Despite being fired and then rehired from his spot at the top of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise earlier this year, James Gunn has become one of Marvel‘s starkest defenders. Recently, business has been a bit busier than usual, with some of the great auteurs of cinema – primarily Martin Scorsese – denouncing the MCU’s place within the art form.
Earlier today, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola threw his hat into the ring, calling Scorsese’s comments and raising the rhetoric to words like “despicable.” In case you didn’t see what Coppola had to say, here’s exactly how he put it:
“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. I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again. Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”
Now, no one can deny the contributions Coppola has made to film, Gunn included. In fact, his response (which took place via Instagram) never specifically mentioned the Academy Award winner’s name, though there’s no real doubt about who he was referring to.
The younger filmmaker’s argument rather defends the genre, saying that he’s witnessed past generations balk at the work of classic auteurs, including Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, as well as the “gangster” directors.
You can check out Gunn’s comments for yourself down below:
“Many of our grandfathers thought all gangster movies were the same, often calling them “despicable”. Some of our great grandfathers thought the same of westerns, and believed the films of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone were all exactly the same. I remember a great uncle to whom I was raving about Star Wars. He responded by saying, “I saw that when it was called 2001, and, boy, was it boring!” Superheroes are simply today’s gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers. Some superhero films are awful, some are beautiful. Like westerns and gangster movies (and before that, just MOVIES), not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses. And that’s okay.”
Personally, I’m more a fan of the Scorsese/Ford/Leone/Coppola-type movies than I am the comic book ones. With that said, it’s hard to deny the impact they’ve had on audiences all over the world.
So while I may choose The Godfather or The Conversation over Guardians of the Galaxy, I have to side with James Gunn on this one. Not only because I recognize that Marvel movies mean a whole lot to a great deal of people, but because the filmmaker presents his argument with an overwhelmingly receptive and dignified manner.
