Transformers: American Ideology Propaganda?

David Coleman · Post by **David Coleman** » October 17th, 2001, 12:20 am

I have to write a paper for my stupid Composition class about how a movie is an allegory for preferred values of the culture it was written in. So, I chose Transformers: The Movie. Here's my draft of it; I figured it was fairly interesting, as many here might not have thought about it before, and hey, its Transformers, ya gotta love it! :thup: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Transformers: The Movie enforces American ideology in the Cold War. Written in 1987, Transformers emphasizes values held by democratic Americans, while showing the evils of communism and the Soviet Union. First, we must name who represents who in the movie. Unicron represents communism. He devours one planet with a great red light, then moves onto the next planet. This is much like the Domino theory applied to communism in the Cold War Era, and the red light is clearly symbolic of communism. The Matrix represents democracy and capitalism. The Matrix defeats Unicron from the inside out, as well as only being able to be used by the Autobots and not the Decepticons. The Autobots represent the United States. Their leaders—Opitimus Prime and Ultra Magnus—are red, white, and blue. They fight for the world to be a peaceful place of freedom. The Decepticons represent the Soviet Union. The Decepticons are plagued by infighting and treachery. Opitimus Prime—the first leader of the Autobots—represents the ideal American. Megatron—the first leader of the Decepticons— represents the America’s view of a Soviet communist leader during the Cold War years. He is transformed into Galvatron, which also represents the Soviet communist. RC is the only female in the movie, and therefore acts as an example of the ideal democratic American female. Daniel and Spike are the only related humans in the movie, and serve the role of the family. Kup is the old timer on the Autobots. He represents the elderly Americans. The Dinobots (members of the Autobots who transform into dinosaurs) represent the youth in the movie, as they are strong but immature and misguided. The Matrix represents democracy and capitalism. It is the power which Opitimus Prime protects, and transfers to Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus loses it to Galvatron, but it is later recovered by the Autobot HotRod, who is able to use it to defeat both Galvatron and Unicron. In the last scene HotRod states,”Let this mark the end of the Cybertronian Wars. As we march forward to a new age of peace and happiness. Till all are one!”. After the Matrix is returned and defeats Unicron, life returns to its peaceful, happy, democratic state. This emphasizes the Cold War American ideal that democracy will prevail over Soviet communism, and that democracy and capitalism are the only way to peace and happiness.Unicron represents communism. He devours one planet with a great red light, then moves onto the next planet. This is much like the Domino theory applied by America to communism in the Cold War Era. The fact that the light is red, a color associated Communism, and he showing of it with destruction emphasizes the Cold War American mentality that Communism is destructive and contagious. Unicron also forces an unwilling Megatron/Galvatron into doing his bidding and destroying the Matrix (democracy and capitalism). This situation shows how even within the Soviet republic, people do not want to obey communism, but will only under fear of death. Opitimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots. He is red, white, and blue, which identifies him an American personification in the movie. He transforms into a Semi Truck. This represents the American blue collar worker. The use of a semi truck also serves to encourage the American work ethic. Early in the movie, Opitimus Prime comes to the rescue of the Autobot fortress which is under attack by the Decepticons. He flies in, runs over a few bad guys in semi truck form, and shoots a dozen bad guys without getting a scratch, then goes in to kill the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron. During the struggle, Megatron is lying helpless on the ground, while Opitimus Prime has a gun to finish Megatron. Megatron, planning a treacherous strike, begs for Prime’s mercy. While Prime is considering his plea, Megatron grabs another gun, and shoots Opitimus Prime, mortally wounding him. As Megatron is gloating over Opitimus Prime, Opitimus is able to hit Megatron one last time, sending over a cliff, nearly killing him. Opitimus Prime is mortally wounded. This shows that the cowboy mentality of the independent American should be willing to give his life for the good of society. Upon Opitimus Prime’s death, he transfers the Matrix (democracy and capitalism) to Ultra Magnus. This proverbial passing of the torch shows that democracy doesn’t die when its leaders do, but it lives on. Megatron is the first leader of the Decepticons. He represents the America’s view of a Soviet communist during the Cold War years. He represents evil and unreasonable hate for the Autobots (USA). He is betrayed by Starscream when Megatron is thrown off the ship, making Starscream the new leader of the Decepticons (USSR). Unicron (communism) finds Megatron and transforms him into Galvatron, in order that Galvatron will do his bidding and destroy the Matrix (democracy and capitalism). After this transformation, Galvatron kills Starscream, regaining his throne, and goes out in search of Ultra Magnus, leader of the Autobots and holder of the Matrix (democracy and capitalism). Galvatron is able to kill Ultra Magnus and steal the Matrix, but is not able to use it. This shows the American ideal that democracy and capitalism do not function in the “evil” hands of a Soviet communist. RC is the only female in the Movie, being a token member of the Autobots. She is pink and transforms into a pink little car. In the initial attack, she joins the ranks with HotRod and other Autobots to put a gun in place. This shows the American ideal that women can work and should work for the good of society. RC also protects the human boy, Daniel, several times. This shows the American ideal that a woman’s place is taking care of children. Since there is only one scene of her working and several of her being a mother figure to Daniel would lead one to believe that this enforces women as mothers more than workers. Spike and Daniel are the only humans in the movie. Spike is Daniel’s father, and helps the Autobots by wearing an exosuit. The exosuit is a robotic suit which allows him to lift heavy things and do things that the Autobots can do. When Unicron destroys the base that Spike is on, he is ingested into Unicron’s stomach awaiting digestion. In the meantime, HotRod and the other Autobots let Daniel use his father’s exosuit. This shows the American ideal of following in a father’s footsteps. Daniel later uses this exosuit to save his father from being digested in a pool of acid. This shows the American ideal of loyalty to family. Kup represents the elderly. He is the old timer Autobot. Kup frequently tells old war stories and compares current situations in the movie to a battle he had been in before. The Dinobots (members of the Autobots who transform into dinosaurs) represent the youth in the movie, as they are strong but immature and misguided. At one point, Kup is telling an old war story, and all the Dinobots are huddled around, begging for more stories. This shows the American ideal of respect for one’s elders. Transformers: The Movie is an excellent example of values and norms of the time and culture being infused, whether intentionally or not. Pro-democratic, anti-communist messages being the main values that are seen, however others involving gender, age, and family are also enforced. This popular 1980’s cartoon likely influenced many children, mostly male, born in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>any thoughts/comments?

