Auteur vs. Metteur-en-scene

I would personally like to argue Terry Gilliam, director of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, to be an auteur. Conversely, I would then easily classify Michael Bay, director of Transformers, to be a Metteur-en-scene. To qualify this, one could simply glance at the images I have included of both movies, and find a distinction. Looking at the two films one can easily identify one director to be more gifted as an artist than the other. As the article “Autuer Theory” states, the difference between an autuer and a Metteur-en-scene is in skill with transforming a production. As we can observe, Michael Bay chronically uses explosions and CGI to “wow” his audience, simply grinding out movie after movie with his signature action. However, anyone can make a blockbuster hit with a movie about transforming cars, dinosaurs, and explosions, this is what makes Terry Gilliam an autuer. Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece Monty Python continues to be loved an praised today with timeless humor and entertainment. It takes special skill and artistic finesse to create something so special about something so plain and generic. There are many movies about old knights and medieval times, however, none can replace the love that has been instilled in the hearts of fans all over of Monty Python. This is unparalleled by Transformers who could easily reuse the same formula to create endless action films, it is this quality as well that qualifies Terry Gilliam to be an auteur and Michael Bay to be a Metteur-en-scene.