Martin Scorsese on Blockbusters: ‘The Danger There Is What It’s Doing to Our Culture’

Martin Scorsese is continuing to push back against modern-day blockbusters and the streaming era.

In a recent interview with GQ, the Taxi Driver and The Wolf of Wall Street director spoke out against what blockbusters and comic book franchise movies are currently doing to the Hollywood industry.

“The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture,” he said. “Because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those—that’s what movies are.”

When the interviewer pointed out that people likely already believe that, Scorsese continued, “They already think that. Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”

Scorsese, who has actively fought for film preservation and restoration throughout his entire career, has made similar comments in the past. In 2019, Scorsese compared the Marvel Cinematic Universe to “theme parks.” He told Empire Magazine that he believes Marvel movies aren’t “the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

When his comments went viral, Scorsese wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times explaining why he doesn’t care for Marvel movies. “Why not just let superhero films and other franchise films be? The reason is simple,” he wrote. “In many places around this country and around the world, franchise films are now your primary choice if you want to see something on the big screen. 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. Still, I don’t know a single filmmaker who doesn’t want to design films for the big screen, to be projected before audiences in theaters.”

Speaking further to GQ about the streaming era, Scorsese said he doesn’t classify “manufactured content” as cinema. He continued, “It’s almost like AI making a film. And that doesn’t mean that you don’t have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you?”

Scorsese’s latest, Killers of the Flower Moon, opens in theaters and IMAX in the United States on October 20, 2023.

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