Martin Scorsese Attempts To Put The Marvel Situation To Bed With An Essay About The Current State Of Film

Yes, we know that you’re probably as sick of this discussion as we are. First, Martin Scorsese says he doesn’t like Marvel films. People get upset and react. Then other filmmakers jump in and defend the “Goodfellas” legend. People get upset and react. Rinse. Repeat. But the truth of the matter is that the biggest films in the land right now (Marvel Studios pictures) are being criticized by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time (Scorsese). If that’s not something worth talking about, then we’re sorry.

That being said, the end of the discussion is most definitely in sight. With Disney CEO Bob Iger recently providing his most reasonable defense of his billion-dollar money-makers and a new essay penned by Scorsese, the arguments have been seemingly exhausted. Hopefully, at least. You see, it appears that nothing is going to change the minds of those involved. All they can do is explain themselves fully.

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And in a new NY Times essay, that’s exactly what Scorsese does. He doesn’t back down from his comments that Marvel films are “not cinema” and are “theme parks.” Nor does he outright bash the films, either. He just explains why they’re not for him, and why he thinks they’re detrimental to the current theatrical experience.

“Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry,” wrote Scorsese. “You can see it on the screen. The fact that the films themselves don’t interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament. I know that if I were younger, if I’d come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself. But I grew up when I did and I developed a sense of movies — of what they were and what they could be — that was as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri.”

So, what’s so bad about Marvel films and the current state of franchise filmmaking?

“They are sequels in name but they are remakes in spirit, and everything in them is officially sanctioned because it can’t really be any other way,” he added. “That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.”

READ MORE: Disney CEO Respects Martin Scorsese But Not His Marvel Opinions: “I Don’t Think He’s Ever Seen A Marvel Film”

The filmmaker goes on to explain that there’s plenty of quality cinema being made but none of the people doing it are working in the realm of superhero films.

“Another way of putting it would be that they are everything that the films of Paul Thomas Anderson or Claire Denis or Spike Lee or Ari Aster or Kathryn Bigelow or Wes Anderson are not,” he said. “When I watch a movie by any of those filmmakers, I know I’m going to see something absolutely new and be taken to unexpected and maybe even unnameable areas of experience. My sense of what is possible in telling stories with moving images and sounds is going to be expanded.”

Ultimately, his distaste for the films is only worth mentioning because he feels that these films are killing the theatrical release model. Not because they’re bombing (they’re breaking records, in fact) but because audiences have been trained to watch these films and want these films on the big screen. And that everything else can be streamed.

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“And if you’re going to tell me that it’s simply a matter of supply and demand and giving the people what they want, I’m going to disagree,” Scorsese wrote. “It’s a chicken-and-egg issue. If people are given only one kind of thing and endlessly sold only one kind of thing, of course they’re going to want more of that one kind of thing.”

You can read the entire essay over at NY Times and it’s definitely worth your time. Hopefully, this means we can move on from the debate. Unfortunately, this manifesto seems to be full of valid points and strong arguments, but the model currently used by studios and demanded by theater exhibitors is to give audiences billion-dollar films. And “The Irishman” (and films of that ilk) are, sadly, not that.