Marvel Isn't Cinema.

Martin Scorsese said that, and the man knows a thing or two about cinema. Also, Francis Ford Coppola called Marvel disgusting so I guess if you enjoy Marvel films (as I do) and revere these film giants (they made Taxi Driver and The Godfather, yes I fucking revere them), then you might be feeling a little confused.  We’ll get to my personal feelings later, but first, let’s unpack the facts.

Martin Scorsese has made a bona fide masterpiece every decade for the last five decades (which you ask? Well that’s for another article) and is by all accounts about to release another one this November on Netflix: The Irishman. What I’m getting at here is that this man has been making films that enter the monoculture for a long time. Martin Scorsese also studied, taught, and now restores classic films. He is, in many ways, a film historian and to him, cinema truly is a personal form of art.

Francis Ford Coppola is a little different in that the last film of significance he made was 1997’s Rainmaker - he has since made four more movies, with another on the way, but they have each been smaller and more akin to performance art than cohesive narrative films. In short, Coppola has lost his touch, and frankly, I doubt he cares because to him too, cinema is art and he is still doing that. Albeit, on a much smaller and more personal scale. Oh, Coppola also makes fucking awesome wine. Seriously, grab a bottle next time you’re at an alcohol retailer.

Marvel movies, although capable of flashes of art - I’m thinking about Black Panther’s villain and the purpose he is written with or the electrifying re-purposing of Zepplin’s Immigrant Song in Ragnarok - aren’t cinema the way these men understand it, in fact, Scorsese couldn’t have been more right to liken Marvel to a theme park. Marvel movies are in essence constructed as a part of something bigger. They’re like the Power Ranger’s Megazord, each has to be, in some way, linked to the other. I would even argue this is part of the fun in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), figuring out how these things fit together. Fanboys recently momentarily lost their collective shits because Spider-Man is no longer going to be part of the MCU - his movies were never in jeopardy, but his belonging to the bigger thing was what people were so mad about (that and Sony making bad movies). Marvel’s modus operandi is its connectivity, it’s the thing that has, for better or worse, become what all blockbusters now strive for: that interconnected “universe” that can guarantee yearly profits because FOMO is very powerful and people will tune into shit just to avoid it. I repeat, Marvel is a theme park and Martin Scorsese isn’t interested in theme parks and this is absolutely fine, in fact, I would hate to see Scorsese try to make a theme park ride - the man can simply continue to make impeccable cinema.

Coppola’s “they’re disgusting” claim is a little tougher but not entirely undeserved (I repeat, I do enjoy Marvel movies, so bear with me). Coppola hasn’t so much made masterpieces as he has beaten them to his will. The Godfather movies were a job (as opposed to a calling) based on a best-selling but not entirely great book which Coppola really just directed the shit out of. Apocalypse Now almost bankrupted and killed the director and in a way sort of ended his career - Godfather: part III and Dracula came afterward but it’s clear that Apocalypse represents a sort of career-changing burnout. What this tells me is that Coppola made his art with blood sweat and tears, he paid for making greatness. And so, for a man to which art represented sacrifice, Marvel with their multiple yearly releases and their guaranteed billions thanks to CGI extravaganzas mostly created by stunt-crews and animation studios, must seem like the despicable scoundrels who are actively ruining cinema. Again, I like Marvel, but I totally get what Coppola means.

So are these auteurs right about Marvel (and co.) movies? To varying degrees, yes I think so. Can I still enjoy Marvel (and co.) movies? To varying degrees, yes definitely. Here’s the point, these things are not mutually exclusive people, not everything we enjoy needs to be prestige - I think Michael Bay is a technically sound director and I will fucking defend The Rock and Armageddon until my last breath. Also, most Bay movies are shit, but that’s okay! 

To the James Gunns of the world whose feelings got hurt because cinema’s giants called out your movies, chill the fuck out. These movies will continue to make bajillions and be loved by most everyone who buys a ticket. To those trying to drag Marty and co. through the mud for their comments, they don’t care, my guy. Scorsese’s been out there batting over .300 for five decades, your tweets mean nothing to him. As for the rest of us, I can’t believe we’re getting The Irishman and the last installment in the new Star Wars trilogy (even if they too have become theme park-esque) in a span of a few months.  Fortunately, when it comes to movies, we have our cake and eat it too. 

Jorge Chaparro is a Montreal based writer.