The Take

This is the Take. It's where you come to understand more about your favorite movies, shows and culture. Our video essays make the story worlds you enter richer and deeper. Think: Endings Explained, Character Studies, Hidden Messages and Symbols Revealed, Actor and Director Profiles, and more.


We want to share our love of visual culture with the world. So here's our Take.

Film Reviews
TV Reviews
TV & Film
226
Dune: Part Two’s Trailer Reveals Paul Atreides’...
Has splitting Dune into two parts potentially confused the message of the sci-fi epic? Paul Atreides checks many of the boxes of the noble protagonist chosen to lead. But some of Paul’s prescient visions of the future hint at future disaster. So what’s the effect of director Denis Villeneuve dividing this narrative in two, and what hints do we get about what’s to come from the trailer?
11 min
227
Succession’s Kendall - How The “Tribute Band” B...
The final season of Succession is the ultimate test for Kendall Roy: now that his father is finally out of the picture, can he become the killer his father doubted he could be?
19 min
228
Twilight's Suckiest Messages: This romance is w...
Was Twilight really the fairytale many took it for? And what views on love and relationship did Twilight actually teach its fans?
9 min
229
Emily Ratajkowski’s Radical Evolution: The Stru...
Our take on Emily Ratajkowski, how she evolved from being "the Blurred Lines girl" into an inspirational icon, reminding us that only we should get to define ourselves, and that there’s power in examining the countless assumptions we take for granted about our bodies and how we exist in the world.
11 min
230
Celebrity Dinner Party: What Food Reveals About...
Food-focused celeb interviews show a different side to celebrities than the more formal press junkets of years past. Today we're looking at how this niche content has blown up online, & what it's shown us about our favorite celebs
10 min
231
Do WAGs Take Up Too Much Space In Sports? (Why ...
There’s something about WAGs that just gets people annoyed. But is this all a way of demanding that women in the public eye be a little… quieter, and not get too dominant in sports?
11 min
232
Catherine, Princess of Wales: From Public Enemy...
These days Kate Middleton seems to be constantly plagued by rumors and scandalous news stories - so who’s really behind it all?
8 min
233
Romy & Michelle: Why We *Still* Relate To Them ...
Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion was ahead of it's time - it managed to anticipate many of the anxieties about status& self-image that drive people in the age of social media (despite being released at a time when most people were still going on the internet through AOL)
9 min
234
How Society Invented the AGING CRISIS (& How To...
Our culture spends a lot of time fearing aging, trying to hide all signs of it, even attempting to eliminate it all together – but what if we stopped assuming it's all bad? If we face our fears, then the joys of getting older can come to the surface.
10 min
235
Succession’s Endgame: The Winner is...
Succession is finally closing in on answering the question that's been on everyone's minds since episode one: which of Logan Roy's children (or other inner circle members) will truly have what it takes to seize power?
15 min
236
AI Actors: The Ethical Dilemma of Bringing Dead...
We are firmly in the era of artificial intelligence, which means we have technology to digitally resurrect dead artists for new projects – but does that mean we should?
11 min
237
Royal Wombs: The Obsession With Royal Fertility
We may think questions of bloodlines and royal heirs seem archaic, but these concerns have greatly shaped the lives of royal modern women, too. From Princess Diana in the 80s, to Kate allegedly having to take a fertility test pre-marriage, to Megan's revelations about the Firm's interest in her pregnancy.
9 min
238
Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn: The End Of One Era,...
It looks like Taylor Swift & Joe Alwyn are over after 6 years together... So what does this mean for Taylor’s eras – and the new era of her personal life that she’s embarking on?
8 min
239
What ruined the concert experience (And can we ...
Fans and artists alike are speaking out about a troubling shift in concert culture, from the nearly-impossible-to-get tickets, to seas of phone screens, to heckling, to... just nearly everything about the concert going experience getting worse. Why did this happen, and how can we turn things around?
13 min
240
Body Typing: Why We’re Still So Obsessed With L...
There’s no scientific proof that your body type says anything about you as a person – but this idea is back in the zeitgeist with the reemergence of Kibbe, and body typing has blown up into a surprising modern craze. So is there anything to body typing – and why are we so willing to believe there must be?
9 min
241
How Today’s Onscreen Elites Prove Money Doesn’t...
Everywhere we turn, we’re seeing unhappy rich characters. Even though today we’re pushed constantly to lust after having money in our culture, it seems that at the end of the day lots of money still turn you into a bad or miserable person...
14 min
242
Princesscore: The Fun Aesthetic vs. The Dark Re...
Over the past few years, real life Princess fairytales have been exposed in the press as apparently pretty nightmarish realities. So why does princesscore persist, for today’s adults and new generations?
10 min
243
Anya Taylor Joy - How She Keeps Us Guessing | S...
Anya Taylor Joy is THE alternative it girl. Anya intrigues us because it feels like we don’t know her - unlike some of her other peers who we’ve seen grow up on screen, it feels like Anya started her career suddenly, already fully formed. So how does this unknowability elevate her work on screen?
10 min
244
Social Media Dysmorphia: Beauty Filters Are Rew...
Social media apps make it easier than ever to filter, contour, smooth and shape our selfies into something completely different from what we actually look like, and this is leading to a big problem: Selfie Dysmorphia.
10 min
245
The Modern “FEMCEL”: Who She Really Is and What...
The term "incel" was first coined by a woman in 1997, but has been hijacked by men who promote misogyny and blame women and feminism for their struggles. This lead to a new term emerging: femcel. But what makes a femcel unique and different from the stereotypical male incel?
11 min
246
Why Handsome Hollywood Clones Are Taking Over C...
Between the Chrises, the Ryans, and all of the square-jawed, dark-haired guys on Ryan Murphy's shows, it’s getting harder and harder to tell movie stars apart... So, why is this happening & what do these types really represent?
10 min
247
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Trial: The Wackiest Moments f...
Gwyneth Paltrow’s ongoing trial is a deliciously ridiculous combination of wealth, celebrity and courtroom drama. Here's a rundown on the case & our take on why everyone's so obsessed.
11 min
248
Hailey Bieber: The Face of Gen Z’s Anti-Aging C...
Hailey Bieber’s rise in the skincare community has coincided with a crisis of the younger generation fearing aging at ever-earlier points. So is Hailey really that into health and skincare, or is her glow only skin deep and she’s just taking advantage of a market and generation already trending that way?
12 min
249
How I Met Your Mother's Marshall - The Truth Ab...
On HIMYM, Marshall seems like the perfect man... But, upon further inspection, he seems to be just as self-serving and morally limited as the rest of the cast, and he displays the show's inherently limited moral outlook.
11 min
250
Why Hollywood Can’t Ignore Its Consent Problem ...
Sex is out at the movies, and family-friendly superheroes are in. That’s partly because sex no longer sells, but also because the way audiences feel about movie intimacy has changed, too. Here’s our take on how consent plays into how we view intimacy onscreen – and whether Hollywood needs to start censoring again.
9 min