Writing 2150t: Spring 2021

Zaining Sun Outline

Introduction

 

Hook: Many people use mobile phones to enrich their lives. However, mobile phones also bring many negative effects to people like nomophobia. What is “nomophobia”? 

Problem/Debate: How common is nomophobia in college students? How nomophobia affects people? How to overcome nomophobia?

Thesis Statement: Nomophobia is common for people and it has many effects on people.

 

Body Paragraph

 

Subargument # 1: What is nomophobia?

  •         Support 1: Nomophobia is an abbreviated form of “no-mobile-phone phobia.” The term was first coined in a 2008 study that was commissioned by the UK Postal Office. (Cherry, K).
  •         Support 2: Nomophobia-Fear of being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact. (Dr. K Agbani)
  •         Though nomophobia feels strange for us, it is common for people.

 

Subargument # 2: Nomophobia is very common for people?

  •         Support 1: Out of 774 respondents, nine had no nomophobia, 161 (20.8%) had mild nomophobia, 422 (54.5%) had moderate nomophobia, and 182 (23.5%) had severe nomophobia. (Jilisha, G., Venkatachalam, J., Menon, V., & Olickal, J. J. 2019).
  •         Support 2: A full 66 percent of all adults suffer from “nomophobia.” (Elmore, T. 2014, September 18).
  •         Source 3: “Out of 2,837 people surveyed, 99 percent had some degree of nomophobia. Of them, 13.2 percent had a severe degree of the disorder while nearly half exhibited a moderate degree of nomophobia. Less than one percent had no nomophobia and in 37.3 percent of people, it was mild.” (Banerjee, K. 2021, January 03).
  •         Nomophobia is not only common, but also causes physical and psychological harm to people.

 

Subargument # 3: How nomophobia Affects the people.

  •         Support 1: “We found that college students who experience more ‘nomophobia’ were also more likely to experience sleepiness and poorer sleep hygiene such as long naps and inconsistent bed and wake times,” (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2020, August 27).
  •         Source 2: “they had phone-induced wrist and neck pain, trouble focusing on work or studying, and they often let their devices distract them.” (CSPONLINE. (2019, June 04).
  •         Support 3: Nomophobia symptoms can include anxiety, respiratory alterations, trembling, perspiration, agitation, disorientation and tachycardia (Cole, 2020, August 28).
  •         Source 4: While nomophobia is not a clinical diagnosis, some of the symptoms that are commonly identified as related to this fear include: The inability to turn off your phone; Constantly checking your phone for missed messages, emails, or calls; Charging your battery even when your phone is almost fully charged (Cherry, K).
  •         Although nomophobia as a mental illness is not as easy to treat as ordinary fever, there are still some ways to help people fight against nomophobia.

 

Subargument # 4: How to fight against or treat nomophobia.

  •         Support 1: Instead, try to get rid of the actions that require you to make a choice. This could mean adjusting your notifications as we talked about before, deleting apps that require your attention, or, my new favorite trick, moving apps you’re most likely to “give in” to all the way to the last page of your homescreen (MacKay, J. 2017, December 07).
  •         Support 2: “If you use your cellphone as your alarm, don’t place it on your nightstand. Instead put it somewhere else where you have to get up out of bed and go to it” (Organized Audrey. 2019, September 19).
  •         Source 3: “Well, using Social Fever can help you fight against your smartphone addiction via its dedicated Phone Usage Tracker. This amazing app lets you use your phone for a confined time. All you have to do is set up time limits and this well-designed app will ensure notifying you immediately when the time limit is exceeded.” (Gupta, A. 2021, February 24).
  •         Source 4: Raypole provides three treatments for nomophobia. “Exposure therapy helps you learn to face your fear through gradual exposure to it. it helps you learn to address the extreme fear you experience when you think about not having your phone. Managing this fear can help you use your phone in healthier ways.” (Raypole, C. 2019, August 27).

 

 

Conclusion

  •         The meaning of nomophobia is fear of being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact. It is common for people and it has many effects on people. There is a high percentage of people who have nomophobia. There are many symptoms when people get nomophobia. There are some ways to help people fight against nomophobia.
  •         Do you think you have nomophobia and how severe you have?

