The Big Picture: Leave Michael Bay Alone

[Kahani]

The only problem with Michael Bay and Hollywood in general is that people insist on thinking there's a problem. The existence of pizza is not a problem. If pizza is the only thing you ever eat, there's a problem. If pizza is the only thing available for you to eat, there's a serious problem. But even though a gourmet meal from a Michelin starred restaurant may be objectively better in every way than a take-away pizza, the fact that far more people regularly enjoy pizza is not in any way a problem.

In case anyone's missed the point, Michael Bay is a pizza. As long as there are other kinds of films for us to watch, there is absolutely no problem with the fact that many people enjoy paying money to see Bay's films. It would only become a problem if his popularity led all filmmakers to try to do the same thing, and that's never going to happen. If you don't like his films, don't watch them. As long as there are films you do like, you have absolutely no reason to complain that films you don't like also exist.

Can someone please tell me where Bay's "redeeming quality" is?

Cinema exists to provide entertainment. Michael Bay is responsible for providing more entertainment to more people than the vast majority of people who have ever lived. Hell, he's provided more entertainment to more people than the vast majority of people who have ever lived combined. Sure, he does so through the media of boobs and explosions rather than cutting emotional narratives on the human condition. So what? If people enjoy this kind of meaningless nonsense, what right does anyone else have to tell them they're wrong to do so?

 

[nightazday]

Problem with that argument is that said argument tend to lead to fanbase wars.
You find a type of movie or genre you don't like, you demonize the people who like it. You try to force the people to be ashamed of what they like, if they don't they get more defensive. They start attacking anything you like and start pointing out the flaws of it and using it as evidence that you are also "a pig that enjoys his slop and that you should be ashamed of what you like. Sort of like that episode you did about critics response to a possible power rangers movie.

Though the argument you made in this video is kinda expected from a guy who usually labels FPS fans as "privileged knuckle-dragging fratboys."

 

[Hindkjaer]

I will go on record here and say that this is the ballsiest episode of "the big picture" I have ever seen.. and I appaude you mr. MovieBob for having the currage to do this!

 

[JarinArenos]

This is why I always ask "do I want to support this?" before going to a movie in the theater. I can watch brainless junk-movie fare from a Redbox rental, but I want at least some outwardly redeeming value from things I'm paying upwards of 30 bucks to see. This applies both to directors and actors that I don't feel comfortable supporting. See also: why I haven't seen Edge of Tomorrow yet, despite it supposedly being a decent movie.

 

[Kyogissun]

I hate to say it but I really have nothing else to add. This is a pretty accurate accusation of the problem with the film, literature, gaming, music and any other general industry out there. The pigs love their slop.

I mean I'm guilty of it too but I do have to agree there are probably one too many going back to their slop instead of trying something/seeing if there's something else to consume.

 

[medv4380]

The Blame the Audience cliche. It's just as over done as Michael Bay hate. Don't take the time to break down the problem. Don't waste any important brain power analising it. Just find the nearest scapegoat and run with it.

Michael Bay is picked on no more than M. Night Shyamalan. They both take a lot of heat because the more they keep this up the more they look like one hit wonders.

It's actually easy to argue that Transformers isn't a success even in the light of financial success. The problem isn't in the audience. It is in the ticket prices, and theater screen inflation.

Without the grossly overpriced tickets a movie like transformers would have to appeal to everybody. Not just the select Transformers fans that will go to a movie just because it happens to have Transformers in it. This particular problem started when they took the big theaters of "Gone With The Wind" and cut them in half. You could then have two different movies that appealed to a more of a nitch,(Suck it GP), audience. They then cut them again giving us quads. They then created megaplexes of 20 plus screens each.

It's people like Michael Bay who figured out that they could appeal to a more nitch audience, and just jack up the ticket price who are at fault. As your available screen count goes up with your ticket price your quality will go down. The only way to fix this is to cut the ticket price in half. Sadly, re-merging the screen isn't much of an option.

