Scorsese targets lack of streaming conservation and more

Martin Scorsese denounces the film industry in a powerful new essay on Federico Fellini, published in the March 2021 edition of Harper’s magazine (read the full essay here). Entitled “Il Maestro”, the essay finds Scorsese epilating poetry on Fellini’s filmography and using the icon of Italian cinema to explain why the magic of cinema is now lost in the onslaught of content released by movie studios. and streaming companies. Scorsese acknowledges that streamers benefit his career (without Netflix there wouldn’t be “The Irishman”, and without Apple there wouldn’t be “Killers of the Flower Moon” on the way), but writes that “The art of cinema is systematically devalued, put aside. , demeaned and reduced to its lowest common denominator ”by the conceptualization of films as“ content ”.

“Just 15 years ago, the term ‘content’ was only heard when people were seriously discussing cinema, and it was contrasted and measured against ‘form’,” Scorsese writes. “Then, little by little, it was used more and more 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 it was necessary. “Content” has become a trade term for all moving images: a David Lean movie, a cat video, a Super Bowl commercial, a superhero sequel, a serial episode. It was related, 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 physical stores.

Wrapping all moving images as fair content “has created a situation where everything is presented to the viewer on an equal basis, which looks democratic but is not,” Scorsese continues. “If a deeper view is ‘suggested’ by algorithms based on what you’ve already seen and the suggestions are based purely on subject or genre, then what does it do to the art of cinema? ? “

Scorsese adds: “Conservation is neither undemocratic nor ‘elitist’, a term that is now used so often that it no longer makes sense. It’s an act of generosity – you share what you love and what inspired you. (The best streaming platforms, like Criterion Channel and MUBI, and traditional outlets like 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 essay, Scorsese writes that “cinema and its importance in our culture” has changed and that moviegoers “cannot depend on the film industry, as it is, for their sake. ‘take care of the cinema’.

“In the film industry, which is now a mass visual entertainment business, the emphasis is still on the word ‘business’, and value is still determined by the amount of money to be made from a. given ownership – in that sense, anything that ‘Sunrise’ to ‘La Strada’ to ‘2001’ is now pretty much wrung out and ready for the ‘Art Film’ swim lane on a streaming platform, ‘we read in the test. “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 the current legal owners of these films understand that they are more than just assets to be exploited and then locked up. They are some of 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. A lot can be said about Fellini’s films, but here’s one thing that is indisputable: they are cinema. Fellini’s work goes a long way in defining the art form.

The next stop 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. Head over to the Harper Magazine website to read Scorsese’s new essay in full.

Register: Stay up to date with the latest film and TV news! Sign up for our email newsletters here.