over some mathematical number that's insignificant except for the fact that it it's a multiple of 100.

Fel Martins

Really liked this, subscribed to your patreon after watching this.

Anthony

Great episode! I am now remembering SO many instances of this in other films, when the script seemed to be saying "empowered woman with a self-actualization arc" and the framing was saying "hot object." Incidentally, my main takeaway from the first film was how much it seems to hate all things feminine, and how defensive characters get when they're being feminized / shown up by women. Sam getting pissed when his mother puts a rhinestone collar on his dog, Sam being humiliated by having to ride his mother's pink-tasseled bike (callback to Goonies?), Glen being dressed down by his grandmother, Sam being babied by his mother and repeatedly outdone by Mikaela. Forget Decepticons, I feel like the real threat to the male characters is being emasculated.

Lindsay Nelson

So does that mean in 20 years from now we can expect a Transformers remake with Mikaela as the protagonist because I would be here for it

TalysAlankil

Great episode! Did not remember at all from the first Transformers that the script actually spent some time on establishing Mikaela as a character.

Oh god, have you seen Atomic Blonde ? I saw it recently in cinema, and the plot and the camerawork says such vastly different things that one could only follow one or the other. Great episode !

Amelie Marandet

I've watched Dan's and Kyle's episodes about film language for years but never really grasped it because I'm not a visual person at all. I can sit down and read a novel in a single setting but I really struggle to get through a movie and I gave up on TV years ago. So I've always assumed for some people (like me) words would be way more important since I tend to miss visual cues. This essay made what I was missing about the concept of framing in movies much, much clearer.

De

Your points are well-made, it reminded me of a journal article I read last year on "focalisation" (it was by Mieke Bal, who I'm told is an Australian feminist but don't recall the title). She made a similar argument to a converse piece of media, a painting of Rembrandt that superficially was voyeuristic and so on, but through the focalisation on the leering males, managed to create a meaning at cross-purposes to the literal depiction of events. Anyway, I'm glad to support your work. Its helping me through a lot of things, and ultimately when that work is sheened and polished I think I'll be way less annoying to people in general. Is there a way to help spread the word? I had a FB network that I dismantled (it just wasn't working for me), and I know very few people who use twitter, and my phone doesn't have internet, and basically I am an old fogey and the media/comm. part of my bachelor degree is so out of date now I don't know what anything is.

That's David Willis level of pun names. ^-^

Jasmijn Wellner

What a great way to start the weekend!

Klil H. Neori

Did you patron-ize before two weeks ago? And also are you in the 10+ tier? Apologies - we made the credits a while ago. If you're a recent patron you should be in the next one (out at the end of the month).

Lindsay Ellis

Possible that I got lost in the Patron list, not that it matters much ^^ But the video is spot on, as usual. The whole "Whole Plate" series is probably my favourite thing you've done until now. With little bits here and there one also notices Dan's influence, especially :) You make a good team!

Benedict Marko

So, Mikaela as the main protagonist... Yup! That is now my headcanon, and I like the 1st movie all over again.

Benjamin Preston

I just realized her name was Carly. CAR-ly. CARS. Cause they're giant robots who look like CARS. SUBTLE.

Lauren R

Nailed it as always. Great insights.

upchuckles

God damn you go Lindsay! I'm so glad you went this direction with your video essays because you are nailing them! Tangent, but this topic also nails what bothered me about the character T'Pol from Star Trek: Enterprise, but I couldn’t put it into words properly until now. While the writing and framing were not as dissonant as with Megan (usually), T’Pol had, in my opinion, the most interesting arc on the show, and it mirrored what I sometimes went through at that age. Yet she was also framed as the hot space elf that guys were supposed to drool over. My brain wanted to relate to her, but at the same time, it kept telling me I wasn’t worth anything because I was relating to someone who was presented as not being worth anything. It made me really uncomfortable. So thank you for explaining that :D

Bonsha

Brilliant. Tear him to shreds fact by fact. Were you deliberately subverting the thing from Mr Plinkett's Star Wars vid with the twitter poll? It's a cool bait and switch. #justiceformikaela

Grace Curtis

I've never seen any of the transformers movies, so I had no impressions of this character other than hearing about her largely in passing. What I've learned here is that this character is really a tragedy - there was a lot of opportunity to do something surprising, subversive and refreshing, but that opportunity was squandered in favor of reinforcing Megan Fox as key candy. What a shame. :(

Bailey Spencer

Going to have to watch it later tonight, but really looking forward to it :-)

James Anthony