Old Hollywood Versus New? Why There’s Room for All of Us…

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Recently I crawled out from under the rock inside the proverbial cave I’ve apparently been sequestering myself in during my futile attempt to drown out so much of the background noise and sabre rattling that seems to all but permeate the 24 hour news cycle only to discover that much of the finger pointing, the Us Versus Them mentality, the uber political correctness and the very loud worlds of Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr (Digression and perhaps notes for a new article: Whatever happened to The Office’s Ryan Howard’s brilliant and subversive idea of the WUPHF?) where the vocal few are suddenly elevated to ridiculous heights has actually permeated my beloved worlds of film, television, music and comics. To say that I was majorly bummed might be an understatement.

 I grew up on a steady diet of comic books that I balanced out with some truly remarkable films from the likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. We all know the films I’m referring to when I mention these two giant pillars of the film world: The Godfather. The Conversation. Peggy Sue Got Married. Raging Bull. Goodfellas. Shutter Island. After Hours. And so many damned more that I feel remiss not to list. These films make up the very fabric of who I count myself to be as a person and I love them dearly.

 Parallel to these films made by two maestros of cinema, I also loved and evolved to such comics as James Robinson’s Starman. Roy Thomas’ All-Star Squadron. Marv Wolfman’s Crisis On Infinite Earths. Ed Brubaker’s Captain America. Peter David’s Incredible Hulk. Like their filmatic cousins, these comics inspired me to dream big and cherish the ultimately life-affirming messages they conveyed.

 So it is now startling to see a once whole now being divided into contentious factions as two of my big loves in life, comics and movies, duke it out as to which one is the most relevant and meaningful to our pop culture world. It’s like a twisted version of Kramer vs Kramer where I’m little Billy Kramer being forced to choose sides between two parents that I admire and love dearly, even as each one is torn down in front of my bleary eyes to the edification of groups of people driven by a faux outrage that, if it didn’t involve two of my great passions in life, would almost read like a wonderful parody.

 How did we get here? Many might point to the expressed opinion of auteur Scorsese who expressed his criticism of the super hero movie genre that has taken over multiplexes the world over. In Mr. Scorsese’s opinion, this genre of film is “not cinema.” Fair enough, but the immediate and visceral reaction to an outraged world that spends more and more time on Social Media and less time smelling the roses without a cell phone in their hands was jarring, to say the least.

 Francis Ford Coppola, also of that same generation of film mavericks as colleague Scorsese, seemingly didn’t help matters when coming to the defense of his old friend, one upping things by arguing that the superhero genre is “despicable.”

These are tough words from two men who have never been known to pull their punches and, as much as I respect and admire these gentlemen, I would counter that Donner’s Superman The Movie or Nolan’s first two Batman movies were superhero cinema done right. Moreso, films based off of comics such as Road to Perdition and Ghost World are nothing short of breathtaking and elevate the maligned comic book genre to heights that are admirable and brilliant. But that’s my opinion, much as their thoughts and criticisms are their very own opinions.

 Another particular favorite filmmaker of mine, Jon Favreau, recently suggested something I had been thinking all along during the uproar over Coppola’s and Scorsese’s dissention from the populist ranks; these veteran filmmakers who handed to entire generations the blueprint for humanity exaggerated to mountain worthy heights of a monster viewing screen in our local movie theaters are entitled to discuss their particular hang-ups about super hero movies. And I can’t help but feel that their complaints might be tempered somewhat if only there was more of an equal distribution of different types of films that played alongside those of Captain Marvel or Aquaman or Wonder Woman. There is a danger in eating the same plate of food over and over again without even attempting to try that oddball vegetarian dish off in the corner. Simply put, a too steady diet of anything, be it food, music, comics or movies, is not a recipe for obtaining a clear eyed view of the world around us. Yes, movies are escapism first and foremost, but to say that that is all cinema has to offer is not grasping the big picture (oh puns, I love ye!) and sticks us with the mall multiplex playing nothing but superhero and computer animated fare.

 I’m going to continue to appreciate and enjoy the latest offerings from Marty and Francis even as I crack open an old copy of All-Star Comics and dig on Hourman’s hour of power or Johnny Thunder’s magical pink (!!) Thunderbolt. And I’ll discuss calmly and rationally with anyone who cares to lower the Indignant Outrage volume button just why it’s alright for me to love both sides of the same coin and why I don’t feel the need to call on the angry 1940s Universal villager’s with pitchforks and torches in hand to burn two masters of film in effigy for doing something as simple and not harmful as offering something that in this day and age seems more and more dangerous to hold onto: Their simple and unvarnished opinions not directly aimed at anyone but perhaps also serving as something of an indictment for the homogenous world we currently find ourselves in.