In this opinion piece, the author addresses his own viewpoints about the Marvel movies. The first claim that the author makes is Marvel movies are not art. “ Cinema was about revelation — aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation” ( Scorsese, 2019). In Marvel movies, Scorsese doesn’t see the elements of art, which builds a sense of connection with people. In his perspective, cinema is about inspiring people to be creative and form new ways to diversify art forms. They could agree or contradict with certain values and faiths. In other words, movies could have different forms. Movies intend to have the power to influence people deep in their hearts and make them think differently. People have strong feelings to agree or disagree with certain things, which could lead to different discussions. In addition, Scorsese doesn’t feel related to Marvel movies because everything could be predicted. Scorsese believes that Marvel movies have no risks and doesn’t bring surprises. He reveals his understanding in movies and believes that people will feel a strong connection between movies and themselves.
The second claim that the author makes is Marvel movies don’t challenge the current market trends. “ The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes” ( Scorsese, 2019). This evidence suggests that Marvel pictures are the pictures that only focus on fulfilling people’s expectations about certain themes, which Marvel movies directors predict is a popular trend and most people will like it. In other words, movie directors tend to cater to the market and make profits. The market then becomes limited and does not improve.
Even though the author argues that Marvel movies are not cinema, Marvel movies bring more opportunities in economic benefits and promote gender equality to the public. “ Disney has earned more than $18.2 billion at the global box office from Marvel movies since purchasing the company in 2009” ( Whitten, 2019). This evidence demonstrates that Marvel movies gain huge public attention and economic profits in just a decade, which is very fast and has potential developments. The success of Marvel movies brings more economic growth and the filmmakers have more chances to produce more adventurous films. In addition, Marvel movies also contain female representation and break the old impressions of males being superheroes. Marvel movies create equal representation of women and powers of women in Captain Marvel ( Itzkoff, 2019). Marvel movies bring diversity of characters from both female and male positions and encourage women to be strong and confident. Women can embrace who she is and believe that she is able to achieve anything she wants. Marvel movies bring up a lot of racial and cultural history, which builds a real basis for the character and connects people to characters in the movie. The themes of each Marvel movie become meaningful and viral. Most people face struggles in the real life, they could get inspirations from movies and move forwards with their life.
Whitten, S. (2019, July 22). Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, a decade later it’s made more than $18 billion at the global box office. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/21/disney-has-made-more-than-18-billion-from-marvel-films-since-2012.html.
Itzkoff, D. (2019, February 28). Can ‘Captain Marvel’ Fix Marvel’s Woman Problem? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/movies/captain-marvel.html?searchResultPosition=1.