Quentin Tarantino has joined the ranks of directors criticising the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but with different reasoning.
The never-ending debate of whether Marvel films are ‘cinema’ rumbles on with Quentin Tarantino now adding his thoughts on the matter.
The filmmaker, who is never short of an opinion or two, has this to say on the 2 Bears 1 Cave podcast: “I don’t love them … I don’t hate them. But I don’t love them. I mean, look, I used to collect Marvel comics like crazy when I was a kid. There’s an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my 20s, I would totally be ‘clucking’ happy and totally love them. [But] they wouldn’t be the only movies being made, they would be those movies amongst other movies. I’m almost 60 so I’m not quite as excited about them”.
Cinema has always been a very broad church for a filmmaker like Tarantino so it’s important to note that he doesn’t go as far as other auteurs like Martin Scorsese in questioning their status as ‘cinema’. Instead, Tarantino (rather sensibly if you ask us,) simply points out that the problem isn’t the films themselves, but rather how many of them there are.
“My only axe to grind is they’re the only things that seem to be made,” Tarantino said. “And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them … So it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else”.
Of course, it didn’t take long for the replies to bounce in, with Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu using Tarantino’s argument to retort, using representation to argue the case from a different angle: “If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese,” he said, “I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie. I am in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs. But they don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone. No movie studio is or ever will be perfect. But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I loved the ‘”‘Golden Age’”‘ too.. but it was white as hell.”
So there you go, more blows have been exchanged in the seemingly never-ending debate about the MCU. Who knows how long this one will continue to rage for, but don’t count on Tarantino’s last film being a superhero movie.
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