July 9th, 2007
by
Ariel Wetzel
I never watched Transformers as a kid. I saw my first episode of the cartoon series a few weeks ago, and I was lost in a complex and fast-moving plot that left me staring at the lovely robot battles with my mouth hanging open.
Today I saw the new Transformers film. As a posthuman geek who loves her relationship with machines, I’m all about awesome CG robot battles. In this aspect, Transformers didn’t disappoint. The battles were awesome, and the film was way less corny than I would have expected anything live action about sentient alien robots. Although I’m unfamiliar with the Transformers franchise and television series, I think the film was an incredibly well done adaptation of a cartoon.
The Autobots verses Decepticon plot was certainly the film’s strongest point. However, as a cyborg-identified woman, I felt a little left out by the film. I’ll discuss specifically the women in Transformers in this post. Some spoilers behind the tag.
Out of a hefty-sized cast, there are three women in Transformers who get to say more than a line or two (all white): Mikaela, the classmate of protagonist Sam, (Megan Fox); Judy, Sam’s mom (Julie White); and Maggie, some kind of young genius recruited by the Pentagon (Rachael Taylor).
The only time any of the three named women speak to each other is when Sam’s parents catch Mikaela in his room, and his mother, overjoyed that her nerdy son is apparently getting some action, compliments Mikaela for being cute.
I started off with a sour taste for Mikaela. During the first hour, she does two cool things: she knows how to fix Sam’s car and she walks away from her boyfriend (for good) when he calls her his little bunny. But also within that hour, the film establishes that Mikaela is oblivious to Sam is despite being his schoolmate for years, dates jerks because she likes guys with big arms and tight abs, admits she hides her knowledge about cars from guys so they’ll like her, with a vacant facial expression asks Sam if he thinks she is shallow, and is called a jock concubine and hoe by Sam’s friend. It’s a nice guy trope: nerdy but deserving Sam is overlooked because girls are shallow. The traits don’t especially set her up sympathetically unless we’re supposed to desire her for her body and Sam’s unsettling infatuation.
Once the corny setup is through (which I thought relied too much on racism and sexism to get viewers to both laugh and quickly identify with characters) and the real action begins, Mikaela actually turns out to be pretty cool. Without giving too much away, she ends up being a lot more competent, clever, and useful during action sequences than Sam. I can think of more examples of Mikaela physically saving male characters than the other way around.
Yet it is Sam who is the hero, the one who gets the cool car and the hot babe. Mikaela’s coolness was just about making her a better prize for Sam. That’s ultimately what Mikaela is reduced to in the last scene, when she lays lays out across Sam on the hood of Bubblebee a human/machine threesome I could have found intriguing if I hadn’t been so bothered by how Mikaela was treated in the film.
I’m not really sure why Sam is the star of the star of Transformers other than it’d be too radical for filmmakers to tell a story about battling robots through the eyes of anyone but a teenage white boy. As if the rest of us just wouldn’t get why Autobots are cool, or it’s be too much to ask of said teenage boys to identify with a character unlike themselves in a scifi action flick.
I don’t think Transformers expected women to really engage with this film. I don’t think I was supposed to identify with Mikaela–I think I was supposed to identify with Sam for wanting her.
Thankfully, there was Maggie, the code cracker math whiz. She was by far my favorite human character. Still white, still thin and conventionally beautiful, she was smart and competent and nobody’s love interest. I just wish there could have been more female characters of her caliber.
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- More blogging by
Ariel Wetzel at
http://www.lake-desire.com
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Filed under TV & Film | Comments (27)
Haven’t seen the movie and don’t plan to (unless it ends up on TV and there’s nothing else to watch), but I saw a few feminist reviews of it on other blogs:
Skye’s review at HeroineContent.net (and addendum)
Nojojojo’s More stereotypes than meet the eye (guest-blogging entry at the Angry Black Woman blog)
and
Ragnell’s In case you forgot, I hate everyone. at Written World, which is about the gendering of the Transformers.
(Spoilers everywhere.)
Thanks for the links! I hadn’t read any other blog posts on the film, and will read.
Hello!
It’s always interesting to hear your perspective on these things… The only other people I can talk to about these things are, well guys… and yeah, they’re guys (though nothings’ wrong with that.) It’s refreshing once in a while to hear a sentiment like this once in a while.
I too tire of that overdone female role in movies where generic pretty girl is only there to be the love interest of poor male who can’t get with her. As much as I do like nerdy guys, I’m really tired of the “poor nerds can’t get girls let’s feel sorry for them” thing. All in all, this WAS geared toward guys more… and I can guarantee plenty of very nerdy guys went and saw it. There were probably quite a few who felt that yeah, that was their life story… Oh well.
