"That's not cinema." The harsh words from acclaimed director, Martin Scorsese, about the most successful film franchise in history, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have echoed throughout the Hollywood tabloids the past few months and caused quite a ripple effect among cinematic fans.
Scorsese's continued quote states, "Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being." While everybody is entitled to their opinion, and Scorsese has undeniably earned the right to critique any film he wants, he is simply wrong about the MCU and "theme park" movies in general - and here are nine other acclaimed directors that prove it.
9 Peter Jackson
Let's start with a director who not only proves Scorsese wrong but also happens to prove him right - Peter Jackson. The highly coveted director has had several "theme park" movies, but his most well known are The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit Trilogy, with the first franchise easily proving Scorsese wrong, and the latter just as effortlessly proving him right.
While the three Hobbit films were hardly more than "cash-grabs", the tale of Frodo Baggins and his journey to destroy the One Ring was nothing but an emotional, psychological experience of human beings interacting with one another.
8 Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis couldn't truly be considered a "theme park" director, but that's what makes his presence on this list all the more important - he proves that a director can be artistically creative (which Scorsese implies is necessary for a film to be considered cinema) and yet still make "theme park" movies if he so chooses. He might be known for his classics such as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and Romancing the Stone, but with other movies like The Polar Express, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and most importantly the Back to the Future franchise, Zemeckis proves that creative and artistic directors are capable of adding those elements to 'theme park' movies if they want too.
7 Christopher Columbus
While he may only have once Oscar nomination under his belt (and as a producer, not a director) Chris Columbus is another important director who specifically proves the point that "theme park" movies don't necessarily have to be artistic in nature for them to be enjoyable, and well done, cinematic features.
One of Scorsese's comments about MCU movies that is flat-out ignorant is the fact that there are "no stakes" in the sense that every cinema fan already knows that the hero is going to win. Does that mean Home Alone 1 and 2, along with the first two Harry Potter films are bad movies simply because the audience ultimately knew Kevin and Harry were going to win?
6 George Lucas
The man who is arguably responsible for the entire "theme park" style of film-making with the creation of Star Wars back in 1977 is another director who proved, from the start, that "theme park" movies are capable of conveying emotional, psychological experiences.
George Lucas may have only directed the first installment in the original Star Wars trilogy, but even 50 years after it's release A New Hope is constantly used as a guideline for aspiring filmmakers to study because the movie follows "The Hero's Journey", a blueprint for all story-tellers that maximizes the emotional, psychological experiences the audience can have.
5 Jon Favreau
Since we're talking about the MCU, why not bring up the director who got the entire ball rolling in the first place for the juggernaut franchise? While Jon Favreau can often be recognized more for his acting than his directing, the movies where he has stood behind the camera rather than in front of it have nearly all become worldwide success'. He got his directing start with movies such as Elf and Zathura, which quickly landed him the job for Iron Man, and continued his success with Cowboys & Aliens, The Jungle Book, and The Lion King.
Every one of the movies listed could be considered a "theme park" movie and every one of them offers emotional, psychological experiences for it's characters.
4 Christopher Nolan
While Scorsese's comments were specifically conveyed at the MCU, virtually any film based off a comic book can be described as a "theme park" movie and that was the style that Scorsese was criticizing in his comments, which begs the question - has Scorsese never seen any of The Dark Knight trilogy? Make comparisons all you want about the differences between DC's and the MCU's movies, but the undeniable fact is that Christopher Nolan's masterpieces were all "theme park" movies (and that doesn't even include his other works such as Interstellar or The Prestige).
Criticize success all you want, but if you don't consider Batman an emotional, psychological human character than perhaps you deserve a room in Arkham Asylum.
3 Ridley Scott
Scorsese's most ignorant comment of, "that's not cinema," is the one that leaves the biggest gray-area; what about the director's who have made film-making history from not just "theme park" movies but smaller, more independent style films? Ridley Scott is one of the most sought-after directors of our era thanks to films such as Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and The Martian.
So even if all those films don't include emotional and psychological experiences (which they do) does that mean that Scott's smaller films such as Thelma & Louise, American Gangster, and All the Money in the World don't count since Scott's main body of work can't be considered "cinema" from Scorsese's standpoint?
2 James Cameron
It's clear that Scorsese was just critiquing the MCU in his comments, but his unfortunate mistake of referring to them as "theme park" movies is what brought the entire scope of Hollywood into the frame - and he clearly forgot about James Cameron's entire career when he used the "theme park" term.
Shall we go over the list of movies such as Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, and most importantly, Avatar? Cameron is a director whose entire career revolves around "theme park" movies and nearly every single one of them has not only been commercially successful but conveyed emotional, psychological human experiences.
1 Steven Spielberg
Scorsese has been nominated for Best Director at the Oscars eight times and has only won once - Spielberg has been nominated seven times and has won twice. Scorsese has three films that reside on the AFI Top 100 list - Spielberg has five. Guess what? Spielberg has no problem with making "theme park" movies (especially since one was literally about a theme park). While his masterpieces such as The Color Purple, Schindler's List, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and The Post may not be "theme park" films, his endless line of classics such as Jaws, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, War of the Worlds and Ready Player One all easily fall under the "theme park" category that Scorsese claims to despise, and they all offer emotional, psychological experiences for their characters.
Again, Scorsese has earned the right to critique whatever film he wants, but perhaps he should take advice from the only director in Hollywood who is more acclaimed than him and realize that "theme park" movies are only as bad, or phenomenal, as the people directing them.
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