Not being sarcastic. Let me rephrase, because I think we are saying the same thing. No framework was happy to be a cog. The ones that were I like to call libraries instead.
I say this point of view is useful because it seems like an elegant/simple way to distinguish them.
I don't agree that it's useful (not sure if you were being ironic). All of the "frameworks" I've used were determined to make my cog their subject. I haven't come across a framework that was content to be a cog in my machine.
[Edit] Subject, as in royal or imperial subject.