Before I dive into that spicy question, I should prove that I’m a fan.
I clearly remember the time when I watched my first superhero movie, Avengers Age of Ultron, and how I immediately fell in love with the Marvel Universe. I went home and in short succession watched every single Marvel movie from Iron Man in 2008 all the way to the then present in 2015.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that my future dedication to the Marvel Cinematic Universe stole my attention away from truly groundbreaking films. I always found myself with a must-watch list of films such as 12 Years a Slave, the Hurt Locker, and American Hustle that I never had the right mixture of time and motivation to watch while I still was able to keep up with every new Spiderman, Thor, Captain America release.
It wasn’t just me feeling like their cinematic experience was controlled by superhero blockbuster’s from Disney’s Marvel. Independent theaters around the US are dropping like flies. Non-franchise movies are being pigeon-holed into a select few weekends, otherwise, they’ll get swamped by the billion-dollar Avengers movie. A collision course was set between old-school film enthusiasts and the superhero crazed crowd.
In comes Martin Scorsese, Academy winning director, producer, and writer, with the words, “[Marvel movies] aren’t cinema.”
At first, like everyone else who was a dedicated Marvel fan, I was taken aback. Even if some of the superhero themes were too overused and we’ve lost some of the excitement since the first Avengers came out in 2012, Marvel movies were still masterpieces of visual handicraft and comical scripts.
After all, how could some of the most successful movies at the box office, one of which was also nominated for Best Picture, not be considered cinema? I found that I wasn’t alone; there was tremendous backlash from the entire Marvel community ranging from directors to actors. And it makes sense, behind each blockbuster is a massive team of artists that pour their heart and soul into work they definitely deem as cinema, perhaps even revolutionizing it.
But then, after his words sunk in for a bit, I realized that there was more truth than I would like to admit. I recalled my feelings of exhaustion after each Marvel release, being compelled to watch the new releases to continue “being in the know.” And, how after each movie, I knew I watched a brilliant technical masterpiece that was literally creating new dimensions in the field of visual effects, yet somehow, I was left feeling empty inside.
Perhaps this was a symptom of a problem known as Superhero Fatigue. IMDB has a whole poll dedicated to which Marvel movie fatigues audiences the most.
IMDB Poll On Superhero Fatigue
However, I finally identified what I was missing in Scorsese’s NYT Op-ed published this past week. He wrote it to explain his controversial comments from a month ago but instead became a piece that beautifully summed up the sentiments of many other accredited directors like Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola.
Martin Scorsese: I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain
Cinema at its core is supposed to mean something, to expand the worldview of the audience.
The emptiness I felt after many Marvel movies was my mind’s way of alerting me that meaning was not there. Marvel movies didn’t open myself to a lifetime of space fascination like Interstellar, reexamine American identity like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, or immerse myself in the mind of an obsessed artist like Whiplash.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all Marvel movies don’t have meaning or that I hate Marvel. A few rare cases like Black Panther, which thoroughly engaged my moral consciousness, and Doctor Strange, which created an existential crisis, hold a special place in my heart.
Furthermore, I’m still an extremely dedicated Marvel fan. I’ve watched all the movies in the MCU. They’ve brought me laughter, tears, and every emotion in between. Twenty, thirty years from now, I will look back and inextricably connect these movies to my childhood.
The problem is, however, that Marvel movies have moved away from their initial goal of redefining the superhero genre. They’re simply copying the superhero genre and tweaking a few plot details here and there to create a desirable product. I get it. Why should they change when their formula has generated billions of dollars in the box office, risk-free?
For art.
No matter how much old-school film enthusiasts try to deny it, Disney’s Marvel has a chokehold on the entire industry. Their movies have defined the industry and will do so for many years to come. So, it’s paramount that they recognize their influence to create masterpieces full of meaning – cinema. If they continue to reward pure commercial success over artistry, it will be the death of the film industry as we know it.
Already as I’ve mentioned, independent theaters are closing in droves and independent movies find it nearly impossible to open on a weekend without another franchise blockbuster sucking the life out of it.
Here’s a report that details how the film industry has had to adapt to Disney.
On any given weekend that a huge franchise movie is rolling, people have less time to venture out of their comfort zone into the films that expand the boundaries of what it means to communicate through cinema.
