It's kind of like a Brillo pad (the element).
More importantly...why? Unless you're drag racing (and then it's still arguable), any filter will flow more than enough to feed the pump. Some drag racers use a brass screen-type filter but I don't think they filter as well. The purpose of the filter isn't really to "filter" as much as screen out things like check balls, chunks of seal, etc that would punch holes in the casting or plug a passage/jam a valve.
The spin on filters are great, I run them on all my trucks. They will keep your fluid nice and pink for many many miles. I also like that in the event a friction falls apart, the spin on will keep it out of my cooler. Not that flushing the cooler is difficult, but it's one less thing on my mind during an overhaul.
On my rigs, I run a spin on before the coolers and a pan with a drain plug. I usually take the extra ten minutes to drop the pan, mostly to change the gasket, but I do the filter while I'm at it. The spin on filter would make me more comfortable with not dropping the pan if I were in a hurry...but mostly it just makes me a lot more comfortable with going longer between fluid changes. It's a sealed system so I will run the fluid a lot longer than a motor so long as I am removing clutch material from the fluid (this is what the spin on filter does so well).
