Leave Michael Bay Alone!!!

June 29th, 2009Blog0 comments

Okay my peoples, you know that I’m a champion of quality entertainment. I deeply encourage the advancement of creative works that push their medium forward. I love seeing/reading/playing stuff that makes me think, and I see/read/play a lot of things.

That said, the Transformers 2/Michael Bay haters need to give it a rest.

Why: Transformers 2 is universally acknowledged to be a bad movie by the standards that judge Citizen Kane to be a good movie. I’m told by reviews that it lacks in plot, characterization, suspension of disbelief, intelligence, integrity, honesty, and storytelling capability.

However, I’m also told in these very same reviews that it succeeds in total escapism — in numbing the brain and stealing away the viewer’s attention span for more than two solid hours. Through confusion, loud explosions, ass shots and other optical and auditory illusions, it is apparently impossible to not be distracted by its presence. Like the popcorn that is consumed while watching it, Transformers 2 fools the viewer into thinking that he/she is “eating” while no actual nutrition is being absorbed by the mind or body.

The idea of a pure “entertainment product” is not a new thing — mindless entertainment has been around ever since the dawn of man. Greek and Roman theater has always had its bawdy, tits-and-ass parodies. The same goes for literature — for every Western classic there is pulp fiction. Even well-known classics like The Canterbury Tales descend into raunch every now and then.

Transformers 2 is a bad movie that made a lot of money. But will it be remembered by history? I don’t know — I’m not from the future. But does it really matter?

Another thing: People have been complaining that since Transformers made bank, equally horrible sequels are inevitable. Good. Because this means that people will work.

I live in LA. The writers strike devastated the local economy. An actors’ strike was narrowly averted. People have been going bankrupt or quitting the business. With the global economy in the state that it’s in, they need as much work as they can get. I’m talking about caterers, lighting people, production designers — people whose livelihoods depend on the film industry doing well. Many of these people are our friends.

Transformers 2 may be a crappy movie, but it put food on a lot of peoples’ tables. This is a great thing. Not only are people able to afford to put their kids through college, but it means that they will survive to still be there to make the truly great movies.

Will Transformers 2 and movies like it take audience mindshare away from other, more deserving movies? NO. I’ve seen a lot of great movies this year: UP, The Reader, The Wrestler, Star Trek. Great creative works have always existed alongside not-so-great pot stirrers, and they have been just as successful or even more successful. Not only have these great films made money, but they have become part of peoples’ lives, are studied, are remembered by history. And in fact, some of the crap is also studied, re-evaluated by history, and redeemed as classics.

Is there room for both good work and horrible work in our culture? Absolutely.

Will I go see Transformers 2? Probably not. It’s not my kind of movie.