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.
126
Annoying Overachiever Trope: Obnoxious, Ambitio...
13 min
127
Gilmore Girls: A Coffee-Fueled Recap of Every S...
36 min
128
Poor Things, Explained: Empowering or Exploitat...
11 min
129
How Sheldon Became The Heart Of Big Bang Theory
13 min
130
Best of 2023: Our Favorite Films & Shows, Perfo...
14 min
131
Modern Family’s Alex: The Dark Side of Being th...
Let’s unpack Alex Dunphy's life as the Smart Girl, what actually caused her problems, and how she overcame them (plus the real reason she and Haley were always fighting.)
12 min
132
Inside The Hollywood Method Acting Backlash
After being heralded for decades, method acting has in recent years begun receiving a lot of backlash .So what’s really behind this turn?
13 min
133
Niles Crane: The Moments That Prove He Was The ...
Frasier might have been the titular character of the hit sitcom, but Niles was clearly the star of the show. Let’s take a look at what made him so hilarious (and lowkey relatable) and unpack why he provided such an important balance to the show!
14 min
134
Netflix vs Carl Rinsch: The Mystery of the Miss...
How did some basically unknown director allegedly scam Netflix for over $50 million dollars? And why is Keanu Reeves involved?!
9 min
135
The Gilded Age: Yes It’s Boring, Yes We Love It...
HBO’s The Gilded Age initially got off to a pretty rocky start, but even with all of its faults, there was just something about the show that kept viewers coming back. So what is the show's true magic?
9 min
136
Saltburn, Explained: Does The Ending Ruin The F...
Saltburn, the new film from writer-director Emerald Fennell, was initially hailed as a shocking eat-the-rich psychological thriller, but upon its release, audiences have found that while it’s definitely a fun ride, it ends up lacking much of the promised bite.
16 min
137
How A24 Built Its Own Fandom & Saved Indie Film
A24 has become known for producing deep, introspective indie films that feel different from Hollywood’s usual fare. What's their secret?
13 min
138
The Crown on Diana's Final Weeks & Her Tragic E...
In the first four episodes of The Crown season 6, the show paints a touching, insightful picture of the weeks leading up to Diana's passing. So let's analyze this portrayal of her relationship with Dodi and the loss the world felt at large.
21 min
139
May December: Analyzing A Shocking True Story &...
How close are May December's portrayals to the real Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau? Let’s unpack the true story behind the film, and what the film's really trying to say.
12 min
140
Sex and The City, A Total Analysis | Total Take
Why exactly was Sex and The City so different from what came before, and why did it have the impact it did?
22 min
141
The Blue-Eyed Girl Trope: What Blue Eyes Really...
Whether she's a sweet innocent or an alluring vixen, let's take a deeper look at the blue-eyed girl, analyze her two main types, and explore what really drives the blue eye obsession.
9 min
142
Our Flag Means Death Season 2, Unpacked: Why It...
We’re unpacking the show’s deeper messages, taking a look at why the show works so well, and exploring where a possible season 3 could take our favorite pirates!
13 min
143
How Indie Films Are Fixing Hollywood’s Intimacy...
After seemingly falling out of fashion for a while, it looks like sex scenes are making a comeback in one arena: prestige indie films. So what’s really going on here, and what does it mean for films (and audiences?)
11 min
144
Justin Timberlake: What Britney Revealed + The ...
Why are people really mad at Justin Timberlake now post-Britney book release, and where do these changing attitudes fit into the larger societal shifts we’ve seen since the early 2000s?
14 min
145
Gen V Recap: Character Arcs, Story Breakdown & ...
Let’s break down how Gen V flips Gen Z tropes, unpack all of those shocking twists, take a deeper look at what everyone’s pain secretly represents, and explore what those surprise cameos could mean for The Boys Season 4!
12 min
146
The Actor-preneur: Why It’s The New Actor Caree...
From Margot Robbie starting a production company to Ryan Reynolds becoming incredibly wealthy by hawking… well, a little bit of everything ,let’s take a dive into the world of the “actor-preneur” and unpack what’s really driving this trend.
8 min
147
Matthew Perry: Friends, His Brutally Honest Mem...
Matthew Perry was most well known for his iconic turn as Chandler Bing on Friends, but his real life was of course much more complex, and unfortunately much darker, than the sitcom character he became synonymous with.
11 min
148
Female Horror Victim Tropes: The 5 Types We Can...
While horror films are rife with peril of all kinds, one dark thread is the brutality with which female victims are slain. The female victims usually fall into one of five categories, so let’s unpack each one and take a look at what they really represent.
13 min
149
The Momager & Almond Mom Evolved From This Dark...
What drives the stage mom to push her kid towards fame, even at their own expense? And why does she seem to keep evolving with the times, but never in a way that’s better for kids?
16 min
150
Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Explaine...
While Killers of the Flower Moon might seem far from Scorsese’s usual fare, if we look closer, we see that his dark cinematic cannon actually prepared him to bring this story to the big screen in a number of surprising ways.
15 min