In a new trial for Harper’s Magazine, the legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese does not beat around the bush, as he criticizes severely the state of the film industry. Entitled “Il Maestro”, the article focuses on director Federico Fellini, but delves into much more, especially in the current state of streamers and their problems with their effect on the experience of going to the cinema.
“Only 15 years ago, the term ‘content’ was heard only when people discussed cinema on a serious level, and it was contrasted and measured against ‘form’,” writes Scorsese. “Then, little by little, it was used more and more by people who took control of media companies, most of whom knew nothing about the history of the art form, or even cared enough to think they should.”
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Scorsese mentions how he benefited from places like Netflix, which produced and distributed his gangster photo The Irish and your next Flower Moon Killers at Apple, but says that the film was devalued by them and that they ended up turning the film into “content”. He deepens the idea of content analogy by saying that it is the “commercial term for all moving images”.
He continues: “We cannot depend on the film industry, as it is, to take care of cinema. In the cinema business, which is now the mass visual entertainment business, the emphasis is always on the word ‘business’, and the value is always determined by the amount of money to be made with any property – in that sense, everything from Sunrise for La Strada for 2001 it is now well twisted and ready for the ‘Art Film’ swimming streak on a streaming platform. “
Scorsese concludes his argument by warning film fans that “they cannot depend on the film industry, as it is, to take care of cinema”. The dead the director is not afraid to touch the pot when he sees something he feels is having a profound impact on the experience of going to the cinema. In 2019, he was criticized when he suggested that Marvel superhero films are not cinema. The comments led to a wide-ranging industry discussion of what is and what is not cinema that everyone is thinking of including Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn giving his opinion. If these observations will have the same impact, it remains, but what is certain is that when Scorsese talks about cinema, everyone is all ears.