I haven’t seen it yet, so hopefully there won’t also be too much fanservicey Flash the T&A to go along with it.
Keep writing, it’s so nice to finally hear a girl’s voice in all of this testosterone!
[...] wrote about the problematic handling of The Hot Love Interest, Mikaela, in the post Transformers: Sexism in Disguise: I started off with a sour taste for Mikaela. During the first hour, she does two cool things: she [...]
Is that Mikaela in the first photo? Looks like she’s trying to wash Spidey’s tights in the engine compartment.
Aye, that be her!
Oh come off it.. :) Don’t be too harsh on Mikeala. For a silly action movie character with little enough definition to begin with she was much more humane and flawed that I would have thought possible here. And as much as I do recent the actor’s willingness to revel in her admittedly Large ‘eye-candy’ part of the role, I was in fact positively surprised by many aspects of the character: the tomboy-ish and the honestly and akwardly shallow, not to mention that she was the one human characters that made the film’s (enthusiastically highlighted) point of putting other’s intrests before your own or sacraficing something precious for the good of another. And it was she finally brought that the point home to Sam’s character.
One part of the character that I disliked is the very part you mentioned as positive: Mikeala as the ‘kick-ass-action babe’. That stereotype is hardly a praise-worthy attribute, and in itself far more sexist than any scenes about teenagers checking each others out or so. It’s not that over-blown ineptitude in a character is a good thing either, but ignoring that side completely will not result in humane 3d characters of any description. Even in a flat out action centered film like this one. Both of the young humans showed hesitation in battle which was nice.
And I think both Sam and Mikeala’s characters’ shallowness (as attitudes towards physicality) was brought to light pretty well. Though on a less positive note, we were only allowed to sympathize with Sam’s ‘understandable’ shallowness (after all ‘she’s hot’…), whereas Mikeala’s shallowness was condemned as her weakness that she need to win to appreciate Sam.
The ending was odd I think. How did it end up (into threesome with some very much voyeuristic Autobots calmly transmitting near by…?)
I see your points, but I read your first sentence as rude, even with the smiley.
Well, rudeness not intended there, just humour. Considering that we’ve all seen the movie and found Something intriguing about these characters in spite of the film’s short-comings, I just thought we could try and be sympathetic towards the poor creatures. ;) At least with me, the teenage perspective through Sam (to the whole of the movie) made me inclined to sympathize, and perhaps more willing over-look some aspects that understandably can be irksome within the film. But just, please don’t seek insults were there are none.
Sorry, just a random googler who made it here.. but wow.
“I see your points, but I read your first sentence as rude, even with the smiley.”
You expect the Internet to be nice to you?
Yup!
Well, there is a reason why the main character of the movie is a white male: he’s an updating of the main character from the cartoon, Spike Witwicky.
On the other hand, Spike in the cartoon did have a girlfriend, a tomboyish girl named Carly who was originally more interested in Sam’s car than she was in boys, and didn’t bother to hide it. I really wish they’d gone that way in the movie.
As a side note, the cartoon also had a disabled character, a hacker kid named Chip who used a wheelchair. He would’ve fit perfectly in with the posse of computer geniuses recruited by the NSA, and I’m kind of disappointed he wasn’t there either.
Just found this blog, so I’m late to the party.
I actually ended up liking Mikaela more than I expected to. The reviews cited a scene where she badmouths Sam’s car and is dumped out. I was braced for the usual – girl doesn’t like Boy Thing, girl is punished for not liking Boy Thing, audience roars.
But the actual scene wasn’t so bad as all that. For those who haven’t seen it, or who forgot it instantly: Mikaela knows the car is a Transformer and wonders why it turns into such a crappy car; then the car dumps *both* her and Sam, fixes itself up nice, and comes back for them. None of the sexist subtext I was expecting from the setup.
I am by no means praising Transformers for its gender roles – you’re right on every count. Just saying that I was relieved that it wasn’t as bad as I was primed for, and that it maybe represents an incremental improvement over older action flicks.
I love the closet hatred of white people and white males especially, I can see how far “feminism” has come…racist prick.
Reading too much into it… Remember as you said, You didn’t watch the Cartoon back in the day… These are main characters, Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, Megatron, Star Scream, Jazz etc… they were male characters then so they are now. We’re also looking at just a few robots, not their whole collective. These are the select few special ops soldiers sent to fight the most important battle, the battle for the all spark.
