Taking Back the Bombshell

Goodbye female objectification! Gen-Z is growing up in a new age of female characters. Who's leading the charge? Unexpectedly.... Megan Fox.

For decades the one-dimensional bombshell has only been good for sex, but today women are taking taking back the objectification of the male gaze. Starting with a woman who’s been objectified by Hollywood for far too long- Megan Fox.

Megan Fox reigned throughout the 2000s as the sex symbol portrayed through one dimesional characters in her movies.

The Transformers franchise, Jennifer’s Body, Bad Boys II… what do they all have in common? One-dimensional Megan Fox type-cast characters. Ouch.

But Megan isn’t a quiet bombshell.

She’s a woman ready to explode- she won’t stay quiet about sexism in Hollywood.

She’s spoken out against being compared to Angelina Jolie, a move that undermined her individuality and linked them only by “tattoos and brown hair.” She walked away from the Transformers franchise, and spoke out against Michael Bay’s behavior on set, and his sexualization of a minor.

Beyond herself, Megan feels she’s been failed by her community, by women. She feels excluded by women and feminism movements, specifically the #MeToo movement, because of how the media has characterized her.

It’s almost as if women have been psychologically primed to hate Megan Fox.

Maybe it’s because she’s been typecast as the girl who stole our boyfriends, who was better than us, who made us feel like we were less.

But Megan isn’t Marilyn Monroe and she isn’t going to sit back and be a symbol for the male gaze.

She has taken the late 2010’s as an opportunity to prove to audiences that she has artistic talent and range.

In New Girl, Fox played Raegan. A woman that, at first glance, is a stereotypical sex symbol. But, throughout the series we learn more about Raegan’s vulnerabilities, passions, and flaws- she almost feels reflective of Fox herself.

Megan has continued her comedic stride in movies such as 2020’s Think Like a Dog and the upcoming Big Golden Brick.

She’s even dipping her toe back in the thriller pool, à la Jennifer’s Body. In 2021’s Midnight in the Switchgrass by Randall Emmett.

Hollywood, and our generation, is responsible for Megan Fox’s bombshell stereotype. But she is continually proving that she, and all bombshells, are more than sex symbols by reclaiming her female sexuality and proving she is smart, strong, and talented- and its our job to listen to her.