 

 

 

References:

Cherry, K. (n.d.). Do you have nomophobia, or a fear of being without your phone? Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/nomophobia-the-fear-of-being-without-your-phone-4781725

 

Agbani, K. [Dr. K Agbani : Health And Happiness]. (2020, October 5). Nomophobia, It’s causes , Symptoms and how to control it? [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSsB5GJRm5k

 

Jilisha, G., Venkatachalam, J., Menon, V., & Olickal, J. J. (2019). Nomophobia: A MIXED-METHODS study On PREVALENCE, Associated factors, and perception among college students in PUDUCHERRY, INDIA. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 41(6), 541-548. doi:10.4103/ijpsym.ijpsym_130_19. Retrieved from https://go-gale-com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=cuny_baruch&id=GALE|A605569991&v=2.1&it=r

 

Elmore, T. (2014, September 18). Nomophobia: A rising trend in students. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/artificial-maturity/201409/nomophobia-rising-trend-in-students

 

Banerjee, K. (2021, January 03). What is Nomophobia? 99% of people in Australia suffer from Weird ‘disorder’. Retrieved April 11, 2021, from https://www.ibtimes.sg/what-nomophobia-99-people-australia-suffer-weird-disorder-54620

 

American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2020, August 27). Study finds ‘nomophobia’ is associated with poor sleep health in college students. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 10, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200827102142.htm

 

CSPONLINE. (2019, June 04). Nomophobia: Technology and mental HEALTH: CSP ONLINE. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/nomophobia-technology-and-mental-health/

 

Nomophobia: Technology and mental HEALTH: CSP ONLINE. (2019, June 04). Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/nomophobia-technology-and-mental-health/

 

Cole, L. (2020, August 28). What is nomophobia? Am I addicted to My Phone?: Mentalup. Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://www.mentalup.co/blog/phone-addiction

 

MacKay, J. (2017, December 07). 5 ways to fight NOMOPHOBIA: The fear of not having your phone – RescueTime. Retrieved March 07, 2021, from https://blog.rescuetime.com/nomophobia/

 

Organized Audrey. (2019, September 19). Nomophobia – how to cut your dependence on your smartphone. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-OoWXAbGKo

 

Gupta, A. (2021, February 24). How to deal with nomophobia? Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://tweaklibrary.com/how-to-deal-with-nomophobia/

 

Raypole, C. (2019, August 27). Afraid of losing your phone? There’s a name for that … Retrieved April 10, 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/nomophobia

 

 

Yuting Chen Outline

Introduction 

Hook:  People are always wondering if they can just play forever instead of learning things they are not interested in at all. If there is a chance of learning while playing, would you accept or decline it?

Statement of the Problem/Debate: Virtual traveling and gamification are the newly founded topics that draw attention to the public and increase debate. Virtual traveling is a way that allows people to travel abroad at any time and anywhere. Gamification involves elements of games mechanics to capture public attention and apply the concepts in different products. The benefits of both virtual traveling and gamification are more than people expected to be. Some people still doubt the advantages of virtual traveling and gamification because they believe in traditional learning. Meanwhile, holding back new technologies and thoughts could stop the world from growing.

Thesis Statement: As a result, virtual traveling and gamification are very conducive tools to improve efficiency by rediscovering and recovering people during Covid, succeeding in real world applications, building a sense of accomplishment, and developing the tourism industry. 

 

Body Paragraphs

Subargument # 1: Virtual traveling and gamification become another way to rediscover and recover all kinds of people during COVID by reducing their stresses. 

Support 1: “Almost 80% of Americans say they will not be traveling by airplane this holiday season, and 29% believe they won’t book their next international trip until 2022. 70% of Americans report that their anxiety around traveling has increased somewhere since the pandemic began, and 40% admit that it has increased substantially. 30% of respondents say flying is the facet of traveling that makes them unsafe ( PR Newswire Association LLC, 2020, page 2 ). 