As the US Army has been for years the majority are male, that is changing over time and even though the Army in the past was all male, There were huge forces of females that made WW2 run smooth, and made the womens movement possible after that… showing the whole world absolutely that women were ultra capable of performing labors originally considered male only. However with the majority of soldiers being male if you send a small contingency to do battle the odds are that it may likely contain all or more male than female characters. And I don’t even know if you can tell me if the scorpion was male or female. Regardless there are only a few robots in the movie compared to the endless array of transformers that both Optimus prime called out for and Star Scream gopes in search of at the end of the movie… So most likely they are coming…. Just have to wait and see if there are female robots in the following movie etc…
As far as Mikeala goes she actually is a pretty good character, If you really pay attention you’ll see that she does know who he Sam is and is just toying with his head, I mean come on she was just in a class where he did a presentation trying to auction all his Grand Dads goodies, kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. She has a depth that is subtle, and I’d say Sam isn’t the main character, more together they are the main character. She calls Sam out and makes him step up to the level he needs to step up to to handle the situations necessary. She also comes to terms with her “criminal Past” and uses the skills she has to come through when she is needed as well and litteraly saves the day during one of the key battles. I wouldn’t call her the prize sam wins, I’d say both her and Sam grew together to rise to the occasion and bonded in a meaningfull way, most people never will. It’s not he’s her hero, It’s they are each others heroes, and in the end they finally have time to enjoy being with each other… They’re not going “all the way” on top of a sentient Car/ROBOT, but if you’d gone through that much with a person you were attracted to you’d most likely want to finally enjoy being with them in a normal setting.
PS: You are also working on the assumption that Transformers are like us and are not A-Sexual. For all you know they could be both male and female (this is not the actuality, but you never bothered to consider that as a completely different species they might not be like you and I, Male and female) While there are Female transformers they are not present in this movie but again you are looking at a small contingency of Transformers.
I did have a problem with the part where I thought the Secretary of defense told Maggie “If you don’t get control of that PRETTY MOUTH of yours, I’ll have to take you off the team” I took this as a great critique of the sexism that men of authority might have in the government and in the army. But after listening to it a few times it turned out to be “Brainy Mouth of yours” Either way it implies that were not going to listen to your crazy theories because “A- You Don’t have proof, But Really B You are a Girl”
She has her theories confirmed later in the movie, giving her credibility and respect that she should have deserved to begin with, helping change the male character views in the movie and pointing out the short comings sexist male views to the audience. So if you watch the movie with a different Eye you’ll see the subtleties that actually show that the movie does more to point out and reverse sexism than it does create sexism…
The whole Boyfriend calling Mikeala a Bunny, and Sams friend calling her a Jock Riding ho, just emphasises and shocases the weakness of the typical teenage male mind that could not see her for what she really had to offer, the movie events allow her to showcase who she actually was.
The movie also places the Two main female characters as huge heroes in this movie, and while Maggie is shunned at first she is finally viewed as one of the biggest assets in the department of defense.
There are other females in the other groups of annalists, before calling out a movie for not having enough female characters you have to take the movie’s context into play… Again there were female soldiers on the base, but the survivors of the base attack just happened to be a small contingency of friends that happened to be male. Do the math, with more soldiers on the base being male the probability is pretty high that the surviving group would be male. But the two main female roles are both pivitol to the story and in the end they both are hugely responsible for saving the day.
I edited the above comment to remove the format-breaking tags at the end.
Dax, some of my best friends are white men! Surely I don’t hate them. I’m a bit flattered you called me a prick–not often I get gendered slurs of the masculine variety.
Surprised no one mentioned the female soldier on board the plane with the president. He asked her to get him some “ding-dongs” and didn’t he call her “darlin?”
It was really blatant and obviously there to mock our fabulous president. But with this whole blog being about feminism, I was just surprised the most blatant sexist act in the film was not mentioned at all.
Why is it that so much has to be read into every movie made nowadays? I’m a woman, and honestly, I would be proud to be depicted as any of the women in this film were. Yes, women are strong. But we are weak sometimes, too. We’re human. Human=sometimes weak. Why is it that weakness ever shown in female form must be ripped apart and considered sexist?
Why does art and filmmaking have to be progressive or present someon’es ideal? Why is it not allowed to show things the way they are now?
I loved this movie from the very beginning. This is not like me. But, for some reason this movie intrigued me. Maybe it was the incredible CG robot battle scenes, or the score, or the chemistry between the actors chosen to play the roles. It impressed me.
