Cinema is being devalued by content: Martin Scorsese on algorithm-based suggestions in streaming

In a new essay, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese has argued that the art of cinema is “systematically devalued” as movie studios and streaming companies compete to produce “content.”

In his tribute to the great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, published in the March issue of Harper’s Magazine and titled Il Maestro, Scorsese acknowledged that streamers had helped his career since without Netflix there would be no The Irishman and without Apple there would be no Killers of the Flower of the Moon.

However, the filmmaker said that the art of cinema is being “systematically devalued, marginalized, degraded and reduced to its lowest common denominator: ‘content’”.

“As recently as 15 years ago, the term ‘content’ was heard only when people were talking about film on a serious level, and it was contrasted with and measured by ‘form’,” Scorsese wrote.

Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Ray Romano in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman Who Found Home on Netflix in 2019 (Photo: Netflix).

“Then gradually it was used more and more by the people who took over the media companies, most of whom knew nothing about the history of the art form, or even cared enough to think that they should, ”he added.

The filmmaker further said that the word “content” became a commercial term for all moving images.

“It was tied, of course, not to the theatrical experience but to home viewing, on streaming platforms that have come to surpass the movie theater experience, just as Amazon surpassed physical stores,” he said.

Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon features his favorite leads: Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie is an Apple original. (Photo: Martin Scorsese / Instagram)

The director, who is among one of America’s most influential filmmakers with classics like Good Fellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Aviator and The Departed and many others under his belt, said that packaging everything as content sounds democratic but not it is. t “.

“If the algorithms ‘suggest’ more visualization based on what you’ve already seen, and the suggestions are based only on the theme or genre, what does that do to the art of cinema?

“Curatorship is neither undemocratic nor ‘elitist’, a term now used so frequently that it no longer makes sense. It is an act of generosity: you are sharing what you love and what has inspired you … Algorithms, by definition, are based on calculations that treat the viewer as a consumer and nothing more ”.

Scorsese said that moviegoers can’t depend on the movie business to take over movies.

“In the movie business, which is now the mass visual entertainment business, the emphasis is always on the word ‘business’, and value is always determined by the amount of money to be made from a given property; in that sense, everything from Sunrise to La Strada to 2001 is now pretty dry and ready for the ‘Art Film’ swim lane on a broadcast platform, “he said.

“Those of us who know cinema and its history have to share our love and our knowledge with as many people as possible. And we have to make it very clear to the current legal owners of these films that they represent much, much more than mere property to be exploited and then locked up. They are among the greatest treasures of our culture and must be treated accordingly, ”he added.

The director, who will reunite with his favorite actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Rober DeNiro for his upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon, said that Fellini’s films are “cinema.”

“I guess we also have to hone our notions about what is and what is not cinema. Federico Fellini is a good starting point. Many things can be said about Fellini’s films, but there is one thing that is indisputable: they are cinema. Fellini’s work contributes greatly to defining the art form, ”said Scorsese.