Martin Scorsese is considered by many to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, but his recent comments dismissing comic book movies have gotten fans of such films all riled up, which includes Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. The filmmaker took to Twitter to express his disappointment in Scorsese’s comments, while also noting his own personal connection to some of Scorsese’s more controversial works, but notes that he still admires the director and looks forward to his upcoming film, The Irishman. Despite Scorsese’s comments, he served as a producer on Todd Phillips’ Joker, which is in theaters now.
“Martin Scorsese is one of my 5 favorite living filmmakers,” Gunn shared on Twitter. “I was outraged when people picketed The Last Temptation of Christ without having seen the film. I’m saddened that he’s now judging my films in the same way.”
Videos by ComicBook.com
He added the follow-up tweet, “That said, I will always love Scorsese, be grateful for his contribution to cinema, and can’t wait to see The Irishman.”
The quote Gunn was responding to comes from an interview Scorsese conducted with Empire Magazine in which he claims that he tried to watch comic book movies, but no longer watches them as he doesn’t feel they are “cinema.”
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” the director told Empire. “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.”
The whole situation has featured a lot of conjecture and misrepresentation from a variety of perspectives. Firstly, Scorsese’s comments imply that all comic book movies are the same and feature the same artistic merits, dismissing the accomplishments of dozens of films. With Scorsese admitting, “I tried,” it’s clear he has at least attempted to enjoy superhero films, though it’s unclear how many films he has tried to connect with. It’s possible he’s only seen one film and didn’t connect with it, or it’s possible that he’s seen many of them, Gunn’s films included.
In this regard, Gunn could be misrepresenting the comments to imply that Scorsese has never seen any superhero movie and dismisses them all anyway. When a fan attempted to address that Gunn was making an unfair comparison, Gunn reiterated his point that judging any movie without seeing it is disingenuous.
In response to the fan pointing out that religious protests were different from calling superhero movies “theme park rides,” Gunn attempted to clarify, “No. I’m comparing people judging films they haven’t seen to people judging films they haven’t seen.”
This comment only emphasizes the point that Gunn thinks Scorsese hasn’t seen enough superhero movies to form an opinion on them, despite Scorsese claiming he attempted to invest himself in such efforts to no avail.
Based on the amount of attention Scorsese’s comments are getting on social media, we doubt Gunn will be the last to weigh in on the matter.
What do you think of Gunn’s response? Let us know in the comments below!
