My first Publication Overtime November 2019 Merged PDF | Page 8

Pic: MarvelousRoland, creative commons
SUPERHEROES VS DINOSAURS
Martin Scorsese doesn’t speak highly of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but is he just out of touch?
Words Susanna Borio
A
decade since Iron Man first hit the big screen,
the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now the
world’s most lucrative movie franchise.
It draws conflicting but passionate opinions on both
sides: you either kiss the ground on which Kevin Feige
walks or despise everything it stands for, which is
usually the sign of true success.
Directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford
Coppola find themselves as part of the latter
mindset, respectively calling them “theme parks” and
“despicable”.
During an interview to promote his latest movie,
Scorsese said: “It isn’t the cinema of human beings
trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences
to another human being.” He says this despite
admitting he’d never seen any of the films. “I tried, you
know? But that’s not cinema,” he said. Coppola agreed
Scorsese is a traditionalist when it comes to cinema (Pic: Siebbi)
with Scorsese`s feeling and following the acceptance
of the Prix Lumiere for his contribution to cinema, he
said: “We expect to learn something from cinema, we
expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some
knowledge, some inspiration.”
But they might still be judging the franchise on the
earlier instalments instead of what the movies had the
chance to become. As time went on the studio gave
their directors a stronger voice in the decision-making
process, allowing the movies to grow into complex
and individual pieces, rather than reproductions of
the ones before.
This is often identified as one of the reasons why
Marvel was able to become as successful as it is, being
made up of such a diverse band of creators and voices
encouraged the production of a variety of genres that
would not have been possible to achieve without them.
When asked about their opinion on the matter the
Sussex Film Society said: “I feel to write them off as
trash is an unfair and unfounded viewpoint as many
of them do hold their viewpoints. They are more
complex, I feel than they are taken for,”
More specifically they said: “Watching Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol.2 as an example, it effectively
and powerfully discusses the themes of family and
fatherhood on the backdrop of a sci-fi adventure.”
This is just one example of how Marvel uses the
light overtone of super-hero movies to deliver a
considerable insight into different realities to the
main stream public.
The entirety of the Thor trilogy, with the addition of
the first Avengers movie, reads like a Shakespearian
tale of family, love, and betrayal.
The Captain America trilogy tackles war, torture,
and PTSD on the shoulders of an espionage feature.
The negative opinions are not without merit when
it comes to the impact the MCU has had on the
overall film industry.
The majority of the indie scene’s issues come
from the presence of big corporations like Disney
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in the market that makes it almost impossible for
independent filmmakers to get their projects off the
ground.
It is very difficult to get public funding to produce
a self-standing movie now; filmmakers’ only choice is
to find investors that seek cost-effective productions,
which are hard to come by.
This disparity of resources can be the cause of weaker
storylines since writers might not be able to fully
develop scripts, and of weaker social media strategies,
which are an essential part of a film’s package if they
want to be bought by a big distributor.
Marvel star Benedict Cumberbatch said it best: “And
I agree, you know. We don’t want one king to rule it all
and have a kind of monopoly.
“We should really look into continuing to support
auteur film-makers at every level.”
The first Avenger: Tony Stark as Iron Man (Pic: Chris Doormbos)