Feminist Theory Part 1 | The Whole Plate Ep. 5

I am re-watching this for the 3rd time (such a great series) and am really excited that we're about to see the release of your deconstruction of post-modernism in Transformers this Christmas! ;)

I cannot find Feminist Theory part 2, everywhere seems to go straight to part 3.....

Kathleen O'Sullivan-Cook

Why do girlbots have to be pink?

I love this entire series, so so much. But to shine an arbitrary spotlight for just a moment: That Ayn Rand moment and the way you just bludgeon cut in and out of it may be my current favorite thing on the internet.

Jade Elaine

Smurfette Principle episode?

James Anthony

I dunno why, but I liked that you put "hack and 9/11 truther" near his name. It just makes me happy for some reason.

Will Park

In case the rationals take over the comments on youtube I want to share something positive. When I was 16 I searched for 'feminism' on yt and found Feminist Frequency (it was before she had started her kickstarter). She mentioned you in one of her Tropes vs. Women videos and that was how I started watching you. Basically you and Anita introduced me to a lot topics in gender and film studies and I'm so glad that 16 year old me had those influences.

Gil

I'm not sure how far you are into creating the next video, but I think a brief discussion of "white feminism" vs "intersectional feminism" would make for an interesting wrinkle.

Hello, I was wondering where, as a two-dollar Patron, I could get the notes and script as detailed in the reward page?

Matt Eldritch

The editing in this had me laughing in stitches, despite being a bit different from your usual style of comedy. I'm looking forward to part two! :)

Seeshure

marxism!? Really?

Justin Mcfield

I love musical overtures with witty concise-summary lyrics. Who did the outro song?

Robert Dennys

Probably should have seen being a multi-parter coming

Will Park

Loved the video! I've been waiting for this one since you started. I'm glad you differentiated marketplace feminism and academic feminism at the beginning, that's something that a lot of people miss. The only thing I'd like to point out is that it seemed like the style of humor you used in this video wasn't really your own. It got a little distracting and I was surprised because you usually pair your serious content with humor very well. Other than that I thought it was a great video. Don't let the trolls get you down in the comment section, you're doing great work by making feminism and film theory accessible to everyone.

As always great video essay and great work!! Can't wait for the next one about the female human characters. And all the support to you specially cause the shitlords of YouTube are gonna be pissed off and go into a baby tantrum with this one, as always whenever they hear the word 'feminism' so be STRONG and POSITIVE. If I had one minor complaint, is that the weird random Contrapoint-ish like humor, doesn't work too well in your videos. It works on her videos cuz she is a weird, over-the-top person, and the weird humor comes natural with her. In yours it feels kinda random and forced. But anyway it's ur channel so do whatever you want with it I have no right to tell you what to do, and as always all the love and support to you! 💪💜

I wish I had something a little more insightful to add, but I will say I know you were being sarcastic, but actually I was genuinely most looking forward to the feminist theory episode! The fact that there are people who would respond w so much genuine anger when the start topic is actually pretty tame (why are the bayformers all dudes?) is so mind-boggling to me, but it's the Internet. Another great episode Lindsay! (Also, I was able to close the video before the credits but thank god I didn't bc Dat Ending Song I was not ready 😂 👌🏼)

Janelle Rose

I've done the college and the grad school, and I still find myself in need of a Google refresher every time I encounter the word "semiotics". This aside-- it's difficult for me to imagine how the YouTube usual suspects could this approach to the topic of feminism threatening, especially in the tentacular sense. In your recent work (longform video essays esp) you've struck such an effective balance between conversational and instructive tones-- your videos never feel condescending or moralizing, even on points where moralizing has become kind of expected-- while communicating a breadth of perspectives and information. It's really a job well done.

Kat Green

I apologize for not having anything insightful to say, but I want to say thank you, Lindsay. This is an excellent intro to some of my favorite critical lenses, and I hope (probably in vain) that the commenters on YouTube might learn something before spewing bile into The Discourse. I left academia some time ago, but if I were still in the Ivory Tower, I'd be 100% in favor of video criticism as a legitimate field of criticism. Actually, scratch that—your videos (and Kyle's, and Elisa's, and Jill Bearup's, and the other Chez video reviewers) prove that it already *is* a legitimate field of criticism. It's academia's responsibility to catch up.

