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.
376
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
377
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
378
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
379
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
380
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
381
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
382
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
383
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
384
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
385
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
386
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
387
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
388
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
389
The Biggest Hollywood Clichés - What’s Really B...
So often stories resort to lazy, easy shortcuts we’ve seen a million times before. When are they effective or timeless, and when is this just a boring lack of imagination?
10 min
390
Succession - The Strange Tragedy of Roman Roy
Roman Roy is an exhibitionist, but his kinkiness doesn’t just make him a memorable treat of a character. His particular perversities outline the Roy family’s psychological pitfalls.
16 min
391
Sydney Sweeney - The Serious Sex Symbol for Gen Z
Sydney Sweeney is putting a Gen Z stamp on the sex symbol. Here's our Take on how Sydney has deconstructed and rebuilt the sex symbol in a more serious way:
9 min
392
How We Overcorrected the Damsel in Distress Trope
The damsel in distress character has fallen majorly out of fashion – and for good reason – but have we overcorrected against her?
14 min
393
The Bad Female Leader - Why Film and TV are Obs...
Why is Hollywood so against women being in charge?
14 min
394
Nepo Babies are the symbol of our broken merito...
Nepo babies are everywhere in entertainment these days – from Maude Apatow to Dakota Johnson to Nicolas Cage, one of your favorite actors is probably related to the Hollywood elite. So what do these stars really say about inequality in entertainment, and in America more broadly?
12 min
395
Girls' Hannah - Why the millennial antihero was...
Hannah on Girls was widely deemed one of the most annoying TV characters of the 2010s, but was she just misunderstood?
12 min
396
The "Dead Girl" Story - Why It's Dangerous to S...
So many stories center around the mystery of a beautiful dead girl who is often flattened into a symbol and treated as a mystery to be solved. Here’s our take on the dead girl story, and the loss she really represents in our culture:
13 min
397
Beyoncé v Kelis - Who's Right, and The Bigger ...
Beyonce may have quietly removed a portion of her song Energy that interpolated Kelis’ Milkshake… but did she do anything wrong in the first place? Here’s our take on the drama, where the line is drawn, and why maybe even if you don’t legally deserve a credit, maybe you still deserve respect.
12 min
398
How Freaks and Geeks gets youth culture right t...
Freaks and Geeks taps into 80s nostalgia (from a late 90s perspective) – but in a genuine, complex way. The show got youth culture right - and it still resonates now.
15 min
399
How Barbiecore Turned Feminism Hot Pink
Barbiecore is the fashion trend of the moment, but the fun act of reclaiming this hot pink femininity can still be so fraught with controversy, debate and criticism.
10 min
400
The "Rich Guy" Lie - Why Tinder Swindlers and R...
Why do women often fall for the rich guy – even when there are a lot of red flags he’s a total fraud? It’s not fair to blame these victims or sim ply assume they’re shallow and materialistic when there’s a much bigger cultural problem at play here.
12 min