Firstly, it's worth noting that I find Devastator's wrecking ball scrotum absolutely HILARIOUS and in no way in need of ANY further justification beyond that alone.

However, as with my similarly-titled thread analyzing the symbolism of a likewise commonly dismissed and VASTLY unappreciated scene from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Red Cup FREAKOUT Scene is THE CORE OF THE MOVIE!!!, I assure you that I am actually 1,000% SERIOUS about this and hope you'll all gird your loins long enough to hear me out and bear with me for the sake of better understanding the IMMENSE subtlety of such a BLATANTLY balls-out and IN-YOUR-FACE yet somehow still incredibly sneaky and clever scene such as THIS:

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As with my recent thread about English words hidden in Cybertronian dialogue, I'd been meaning to post about this for a LONG time but never really got around to it until the subject came up in another thread recently. Or, more accurately in this case, about a BILLION threads. Unfortunately, I've simply never quite had the time after joining this forum due to my exceedingly busy schedule traveling and because whenever I finally HAVE had the time I was also having LOTS of trouble finding the screencaps I wanted for this thread. Luckily, I was bored enough today to take another look around and LO AND BEHOLD! the screencaps I'd been looking for all this time were just a quick google search away!

Also, I'd just like to further preface this by pointing out that I'd MUCH RATHER be working on the many, many threads regarding Transformers: Age of Extinction which I've been chipping away at in my notebooks over the past year, like my exploration of the knighthood theme in that film, but w/e...those are all pretty damned involved and I can bash this one out RIGHT now, so all in good time, right? Plus, I should've posted this about SIX years ago so I'm even further behind schedule on THIS one, lol.

So here we go!

As I'm sure you're all WELL aware, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is easily the most maligned film of the series to date, and no scene in the film is MORE reviled by its detractors than THIS scene. Often called "pointless," it is among the most blatant examples of the so-called "toilet humor" which is so commonly at the heart of the movie's criticisms, particularly because so many think it "has no place" in the movie or any value AT ALL beyond that of a cheap laugh.

THIS THREAD SEEKS TO REMEDY
THAT MISUNDERSTANDING.​

So what IS the "core" of the movie, and how exactly DOES this scene fit into that thematic statement???

As the opening and closing monologues of this movie establish, one of the core plot points of the entire movie is the revelation that Earth and Cybertron share a FAR more ancient history together than was previously known. In fact, the film even goes so far as to establish that the core of the dispute between Autobots and Decepticons actually revolves around The Fallen's attempt to break the code of the Primes by eradicating all life on Earth with the Sun Harvester for his own selfish and evil motives.

But, stepping back from those points for a moment, we must also acknowledge the baselessness of yet another common criticism of the film, regarding the so-called "toilet humor" prevalent throughout, such as the Witwicky family's pets humping away on the sofa, for instance.

However, are they even really fornicating?

Nope! In fact, Ron Witwicky's dialogue makes that explicitly clear:

MOJO! STOP DOMINATING FRANKIE!

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Yes, as the scene above establishes, the "dog-humping" scenes DO NOT depict actual reproductive acts, but represent instead acts of DOMINANCE, behavior which even neutered males and the female of the species engage in socially to express their "alpha" status over others.

Likewise, the scene of Wheelie "humping" Mikaela's leg later in the film is meant as a display of dominance for the film's audience as much as for the characters themselves, brilliantly set-up and foreshadowed by Mojo's OWN display of dominance over Frankie, illustrating not only that Mikaela is Wheelie's "goddess" and that he belongs to her, but also that SHE belongs to HIM, much to Sam's dismay.

YEAH! YEAH! SAY MY NAME! SAY MY NAME!

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Which leads me to the point of this thread!

How exactly do these so often derided and misunderstood scenes play into the movie's CORE themes of a shared history between Earth and Cybertron and the root of the schism between the Autobots and Decepticons?

Wait for it...

Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly submit to you...

DECEPTICONS DOMINATING OUR PLANET​

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All of which taken together, I hasten to add, demonstrates a FANTASTICALLY subtle and clever employment of the Screenwriter's Rule of Three, simultaneously establishing the underpinnings of the humor and, more importantly, the very meaning of the scene in question, wherein we see Devastator straddling an ancient monument from Earth's history and revealing it to be in actuality, the Sun Harvester, an instrument of Decepticon dominance over mankind.

Pretty clever stuff for a film so many people constantly accuse of being so poorly written!

Hell, this theme of domination which the film constructs over the course of three, evenly spaced acts even offers something in the way of a more intrinsically naturalistic explanation for the movie's similarly widely-criticized transformation of Devastator from his traditional, bipedal design to that of a lumbering, four-legged beast-like design, insofar as it makes more plainly recognizable the visual parallel between Mojo's dominance over Frankie and Devastator's dominance over us.

And for anyone who thinks that the filmmakers underutilized and failed to take FULL advantage of their unprecedented access to the Great Pyramids of Giza, or that this scene was nothing more than a tasteless, throwaway gag with no place or purpose within the movie, I sincerely suggest turning your brain back on and PAYING ATTENTION to what's actually going on within the scene and the film as a whole.

I mean, this stuff is PURE GOLD, man!

