Can MCU be called a Cinematic ‘Marvel’?
It was the Movie Night in our university, everyone faced with the same big question, ‘Which movie should we watch?’. After accepting and rejecting certain well thought ideas, our Club Director Nathan chose to screen ‘The Godfather’. Half of the crowd, like me, was happy, for Nathan had chosen a cinematic marvel, but the other half was sad, for their ideas of a Dwayne Johnson or Vin Diesel movie were out rightly rejected.
The clock ticks 9 pm and the movie starts. The opening scene plays on screen, with Don Corleone catering to his friends and colleagues on his daughter’s wedding day. 20 minutes into the movie and few of the faces in the room start looking at their phones, browsing through random Instagram posts. The only thing which came to my mind at that very moment was, ‘How can you find an Instagram picture more interesting than one of the greatest cinematic marvels till date?’. This thought process took me to one of the recent interviews of Martin Scorsese, wherein he compared the MCU to a theme park.
Rightly so, I seem to stand by his statements and most of the connoisseurs of cinema would. Cinema is meant to be an art, to be relished at each and every juncture of the 150 minute odd run-time. Not disregarding the extreme amount of hard-work put in by the makers of the MCU, movies are not only those which invoke excitement every alternate minute. Rather, movies should be those which should force you to think. I am not a staunch critic of Superhero movies, for I love them myself. I loved ‘Avengers: The Endgame’. I am a huge fan of ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’; not because these are movies, but rather things which take me amused, just like playing a video game. On the contrary, superhero movies like ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Logan’ and ‘Joker’ force me to think about it, once I am out of the hall.
Coming back to ‘The Godfather’, around 90 minutes into the movie, half of the room is empty, and the other half is busy on their phones. Reason: ‘Lack of excitement’ as cited by many. One of my friends said, ‘I didn’t like the movie because it was realistic. Movies are meant to be in a dreamland.’ Yet again, people do not like ‘The Godfather’ because it is realistic. People like it because it gives you an experience of a lifetime. Cinematic liberty varies for every movie, and it in no way is it related to the quality of the movie. For instance, Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Clockwork Orange’ works completely on cinematic liberty. But, it is equally successful in providing the viewer with a once in a lifetime experience, in spite of being far from reality.
While we reached the baptism scene at the end, only a handful of people were left in the room. But all of them were hooked to what Michael Corleone was doing. Lastly, at the end of the movie, all those still present in the room were impressed by the sheer brilliance of Francis Ford Coppola, whereas those who left were still thinking about the latest Kylie Jenner Instagram Post.
Concluding the debate about whether MCU does justice to cinema, I would say yes. It does helps in revolutionizing the way people watch movies, but in no way lifts the quality of the movie industry as a whole. Also, it is not always right that you go to the theaters expecting a cinematic marvel. One should also equally enjoy Fast and Furious, or even Mission Impossible, but only with the mere intention of entertainment. In the end, what defines cinema is not always a superhero saving the world from a monster, who wishes to wipe out the universe with a single snap, but, a simple man like Forest Gump, who wants to change the way people look at each other!
Adios.