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.
351
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
352
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
353
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
354
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
355
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
356
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
357
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
358
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
359
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
360
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
361
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
362
Elizabeth Olsen’s Mixed Feelings on Marvel - Ha...
Has the Marvel Cinematic Universe held Elizabeth Olsen back?
10 min
363
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
364
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
365
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
366
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
367
The Socialite - A "Heroine" We Love to Hate-Watch
Drama ostensibly comes from problems and obstacles—so why do we love watching people who seemingly have none? Here’s our take on our love-hate affair with the socialite and whether the voyeurism of watching her is really hate or rooting for her.
13 min
368
The Dangers of Making Everyone Too Pretty for S...
Is it a problem that Hollywood’s stars are too beautiful – especially when they’re playing real people?
14 min
369
How Modern Family Ruined Haley’s Story Arc
For most of the Modern Family's run, Hayley was pigeonholed as the pretty, dumb, popular character – but did the show let her down by not letting her be more?
12 min
370
The Devil Wears Prada - How Andy Predicted the ...
What would it cost to buy your soul? In The Devil Wears Prada, Andy gets the kind of opportunity people dream of. But in order to benefit from it, she needs to give up part of herself...
9 min
371
Red Herring Male Love Interests - He's Not The ...
There are five main types of red herring male love interests – and each represents a particular type of guy to be wary of, with a good reason: he’s not Mr. Right.
15 min
372
Who Will Gen Alpha Be? - How They'll Become Emp...
We’ve all been watching the rise of Gen Z as they replace millennials to dictate the rules of today’s cultural capital – but what comes next? It won’t be long before members of Gen Alpha are driving youth culture and popular media.
12 min
373
Gossip Girl - Serena and the Nice Rich Girl Fan...
Why is everyone on Gossip Girl so obsessed with Serena, and is her “nice rich girl” persona just an act?Gossip Girl encourages us to strive to be rich and gorgeous like Serena, while it reminds us there’s no way we’ll ever truly be like her.
10 min
374
Marilyn Monroe's Mythic Femininity - Why The Bl...
When does a person stop being a person and become a symbol? Marilyn Monroe as an idea has taken on a meaning all its own—the blonde bombshell, and the ultimate embodiment of a certain type of mythic femininity.
12 min
375
The Con Artist Trope - Why Lying Doesn’t Matter...
The Con artist is all over today’s film and TV – so are we supposed to be appalled by this figure, or are we actually… impressed?
16 min