The Written Podcast: Guilty Pleasures

It should be made clear that anything that makes you happy shouldn’t make you feel guilty. Unless you’re doing something dodgy of course, but that’s another kettle of fish entirely. The term, “guilty pleasures” is used when someone likes something niche or likes something despite knowing it is of poor quality.

Everyone has their own guilty pleasure whether they want to admit it or not, and some have multiple. Some have one guilty pleasure in each category, be it film, television, music, fashion, or something else. We generally don’t choose our guilty pleasures, they just become them.

Whilst I could write about every guilty pleasure I have, I’m only going to write about one, and that’s a film series. The live-action Transformers series to be exact. They are my guilty pleasure. But, with most things, I like to be awkward about it and state I only like the first four, not the fifth. Even I must admit, Transformers: The Last Knight is a film I cannot enjoy. The first four on the other hand; they are my guilty pleasure.

The live-action Transformers series has been widely ridiculed by critics and the public alike, yet, the box-office numbers contradict those reviews, with the third and fourth film both breaking $1billion dollars. For a film series that’s constantly berated as having no story, hardly any character development, and nothing but fight scenes, breaking a billion is quite an achievement. It seems that the series isn’t just my guilty pleasure, but many others as well.

But why are they my guilty pleasure? If I’m honest with you, the reasons I have for them being such may not be justifiable to some people, but they make sense to me.

Reason no. 1:

I used to collect the toys when I was younger and play with them all the time. I had the entire set of the Amada series – and I watched the cartoons as well. I essentially grew up with Transformers, so when I discovered a live-action film had been made, I went to the cinema to watch it. (Fun fact: The Transformers series (except Bumblebee which is regarded as a reboot and not part of the main five) is the only series I went to the cinema for every film. No other franchise did I watch all their films at the cinema, but instead waited for some to come out on DVD first.) In 2007, I was 13 years old. Back then, Transformers was an epic action piece with incredible special effects. Through my 13-year-old eyes, a film which included 90% fight sequences between two gigantic robots was nerd heaven.

Reason no. 2:

If the first one was epic, the sequel would be, too. Revenge of the Fallen came out in 2009. I was 15 and still in high school. Two years had passed since the first one was released, and the MCU had officially kicked off with the likes of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk being incredible to my nerd-self. They are way better than the Transformers films, but it was hard to resist the calling of a fresh Transformers movie, with new action sequences to sink my eyes into. Explosion after explosion after explosion for a teenager’s mind was all that kept me happy when it came to film back in those days, and the second ramped up the explosions to a whole other level entirely.

Reason no. 3:

When the third one came around, I was committed. But I wouldn’t have gone to see that in the cinema if it weren’t for my friends inviting me out. A group of boys going to the cinema, we certainly weren’t going to see a romantic comedy, were we? No, Transformers kept us happy. Dark Side of the Moon was the biggest in the franchise yet, and was ridiculed as being the one with the least story and character development yet, but I enjoyed it because it’s yet another film with gigantic robots in huge action sequences; and I was with my friends.

Reason no. 4:

Probably the most controversial reason on this list, but one I have to include to be honest. It allows me to shut my mind off. The franchise having no story, having no character development and only action sequences is enough to send me into a trance-like state and forget about the world and its problems for 2-hours. I don’t have to concentrate on what’s going on, I can just sit back and enjoy.

Reason no. 5

All the above every time I re-watch one of the films. The first reminds me of when I was a teenager and all I needed to keep myself occupied was with that film. The second reminded me that there was more of what I enjoyed whilst still being a teenager. The third reminded me of the time when my friends and I were able to unite together easier than today due to having next to no responsibilities. It was simpler times back then, and those films remind me of that. This reason does include the fourth film, Age of Extinction. It came out in 2014, the year I finished college. I was about to enter the big wide world and the Transformers franchise allowed me to cling onto those moments during my teenage years. Now I’m 25 and fast approaching 26, watching those films to forget about my troubles has some peace about it, you know.

Why not The Last Knight?

Whilst it may seem I’m contradicting myself by saying how the next sequel was more of what I liked and yet the fifth was the one I didn’t, it’s because it was truly that bad. I was ready to shut my mind off to the world, but I couldn’t. The fifth did what the previous four hadn’t – have an actual story, and it was a bad story, so bad it involved about half a dozen sub-plots that only lasted five minutes. I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I did the other four, which is a shame because I still to this day consider the first four as guilty pleasures for the reasons above.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)