The latest entry in the Transformers movie franchise, the standalone spin-off movie Bumblebee, has been released in cinemas in mainland China. Overall, Gleaner feels that the Bumblebee movie should be a major change from the previous Transformers movie series in terms of the core themes of the story and the style of the body design. Reminder, the following analysis involves light spoilers.
The Bumblebee movie is set in the late 1980s in the United States, a time when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were still in the midst of the Cold War. Because Bumblebee has such a backdrop, it is clear that a lot of the popular European and American music of the time is planted in the movie, and this nostalgic feeling doesn’t intend to stop from the very beginning of the Bumblebee main feature. Even though the film has the trappings of nostalgia, at its core the story is still a youthful coming-of-age film; in short, it’s a teen movie that caters to a mainstream audience.
The heroine of Bumblebee, Charley, is a teenage girl who has lost her father. Charley has always been haunted by the death of her father, so much so that Charley, who had been an accomplished high diver, has no courage or determination to take on high diving again due to the sudden death of her father, who had won a high diving competition just before he died of a heart attack and was cheering her on.
Charley was influenced by her father and had an obsession with car repairs. In Charley’s garage there was a car that had been out of repair for a long time and Charley wanted to fix it because Charley felt that if she fixed it, her late father would respond to her thoughts. Charley loves to fix cars and has a lot of skills in car repair. At almost 18 years old, Charley still desires to have her own car, but Charley’s family does not respond well to her request and it is still difficult for Charley to buy a car, even if it is second-hand, with the money she earns from her job at the amusement park.
On the other hand, Autobot B127, later Bumblebee, is entrusted by Autobot commander Optimus Prime to come to Earth to establish an Autobot base and then wait for the arrival of the Autobots. From the images of the Transformers engaging in battle in the film, apart from the various special effects that we have become accustomed to seeing, in terms of the design of the Transformers’ bodies, this film uses multiple forms of transforming forms. On the enemy side of the camp, these transforming robots can have multi-stage transformations, the enemy robots can turn into car form, they can turn into fighter form, or of course they can directly transform from car or fighter form into The concept of multi-stage transformation reminds us of the multi-stage fighter robots designed by Masaharu Kawamori in the “Super Fortress” anime series.
Bumblebee’s body design, especially the design of Bumblebee’s body, is a car that comes to Earth in the form of an old Beetle, which is later found by Charley in a car repair shop and given to her as a birthday present. The car was later found by Charley in a car repair shop and the owner of the shop gave Charley Bumblebee as a birthday present. The car form of Bumblebee is not as tough as its predecessor, and even after Bumblebee turns into an Autobot, Bumblebee’s appearance has a slightly soft and cuddly feel to it. This is understandable to Gleaner, as the film is not as hardcore at its core, and since the protagonist is a girl who has just turned 18, Bumblebee’s design has to fit the tone of the female protagonist.
The subversion then comes in the form of the scenes where Charley and Bumblebee have various interactions after their encounter. The name Bumblebee was given to B127 by Charley, who was unable to speak on her own because her speech centre had been cut off, and then Charley installed a car radio for Bumblebee, who was able to use the data from the car radio to express her thoughts. There was also the fact that Bumblebee’s memory module was damaged and Bumblebee lost his memory; he could not remember what he came to Earth to do.
It is because of the two aforementioned factors that Charley is surprised that Bumblebee, once an Autobot warrior, behaves like a cuddly pet when interacting with him. Charley has been training Bumblebee on how to hide his Autobot identity in order for those around him not to sense that Bumblebee is abnormal, and Bumblebee really does act like a pet, causing a lot of trouble in Charley’s life as he is being trained. Of course, Charley and Bumblebee spend most of their time together with warm and happy things, and Charley grows up because of Bumblebee’s company.
From this “Bumblebee”, which is very different from the previous style, we can see that the Transformers series is facing the problem of having to transform. Faced with the huge power of the Marvel Universe and the rapid leap of the DC Universe with the Sea King as an example, the charm of Transformers is getting weaker and weaker, and the previous style of tough guy boom boom boom has made the audience aesthetically tired over the years, and at a time when the IP is becoming more and more chickenshit, this transformation into a youth film mode of filming, with a simpler body design and a more pleasing image, may give Transformers a new lease of life.