Support 2:  “ 40 million- plus Americans” are restricted traveling to another country due to COVID, sickness, age, mental illness, and physical disabilities. The needs of virtual traveling grow significantly. At the same time, it encourages everyone who has limited opportunities to travel and they should also enjoy the rights to view good scenes and leave good memories in their lives (PR Newswire Association LLC, 2020). 

Support 3:  Overall, this research highlights the important roles of virtual learning and gamification in studying chemistry by attracting students in a virtual format, but similar classroom community. The research shows that students’ confidence in learning chemistry stays positive in the pandemic and rediscovers their potentials in adapting to a new virtual environment ( Fontana, 2020). 

Subargument # 2: The elements of gamification assist people to succeed in real world applications and improve learning experiences.

Support 1:  One example is Nike plus Nike Fuelband. More people start to worry about their health and well-being. Nike plus Nike Fuelband introduces new characters to celebrate when people meet the goal. It can easily track the amount of miles that people finish and see who ranks the highest, which makes everyone healthier and growing ( Chou, Y. 2014).

Support 2: The third core drive is “empowerment of creativity”(Chou, Y. 2014). The example is the game called foldit. The AIDS virus protein structure, which is not being solved for 15 years by scientists, has been solved by a person who is interested in gamification in 10 days.( Chou, Y. 2014).

Support 3: “ A sample of 250 students who used PierSim was surveyed in regard to their learning experience. The students valued the integration of concepts, the learning and the level of engagement above the ‘fun’ experience. This article suggests the success of gamification by attracting students to learn while playing” ( Craven, 2014). 

Subargument # 3: Gamification and virtual traveling allow customers to build a sense of accomplishment and interaction with others.

Support 1: The first core drive is “ epic meaning and calling”, which means people feel like they are involved in something important to fight against fate.The second core drive is “development and accomplishment”. People feel proud of themselves when achieving certain goals. ( Chou, Y. 2014)

Support 2: TripAdvisor’s funware, which travellers are encouraged to upload online travel reviews (a play task) in order to get points and badges. Travelers’ are also awarded with high quality reviews and compliments by other users when their travel reviews are found useful ( Sigala 2015).

Support3 :  People use a game app called Stray Boots to establish a virtual city tour. When the users answer the question correctly, they gain points and win prizes. The app also has its GPS feature to discover sites. In addition, this article also includes how this game assists people to engage and solve puzzles ( Rosenbloom, 2013).

 

Subargument # 4:  Virtual traveling and elements of gamification develop the growth of tourism. 

Support 1: “ Tourism Australia, through the campaign “Best Jobs in the World”, launched a gamification solution to attract young people. The participants were selected based on images or videos sent and shared on social networks and the winners were rewarded with offers of trips to Australian destinations. Therefore, 330,000 persons from 196 countries are actively seeking information about working in Australia” (Negruşa, A, 2015).

Support 2: “ One of the biggest areas in tourism gamification and virtual traveling is destination marketing. Games can contribute to advertising: (1) Specifically designed advergames. They are created to promote the brand and places, aiming at the association and recall of the brand” ( Xu, 2016)

Support 3: “ In the tourism literature, emotionally attached to the environment/destination can be part of the tour experiences. Tourists’ immersion within the destination contributes to their memorable experiences through the surrounding environment, the virtual sound, the imaginative stories, and the challenges brought by the game tasks/missions, players could immerse themselves in sensory, challenge-based and imaginative immersion, which all contribute to a deeper level of personal experiences”  ( Xu, 2016)

Conclusion

  To sum up, virtual traveling and gamification improve the world’s effectiveness by benefiting people during Covid, solving problems in real world applications, establishing confidence, and growing the economy of the tourism industry. When there are new reliable technologies and new ideas coming in, people need to embrace them instead of rejecting them right away without considering. Even though virtual traveling and gamification are very new concepts, they help many people through tough times and give them chances to explore the world. 