I’ve unfortunately experienced this all too often. At the movie theater, I’ve turned away from movies like 12 Years a Slave, Argo, Green Book, toward all the Marvel releases. For the past few years, I’ve ingested unengaging commercial ideals into my mind instead of options that truly engaged my consciousness. For that, I’m thankful to Martin Scorsese for reminding me of the true cinema that I’ve been missing.
Most importantly, though, it’s up to the audience to choose to watch a cinema or a commercial product. That’s why I implore you to choose better, for it is not the Marvel movies that have changed my life, it’s the unknown movies that I’ve decided to take a risk on.
Those are the movies that not only will be remembered but will live on in people’s lives they’ve impacted.
Hi Marissa,
I really liked how you explored an initially surprising topic. However, after reading your argument, I agree that many of the Marvel films lack the meaning that true cinemas do; many of these films do, indeed, follow a fixed formula.
I cannot claim to be nearly as much of a Marvel fan as you are: I am far from watching all of the past Marvel movies. In fact, the latest Marvel movies that I have watched have been after our annual math team state competition, and I happen to remember falling asleep at the end of one of these movies in the midst of the big fight scene.
I have been able to watch a wide variety of movies not related to Marvel, and each of these movies has left me with an overall message or theme, like you state that true cinema should impart on the audience. In my opinion, movie series tend to get repetitive, beginning to lose the cinematic meaning that makes movies so great. While the Marvel series may continue to thrive, I prefer to watch short TV series or standalone films, enjoying a variety of cinematic experiences.
Hey Merz,
I thought this was a super interesting perspective on the role/purpose of Marvel movies in modern cinema. I think they are great for entertaining audiences and making big bucks for studios and creators, but aren’t the lasting classics one might consider to be “real cinema”. However, I don’t think that was ever the intention. In an age of instant gratification and fast fashion, Marvel movies fit in the category of films who seek to extract as much money from moviegoers in as little time as possible. They create a ton of media buzz, which pressures people into seeing them, collect the ticket sales, then break ground on a sequel. Now there are many franchises such as Star Wars that have become classics over time, but since the Marvel universe is arguably more expansive, it’s difficult to maintain a running plot line. Disney has set itself up for these criticisms, but in the end, the billions they earn far outweigh the nitpicky criticisms of any movie critic.
Hi, Marissa! I’m also a HUGE MCU fan and I found your blog to be extremely refreshing!
I’d say I’m quite the film fanatic, and by no means is a Marvel movie on the top of my list, however, I find it difficult to accept that Marvel movies aren’t redefining the superhero genre. True, we are in an era where Marvel seems to be spitting out movie after movie, but from them we get breakthough heroes like the Black Panther (as you mentioned), Captain Marvel, and the upcoming Shang-Chi. How amazing is it to see such a major corporation such as Disney/Marvel promoting inclusivity! Little girls and kids of different colors now won’t have to look up at the screen and wonder why their favorite hero doesn’t look like them.
I personally am still unsure whether or not I’d consider Marvel movies ‘cinema,’ but I strongly believe that Marvel studios has a message and they are spreading it through the heroes. As we move on to Phase Four, I’m nervous and excited, but I only have high expectations!
Hi Marissa!
I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m by no means an MCU fan and rarely choose to watch Marvel movies unless others are dragging me along to the movie theater. However, I’ve always had a similar impression of the movies. In the moment, the action and the constant conflict between hero and villain is engaging, sucking you into the fantastical world that the movie creates. But, like you mentioned, I find it hard to recall a time when I’ve felt fulfilled by the end of a Marvel movie. Sure, it was fun while it lasted, but there’s rarely any substantial takeaway that leaves a long-lasting impact on the movie-goer.
In a way, I think this isn’t just a problem in movie-making, but in modern society as a whole. In you post, you give one possible reason to be people being unwilling to step out of their comfort zones, but I think there’s also an aspect of people being more likely to seek instant gratification. With phones and other devices to distract us from the present in any moment, movie production needs to be constantly pulling you in. Otherwise, everyone would just choose the small screen in their pocket over the large screen in the theater. Marvel understands this “algorithm” (obviously).