 

[Hellfireboy]

The thing is that the "hogs" know who they are. They know that all they're going to the movies for is slop. They know the difference between Transformers and Citizen Kane. AND THEY DON'T CARE. Go ahead and call them on it. Tell them that they're nothing but low brow troglodytes consuming nothing but spectacle over substance. They already know that. They don't care. It won't make them suddenly go out and pick Fritz Lang over Michael Bay. The problem that critics can't get around is that most people don't see movies as 'art'. They see them as escapism. They have lives, and these lives have problems. These lives have things that they have to think about all the time. These lives have stress. What they want is to, for a few hours, forget all that and lose themselves in what is fundamentally a childish fantasy. This claptrap is really just a way for them to let go and let their minds play. That's why the critical review of Age of Extinction is 16% but the audience review is 60%. All that will happen if you call them on it is that they will just stop reading your blog or review in particular and go out and buy a ticket for the next escapist extravaganza while all the time seeing you as an elitist blowhard who just doesn't understand what is really at play.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Fights need a symbol. McDonalds isn't the only reason for the obesity problem and there are so many restaurants with unhealthy menus. But instead of defusing the fight in a million directions there are times when focusing the problem into a common symbol is the way to get the message out.

Do you go after everyone who buys a ticket to bad movies or do you find a symbol for the fight against bad movies? Bay just happened to end up as the symbol for what's wrong because he doesn't change as a film maker so it's not like Bay is going to make a really good smart movie that will mess up his image as a bad film maker.

But maybe that doesn't solve the issue, a scapegoat or a single target for an entire issue only should result at most marginal improvement. The thing with movies is the thing I have with anime, too much pandering and not enough higher mind.

I hate to say it but it's time that critics separate themselves from the public. It's elitist as all hell but if it means that the public gets the smack to the face it deserves and needs, then so be it. Besides, I would rather this than my more extreme solution of neurological rewriting in which all lust and non-higher thinking sources of adrenaline and endorphins are eliminated.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

The thing is that the "hogs" know who they are. They know that all they're going to the movies for is slop. They know the difference between Transformers and Citizen Kane. AND THEY DON'T CARE. Go ahead and call them on it. Tell them that they're nothing but low brow troglodytes consuming nothing but spectacle over substance. They already know that. They don't care. It won't make them suddenly go out and pick Fritz Lang over Michael Bay. The problem that critics can't get around is that most people don't see movies as 'art'. They see them as escapism. They have lives, and these lives have problems. These lives have things that they have to think about all the time. These lives have stress. What they want is to, for a few hours, forget all that and lose themselves in what is fundamentally a childish fantasy. This claptrap is really just a way for them to let go and let their minds play. That's why the critical review of Age of Extinction is 16% but the audience review is 60%. All that will happen if you call them on it is that they will just stop reading your blog or review in particular and go out and buy a ticket for the next escapist extravaganza while all the time seeing you as an elitist blowhard who just doesn't understand what is really at play.

So what is the solution to it? We can't do anything like subsidize movies of legitimate value while placing heavy fines on slop movies because the capitalism that we support ( I support some portions of it such as competition determining prices and quality) won't allow it. My extreme solution of mental altercation would be shot down by every neurologist and person in the world. We have no ways out so all we can do is just hold to our values

 

[leviadragon99]

He's still kind of a douche though... he's made a couple of decent movies and he's not as bad as some would have you believe, but setting aside all the juvenile stuff, nihilism and misanthropy are not pleasant ideologies or character traits.

End of the day, I wouldn't point at him specifically as the only valid target of dislike, but people don't get a free pass for being assholes just because a lot of other people are also assholes.

 

[K12]

Can't help but feel that a significant portion of Bob's soul was bared in that last minute or so.

 

[EssThree]

5:00 was when I started loving this video.

 

[walsfeo]

Really there is problem. If the average moviegoer likes Transformers who am I to take it away from them? Its existence isn't affecting me in any way.

Possibly, or possibly the predominant acceptance of crap makes better stuff less likely. I suppose it could be either.

 

[teamcharlie]

I sincerely think this is the wrong Michael Bay movie to bring this apology to. Most of the time, the movies are stupid in an interesting way and I'd be absolutely on board for the argument that hating on him is silly and dumb.

But Transformers 4 is fucking boring. It would be boring if it was 90 minutes, and it was unbearable at 160. It wasn't even as dumb as the previous installments, and instead of replacing that source of entertainment with something equally interesting they just replaced it with polish. Give me rough edges! Give me neurotic actors! Luke kissing Leia, boom mic in the shot, Shia LeBoeuf's parents being annoying, robots peeing on things, etc. Something different, something interesting, something to notice or just think about. That's what I'm here for, and if there's nothing to make fun of and the characters are flat and lifeless, I'm not interested.