 

Reference: 

Chou, Y. (2014, February 26). Gamification to improve our World: YU-KAI Chou at tedxlausanne. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://youtu.be/v5Qjuegtiyc

Craven, D. (2014). Gamification in Virtual Worlds for Learning: A Case Study of PIERSiM for Business Education. Gamification in Education and Business, 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10208-5_19

Fontana, M. T. (2020). Gamification of ChemDraw during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating How a Serious, Educational-Game Tournament (Molecule Madness) Impacts Student Wellness and Organic Chemistry Skills while Distance Learning. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 3358–3368. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00722

Negruşa, A., Toader, V., Sofică, A., Tutunea, M., & Rus, R. (2015). Exploring Gamification Techniques and Applications for Sustainable Tourism. Sustainability, 7(8), 11160–11189. https://doi.org/10.3390/su70811160

PR Newswire (2020, December 17). Beeyonder Releases 2020 Holiday and Virtual Travel Report as the Pandemic Brings Travel to a Halt; 29% of Americans Don’t Anticipate Booking International Travel Until 2022, and 60% Have Tried or Are Considering Virtual Travel Alternatives. Retrieved March15, 2021, from https://advance-lexis-com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn%3AcontentItem%3A61J5-B4D1-DXP3-R1XK-00000-00&context=1516831.

Rosenbloom, S. (2013, May 31). Let’s play: Making travel a game. Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/travel/lets-play-making-travel-a-game.html?searchResultPosition=3

Sigala, M. (2015). The application and impact of Gamification funware on trip planning and EXPERIENCES: The case OF tripadvisor’s funware. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 189-209. doi:10.1007/s12525-014-0179-1

Xu, F., Buhalis, D., & Weber, J. (2016, December 18). Serious games and the gamification of tourism. Tourism Management. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261517716302369.

 

Draft 1: Outline

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Marvel Movies Are Cinema

In the New York Times article, I said Marvel movies aren’t cinema. Let me explain. The author, Martin Scorsese argued that compare to the movies that he known and loved for his life, Marvel movies seem to be closer to theme parks, and he doesn’t think Marvel movies can be considered as cinema. As Martin Scorsese stated in this article, “cinema was about revelation — aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation. It was about characters — the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures, the way they can hurt one another and love one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves.” Martin Scorsese argued that all of the Marvel movies have something in common that they didn’t bring any types of revelation to their audience. In the other words, he believed that unlike the other types of movies, Marvel movies have no depth which offers the audience something to think about, therefore, their audience would not learn anything by watching Marvel movies. Martin Scorsese used “Theme Parks” as a metaphor which illustrates the idea that Marvel movies have no educational values, just like people who go to amusement parks, they were having a wonderful experience, however, they got nothing more but fun.  As a matter of fact, Marvel movies have “depths”, they do have something for their audience to think about. Throughout all of the Marvel movies, Avengers is the most successful union alliance that unites various heroes from all over the universe. Although there have been failures and differences, in the end, they united unprecedentedly and kept the peace of the entire universe. Iron Man used the knowledge taught by his father to create new elements and invented a stable time the travel machine before the final battle, Hulk and Banner finally merged into one, becoming Dr. Hulk with wisdom and strength coexisting, Black Widow is a multi-faceted spy and a warrior. She played an important role in interrogation and battle, etc. Throughout all of the 22 pieces of Marvel movies, they teach their audience about science, military, family, friendship, love, justice, evil, strategy, law, morals and ethics, right and wrong, team spirit, etc. If Marvel movies can not teach the audience about something, then, I can’t stop wondering what kinds of the movie can actually be educational, or does this kind of movie really exist?

 

More than that, Martin Scorsese argued that Marvel movies can not be considered as cinema, because they were purely made for commercials. As he stated in the article, “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.” Martin believes that all of the Marvel movies are products of Mcdonaldlization, which were made in the exact same process and standard. He is not wrong about this that Marvel movies are made for commercial, and made to fit most people’s taste. However, it is not relevant to whether Marvel movies are cinema or not. The only thing to determine if Marvel movies are cinema is their quality.  From a purely technological perspective, Marvel movies are cinema: They’re feature-length, narrative-based blockbuster experiences, with precise characters and long-standing pop-culture currency. At the same time, they clearly exist within a different category of cinematic expression, one mandated by capitalist pressures above all else. Therefore, Marvel movies should be considered as cinema, even though they’re made for commercials.

