But it does not stop there. Director James Gunn recently expressed his views during an interview in relation to the perception of another filmmaker, the legendary Martin Scorsese, regarding superhero films as “not cinema”. What did James Gunn have to say about Scorsese’s personal take on Marvel Studios films and on the superhero theme in movies? Check out the details below.
War of the words
In order to get the full context, we have to look back a couple of years. James Gunn’s retort, of course, is in response to Martin Scorsese’s infamous rant in a New York Times opinion piece, voicing his disdain for superhero films back in 2019:
Martin Scorsese explains why he said Marvel movies aren’t cinema. “They are sequels in name, but they are remakes in spirit.” https://t.co/lyYGp2bQLV — The New York Times (@nytimes) November 5, 2019 Scorsese went on to say that he does not watch superhero films and compared them to theme parks: The long-time movie director elaborated his own approach to films and why Marvel movies had no appeal to his creative interests, going at length as to what his idea of what counts as cinema: The award-winning filmmaker has had most of his success through operatic films that focus on organized crime and street-level politics such as Taxi Driver (1976), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), and Netflix’s The Irishman (2019), among many others. But in the last decade or so, the entertainment industry has been absolutely dominated by the superhero genre, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, in particular. This opinion aired by the seasoned filmmaker received mixed reactions. Some have given Scorsese a pass, as he has built a legendary career in filmmaking. But others, particularly fans of the superhero genre, expressed their displeasure as to what amounted to sourgraping over the undeniably overwhelming success of a genre that the director has no interest in doing.
James Gunn’s response
But one particular director has a differing opinion about the matter of Marvel movies, and the prevalence of superhero films in general: James Gunn. Having been a fan and a filmmaker who has done his takes on superhero films, James Gunn is hip-deep in the genre. Gunn cut his teeth working with B-movie legend producer Lloyd Kaufman and his Troma Films. As early as The Specials (2000), Gunn was an associate producer and writer of the story, as well as appearing as the superhero Minute Man for the low-budget superhero project. Gunn’s second full feature film directorial effort was the dark superhero comedy Super (2010), before getting the reins on his first big budget superhero film, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Just recently, Gunn directed The Suicide Squad for Marvel/Disney’s chief competitor, DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. Pictures. In an interview with Josh Horowitz for his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn expressed his disagreement with Scrorsese in plain terms:
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) August 4, 2021 Gunn stated: However, Gunn followed up by clarifying that he means no disrespect to the veteran Scorsese, and expressing his own admiration and inspiration from the latter’s works: This, of course, created a lot of buzz, particularly with The Suicide Squad’s release on August 6, 2021, just a couple of days later. Gunn’s comments contrasting Scorsese’s is not surprising, and some fans claim that Gunn was simply stating what everyone was thinking. However, Gunn further clarified his comments on his own social media. As Gunn states in a tweet:
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) August 4, 2021
Not the first time
This is not the first time that Gunn has sounded off against Scorsese’s criticism of the superhero genre. When Scorsese first aired his comment regarding Marvel superhero movies as “not cinema”, Gunn took to social media to show his disappointment that the older filmmaker had such a low appreciation for the superhero genre in movies:
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) October 4, 2019 Clearly, Gunn had disagreed with Scorsese’s opinions two years earlier, when the latter first aired his distaste for superhero films. Now, to Gunn’s credit, he expresses his admiration and appreciation for Scorsese’s accomplishments in both instances. But the director who has worked on both Marvel and DC superhero properties clearly disagrees with the idea that films of this genre should automatically be judged as “not cinema”. It should be noted that James Gunn is not the only filmmaker who has handled superhero properties that do not share the same perception as Martin Scorsese. Zack Snyder (Justice League), Joss Whedon (Avengers), Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Star Wars: The Mandalorian), and Kevin Smith (Masters of the Universe), and more have stated that they respect Scorsese’s opinion, but do not agree with it. The debate on whether superhero films are legitimate, but different, forms of cinema seems to be far from over. But as far as James Gunn is concerned, it is cinema. With the positive feedback The Suicide Squad is getting both critically and through audience appreciation, he is probably right. The Suicide Squad is now running in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service.
