Superheroes vs cinema? Scorsese ‘art’ row splits Hollywood
Published: 07:11 PM,Nov 10,2019 | EDITED : 11:04 PM,Apr 27,2024
‘Knee-jerk reaction’ - Bob Iger, CEO of Marvel parent company Disney, last month described Scorsese’s original comments as “so disrespectful to all the people that work on those films.” “Anyone who has seen a Marvel film could not in all truth make that statement,” Iger later told the BBC. Natalie Portman, who has appeared in several Marvel films and will star in the next “Thor” movie, told The Hollywood Reporter there was “not one way to make art.” But those rebuttals were nothing compared to the fury from Marvel’s army of obsessive fans, who have taken to social media to vent their rage. Countless tweets have painted Scorsese as elitist, with many pointing to box office figures showing nine Marvel films in the 25 top-grossing movies of all time. Marvel lovers say that to fully enjoy all-time record holder “Avengers: Endgame,” you need to have seen the preceding 21 movies, due to their interconnected storylines and characters. “What’s happened over time is there’s a knee-jerk reaction of the old guard in Hollywood,” said University of Southern California adjunct professor Gene Del Vecchio. “Filmmakers today have changed the artistry — they’ve expanded the artistry.” Del Vecchio believes audience tastes have broadened to accept genres like sci-fi and fantasy, while the establishment’s have shrunk. “The artists of old aren’t accepting that because they are used to a much more narrow definition of art,” he told AFP. “They have been left behind as audiences and new filmmakers have gone forward.”
‘God of cinema?’ - Fueling the controversy is the release of “The Irishman,” Scorsese’s $160 million-budget crime epic, by streaming giant Netflix. In his op-ed, Scorsese said the distinction between Marvel and “cinema” matters because superhero sequels are crowding auteurs out of movie theaters — the place “where the filmmaker intended her or his picture to be seen.” “The Irishman” is currently in theaters, but only for a relatively miniscule 26-day window before it shifts to Netflix’s small-screen streaming platform. “Endgame,” by comparison, was still showing in picture houses four months after its release. Netflix “allowed us to make ‘The Irishman’ the way we needed to,” wrote Scorsese. “Would I like the picture to play on more big screens for longer periods of time? Of course I would,” he added. But Nunan described Scorsese’s position as “hypocritical at minimum.” “When did he become the God of cinema? He’s in business with the very company that many people accuse of destroying cinema.” — AFP