 

Reference

 

Eric Kohn, Marvel Movies Vs. Cinema: Why Martin Scorsese and Others Should Sit Out This Debate. Retrieve April 09, 2021, from https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/scorsese-marvel-movies-vs-cinema-debate-1202183984/

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scorsese Isn’t Wrong About Marvel (He Isn’t Right, Either) Retrieve April 09, 2021, from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-scorsese-wasn-t-wrong-marvel-he-wasn-t-right-1247063

 

Jun Wei Zhen Marvel

Martin Scorsese goes about to say how he does not think Marvel movies are not considered cinema and he is using this article as a way to explain what he meant by that statement he made during the Empire magazine interview. He defines what cinema is and he defines it as “ about revelation… the complexity of people… the way they can hurt one another and love one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves.” He then says Marvel does not have “ revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk.” and that is what he means when he does not consider it cinema. He then names Marvel “ worldwide audiovisual entertainment” as he describes Marvel as a series that panders to what the people want which is franchises and being seen on Netflix over the big screen in movie theaters.

The problems with some of his claims is that Marvel in fact does have what it takes to be cinema. He says Marvel does not have “revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk.”, while in fact it does. There were so many scenes that represent cinema during Infinity War and Endgame, and I will be using those 2 as examples because those are the most popular ones. During Infinity War, there was mystery as during the end of it you would not know what was going to happen next. You were left on a cliff hanger once Thanos got half of the population wiped and during some of those scenes, there was also genuine emotional danger. I am talking about the scene where Spiderman gets deleted right in front Iron Man, and you can really feel for Iron Man because he was treating Spiderman like his own son during the entire movie. During Endgame, there was the moment at the end where Iron Man sacrifices his own life to bring back everyone back from the quantum realm and after that the burial scene play and there was emotional connections between all the characters who went to his burial and even his daughter was there, the main reason he did not want to go to the war at the first place to take care of her. Marvel also shows the complexity of people and how “they can hurt one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves” during Endgame. When Black Widow and Hawkeye went to go for the soul stones they had a difficult time deciding who to sacrifice to get the stone, they were fighting each other wanting each other to live as whoever sacrifices themselves for the soul stone would be gone forever. Another way Marvel showed the complexity between people is how some of the super heroes act in the first scene of Endgame, no heroes wanted to join the fight because they all have families to care for. They can’t just run out there in the battlefield and just blow up Thanos, which they later just did but it took them a while which was 5 years and then wanted to take action again. How Martin Scorsese describes cinema, Marvel has all of those features so Martin’s points are somewhat contradictory.

Sally Chen Marvel

According to Scorsese, he claims that marvel movies are not cinema (Scorsese, 2019). Scorsese describes cinema as having “aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation” (Scorsese, 2019). Well, what is cinema then? Since the word cinema can be so broad in definitions, everyone has their own understanding of this word. There is no right way in what cinema should be like. Cinema is art, even Scorsese himself agrees with this (Scorsese, 2019).  In art, what is most important is the ability to be creative and be able to expressive themselves. Marvel movies are still made with creativity, so why should it not be considered cinema. Marvel movies are based on comic books, today they are considered comic book classics. The marvel comic movies like the original comic books represent an art form that has influenced many adults and children. When people watch marvel movies, they still experience aesthetics, emotions, and spiritual revelation. The marvel movies have many different characters range in different super abilities to gender (Larman et al2021). When there are a variety of characters people will develop some type of connection to something. For example, when you watch a Marvel movie all the special abilities the character has really made kids want to be like them and be able to make a difference in the world. This is an aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual connection to the Marvel movies. If the Marvel movies did not have aesthetic appeal why would anyone watch the movies, and why would it make a child want to make a difference in the world. The explanation for this is they have an emotional and spiritual connection to the movie or there will not be this reaction. Marvel made $2.8 billion from just Avenger: Endgame (Larman et al, 2021). If Marvel did not appeal to people’s aesthetic, emotions, and spiritual needs, it can’t explain why the movies are making so much money. 

