What Both Sides of the “Marvel vs. Art” Debate in Cinema Overlook
Recent comments in the media from Kevin Smith and Ethan Hawke have resumed the debate of “Marvel vs. Art” in cinema, which began in 2019 ahead of Martin Scorsese’s Netflix hit, The Irishman. Both sides have points in their favor, but there are several key factors that not only hinder both types of films and their issues, extending an unnecessary battle for years, but have affected independent, prestigious, and art house cinema.
Cinema is an art form; whether a movie is considered genuinely great art and worthy of the cinematic canon is another matter. While there are fears over how revenue for studios in a post-COVID-19 climate will alter the state of non-blockbuster cinema, 2020, 2021, and the first half of 2022 have been a continuous lineup of captivating movies. Prestigious films (especially those released during awards season), art house films, and films from original screenplays are being released in theaters and streaming yearly; they outnumber sequels and superhero films — only four to six of which are seen in theaters per year. This looks to continue as early reviews for Jordan Peele’s original sci-fi thriller Nope have been stellar.
With that said, there is a problematic myth being pushed in the blogosphere by writers and fandoms who reject various “old guard” directors who criticize Marvel: It is the implication that superhero movies and blockbusters are inherently more diverse than “Oscar bait” and adult dramas from directors like Scorsese and studios like A24 or Focus Features. The opposite of that is true. More than half of superhero films are directed by and starring those who aren’t people of color or women.
Marvel’s films Black Panther and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse weren’t just powerful moments of representation; they were supported by foundations of great directors, writing, production values, etc. However, superhero films shouldn’t be merely the only yardstick for representation as there has been a variety of diverse films found in drama and comedy in the 2010s and up to the present.
Martin Scorsese has been accused of not being diverse enough and only sticking to what he knows, but that’s not entirely true. More than half of Scorsese’s films aren’t related to the gangster genre — the field he re-pioneered for a new generation of filmmakers. Scorsese’s 1997 film Kundun focused on the life of Tibet’s fourteenth Dalai Lama. Despite Scorsese’s muddled comments regarding the lack of representation or poor portrayals of women in his films, he’s also directed films featuring female characters who don’t merely support the plot but have agency in their own right: Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Ellen Burysten), The Age of Innocence (Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer), Casino (Sharon Stone), The Aviator (Cate Blanchett in her Oscar-winning turn as Katharine Hepburn), The Departed (Vera Farmiga), and Hugo (Chloe Grace-Moretz).
This 2021 article from The Daily Beast, courtesy of writer Kyndall Cunningham, details why the feud between Martin Scorsese and the camp of Marvel needs to end. It also contains a passage representative of Scorsese’s values toward cinema and diverse filmmakers and storytelling.
“[…] [Martin] Scorsese has been repeatedly misrepresented by the comic-book fan community online and by certain actors and filmmakers as just another old, white, establishment gatekeeper looking down on the cinematic tastes of younger, more diverse audiences and impeding the “evolution” of the medium. One could only come to this ill-informed conclusion by simply looking at the racial and gender makeup of Scorsese’s filmography, which overwhelmingly but not solely features white, male characters, and comparing it with Marvel’s more (recently) inclusive world. Meanwhile, his reputation as a promoter of international film, founding the World Cinema Project to preserve and restore neglected foreign films and boost the profiles of international filmmakers, and co-launching the similar African Film Heritage Project, is well-documented for anyone interested in doing a cursory Google search.”
Suffice it to say fandoms and film fans, in general, need to move past this debate if we want cinema to prosper. Support original and prestige films in theaters and on streaming, especially when the myth that “Hollywood doesn’t make original movies” is still prevalent. Many who say this are guilty of not supporting those being released in theaters and being nostalgic for older generations of movies — where sequels and remakes have always existed. Nostalgia culture has affected moviegoers and “old guard” directors in ways that distort cinematic history and erase the existence of original films in the present. (To be clear, this doesn’t entirely apply to Martin Scorsese, although he’s been clear about how difficult it has been for him to receive financing for his newer films, including The Irishman.)
Film is an art form anyone can celebrate, so it’s great to have blockbusters, adult-oriented dramas, and avant-garde films. The latter two tend to receive plaudits from film critics. Still, they won’t catapult to the box office success they deserve if we refuse to see them out of stigmas attached to them and “Oscar bait,” which are bolstered by superhero fan communities.
