During his acceptance speech at the Turner Classic Movies film festival, the director blasted the aggregate website editors for instantly 'judging and dismissing' TV shows and movies.
- May 2, 2018
AceShowbiz - Martin Scorsese has attacked websites like Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore because users don't give audiences time to judge films and TV shows for themselves. 'The Wolf of Wall Street" director was feted with the inaugural Robert Osborne Award at the Turner Classic Movies film festival last week (April 27) and during his acceptance speech he criticized the aggregate website editors for instantly "judging and dismissing" TV shows and movies.
"The horrible idea they reinforce [is] that every picture, every image is there to be instantly judged and dismissed without giving audiences time to see it... maybe ruminate and maybe make a decision for themselves," he said. "So the great 20th-century art form, the American art form, is reduced to content."
Scorsese also explained that although he is happy audiences have more access to content, he feels the instant availability has led to "the devaluation of cinema itself".
"It can all be summed up in the word that's being used now: 'content,' " he continued. "All movie images are lumped together. You've got a picture, you've got a TV episode, a new trailer, you've got a how-to video on a coffee-maker, you've got a Super Bowl commercial, you've got Lawrence of Arabia, it's all the same."
"[Audiences] can also turn a picture off and go straight to the next piece of content," he added. "If there's no sense of value tied to a given movie, of course, it can be sampled in bits and pieces and just forgotten."
However, he laid it on the audience to support the value of cinema by going to see the movies in cinemas.
"You know the difference between a YouTube video and the great American art form," he added. "You react against the devaluation of cinema and movies by showing up."