Scorsese also expresses the threat of following trends society creates for the film industry (Scorsese, 2019).  Scorsese describes how in today’s film industry everything is based on “market-researchedaudience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified” (Scorsese, 2019). These changes are made because of the changing of society and the technology around us. In marvel films today, we use many different high-tech techniques that have allowed for better representation of characters in marvel movies (Child, 2019). Society has changed to a society that relies heavily on technology. Scorsese needs to understand that even with all the market research and the other adjustments made to the film, is not just based on money, but also on other considerations like the creativity of the creators of the film. Scorsese himself even accepted to complete a film with Netflix (Scorsese, 2019). Scorsese followed the trend of using big online movie platforms to help him with his film, so has does not really have a strong argument about other films being made and heavily influenced by social trends created by societyAlso, technology will only become more involved in the entertainment industry and things will continue to change, and move more further away from what the entertainment industry use to be.  

Child, B. (2019, October 17). ‘Of course Marvel is CINEMA!’ why THE Scorsese backlash is justifiedhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/17/of-course-marvel-is-cinema-why-the-scorsese-backlash-is-justified-kevin-smith-taika-waititi. 

Larman, A., Larman, A., Duggan, M., Armstrong, M., Jeffrey, J., Stewart, G., … Podcast. (2021, February 19). Martin Scorsese vs Marvel: a tale of two different cinematic perspectives: Alexander Larman. The Critic Magazine. https://thecritic.co.uk/martin-scorsese-vs-marvel-a-tale-of-two-different-cinematic-perspectives/. 

Marvel Movies

The author Martin Scorsese pointed out in his argument why Marvel is not regarded as a movie theater or in a sense not worthy of its fame. One of the author’s points is that Marvel is a commercial product and does not have the enlightenment required by movies. He pointed out in the article: “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.” This sentence makes me wonder because is the movie he made purely for charity? I believe that there is no movie that does not want to get a good box office after it is released. Every movie has invested a huge amount of money in the early stage, so the income after the movie is released is reasonable. Marvel movies should not be criticized for this. In addition, he also mentioned that the series of blockbusters are now the first choice in many places. Some of the points he pointed out were jealous, such as: “It’s a perilous time in film exhibition, and there are fewer independent theaters than ever. The equation has flipped and streaming has become the primary delivery system.” “Except for franchising Apart from movies, there is no other opportunity to show other movies on the big screen.” Wait. In this era of the prevalence of technological networks, it is a very common phenomenon that some viewers are accustomed to watching movies on media platforms. It is also understandable that theaters screen movies to cater to market conditions.

Second, Martin Scorsese proposed that Marvel movies do not meet the definition of traditional movies. He pointed out: “What’s not there is a revelation, mystery or 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.” But the facts are not In this way, Marvel movies contain a lot of spiritual lessons. For example, the article Spiritual Lessons From the Marvel Cinematic Universe stated: “In the newest MCU feature film, Captain Marvel comes to realize that what’s she been told about her enemy isn’t true. Don’t judge a person by his or her appearance. Don’t listen to gossip about others. Sometimes, it’s hard to know the enemy. Pay attention to their actions, not just their words.” These contents are all spiritual education to the audience. Therefore, it is not so subjective to think that Marvel movies are not movies. Martin Scorsese’s point of view is obviously biased against Marvel movies. Even if he does not approve of Marvel movies from the perspective of a director, you cannot deny that it is a success. You can dislike it, but you can’t be prejudiced about it. As Eric Kohn quoted in the debate: “It’s like asking Picasso to assess Banksy: One might have an opinion about the other’s work, but it’s hard to imagine why it would matter any more than anyone else weighing in.” Eric Kohn argued in the debate that changing the most obvious definition of film requires revision. Marvel movies belong to a certain type of film. Although it incorporates modern technology, it does not mean that Marvel movies are meaningless.

