Being a Zack Snyder fan is a rewarding, yet difficult job. This is a director that cares deeply about the characters in his movies, and he wants us to care too. I know that he’s a fan of Superman and Batman and others because I’m also a fan of those characters and as a fan, I can clearly see that he understands them. I respect him for putting these familiar characters in an unfamiliar environment because it provides a different perspective that results in never-ending debate.
Within the discussion regarding Snyder’s films, I find that his critics usually say one of two things: 1. He’s a hack and, 2. He’s basically Michael Bay. Okay. Let’s start with the first criticism: this is something that is an opinion but at the same time, I find it incredibly hard to believe that someone who spends so much time studying the source material, creating storyboards and developing a narrative vision is just doing this for the money. But that’s just me. If you want to believe that he’s out to ruin your childhood because Superman isn’t beloved by the entire world during the first year of his superhero career, then fine.
But what I vehemently stand behind is the fact that Zack Snyder and Michael Bay are not the same kind of people. Zack Snyder will never be Michael Bay. Michael Bay will never be Zack Snyder. These are two completely different directors and the only reason people categorize them as the same is because they both like visuals.
Going by that logic, Friedberg and Seltzer produce the same content as Mel Brooks because they both like satire. Do you realize how stupid that sounds? What’s even dumber is when someone says, “They went to film school together!” I went to film school with many writers, most of them who were borderline sexist and ignorant of everything outside of their bubble. Does that mean I’m going to write the same content as them because we spent two hours in a class together once a week?
What bothers me the most about this false claim is the common knowledge that Bay doesn’t give a fuck about the story or the characters; his focus is on action and objectifying women. The female leads in each Transformers movie seem to be getting younger yet the camera continues to linger on them like a perverted voyeur.
On the other hand, Zack Snyder has not only directed one of the most homoerotic action movies ever (that straight men LOVE to watch! It’s still hilarious how intentional that move was) but he also gave us an original female-led blockbuster that’s criminally underrated and underappreciated because critics claimed it was sexist when it was actually a commentary on sexism in geek culture. He gave us an action movie about women and for women that also happened to pass the Bechdel test and didn’t rely on male gazey shots to keep audiences interested.
Did Transformers ever do that? How about Pain & Gain (which is actually Bay’s best film to date because the absurdity of the biographical crime drama matches his own absurdity)? 13 Hours? It’s easy to say that Michael Bay makes movies for guys because he does—explosions, hot girls gratuitously bending over objects and oh yeah, cars. Just because Zack Snyder has explosions in his movies doesn’t mean that his entire filmography deserves to be equated to the filmography of a sexist. It’s disrespectful, especially when Snyder cares about the women in his movies.
It’s ridiculous that we have to praise male directors for portraying and treating women as human beings and not sex objects, but Snyder has been consistently doing this since his directional debut with Dawn of the Dead. That’s one of the things I praise him for the most because women have a bigger role in his films than just being the girlfriend of the leading man. I watch Batman v Superman and I root for Lois Lane because she solved the case before the men did! She’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and she constantly proves it. We’re even able to see into the type of person Senator Finch is—although her role is smaller, it’s still significant—through her dialogue and her actions towards a villainous character like Lex Luthor.
Batman v Superman is a movie full of strong women, Sucker Punch is a movie about women who love and support each other, Dawn of the Dead is led by a woman, Queen Gorgo is front and center in 300 despite her role being
nonexistent in the graphic novel—how is any of this comparable to a director who fires his female lead because she rightfully criticized his sexism and then replaces her with another woman who has to put up with his gross mistreatment of her behind and in front of the camera?
Yes, Zack Snyder’s movies are primarily visual, but that’s intentional. He leaves messages for the audience so they can understand the type of world that he’s trying to create. As a storyboard artist, he’s naturally a visionary. The scenes from his movies look like panels from a comic book because he makes comic book movies. Some claim this focus is style over substance but I disagree when I see the message of the film through the visuals. How can his movies just be style when the substance is hidden within the style and at times, right in front of the style?
How can that kind of elaborate and thought-out storytelling be comparable a film series like Transformers, that relies on all action and little to no plot just to advance to—surprise—more action. Critics actually complained that we didn’t see enough of the Batman and Superman “fight,” when in reality, the fight was throughout the entire movie. It wasn’t just physical, it was also ideological, philosophical, mental. Are we so used to physical fights filling our screens that we can’t see when two characters clash through words and difference in perspective?
Michael Bay makes movies for money, and his movies do make money. The last two Transformers films made over $1 billion worldwide and I fully expect the fifth film to do so as well. This is what he does best, even when it produces the worst results. The same can’t be said for Zack Snyder. If he wanted to make movies solely for the money, he would follow the same path that Michael Bay does or he would follow the tired blueprint that most superhero films have adopted. Even after the negative response towards Sucker Punch, his films still focus on the internal struggle of the leading characters. He balances that out with visuals that also convey the mood of the film and speaks to us through sight when words aren’t available.
Zack Snyder gives us something different. His films feel more than just the typical superhero movie; there’s a strong focus on emotion and PTSD because these are very real and very human reactions for these characters to have. His films make us question the idea what being a superhero means and this often leaves us in constant debate. There’s a reason why Man of Steel and Batman v Superman are still being debated so long after their release. It’s not because the movies are bad, it’s because both films have a lot of say and to put it simply, they require you to think.
Knowing the type of films that Zack Snyder makes, I’m ready to think even when I’m watching the spectacle. When I put on a Michael Bay film, I already know I won’t be getting much. Even he knows he’s not giving me much and he doesn’t care because he’s still going make money. I’m not asking when I say stop saying Zack Snyder and Michael Bay are the same, I’m demanding. It should be obvious at this point that both directors have different visions and messages that they create through their films and if critics still can’t pick up on that today, I can’t help but to doubt the reliability of anything that they say.
Knowing the type of films that Zack Snyder makes, I’m ready to think even when I’m watching the spectacle. When I put on a Michael Bay film, I already know I won’t be getting much. Even he knows he’s not giving me much and he doesn’t care because he’s still going make money. I’m not asking when I say stop saying Zack Snyder and Michael Bay are the same, I’m demanding. It should be obvious at this point that both directors have different visions and messages that they create through their films and if critics still can’t pick up on that today, I can’t help but to doubt the reliability of anything that they say.
