The Godfather was the highest grossing film of 1972. People like Coppola or Martin Scorsese have always been (respectfully) nothing but popular directors making simple movies for mass audiences but the cultural rot we suffer from now presents them as "high art" and "inaccessible"
The Godfather was the highest grossing film of 1972. People like Coppola or Martin Scorsese have always been (respectfully) nothing but popular directors making simple movies for mass audiences but the cultural rot we suffer from now presents them as "high art" and "inaccessible"
There are endless other examples, Welles and Hitchcock also come to mind. It's crazy to think at one time these were just ordinary films for ordinary people and not some esoteric knowledge reserved only for pretentious film school students. Insufferable hellscape we live in
@vorticistgirl No offense, but The Godfather and Scorsese's movies were never simple movies. They were accessible of course compared to stuff like Godard but they are every bit as intelligent. The truth is that sometimes audiences like something complex and smart.
@vorticistgirl In fairness, The Poseidon Adventure was the 2nd most popular movie. Let's not pretend like there was once a time when only movies like The Godfather were the most popular. Movies and their popularity are the same today as they were back then.
@vorticistgirl relatedly, is wild to think John Ford’s Grapes of Wrath (1940) was both essentially socialist agitprop (superlative) AND incredibly successful
@vorticistgirl Look, I readily admit that I’m no film buff. I will watch any Coen bros product with glee. I think what Shane Carruth pulled off with Primer and Upstream Color is amazing. That’s about as high-brow as I get. The fact that that’s considered pretentious snob territory is *wild.*
@vorticistgirl The Godfather was also the highest grossing movie of all time up to that point
@vorticistgirl People acting like The Godfather is fucking Koyaanisqatsi or Man with a Movie Camera and not an incredibly straightforward gangster movie will never cease to confuse me
@vorticistgirl Super telling that 3-hour-long internal monologues like Casino are unrecognizably esoteric for this lot
@vorticistgirl I think a lot of people are insecure about honestly admiting they like or dislike something, so they act as if they are making objective criteria-based judgments. High vs. low, etc. They never say, "I was bored." They accuse of a film of being "boring."
@vorticistgirl Film is the seminal mid-brow art form. Not saying that to discount it. There's a democratic quality to cinema - that's always been its magic. But you hear people talk about these Dune films like they are Shakespeare....