Spiritual Lessons From the Marvel Cinematic Universe” 24, April 2019 https://www.ulc.org/ulc-blog/spiritual-lessons-from-the-marvel-cinematic-universe

Eric Khon, 23, October 2019 “Marvel Movies Vs. Cinema: Why Martin Scorsese and Others Should Sit Out This Debate”, IndieWire https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/scorsese-marvel-movies-vs-cinema-debate-1202183984/

Zumanah Perveen Marvel

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese wrote an article to account for his claim about how Marvel movies in Cinema in an interview with Empire magazine. At the beginning of the article, Martin explained how him not considering marvel movies as cinemas is just a matter of “personal taste” and went further on to explain why certain films are films whereas marvel movies are not. In the claim above, we can see Martin claiming that him not considering marvel movies as not cinema is a “matter of personal taste.” The standard definition of cinema is the production of movies as an art or industry. Art cannot be tied down to a person’s “personal taste.” Art itself is a broad term. Different people consider different things art. Moreover, Martin out of all people as a filmmaker should know that. His claim of Marvel movies not being art just because it does not suit his personal taste is controversial because the movie industry produces a wide genre of movies; targeting different audiences for each genre based on their personal taste.

Moreover, Martin stated that Marvel films are not just a matter of supply and demand because “it’s a chicken-and-egg issue” where a person wants one specific thing due to being used to getting that thing over and over again. However, this claim can be considered a bit controversial because Marvel producers have the option of adding and subtracting details every time, changing up the storyline, even changing up the character lineup and much more every time they are producing a Marvel movie. 

Furthermore, Martin claims there are pictures that deserve to be on screen arguably more than Marvel movies since they deliver a wide genre of emotions and genres. While, Marvel movies are not cinemas to Marvin because at the end of the day every single one of them are superhero movies. However, just because Marvel movies are superhero movies does not mean they are not cinema because However, Marvel movies do the same. As a personal viewer of Marvel movies, I would like to state that I look forward to every new movie to see what would happen next and I am sure I would not be looking forward to Marvel movies if I already knew what would be happening in the next movie. And, I can assure you that 54% of US adults aged from 18 to 34 would not be doing the same if all Marvel movies delivered the same emotions and storyline every time. Besides, Americans get their daily dose of the “chicken-and-egg” issue by going to their 9:00am to 5:00pm job every day.

To tie it all together, Marvel movies are cinemas because they deliver a wide genre of emotions with various characters and storylines in each and every one. And, Filmmaker Martin himself explained that him not considering Marvel movies as cinemas is a matter of “personal taste”  inthe article. Moreover, more than half the population of US adults including me seem to watch Marvel movies and look forward to every upcoming one. Therefore, it would be safe to say that the popular opinion about Marvel movies would be that they ARE indeed cinemas.

Jon Li Marvel

The author Martin Scorsese in his argument points out many points on how Marvel is not considered a cinema or is not worth its fame in a sense. One of the author’s points is that there is just no opportunity given to other movies on the big screen other than franchise movies. It was stated in his article that “you might argue, can’t they just go home and watch anything else they want on Netflix or iTunes or Hulu? Sure — anywhere but on the big screen, where the filmmaker intended her or his picture to be seen.” This quote gives off a sense of broken pride and jealousy because he also made a movie called “ The Irishman” as stated in the text and wanted to be in the theater longer since it sorta a symbol of acceptance and accomplishment as a producer. His argument is just not valid with that mindset, marvel does not produce low quality movies, it is a series of movies that build off with approval. Marvel did not become what it is today without hardship and not all movies were all successful at first, but over time it got better and became what it is today. His point is just too biased based, his movie “The Irishman” was a huge hit as well rating really high in rotten tomato beating avenger endgame. It’s not like his movies were bad, it ‘s just that his pride as a director seems to have made him think that Marvel series is not considered cinema. Franchises can die anytime if it weren’t good, which means marvel does produce movies that worth its name.

