Martin Scorsese says cinema is being 'systematically devalued' by streaming services
- Martin Scorsese slammed the modern movie business in a new essay for Harper's magazine.
- The director said films are being "devalued" and used as "content" by the business and streamers.
- "We can't depend on the movie business, such as it is, to take care of cinema," he said.
Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese has denounced the modern movie business including streamers in a new essay on Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, published Tuesday in Harper's magazine.
In the lengthy essay Titled "Il Maestro," Scorsese details his personal love of Fellini's films ("La Strada," " 8½,") and uses the director's expansive filmography to explain the ways in which he believes large corporations and streaming sites are devaluing the cinematic art form.
"As recently as fifteen years ago, the term 'content' was heard only when people were discussing the cinema on a serious level, and it was contrasted with and measured against 'form,'" Scorsese writes. "Then, gradually, it was used more and more by the 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."
Scorsese continues to write that the word "content" has become an all-encompassing business term "for all moving images" and no longer has anything to do with theatrical moviegoing but rather favors home viewing, on the streaming platforms, which he writes has "come to overtake the moviegoing experience, just as Amazon overtook physical stores."
Though the director does acknowledge that he and many other filmmakers have benefited from the opportunities streaming platforms can provide. His most recent gangster epic "The Irishman" was a Netflix production and his next film "Killers of the Flower Moon" starring Leonardo DiCaprio will debut on Apple TV.
However, Scorsese criticized the lack of curation on streaming sites, which he said is detrimental to cinema because it limits the range of films audiences are exposed to. He added that further viewing suggestions offered to audiences based on algorithms treat the viewer as a "consumer, and nothing else."
"Curating isn't undemocratic or "elitist," a term that is now used so often that it's become meaningless. It's an act of generosity-you're sharing what you love and what has inspired you. (The best streaming platforms, such as the Criterion Channel and MUBI and traditional outlets such as TCM, are based on curating-they're actually curated)," he writes.
"We can't depend on the movie business, such as it is, to take care of cinema," he continued. "In the movie business, which is now the mass visual entertainment business, the emphasis is always on the word "business," and value is always determined by the amount of money to be made from any given property - in that sense, everything from 'Sunrise' to 'La Strada' to '2001' is now pretty much wrung dry and ready for the 'Art Film' swim lane on a streaming platform."
In 2019, Scorsese wrote a similarly impassioned essay for The New York Times that took specific aim at Disney and Marvel Studios. The director explained earlier comments he made about why he believes Marvel movies are closer to theme parks than cinema and said the current industry is "inhospitable to art,"