 

[PuckFuppet]

the predominant acceptance of crap makes better stuff less likely

As tempting as that is to believe, that people are off the hook for there not being anything good because of all the utter shite, it isn't true. As long as the money is flowing freely, which it sometimes hasn't and to the detriment of all, people who make decisions about what does and does not get produced are more likely to put money somewhere it'll do good.

 

[Osaka117]

While I agree with all of your points, it has to be said that just because the pigs want it doesn't make the feeder any less guilty.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't think Bay is merely the guy serving up the next order of fries. He's been one of the guys to cultivate this shit.

Are the audiences a problem? Yes, but I think Bob's got the wrong tack here.

Transformers threads are full of people who come in to ***** about how this is the worst movie since the last Transformers movie, how Bay continues to be crap, how they hate his military porn/racism/softcore porn/whatever.

And they've done that since opening night.

I wonder how much of Bay's audience hates him with a passion, wants him to stop making movies, but shells out money to see his movies in cinema. If WWE could get Michael Bay on their show, it'd be bigger than the Attitude Era. It'd rival reality TV at its peak. Vince McMahon wishes he had that kind of impact.

When Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes out, I bet those same people will go into the theater, pay their money, and then ***** about Bay. Yes, I know he's only the producer this time, and I bet they know that too, but they will ***** about Bay.

And Michael Bay will fall asleep on a mattress stuffed with hundred dollar bills and hate mail.

This is the problem that's pervaded gaming culture, as well. "stupid Call of Duty, ruining gaming," said the guy with the last four CoDs and all their DLCs in his library. "I'm sick of reboots," said the gamer who's angry that the latest reboot they bought was a reboot, though they knew that beforehand. "Why do we only get more of the same?" cries out pretty much every AAA game player while they play their newest dose of sameness. All the anger in the world won't cover it when their money speaks louder. And that seems to be the problem here. People are either too addicted to Bay to stop, or they're propping him up anyway.

I'm not saying that's his whole audience, but I bet if everyone who whined about Michael Bay stopped watching his movies, it'd be significant enough to take the wind out of his sales.

...errrr, I mean, sails.

 

[Groverfield]

I always thought it was a sort of love/hate frustration with him, that yeah, his movies are that bad, but they're interesting enough to talk about, and so close to blockbuster masterpieces if he'd tone his amps down from 11. Let us compare, for academia, the public opinion of M. Bay vs Uwe Boll. Boll doesn't get near the attention Bay gets, but if you ask most people who is worse, Boll will probably get the vote if they remember any of his works. Bay still gets more negative attention, and it's as this video says, but also a bit of it is academic reviews of film school buffs who want credibility and notoriety that are self-publishing just to try to sound like they're professionals with only a semester of film theory and little practical work in their belt.

 

[KazeAizen]

I literally just said "oh snap" after the video ended because I can't believe Bob just did that and I'm in complete agreement with him. And in all honesty if we are going the fast food route I don't mind having french fries served to me every now and again. Yes Bay does have his own style which personally I think, as an artist, if you can get a style to stick with an audience to the point that they know what your art is you are doing something right. You can debate good vs. bad all you want but if your style is out there and people know it and remember it then I believe you have succeeded as an artist. Yes people would be inclined to not call Michael Bay and artist but let's face it. He is. Films are defined as art, he makes films, therefore he is an artist and I can never fault him for making a name for himself as an artist. That is our goal in the end. Make art people enjoy and have our names be remembered through that art. I'm hoping one day that my name will be remembered for making a certain kind of video game.

Just keep doing what you are doing Mr. Bay. I'd never ask an artist to change his/her style because some people don't agree with it.

 

[nayuan01]

Bravo! Finally someone has the "cojones" to flat-out state what has been patently obvious for so many years: that the normal Joe and Jane moviegoer in the USA has the sophisticated taste of fried chicken-strips! The reason why more quality films are not being made is because they are not profitable, they only serve a niche market, and the bulk of the audience just wants either a feel-good movie/chick-flick/horror movie/action movie with big explosions (i.e., turning off their brains and "enjoying the ride"). Thanks Bob for calling bull$hit on the industry, and its "consumers" thereto.