Hope you weren’t planning on having a chill Friday afternoon on the internet, becauseMartin Scorsesewent ahead and publicly had an opinion on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Comparingsuperhero movies to theme parks, the director of upcomingThe Irishmansimply said: “I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema."
Scorsese then came to my apartment personally, called me a “Marvel shill POS” and then scratched up my copy ofSpider-Manfor PS4 real good with his car keys. Once I recovered from the wreckage, I saw that one of the more measured responses came from someone with an actual stake in the argument:Guardians of the GalaxydirectorJames Gunn. The filmmaker, who is currently working on Warner Bros.‘The Suicide Squadbefore tackling Marvel’sGuardians of the Galaxy 3, wrote that he’s “saddened” by Scorsese’s quotes, noting that theTaxi Driverdirector is judging his films the same way others judged Scorsese’sThe Last Temptation of Christ.
That is…an extremely poorly-worded response, considering people wereliterally setting theaters on fireoverLast Temptation. But to his credit, Gunn did clarify that he was referring more to the fact Scorsese is judging superhero movies while also saying “I don’t see them.”
Honestly, it feels like we’re in a situation where both filmmakers are both “right”. (Not that they could be “wrong”, considering they’re both offering an opinion.) Martin Scorsese, an actual icon, is allowed to think the MCU isn’t cinema because, A) “Cinema” is a flexible term with a definition that’s basically become unique to the person using it, and B) He madeGoodfellas, are you kidding? James Gunn, in turn, is allowed to be saddened all he wants because A) The MCUhasbecome more than just a string of shallow comic book movies that deal with loftier themes, specifically here in the case of Guardians and its found-family-after-trauma dynamic, and B) It probably would suck to have Martin Scorsese bad-mouth a movie you made, are you kidding?
You are also still allowed to like both Marvel movies and Martin Scorsese movies. Or one and not the other. Or neither! Opinions are fun! Everything is going to be fine. Disney still owns like 40% of the total box office. The only concrete certainty in this entire situation is that ifTodd Phillipsdecides to weigh in not a single one of us will survive the discourse and we will deserve the destruction we’ve brought on ourselves.