A very coherent break down of the portrayal of women in this movie…but what did you expect from a MB film? It is these super hot babes, not the story line or characters, that insured future DVD sales for the producers and film company responsible for this horrible film.
In the end, you as a woman have a much harder job of shinning lite on Michaels Bays sell out of all things artistic than we guys who hated Transformers for it’s cliched garbage and butchering of a childhood classic.
All I can say is get in line with whats wrong with Transformers. MB is a hack sell out with a talent for quick big numbers…not films.
Everyone has so many opinions! I’ve watched this cartoon since I was little and I must say…This movie friggin ROCKS!!! I had chills the entire time!! lol At first, I was laughing at Macaela (or however you spell that), because it seemed like she was there purely as more eye candy for the guys, besides the super fantastic robots. There’s just as much in it for us, too, ladies. When Bumble Bee comes back around as the new concept Camaro, I about left a puddle in my seat. That’s better than porn!! lol It’s just awesome you guys. Just awesome. Omg I already have chills. lol
If you actually think about it, there is a part where Sam makes a heoric move. At the end in that battle, he denies Megatron’s offer and Megatron makes a move to kill him, and get the Allspark.
Sorry if that gave some away, I couldn’t think of another way to word it in order to give nothing away.
Maggie is pretty cool, and you can tell she has an accent.
Just found this blog recently and bookmarked it. Thanks for being out there for feminist fans of SF, and presenting in public the kinds of thoughts I’d have had if I had seen this movie (I haven’t yet, but your review makes it sound, actually, kinda cool).
With it being a Transformers movie, I just assumed that all the human characters in it would be male. That’s probably in part because I also never played with Transformers (they appeared way after I was of the age to play with them), but my five year old does!
DJ Emir, I think it’s interesting to explore the idea that the Transformers could be genderless or post-gendered. My five year old son has told me, quite definitively, that “StarScream is a girl”. I couldn’t elicit from him any reasons why he thought so. What features or aspects of the Transformers has convinced you that StarScream (or any of the other Transformers for that matter) is male?
Ooo, I still haven’t seen the Transformers movie and this comment popping up makes me want to rent it! Anyone know the details about StarScream?
Perhaps it’s a bit late to join the discussion, but I just felt like I had to speak my mind.
I haven’t actually seen Transformers, but I’ve read the discussion above (and the links provided), and just has to comment on Dj Emir’s post.
“We’re also looking at just a few robots, not their whole collective. These are the select few special ops soldiers sent to fight the most important battle, the battle for the all spark.”
And robots with male voices are somehow better than robots with female voices, since they are the only ones you send to the do the fighting?
I might have gotten this wrong, but aren’t the robots alien, not made of human society? Why should we assume alien beings to have more males (or rather things with male voices) as soldiers just because that’s how it is among the humans? I mean, they’re robots, right, so they shouldn’t have gender at all, oppression of females (or things with female voices)among them isn’t very likely to exist, is it? So therefore it’s strange that all the robots that appears have male voices. (unless the robots with female voices are more poorly constructed for battle than the ones with male and therefore kept away from “the most important battle”, something that I would find outrageously ridiculous)
“Again there were female soldiers on the base, but the survivors of the base attack just happened to be a small contingency of friends that happened to be male. Do the math, with more soldiers on the base being male the probability is pretty high that the surviving group would be male.”
It’s funny that it “happens to be” just males in a group so often in films, comics and books etc., but somehow I’ve never encountered a situation where everyone in a group “happens to be” female…
It’s still the persons behind something that decides if a group “happens to be” something or not, because it’s made up, not just a mere coincidence
“You are also working on the assumption that Transformers are like us and are not A-Sexual.”
And genderless/hermaphrodite (I suppose it was one of those words Dj Emir meant, because a-sexual was, last time I checked, just the term for a person that doesn’t enjoy having sex with another person. I might be wrong, I just know it does in my mother-tongue,Swedish) things somehow “happens” to have male voices?
Feel free to correct me if there’s any aspects I’ve forgotten, being one that hasn’t actually seen either the movie or cartoon.
Sorry if there’s any grammatical faults.
Oh, I forgot to tell my own opinion and not just commenting on Dj Emir’s opinion, and that is that to me both the cartoon and the film seems pretty close-minded,if they assume that robots have male voices as norm and female voices as deviant, without any good reason why it should be that way.
transformers the movie shows women in a close-minded sort of way. not all women are soo pretty on the outside and they hardly focus them on their personality. Also there are no women in the army, going out to fight this is very sexist.