finchuck · Post by **finchuck** » October 17th, 2001, 2:53 am

i grew up playing with transformers... those little buggers were great =)

Post by **Custommx3** » October 17th, 2001, 2:38 pm

OMG I loved my transformers.. I had they Go-Bots too. I'd make them attack my He-man figures.

GMGQ · Post by **GMGQ** » October 17th, 2001, 5:06 pm

But the Transformers originated in Japan. So all the character designs were done w/o the USA in mind...

cjthor · Post by **cjthor** » October 17th, 2001, 5:18 pm

Actually if you look at alot of japanese cartoons they always have americans in mind. They always overexxadurate our round eyes and facial expressions. Maybe we are reading into Transformers more than we should but I do agree with Dave. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by GMGQ: But the Transformers originated in Japan. So all the character designs were done w/o the USA in mind...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Esper · Post by **Esper** » October 18th, 2001, 2:28 pm

overall pretty good, and very insightful...just some style critiques: you use the word "represents" too much. break out the ol' thesaurus and get some less repetetive sybtax in there. next, break out of the pattern of saying "Noun represents..."--you have some good sentences that start with verbs but not enough sentence variation overall. it starts to read like a list. i was also gonna say you should get deeper into why each character represents each point but you do that later on. you might wanna try and combine the "list" with the explanation somehow...but only if you want to be nitpicky (or if its for an english class). its fine how it is, it just could be better. you might also want to talk about how kup represents the veterans in society, and how the youth has little experience in war. kup reminds them of the sacrifices of their forebears in creating this country. i watched this movie last year for the first time since it came out. doesn't someone say "s---!!" in the middle of it? come on, its supposed to be a kid's movie!also, i think you should name your car RC after the female character...you had to be grinning when you wrote that line about "little pink car." anyway, its really good in concept, all i can pick out is grammar and syntax stuff. i am a budding english minor, after all!

[ October 18, 2001: Message edited by: Esper ]

David Coleman · Post by **David Coleman** » October 18th, 2001, 5:47 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Esper: overall pretty good, and very insightful...just some style critiques: you use the word "represents" too much. break out the ol' thesaurus and get some less repetetive sybtax in there. next, break out of the pattern of saying "Noun represents..."--you have some good sentences that start with verbs but not enough sentence variation overall. it starts to read like a list. i was also gonna say you should get deeper into why each character represents each point but you do that later on. you might wanna try and combine the "list" with the explanation somehow...but only if you want to be nitpicky (or if its for an english class). its fine how it is, it just could be better. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You've never taken technical writing have you?

Passive voice is bad, active voice is good. Using excess verbosity is bad, eschewing obfuscation is good

. Active voice is much more effecient, as it takes of the who/what/when/where automatically, if done correctly. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> you might also want to talk about how kup represents the veterans in society, and how the youth has little experience in war. kup reminds them of the sacrifices of their forebears in creating this country. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually I was going to go indept on how HotRod represents the ideal that the common man can rise to use democracy for the good for America just as the leaders can. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> i watched this movie last year for the first time since it came out. doesn't someone say "s---!!" in the middle of it? come on, its supposed to be a kid's movie! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> also, i think you should name your car RC after the female character...you had to be grinning when you wrote that line about "little pink car." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Pink Powa so ownZ RC; she is inferior

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> anyway, its really good in concept, all i can pick out is grammar and syntax stuff. i am a budding english minor, after all!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Thanks for the compliments. My last paper was written a few hours on no sleep before the class, and that incoherent rambling some how got a B-. I sure hope I can get an A+ with this one

English/composition=waste of time

Matt_vn · Post by **Matt_vn** » October 31st, 2001, 11:47 pm

I wished anyone but hot rod was the choosen one. He was kinda a jerk I thought. It would have been cool if MegaTron/GlavaTron would have turned on UniCron and become part of the Autobots. I love transformers they were great.What the hell is with FOX's new transformers though?!?!?Prime is a fire truck. A FIRE TRUCK??.. They cant change the vehical that prime is. He is a Semi, i have the toy to prove it........I have the transformers movie on my computer if anyone wants to see it. mail me matthewvn@accesscomm.ca

Esper · Post by **Esper** » November 1st, 2001, 3:36 am

i haven't taken technical, no...my training is from the guy they based sean connery on in finding forrester (not really, but he DID write "constipated" on our papers all through high school). i'm currently getting APA drilled into me, and it violates most of the rules of good writing i've ever learned. psych papers make you write in passive voice! argggggg! <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Actually I was going to go indept on how HotRod represents the ideal that the common man can rise to use democracy for the good for America just as the leaders can. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>good idea! <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> English/composition=waste of time

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>god, i agree...but some can really use it...i don't mean to rag on anyone here, though **JJ**. :p

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Transformers: American Ideology Propaganda?

Transformers: American Ideology Propaganda?

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