You could say that Martin Scorsese really stuck his foot in his mouth and now he’s trying to find a way to dislodge while still maintaining his dignity, but that still doesn’t feel entirely right. His dignity really isn’t under attack by Marvel fans around the world, but his judgment as to what belongs on the big screen definitely is. Ever since piping up that Marvel’s ‘theme park’ movies shouldn’t be allowed to saturate the big screen people have been letting Scorsese and anyone else that speaks up have it. Jennifer Aniston is another big name that’s been heard when it comes to this issue, and people are having none of it. Ana Dumaraog of ScreenRant is just one of many to report on this matter since fans of Marvel have been chiming in back and forth over this issue, defending Marvel movies in a big way and claiming that despite his expertise and the amount of pull he has in Hollywood, Scorsese is more like an old man lamenting the rise of something he can’t fully understand as he tries to keep the old ways alive and well and just as dominant as they used to be.
On one hand you can’t really blame him for thinking that singular movies are being seen as less and less attractive in some ways since the continuation of a story line seems to be what the audience expects these days, and crossovers are definitely desired by comic book fans who have grown up reading about how various heroes interact with each other. This tends to indicate that the idea of one movie, one story is no longer the norm and is swiftly being taken over by the same ideal that rules the comics. Yet for all that there are still plenty of singular movies out there that people will continue to watch and enjoy so long as filmmakers are willing to give them something that is worth watching. In a way Scorsese really seems to be worrying over nothing and criticizing that same nothing simply because he sees an end to an era that’s not yet here. Singular stories aren’t going to just up and disappear, as Joel Hodge from The Conversation might agree with, after all Marvel isn’t the center of the world when it comes to show business, it’s simply one of the most popular things out there at the moment. And unfortunately for Scorsese, trying to state that each movie will stand on its own without any interaction between characters and themes was never bound to happen since once the comics came to the big screen the desire for heroes from different stories to meet, much as they do in the comics, was simply expected. Making an Iron Man movie meant that eventually the Avengers would get involved, making a Deadpool movie meant that there was a good chance the X-Men would get involved, in some way, and so on and so forth. The truth about comic book movies is that it’s no longer feasible to show just one hero or villain and pretend that they live in a world where they’re the only super-powered being. Plus, these movies are a cash machine for Disney, so thinking that they won’t make use of them is kind of naive.
The single movie experience isn’t dead by any means, and it’s not in decline, but it could be that Scorsese and others who feel that it’s stealing their thunder, pause for a laugh, are a bit threatened by the success and tend to mask that with the vague yet challenging stance that it’s not ‘real cinema’. For someone that’s been enjoying the movies for so long and has been seen to be one of the best in the business this is a rather close-minded view, especially when he’s been criticized in the past as well. No one’s going to doubt his ability or his vision when it comes to his movies and if they did then they might not have understood the point he was trying to make with this or that movie. But Scorsese, for all his skill and well-deserved acclaim, really needs to take a step back and realize that show business has opened up in a big way in recent years. His style and ability is just as effective as always, and it’s not under attack and won’t suffer unduly from the rise of Marvel since there are still a great number of people that will be more than willing to see anything he puts on the screen and to go back and watch the movies that he helped to make back in the day. His legacy is already assured and isn’t threatened in any way, but as Nick Evans of CinemaBlend might agree with, even the act of trying to explain his words to maybe take the sting out of them hasn’t managed to assuage the people he’s already pricked with his less than popular opinion.
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