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.
301
Will These Controversies Finally Bring The Roya...
The British Monarchy has always had a dark side – but in recent years a lot of the public has been willing to ignore that out of a deeply-rooted respect for Queen Elizabeth II. So, with their matriarch gone, how long can the rest of the family go without a scandal they can’t come back from?
13 min
302
Derry Girls’ Michelle - Rise of a Brash & Rowdy...
On Derry Girls, while Erin, Orla, and Clare are all some shade of meek, nervous, or unusual, the leader of their pack Michelle acts like she’s got it all figured out, and can’t wait for adulthood to start – but how real is that act?
10 min
303
Doomerism Isn’t Helping Us Cope. So Why Can’t W...
Our take on Doomerism, its impact on Gen Z and mental health, and how – even if there’s a lot that is bad right now – there’s also a better way to deal.
12 min
304
The Notebook - Madly In Love, But Toxic As Hell...
What made The Notebook the romance movie of the early 2000s, and how much of it actually holds up?
15 min
305
"Coastal Grandma" - Why Gen Z wants to skip adu...
After a few years of exceptional uncertainty, does the rise of the coastal grandmother aesthetic prove that above everything, gen-z just wants to slow down?
12 min
306
TikTok is the new Gen Z search engine. Are they...
A study from Google found that nearly 40% of gen-z use TikTok as their primary search engine... How worried should we be that gen-z is using TikTok to search for facts?
9 min
307
There Are Too Many "Annoying Liberals" Onscreen
Why are liberal film and TV characters always so annoying? Here’s our take on why movies and TV try to present themselves as being in the reasonable middle—by punching at anyone trying to make a change.
15 min
308
Why The Crown Season 5 REALLY has the Royals so...
The Crown season 5 is dredging up one of the darkest times for the royals’ reputation, the 1990s. So what exactly are the royals worried about? We're breaking down the controversy surrounding the show.
8 min
309
The “Wife Guy” Downfall - He Was Too Good to Be...
Culture is coming for the “wife guy” – because can anyone who’s that performative about simply having a wife really be trusted?
14 min
310
Daddy Issues Onscreen - Why Our Culture Mocks A...
Why are daddy issues mocked or fetishized, when they’re a byword for absent, neglectful, or dysfunctional parenting?
13 min
311
Female Body Horror - Today's Terror of Not Owni...
It can sometimes be hard to put words to the fear of losing the right to control your own body – but horror movies have been putting those fears on screen for decades. The female body horror genre is all about the terrifying idea that a woman’s body does not belong to her.
16 min
312
Rings of Power, Ending Explained - The Deeper M...
The Rings of Power Finale had some big reveals, which all underlined the biggest takeaway of the story: that it can be difficult to tell the light from the dark. So how did all this come together and where did the first season leave us?
15 min
313
The Vamp Trope - Everything a Woman "Shouldn't" Be
Gorgeous, heartless, and almost supernatural - the Vamp is as evil as she is beautiful and one of culture’s most alluring villains. The Vamp embodies exaggerated versions of all the things women are told they can’t be, and eventually, she’s punished for it.
13 min
314
How Wednesday Addams Became a Modern Weird Icon
Wednesday Addams, the sick, subversive, unfailingly cool and composed daughter of Gomez and Morticia is a powerful and extremely important character for us to look to right now.
10 min
315
Why Passing The Bechdel Test Isn't Enough
Is female representation in film and TV actually getting any better? Did the Me-Too era resurgence of interest and attention around the Bechdel Test and female representation make a difference in what we’ve seen since?
16 min
316
How House of the Dragon “Fixed” Game of Thrones
It’s time to ask: how does House of the Dragon stack up against the original Game of Thrones?
15 min
317
Euphoria's Maddy - A New Kind of "Mean Girl"
Maddy Perez is the Queen Bee of Euphoria High, but unlike the other on screen mean girls we’re used to, she has something special: a heart.
12 min
318
Bridget Jones's Insecurity - Why Women Hate The...
Bridget Jones is smart, successful, and... deeply insecure. *Why* does Bridget have such low self-esteem?
15 min
319
Why Quiet Quitting is a Good Sign - The Future ...
"Quiet Quitting" itself is probably overblown and not enough of a solution to our collective burnout, but this craze does signal an opportunity to, as a culture, find a more enlightened understanding of the role work should take in our lives.
11 min
320
How Glee’s Santana Went From Villain to Icon
Was charismatic mean girl and queer icon Santana Lopez ever really a villain, or a secret hero all along?
9 min
321
Elizabeth Olsen’s Mixed Feelings on Marvel - Ha...
Has the Marvel Cinematic Universe held Elizabeth Olsen back?
10 min
322
How This Became the Sad Girl Era
The sad girl is having a moment. And her sadness isn’t a heavily politicized rage; it’s an internalized burden — a directionless angst that’s being filtered through music, film and literature.
10 min
323
The Royals’ Future Is Looking Messy
The British Monarchy is facing a long-dreaded question: what is the future of the Royals in the public’s eyes and hearts?
14 min
324
The "Death" of Feminism - Why We Need a New Vision
Is feminism going out of fashion? And is it possible to channel all of the recent setbacks to reignite our passion for women’s rights with a more meaningful feminist framework for our times?
14 min
325
Mean Girls' Cady - What Peer Pressure Does to a...
Cady Heron’s journey in Mean Girls showcases how *seductive* peer pressure can feel, and in the end illustrates that adolescence is about figuring out who you are, not who other people think you should be.
12 min