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 al, 2021). 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-researched, audience-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 society. Also, 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 justified. https://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/.