Martin Scorsese: I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me
Nov 6, 2019 12:16:31 GMT
achilles likes this
Post by elikatz on Nov 6, 2019 12:16:31 GMT
From his piece in the New York Times:
In short, they're recycled and boring. Whether you agree or disagree, Scorsese makes an interesting point that can be applied to most cape stories, both in movies and in comic books. Because they are serialized, where the same heroes face and overcome different versions of the same challenges, the stories have no stakes. We all know that our favorite characters and cherished heroes will never die--that they will, in the end, always come back and succeed. We all know that deaths in comics can be easily undone, that writers will use some deus ex machina device to revive or resurrect a doomed hero.
I think this line of criticism is largely right. But I think the best cape stories can and do overcome this predictability. By developing supporting characters who are much loved and who face meaningful risks with permanent consequences, writers can elevate the stakes of superhero stories and add real emotional punches to their narratives. Look at the most celebrated Spider-Man stories, like the Death of Gwen Stacy and Kraven's Last Hunt. They are unpredictable and dangerous in ways that most comics are not. For several years, Gerry Conway explored the consequences of Gwen's death, adding an edge to Peter as a character and raising the threats that his loved ones faced. J.M. DeMatteis turned Kraven into a rich, bizarre character who suddenly seemed capable of doing anything. He was no longer a supervillain, no longer doing the things that supervillains typically do. Instead, he was running around in his rival's costume, acting out twisted fantasies without a clear purpose or end.
So I think it's possible for serialized cape stories to transcend their predictable structures. But I don't think they do it very often. And I think superhero stories lose all emotional power when the supporting cast becomes as untouchable as the hero they support.
Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.
They are sequels in name but they are remakes in spirit, and everything in them is officially sanctioned because it can’t really be any other way. That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.
Another way of putting it would be that they are everything that the films of Paul Thomas Anderson or Claire Denis or Spike Lee or Ari Aster or Kathryn Bigelow or Wes Anderson are not. When I watch a movie by any of those filmmakers, I know I’m going to see something absolutely new and be taken to unexpected and maybe even unnameable areas of experience. My sense of what is possible in telling stories with moving images and sounds is going to be expanded.
They are sequels in name but they are remakes in spirit, and everything in them is officially sanctioned because it can’t really be any other way. That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.
Another way of putting it would be that they are everything that the films of Paul Thomas Anderson or Claire Denis or Spike Lee or Ari Aster or Kathryn Bigelow or Wes Anderson are not. When I watch a movie by any of those filmmakers, I know I’m going to see something absolutely new and be taken to unexpected and maybe even unnameable areas of experience. My sense of what is possible in telling stories with moving images and sounds is going to be expanded.
I think this line of criticism is largely right. But I think the best cape stories can and do overcome this predictability. By developing supporting characters who are much loved and who face meaningful risks with permanent consequences, writers can elevate the stakes of superhero stories and add real emotional punches to their narratives. Look at the most celebrated Spider-Man stories, like the Death of Gwen Stacy and Kraven's Last Hunt. They are unpredictable and dangerous in ways that most comics are not. For several years, Gerry Conway explored the consequences of Gwen's death, adding an edge to Peter as a character and raising the threats that his loved ones faced. J.M. DeMatteis turned Kraven into a rich, bizarre character who suddenly seemed capable of doing anything. He was no longer a supervillain, no longer doing the things that supervillains typically do. Instead, he was running around in his rival's costume, acting out twisted fantasies without a clear purpose or end.
So I think it's possible for serialized cape stories to transcend their predictable structures. But I don't think they do it very often. And I think superhero stories lose all emotional power when the supporting cast becomes as untouchable as the hero they support.