“We cannot depend on the film industry, as it is, to take care of cinema,” Scorsese writes in a new essay on Federico Fellini.
Martin Scorsese rails against the movie industry in a hard-hitting new essay on Federico Fellini, published in the March 2021 edition of Harper’s Magazine (read full test here). Titled “Il Maestro”, the essay finds Scorsese waxing poetic about Fellini’s filmography and using the icon of Italian cinema to explain why the magic of cinema is now lost amid the onslaught of content released by film studios and Diffusion businesses. Scorsese acknowledges that streamers benefit his career (without Netflix there would be no ‘The Irishman’, and without Apple there would be no ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ on the way), but writes ” the art of cinema is systematically devalued, sidelined, belittled and reduced to its lowest common denominator” by the conceptualization of films as “content”.
“As little as 15 years ago, the term ‘content’ was only heard when people seriously discussed cinema, and it was contrasted and measured against ‘form’,” Scorsese writes. “Then, gradually, it was increasingly used by people who took over media companies, most of whom knew nothing about the history of the art form, or even cared enough to think that they should. “Content” has become a trade term for all moving images: a David Lean movie, a cat video, a Super Bowl ad, a superhero sequel, a TV show episode. It was tied, of course, not to the theatrical experience but to home viewing, on streaming platforms that came to overtake the cinematic experience, just as Amazon overtook brick-and-mortar stores.
Packaging all moving images as fair content “has created a situation where everything is presented to the viewer on an equal footing, which looks democratic but isn’t,” Scorsese continues. “If further viewing is ‘suggested’ by algorithms based on what you’ve already seen, and the suggestions are only based on topic or genre, then what does that do to the art of movie theater?”
Scorsese adds, “Curating is not undemocratic or ‘elitist’, a term that is now used so often that it has become meaningless. It’s an act of generosity — you share what you love and what has inspired you. (The best streaming platforms, such as Criterion Channel and MUBI and traditional outlets such as TCM, are curation-based – they’re actually curated.) Algorithms, by definition, are based on calculations that treat the viewer as a consumer and nothing else.”
Later in the testScorsese writes that “cinema and its prominence in our culture” has changed and that moviegoers “cannot depend on the movie industry, as it is, to care for cinema.”
“In the motion picture industry, which is now the mass visual entertainment industry, the emphasis is always on the word ‘business’, and value is always determined by the amount of money to be made from a given ownership – in that sense, everything from ‘Sunrise’ to ‘La Strada’ to ‘2001’ is now pretty much wrung out and ready for the ‘Art Film’ swim lane on a streaming platform,” reads the essay.”Those of us who know cinema and its history should share our love and knowledge with as many people as possible. And we need to make it clear to the current legal owners of these films that they represent more than just property to be exploited and then locked away. They are among the greatest treasures of our culture and should be treated accordingly.
Scorsese concludes, “I guess we also need to refine our notions of what cinema is and what it isn’t. Federico Fellini is a good starting point. Many things can be said about Fellini’s films, but here is one thing that is indisputable: they are cinema. Fellini’s work goes a long way in defining the art form.
Next up for Scorsese is “Killers of the Flower Moon,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone. The Apple-Paramount-backed film goes into production in the first half of 2021. Visit Harper Magazine website to read Scorsese’s new essay in its entirety.
Register: Stay up to date with the latest film and TV news! Sign up for our email newsletters here.
