Martin Scorsese Says It's Up to Young Filmmakers to Reinvent Cinema as Content Has Become "Something You Eat and Throw Away"

Martin Scorsese has had quite an incredible career as a filmmaker, but over the years, so much has changed in the way films are made and how we consume them. Hollywood is in an interesting phase right now as it’s in a “period of reinventing.” During a recent panel at Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival, Scorsese talks about urging young filmmakers to reinvent cinema in this age of streaming and says, “I didn’t want to be the last line of defense.” He shared:

“I honestly think it’s thrown back now with all of you. And I really mean this: I don’t know where cinema is going to go. Why does it have to be the same as it was for the past 90-100 years? It doesn’t. Do we prefer films from the last 90-100 years? I do, but I’m old. Younger people are going to see the world around them in a different way, you’re going to see it fragmented … What does one shot mean now? I don’t know anymore. I don’t think it means anything … You all are in the process of a period of reinventing it. It’s quite an extraordinary time, and a lot of it has to do with the technology.”

The filmmaker went on to talk about the new technology and how it brings more freedom, but he also said it should cause young filmmakers to “rethink what you want to say and how you want to say it. Ideally, I hope — I hesitate to use the word — ‘serious’ film could still be made with this new technology and this new world we’re apart of.”

The director goes on to talk about being a kid and his love of going to the movies, and how he also hopes that more “serious” films do make a comeback at the cinema and the franchise movies have taken over:

“I’m afraid the franchise films will be taking over the theaters. I always ask the theater owners to create a space where younger people would say they want to see this new film, which is not a franchise film, in a theater and share that with everybody around them. So that they want to go to the theater, that it’s something inviting that doesn’t get them to say they could see it at home. Because the experience of seeing a film with a lot of people is really still the key, I think. But I’m not sure that can be easily achieved at this point.”

Edgar Wright was moderating the panel and when he asked Scorsese about the rise of filmmakers being seen as “content providers,” Scorsese said that “content is something you eat and you throw away. But, if you want to have an experience which can enrich your life, it’s different.”

I actually agree with everything that Scorsese is saying here. The whole industry is changing, and it’s crazy to think how things are going to change and evolve over the next ten years.

Source: Variety