Even the so-called "lowbrow" humor of Simmons' dialogue perfectly encapsulates the visual metaphor of Decepticon domination over not only Earth's history but, indeed, MANKIND ITSELF.

To wit...

I AM DIRECTLY BELOW ENEMY SCROTUM!

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And there we have it!

Naturally, I have A LOT more to say on this subject, but I'll save that for a later date since I can already feel the nerdrage, hatred, and blind rejection coming my way after explaining all this, lol.

In the meantime, I hope you've found this as enjoyable as it is enlightening!

 

 

I really thought you were gonna say "because the movies are bollocks!"

 

 

This thread perfectly sums up everything wrong with the movies...

 

This thread is nuts.

Although as I said in another thread, in Marvel, Dr. Selvig can run around with no pants and everyone thinks it's hilarious. Because it's Marvel.

In Transformers, Devastator can have testicles and everybody thinks it's the worst example of tasteless humor. Because it's Michael Bay.

 

Theres a big difference in the context over which these two things happen. I think you've already had it spelt out for you.

At least the OP is trying to offer some context for it this time around. You'd have to have pretty big nuts yourself to try that!  

 

Are you implying that Devy was humping the pyramids?

 

You're right! It shows that Bay's Decepticons aren't an intelligent military force but a bunch of animals waving their balls at you until you put them down.

 

Woah, this stuff was asking deep philosophical questions.

 

The only real problem here is that only one vehicle that forms Devastator has a wrecking ball.

And the fact that you put this much thought into this.

 

...Yeah I really don't see why the balls have such big importance in ROTF other then being a tasteless sexual gag.

 

Hazekiah does it again!

You sir are a genius.

 

I saw where you were going with it the second you brought up the word "dominance". It's very clever.

I also really doubt that it's intentional.

I think, truly and honestly, that Michael Bay injects his brand of comedy because he thinks we're going to be so invested in the drama of unmotivated villains Vs. good guys with unclear goals that we'll need the occasional injection of humor to lighten the mood.

Or he tosses it in because he saw other movies had comic relief and thought to himself "I CAn DO THaT IN My MoVIEs ToO!"

But I like you're version better.

 

     

Thanks, guys!

I honestly think it's pretty clever and intriguing myself! In fact, I not only believe these elements of symbolism were deliberately developed and intentionally inserted within the film for the very reasons I've outlined, I actually attribute a large portion of the film franchise's success to them!

Sure, of course they're there to get a good laugh. But beyond that they ALSO work on a universally innate, subconscious level which plays the audience like a fiddle and transcends language barriers, helping to make the films the massive INTERNATIONAL financial successes that they've all become.

The same goes for the so-called "toilet humor" in general. Not everyone's going to get the "box" joke in TF:DotM, obviously. But EVERYONE can understand the humor behind, say, a kitchen-bot farting flames or shooting at stuff with its dick-gun, lol.

Likewise, the dog-humping and leg-humping scenes are immediately familiar to pretty much anyone who's ever had pets, regardless of their native language. And whether or not someone is consciously aware of what's going on later with the Devastator scenes in relation to the previous establishing shots of dominance behavior in action, they are still nonetheless perfectly set-up by the filmmakers to understand what's happening there on a purely reflexive, instinctual level.

Which is a BRILLIANT manipulation of the audience by the filmmakers!

Forget simple Four Quadrant Filmmaking (male/female, old/young) -- although the movies are EXCELLENT examples of THAT, too -- it's like they've tapped into a hidden FIFTH Quadrant, lol.

Basically, if you are human AT ALL then it will work.

And, again, I'd say the enormous international success of these films pretty much speaks for itself on that point.

 

Primarily because it's FASCINATING!

And if you read my post, my sig, or the list of ALL the threads I've started, I think you'll find that this is hardly the ONLY analysis of the film franchise's symbolism upon which I've embarked.

Plus, I believe I already outlined my reasoning in the OP. There's PLENTY of other stuff I'm DYING to get to in these films...but I'm working with limited time and technology resources for now so I banged this one out in a hurry instead. Not to mention the fact that this is perhaps the one scene MOST in need of explication and defense considering it comes up ALL THE TIME in discussions of these movies, most often in a negative light by the very people who turn a blind eye to any value it may have.

Or everything RIGHT about them, perhaps?

Simple solution: the extra wrecking ball was in Long Haul's cargo bay! Although, if that's the case then they really should've called him Load Hauler instead, lol.

And what's wrong with THINKING about things, btw?

No, I was very clear on that point.

He was DOMINATING them.

And, by extension...us.

Soooo...you didn't even READ the thread?!?

 

 

Are you ok

 

As ridicules your ideas may sound to think about, they're actually quite interesting.  

I'll try to make sense of it all when I'm bored.

 

Overthinking is what Hazekiah does best.  

 

Man this is definitely what we needed on the movie forum instead of the constant bitch fest from both parties. I'm just mad we never got a Devastator figure with his wrecking balls. Hey if Kup can have his cigar and Wreckgar can have his 70s porn stash, then surely metal balls on a combiner wouldn't be the craziest thing this franchise has ever produced, not excluding Heinlad from Beast Wars Neo.

 

A champion of confirmation bias maybe.

 

I miss Hazekiah's old threads  

 

if he did, i would of left the theater going "okay bay, you win. that just made the entire franchise worth it."