Recently filmmaking icons Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola have criticized the run of superhero movies, calling them despicable and lacking enlightenment.
I think these talented filmmakers are missing the obvious. The Marvel Universe are movies based on comic books. Got that? Comic books. Not plays or novels or ancients oral traditions. Comic books. And, as such, are excellent representations of that comic book world, including classic examples of betrayal, lust for power, and self sacrifice… like The Godfather, except instead of a bunch of Italian immigrants, its guys and gals with superpowers.
This friction between “art” and “entertainment” has been going on forever, in every art form. Movies. Books. Music.
For most of their careers, Hitchcock and Spielberg were never considered to be serious filmmakers because their work was popular, just as fans of classic literature found pulp fiction lacking, or as music legends may think Taylor Swift’s work unimaginative.
The great thing about humanity is its diversity and there is a place in the art world for high and low humor, for novels that touch our hearts and books that give us a thrill, for action flicks with explosions and art house films about the staff at a rich English mansion, for movies that reflect society and those that allow us to escape it.
Scorcese and Coppola may not like the direction and affect superhero movies have had on the film industry lately, but they should remember back in the 1970s when their upstart independent film styles upset the fading studio system and changed American filmmaking forever.
At its essence, a society’s taste in stories are often representative of what is missing in the collective hearts.
During the Vietnam war, movies and TV, like Laugh In, helped the country escape the first real-time war into a frivolous world of silliness.
In the 70s, that evolved into a gritty self-reflection of a country in decline.
In the 80s, films promoted the reemergence of America as the world’s greatest nation.
And so on…
Today, where societal norms are in flux and traditional beliefs are being challenged and rejected, society is looking for saviors. Since they’re not looking for it in a church, they’re seeking it out in entertainment, because humans are designed to worship, whether that be God, money, power, sex, golden calves or heroes in capes.
Like the rest of film history, society will eventually grow tired of the fantasy of superhero films and will search for something more real and tangible.
Then the next Scorcese and Coppola will rise to shift the paradigm once again.
Until then, enjoy the escape.