EPISODE 439: THE CURSE OF MARTIN SCORSESE
Jokers, High School Horror Shows and Bill Hader Dancing
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Hi! Welcome back. It’s October. Things are happening, like always, but also kind of more. Someone told me today everyone is having trouble writing because everything is distracting them and I don’t know that that’s an excuse that my editors will accept but I am definitely going to try it.
In the meantime, We Wow.
POP CULTURE THING I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT: ARE DC SUPER HERO MOVIES ACTUALLY BETTER THAN MARVEL’S?
The standard take today is that Marvel has a great cinematic universe and DC has a hot mess of nightmare stew with occasional momentary dollops of Aquaman saying My Man.
And having put myself through all three of the Zack Snyder DC films I feel pretty strongly that this is an accurate description of the reality we are living in. I agree, release the Snyder Cut, please. Release it into the sun.
But then this week two things happened and now I am wondering if I’ve missed the forest for the sickly, irradiated Snyder-fed trees.
First, this week for some reason Martin Scorsese had Things To Say about super hero films.
Martin Scorsese, one of cinema’s most venerated current directors, has decried superhero movies – the dominant force in today’s industry. The director of films such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas told Empire magazine that his attempts to get up to speed with contemporary superhero films had failed.
“I tried, you know?” the director said when asked if he had seen Marvel’s movies. “But that’s not cinema.”
He continued: “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
Twitter had feelings.
Honestly, the fact that a 77-year-old film auteur might not be feeling it for super hero films does not feel like movie news. Or at least not as anywhere near as big as the fact that Pedro Almodovar has apparently over the years turned into George Lucas.
WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN AND WILL HE GET A TRILOGY, THE WORLD NEEDS PENELOPE CRUZ, JEDI, STAT.
But then second, this same week Warner Brothers has released its new film Joker, an origin story about Batman’s arch-nemesis which is heavily inspired by Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Seriously, if Scorsese had ever made a comic book adjacent film, it would be Joker.
To be clear, this is not a film with costumes or comic book catch phrases. In fact I think you could hate comic books and love this movie. It’s a film about a person struggling to live and hope in a world that could not care less about them, and it has a lot to say about life today. I think it’s one of the best movies of the year, for sure.
And here’s the thing: as much as I am always all-in for Marvel movies I can’t name a single one that stacks up to Joker’s artistic ambition. Black Panther is great and groundbreaking; Winter Soldier is a strong cold war spy film. X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy are all fine super hero films. But with the exception of maybe Panther, none of them approach the emotional and artistic complexity of Joker.
I don’t want to be a snob. I don’t think spandex disqualifies you from depth. But it is striking to me that pretty much all of the super hero films that have found a way to transcend the tights and Pow!s are films about DC characters: The Nolan Batman trilogy, Wonder Woman and Joker.
(I’m tempted to include the original Superman, too, because it’s such a great film. But I think Superman is more the archetype for the films that Marvel would go on to build its entire universe around.)
Where is the Marvel version of a Christopher Nolan film? Where is that deeply personal artistic vision? Black Panther and then…?
I can think of only one, really. Logan, the 2017 FOX film about Wolverine’s final days. The fact that it’s set in a distant future seems to free it up from the traps of continuity. And what we get is a real meditation on loss, hope and the possibility of redemption.
(Also there is lots of Professor X swearing. And I am always down for that.)
Maybe the Marvel universe is so closely planned and interwoven it’s impossible to do something really unique? Or is there something about the DC characters that makes them more relevant for a more poetic interpretation?
I don’t know. But go see Joker and I think you’ll see what I mean. And maybe also see that Marty has a point?
This week in funny/brilliant versions of the Succession credits: Arrested Development.
We’re one week from the end of Succession S2. I have to say, when all is said and done I want to read think pieces about the way women are depicted on the show. Logan Roy is an equal opportunity monster, but I’m shocked by how often bright women–Shiv, Rhea–suddenly become clumsy and naïve when given a chance at leadership. A strange and problematic take.
THREE TWEETS
A Great Idea:
A Great Student:
A Great Way to Escape Reality:
Loving the Wow/Walking the Wow/Bemused with Wow? As always, you can reach me at jptmcd@gmail.com or on Twitter @popculturpriest with comments or questions.
And hey, if you like what you see, nag your neighbors, Facebook your friends!
CLICK
So it’s October, aka Spooky Scary Party Time. I’m hoping to do a bunch of things this month around fear and horror. This week: High School.
My High School Experience, as Captured by Stephen King’s It
What the book understood is that childhood can be a nightmare even if you’re not being stalked by an immortal fear monster. It’s a time of total vulnerability and helplessness, when you have no control over your life and when your wellbeing is entirely in the hands of adults you can only hope will protect you.
My High School Experience, Retold as Podcast Ads
Each week, Insisting On Being Yourself will provide you with a fresh set of ingredients to differentiate yourself from the rest of the crowd, and further alienate yourself from your peers. For example, this month you could find yourself wearing a beret that you think makes you look like a beatnik but will inspire a barrage of bad French accents directed at you! Or you could develop a deep and sudden obsession with Monty Python sketches (Not the movies. Everybody knows the movies.).
The Making of The Breakfast Club Theme “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
There was a specific scene where Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall, in the middle of movie, they’re confronting each other, and I think it’s Anthony Michael Hall who says to Judd Nelson something along the lines of, “Are you gonna remember me after this?”…And it took me back to my school days when I was kind of on the bad side of the rails, and I remember standing at a bus stop with one of the kids from the other side of the rails and we started to talk. I offered him a cigarette and we became kind of… that never would have happened if we’d been both on our regular teams. And I just thought about, “Well, are you gonna forget about me?” And I thought that it was this great theme for the song.
CURRENT STATUS: Back and forth between sophomore and junior year.
LISTEN
I first came across Peter Gabriel’s orchestral take on David Bowie’s Heroes when they used it in Stranger Things. And his take really sneaks up on you. But it has a moment that hits me square in the heart every time.
COMING SOON
One of my favorite things to do as a journalist (or human) is to interview people about the things that they’re really interested in. And usually when I’m doing that for an article, I end up using only a tiny portion of the conversation. Which is the job, but also sometimes kind of awful. The person you’re talking to has given you a lot of their time, they have interesting things to say, and you end up using just a couple pull quotes.
So I’ve had this idea that I would take some of those interviews as they happen and present larger portions of them here. I’ve got a couple that I’m working on right now, in fact, each of them horror-related (in very different ways). I’m hoping to send them out this month. They’ll come separately, probably midweek. If you like reading interviews, hopefully they’ll be your jam.
It’s started to get cooler here at night. It seems early, but it’s still welcome. In a city where the weather changes so little, the small things start to mean more — the few trees whose leaves change, the speed of the sunset, the curl of a nighttime breeze around your shoulders. The world is filled with tiny wonders.
Have a good week.