I weep for your comments section(s)...

Peter McDevitt

This is good, and it also reminds me of the recent game Nier Automata. It's basic premise is that humanity is long gone and androids and machines are exploring their own self actualization through the lens of still existing records of human society. It goes pretty deep into gendered robots, with one main character in particular being voiced by a woman but identifying as a male. None of the robots have gendered parts but many of them seem to adopt gender as they observe the records of long dead human society. This is one of many themes it explores. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a very original take on the whole AI/transhumanism with some truly thought provoking and unique things to say. Although I will note for anyone interested, on a surface level it totally looks like a fanservicey silly anime beat up robots game. In reality this is a false front, and as it goes on it pulls the rug out from under you more and more. This is very common with Yoko Taro's work, which prior to this game have been underground cult hits. So don't be fooled by what it looks like on the surface, it's definitely something to check out if you're interested in seeing a serious and thoughtful take on this sort of idea.

Quakerin

I laughed so hard at "..because that always go well."

Rebel Girl

You joke, but I am totally willing to kick in $20 for Beneath Enemy Scrotum.

Esme

You may be interested in Jennifer Robertson (who does work on Japanese robots). She discusses the idea of (literally) creating gender in posthuman entities - like the robot (and, presumably, transhumanistic figures like the bodies of Ghost in the Shell). How this works, why it's done, who is it done for, etc. I believe she is more concerned about actual robots though - like contemporary robotic waiters and the like. Her work is much more complex than that, of course, but you may want to look at her 2010 article on the topic. Robertson, Jennifer. 2010. Gendering humanoid robots: Robo-sexism in japan. Body & Society 16 (2): 1-36.

Misguided Ghost

Good video!! Interesting that the idea of tokenism having to be explained somehow seemed to the film makers more of an obstacle than the reasons for tokenism existing in the first place, and that including female coded auto bots that said things instead of just dying in the back ground would have been automatically tokenism in the first place instead of just you know, women exist sometimes too.

Hey there, I haven't seen Steven Universe so apologise if this response is irrelevant. I think something to consider in reading gender, race or cultures is about your thinking and how your thinking is influenced. For example, say you are imagining creating a book, video game or movie, you may find in your imagining that there will be certain patterns, for example, picturing your art to be a Caucasian culture because to you that is considered your normality and therefore feels natural to imagine as opposed to imagining an Asian, Indian or African setting. In your imagining of said art form you may find that certain character behave in a particular manner that signifies generality to your culture such as someone of different skin to behave or be considered 'foreign', females to behave more feminine or more submissively, things like that. Reason I'm bringing this up is perhaps in viewing something that does not reflect your upbringing or an environment you are familiar with may result in yourself becoming aware that this feel abstract or foreign or unconventional and perhaps why you feel there is a difference but unable to articulate it. Just a thought in regards to semiotics or reading performing arts

Whats really neat about the critical analysis and use of semiotics to aid in understanding cultural influences into transformers, is that with actual robots today that is what they are doing. Engineers are trying to improve the understanding of Robots by allowing them to analysis and examine what a table or a chair is, and why a table is not a chair or a bed which to me kinda feels like the application of semiotics as a toolkit, which is funny because we're using semiotics in analysing transformers which is about robots :D

Who sings that song at the end? Because that was amazing Also I cannot wait for Part 2. But speaking of gendered aliens: have you watched Steven Universe, and if so, how do you think the gems' all-female coding differs from the transformers' all-male coding? I feel like there is a difference but I have trouble articulating it.

TalysAlankil

I enjoyed it and the humor. Comment section will probs be terrible. Makes me want to read Ancillary Justice again.

It feels like you only raised more questions.

Mister CPU

Happy in my heart. The best part was seeing, "Part 1".

This is fantastic! Would definitely attend your scam college.

Quakerin

#justiceforarcee

Kriss Watt

TURN DOWN 4 WHAT lmao

Grace Curtis

ready 4 wisdom

Grace Curtis

Yessss I'm so ready for this