The Godfather Director Francis Ford Coppola on MCU: “It’s Despicable”
The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola defended Martin Scorsese’s comments about superhero films and took it a step further. He described MCU films as “despicable.”
Coppola’s comments come after Martin Scorsese described superhero films as “not cinema.”
Scorsese told Empire, “I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema.”
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He added:
“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.”
Francis Ford Coppola Weighs In
As reported by Yahoo! News, Coppola spoke to journalists in Lyon, France about his upcoming project Megalopolis and received the Prix Lumiere award. While in France, he waded into the superhero film debate.
He told them:
“When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration.”
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Coppola continued, “I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again.”
The Rainmaker director concluded, “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”
Martin Scorsese Elaborates
As for Martin Scorsese he would elaborate on his thoughts regarding superhero films and theme park style films in general. According to The Hollywood Reporter, while at the Rome Film Fest promoting The Irishman, Scorsese elaborated on his comments concerning superhero films, “The key that I’m hoping for is for theaters to continue to support narrative cinema of this kind.”
Scorsese continued, “the theaters support the films. But right now the theaters seem to be mainly supporting the theme park, amusement park, comic book films. They’re taking over the theaters. I think they can have those films; it’s fine. It’s just that that shouldn’t become what our young people believe is cinema. It just shouldn’t.”
He then pointed out that young people largely don’t know who Jimmy Hoffa describing it as “quite sad.” He added, “As well known as he was, time just wiped him away.”
Scorsese continued, “This is the world we live in. Our children are, I don’t know what they’re doing with those devices. They perceive reality differently. They perceive even the concept of what history is supposed to be [differently].”
Scorsese concluded, “How are they going to know about WWII? How are they going to know about Vietnam? What do they think of Afghanistan? What do they think of all of this? They’re perceiving it in bits and pieces. There seems to be no continuity of history.”
What do you make of Francis Ford Coppola’s defense of Martin Scorsese? What about Scorsese’s elaboration on his thoughts regarding superhero films?
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