The filmmaking era Martin Scorsese referred to as “totally bleak”
To those less familiar with the director’s unrelenting love of film, it may seem that Martin Scorsese is increasingly pessimistic about the industry he operates within. Really, his criticism of modern cinema is entirely born out of care for the evolution of the art form, and there are few people with more passion for cinema than the American-Italian filmmaker.
His recent disapproval of Marvel may have garnered substantial public attention, but Scorsese has been calling to improve the workings and artistry of the industry throughout his entire career. Since making his feature debut with Who’s That Knocking at My Door in 1967, the director has devoted his life to the art. He has consistently delivered some of the greatest pictures of all time and even set up The Film Foundation to preserve and restore films.
Scorsese was particularly unhappy with the state of the industry in the mid-1980s, which he considered to be “totally bleak”. Speaking with Richard Price for American Film in 1986, the interviewer asked the filmmaker what the median moviegoer age was at the time. “Two. They’re kids,” Scorsese joked.
He went on to criticise the cinematic landscape at the time, which was driven by Hollywood blockbusters. Spielberg took the title for the first and second-highest-grossing films of the decade, with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, respectively, while Tim Burton’s early take on the superhero genre, Batman, took third place. It’s easy to see why Scorsese was discontented.
“It is a crime what’s happening in the American industry,” he stated. “If the situation is not totally bleak, it’s news to me.”
Expanding on his own place in the industry, he shared, “I just lock into certain projects. Hopefully, I can still get The Last Temptation of Christ made someday, but it won’t be in this country, and it won’t be financed by this country. At all.”
“Forget it. That film has nothing to do with the American industry,” he continued, though he was to be proven wrong just two years later. The film was released in 1988 and produced by American company Universal Pictures. Perhaps the outlook wasn’t quite as bleak as he thought.
The filmmaker also took the time to comment on Spielberg’s ever-increasing blockbuster success. “I mean, I love Spielberg pictures,” he clarified before stating, “You have those wonderful little kids. But I don’t think everyone should have to make them.”
Scorsese himself certainly didn’t have to make them. He went on to direct the iconic Goodfellas at the dawn of the new decade. Three decades later, he is one of few big-budget directors still delivering thoughtful and creative features amidst a sea of increasingly similar blockbusters tailored toward younger audiences and bigger box office takings. If the cinematic outlook is still bleak, Scorsese is our saviour.
