The Business
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 48 OCTOBER 16, 2019
GALLERY,^ MAN:
ADOBEST
OC
K.^ AVENGERS:^ COU
RTESY^ OF^ MARVEL^ STU
DIOS^ (^3).^ SCORSESE:^ VALERIE^ MACON/AFP/
GETTY^
IMAGES.AnalysisD
irector Martin Scorsese’s recent claim
to Empire magazine that Marvel films
aren’t “cinema” is like saying the novel
Fifty Shades of Grey isn’t “literature.” He’s
technically wrong, but he’s culturally right.
And all the outraged defenders of Marvel
films know he’s right. I include myself among
Marvel’s defenders as both an enthusiastic
fan and recent Marvel comics author. I’ve seen
the entire Marvel Comic Universe pantheon
multiple times. Guardians of the Galaxy and
Thor: Ragnarok are two of the most addictive
movies ever made. If I’m channel surfing and
even catch a glimpse of them, I’m riveted.
At the same time, several of Scorsese’s films
(Ta x i D r i v e r, Goodfellas) are among my all-
time favorites for their emotional power and
thematic depth.
I’m aware that the international popularity
of Marvel films makes them very influential
in positively adjusting social attitudes about
race, gender and sexual orientation. Every
time I see Black Panther, I feel a rising swell of
pride because we finally have a popular black
superhero and he’s not just powerful but also
kind and compassionate. Captain Marvel,
Black Widow and Wonder Woman (from DC)
are definite improvements over Barbie as role
models for young girls. But influence, even for
the betterment of society, isn’t the issue.
Scorsese wasn’t denigrating Marvel films
so much as making a distinction betweenScorsese Isn’t Wrong About
Marvel (He Isn’t Right, Either)
By calling them ‘theme parks,’ the director wasn’t denigrating superhero films so
much as stating the obvious, writes the THR columnist and comic book writerhigh art (an accurate but cringeworthy term)
that we might see in a museum and regular,
everyday art that we might see on our T-shirts
and tattoos. Scorsese is stating the obvious:
Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
is not on the same level as Coolidge’s Dogs
Playing Poker, no matter how much those dogs
make us smile. Nor will Peter Benchley’s novel
Jaws ever match the magnificence of Herman
Melville’s Moby-Dick, despite selling millions
more copies. Captain America will never be
James Baldwin. It’s an important distinc-
tion to make because wrapped
up in our vision of high art are
the cultural ideals, moral values
and social vision that define us.
Our best art reflects our highest
aspirations as well as our flawed
approach in obtaining those aspirations. The
angels of our reach, the devils of our grasp.
High school makes many of us resistant to
definitions of high art. We are forced to read
poems, plays and novels we don’t understand
and then are told there are “hidden mean-
ings” that we’re just not smart enough to see.
Why should we have to work so hard just to
read a poem or story? Here’s why: High art
is basic training for teaching us to be more
observant and insightful. People don’t always
do or say directly what they mean, so some-
times we have to interpret their actions and
words to avoid being manipulated. We learn
through unreliable narrators the excuses and
justifications people make to hinder their
own happiness. When we see them doing it,we can often recognize it in others — and
ourselves. Great art heightens our ability
to see more by widening our perspective on
the world. Popular art may thrill, entertain
and bring us joy, but it rarely furthers our
understanding of ourselves. It may offer
shiny artifacts of our culture, but they don’t
define us.
Celebrated British novelist and screen-
writer Graham Greene (The End of the Affair)
divided his fiction between “entertainments”
and “novels,” with the latter being his serious
art. He was making the distinction between
melodrama (entertainment) and drama (art):
Melodrama emphasizes plot over character,
while drama (or cinema, for Scorsese) empha-
sizes character over plot. While it’s true that
there is much great entertainment within the
melodramatic genres of mysteries, thrillers,
romances, science fiction and so on, most
are just straightforward stories with the
main intent of exciting readers’ emotions.
The “ride” must be as exciting as possible.
Once you’re finished, your memories will
be of those exciting moments. Which is why
Scorsese sees Marvel films as “theme parks.”
Drama, however, focuses on how the main
characters are changed — or unchanged — by
the events in the story. It asks us to examine
those emotions so that we understand what
they say about us. Sometimes writers are able
to elevate a melodramatic genre into high
art, as Greene did with the thriller film The
Third Man, Francis Ford Coppola did with
the gangster genre in The Godfather, Stanley
Kubrick did with the sci-fi genre in 2001: A
Space Odyssey, and screenwriter Robert Towne
did with the detective genre in Chinatown.
Joss Whedon’s Serenity, though not part of the
MCU, is within Scorsese’s intent, a remark-
ably nuanced and thematically sophisticated
film about defining good and evil and how our
misperceptions can unwittingly further evil
while destroying good. Deep stuff for a movie
with rocket ships, laser guns and Nathan
Fillion’s perfect hair.
Scorsese admitted that he’s never seen a
Marvel movie all the way through, and I feel
sorry for him that he hasn’t experienced the
sheer joy of these films. That he didn’t see
Robert Downey Jr.’s touching death scene
as Iron Man or Tom Holland’s infectious
wonderment at becoming Spider-Man or the
delightful banter of Hulk and Thor. Marvel
films have made me laugh, cry, jump, agonize
and almost always leave the theater feeling
lighter and more satisfied than when I went
in. And that’s not nothing. But it’s also not
everything. With Marvel melodrama we feel
better. With high art, we are wiser.FILM | KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR is an NBA Hall of Famer
and contributing editor at THR.Scorsese