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“I don’t change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.”

The above is a quote from a GQ article with Michael Bay*, and it’s fairly representative of his body of work. Say what you want about Bay’s shortcomings (which I fully intend to do below), but he’s one of the few filmmakers working today that you can truly refer to as an “auteur.” The same article quotes several filmmakers and actors, including Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and George Lucas, who all state that Michael Bay’s style is unmissable, that he stages large action sequences like nobody else, and that you can easily ascertain that a film is directed by Michael Bay from only five minutes of footage.

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Being passionate about the arts often precludes a certain degree of obsessiveness that must seem odd or off-putting to those without said passion. There’s a way that our appreciation for artists or our desire to enter the canon of great artists ourselves can creep into our heads at the least opportune moments, or cause us to temporarily lose sight of the things that ultimately matter in life. The film Whiplash, written and directed by Damien Chazelle, focuses on a young man who exhibits these tendencies. The film examines the degree of obsessiveness which may, in fact, be necessary to achieve greatness in the arts.

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