Another point that the author made is that he thinks of marvel movies as just movies with spectacular effects and predictable story-line. I myself like special effects. This is not biased, we just generally like these effects like fireworks. It just attracts us, supernatural being included in this element makes things more attractive since it is something we don’t have but wish to have, it just makes a movie attractive in its own way. The second part of his point on how the marvel story-line is generic and does not see any development on an emotional level with the character. According to a reporter that responded to Martin Scorsese’s post stated that “the Marvel movies follow a solid story-line that provides a clear indication of emotional experiences. For example, the underlying theme in “Infinity War” into “Endgame” is man versus self. As each hero addresses their lack in ability to cope with loss, much as any human does, they also struggle with inner obstacles.” Marvel is a connected story-line through a series of movies, it’s characters have been developed for a long time, it is true that a single movie there might be a lack of character development but that cause many of them have been already developed just that it is not in a single movie. Being a franchise many of its viewers have seen many of marvel individual movies of character, we got an understanding already and that many are connected to each individual character. Cinema means something that brings entertainment to the audience and marvel does that part well. The author stated that Marvel is a theme park, that not bad if it brings joy to people, it is not something bad. Overall Martin Scoresse point of view is based on his own ideal as a director and creator, which is a biased view. If Martin Scoresse had watched all of the marvel movies up until now he might get a better understanding of each movie.

 

Reference:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/17/of-course-marvel-is-cinema-why-the-scorsese-backlash-is-justified-kevin-smith-taika-waititi

https://www.bgfalconmedia.com/entertainment/are-marvel-movies-real-cinema/article_7b45b71c-f0f8-11e9-af58-dbb5430acccb.html

Donald Perdoci Marvel

In one of his interviews, filmmaker Martin Scorsese states that Marvel movies are not cinema. He goes on to provide a few arguments why he thinks this way. Here is one of his claims: “Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry. You can see it on the screen. The fact that the films themselves don’t interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament. I know that if I were younger, if I’d come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself. But I grew up when I did and I developed a sense of movies — of what they were and what they could be — that was as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri.” In other words, Martin Scorsese is trying to convey that movies nowadays are different from the concept he has developed about them, and these differences may have come due to time. Movies of 2010’s are not produced with the same perspectives that movies of the 1980’s were. He admits that if he was younger, he would have a better opinion about Marvel productions, but he comes from a different era of movies and this plays a huge role on his points of view. However, even though they are different from former film forms, Marvel movies have a great significance in the American cinema. They generate about $4 billion and attract over 100 million viewers. Marvel Studios have settled new styles of films, which include sci-fi, action, and superhero genres. (Dewan, 2020) 

 

Another argument of Martin Scorsese is: “For me, for the filmmakers I came to love and respect, for my friends who started making movies around the same time that I did, cinema was about revelation — aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation. It was about characters — the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures, the way they can hurt one another and love one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves.” Here, Martin Scorses is trying to point out an element that he thinks is absent in Marvel movies: the paradoxical nature of characters. He sees many elements of cinema in Marvel movies, but what’s missing is spiritual revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nevertheless, this can be seen in Marvel pictures. Marvel has given a type of humanity and sensitivity to their characters who seem to be exceptional to possess such feelings. This feature can be noticed in the heroes and villains as well. “We see the fury and the betrayal behind Killmonger in Black Panther, a longing for acceptance and control in Loki, and the distorted perceptions of saving the universe in Thanos, and for a moment we sympathize with them. We understand them, albeit in disagreement, but their motives are clear and for some, it is not pure evil.” (Kaity, 2019) 

 

Dewan, Rohan. “Sorry Scorsese, Marvel Movies Are Cinema.” The Tide, thermtide.com/9777/popular/sorry-scorsese-marvel-movies-are-cinema/. 

 

/* inline tdc_css att */.tdi_107{padding-right:10px !important;}/* custom css */.tdb-post-meta{ margin-bottom: 16px; color: #444; font-family: ‘Open Sans’, et al. “Why Marvel Superhero Movies Are Important.” Nerds and Beyond, 28 Jan. 2021, www.nerdsandbeyond.com/2019/10/28/why-marvel-superhero-movies-are-important/.