The internet really makes it easy to show off ways in which one creator’s work is reflected in someone else’s career. Take David Fincher, who made his living as a popular and influential music video director before he was a feature director. Fincher’s videos for acts like George Michael, Madonna, and Aerosmith were hugely popular upon release, and it seems that one director was paying more attention than most.

Someone noticed that shots in Michael Bay‘s videos for Meat Loaf (and one bit in Bad Boys, above) look a lot like shots in various early Fincher videos. A lot like them. Let’s just call them near-exact duplications. So is this an example of education, homage, or theft? I’ll let you be the judge. (And the answer should be that this is just a fun bit of trivia for fans of either director, not anything to get worked up over.)

Starting off with the bathtub shots things don’t look so hinky, but as the video goes on to the mailbox shot and police tape images, it’s pretty evident that there was a good deal of idolization going on from Bay to Fincher.

[via FincherFanatic]