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That's a really good conclusion post. Thank you for all the effort you've put into this project. I'm especially fond of how, in your conclusion, you emphasize that the ethical merits of the film don't necessarily obviate or forgive the ethical demerits, especially those that result from Michael Bay's unscrupulousness.
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Oct 6, 2013 18:28
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 10:48 |
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Everything Bay has done is interested in, in one way or another, masculinity. The idea of masculinity he puts forward is a usually a virtue-based idea where the true man is interested in his own excellence and doesn't approach women as objects to be merely used, or held on to as status symbols. One of the clearest scenes depicting this is in Pearl Harbor. At the end of their date before he is shipped off to war, Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale stop in front of a hotel room. Beckinsale asks if he wants to go up to her room, to which Affleck responds that he "doesn't want to be like those other guys." As he says this, one couple walks in the revolving door while another exits. It's easy to be a bit confused about Bay, since he has no moral scruples about depicting what he wants to criticize. TvF did a great job of covering that the way Mikhaela Banes is presented, while superficially sexualized, is representative of how Sam sees the world, and that Sam is a horribly insecure person who is looking for a "girlfriend" as a symbol of status and masculinity. Pain and Gain does something similar with both how the strip club is presented (where rich, insecure people go to buy the attention of women) and how Lugo perceives Kershaw's lifestyle as affording him the women Lugo can't have. (In fact, I believe that when Lugo is telling Doyle about robbing Kershaw, Lugo turns to watch a woman walk by as he's talking about "taking [Kershaw's] stuff." All told, the reason he would be angry at Friday the 13th would then be that it is sincerely presenting sexual titillation as something to be consumed. Bay, based on his movies, appears to be against that very strongly.
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Oct 11, 2013 20:45
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Sprecherscrow posted:This is most likely why his films tend to contain a lot of titillation but little actual sex. Sex requires looking at both participants clearly being subjects but Bay prefers to depict his women as subjects buried underneath many layers of objectification rendering them socially impotent, a theme served by the use of titillation. Though I imagine anyone who criticized him for not wanting ScarJo topless was probably just disappointed they didn't get to see ScarJo topless. I do not think that he has any preference for that sort of depiction, given his presentation of Kate Beckinsale in Pearl Harbor, Liv Tyler in Armageddon, and (so far as I can remember) Tea Leoni in Bad Boys. It's simply that when he wants to tell a story involving an insecure man or culture that insists on objectifying women, he appears to have no problem with presenting the unvirtuous point of view.
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Oct 11, 2013 21:54
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Lord Krangdar posted:I feel like being "taken out of" these films is the only way to appreciate them. When Stanley Tucci starts drinking the product placement milk the film cuts away, and doesn't return to him until he finishes. The product placement literally takes him out of the movie.
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Jul 9, 2014 10:41
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quote:There is no redemption to be found here, only suffering. Thread title
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Jun 21, 2017 18:15
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Payndz posted:I'm imagining an Affleck moment when someone asks Bay how Laserbeak got from Wang's office down to a crowded open-plan office and transformed into a copier in a matter of moments without anyone seeing him. "Shut the gently caress up!" It would be in line with the portrayal of the office that lazerbeak just sauntered in and transformed and nobody noticed because they're a bunch of clueless idiots.
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Aug 5, 2018 19:06
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Moreover, the whole Ken Jeong section is loaded with ‘active workplace shooter’ subtext. The double gun pose is a direct quote of Seung-Hui Cho, who shot 49 people at Virginia Tech.
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Aug 5, 2018 20:37
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Slutitution posted:A Transformers film currently has a 98% RT score with 40+ reviews in. Not My Transformers
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Dec 16, 2018 01:38
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Farg posted:so what was up with the romeo-juliet law guy from the nth movie One of the main things that Bay is interested in in all his movies is men looking at women as possessions that, by being possessed, affirm their masculinity. Australian rally car guy and Mark Wahlberg are competing for ownership of Mark Wahlberg's daughter throughout the movie. It's pretty similar to the dynamic between Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, and Liv Tyler in Armageddon, except this time taking place in the Transformers late capitalist hell world.
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Jan 18, 2019 20:25
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Arquinsiel posted:Australian? Isn't he?
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Jan 19, 2019 02:01
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 10:48 |
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Arquinsiel posted:Nope, he's Irish. Well poo poo.
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Jan 19, 2019 16:45
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