I Am Fandom: Why Martin Scorsese Is The Baddest Visionary Alive

November 1, 2011 - 1:36pm

I Am Fandom: Why Martin Scorsese Is The Baddest Visionary Alive

By: Ology Staff

Ology rounds out October as Fandom Month with four features written by some of the most powerful voices on the internet. Here, Chiderah A. Monde, movie lover, critic, and owner of ThatGirlOnTV.com, shares her thoughts on why Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest directors in the film industry and beyond.

Which is the best Michael Jackson video?

Everyone has their own preference. Some go for the epic dance scenes in videos like “Thriller” and “Smooth Criminal.” Others prefer the intimacy and seduction of “Billy Jean” or “Remember the Time.”

Me? I like “Bad.” Before I even knew why, I was drawn to that video. I really dug the faded, jaded blue tones chosen for aesthetics, and the urban vibe created by the gritty NYC streets and abandoned parking lot. I even loved the nasty-ass subway he was on. Why? Because it all felt so real. There was something about “Bad” the very first time I saw it that reminded me of a Scorsese film.

And then I found out that “Bad” was directed by Martin Scorsese.

So this isn’t really about Michael Jackson, that was my just clever segue into admitting my obsessh with Martin Scorsese (and his eyebrows). Yes, I’m madly in love with the man behind every good De Niro film you’ve ever seen.

Let’s put them in perspective: Each of Scorsese's films has something in common with the “Bad” video. It’s his signature style: Machismo. Violence. Guilt. Redemption. Invincibility. Being Bad. This is a filmmaker that can emulate real life and hyperbolize a situation in the same scene. Give him a character who's struggling with his identity, and he'll give you a lover, a fighter, a psycopath, and a broken human being all in the same movie. Though I don’t have a favorite Scorsese film like I have a favorite MJ video, I’ll give you the top three:

Raging Bull. It ain’t even a question, this is the best sports film ever made. And I don’t even like boxing. It goes without saying I’m a huge De Niro fan (the two go hand in hand, of course), but the cinematic stuff Martin was able to introduce back in the 1980s on this film is the same stuff Oscar winners are made of today. Camera angles, black and white aesthetics, slow motion, raw emotion. Sure, De Niro is a master actor and contributes everything to the film in that way, but Scorsese supported the very core of his main character Jake La Motta with intense detail in every frame of the film.

Goodfellas. I’m a girl that likes action, violence and crime movies above all else. But not just any type of violence, the film has to have a good story. With “Goodfellas” you’ve got the winning team of De Niro, Liotta and Pesci to carry the story, and they couldn’t have been better. The good thing about Mafia movies is that they’re often based on true stories, so the mobs or gangsters already come with all the elements. Thank God for the Lucchese family, because this particular mafia movie is the father of them all.

The Departed. This movie has my heart, I can’t even explain how amazing it is... but I’ll try. Scorsese marries violence with its lover, crime, in a way that no other movie can touch. There’s a ton of "that sh*t cray" moments throughout the film that keep it unpredictable from beginning to end. The pace of the dialogue matches the pace of the film perfectly. You probably didn’t even notice that, but that’s because Scorsese is a stealthy ninja when he drops that kind of knowledge.

You can even get relationship advice from his movies! Scorsese understands men in a way that makes it easy for women to understand them too. If we’re reaching for analogies, men are just as complex as Teddy Daniels in “Shutter Island,” and just as fucked up as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, but look on the bright side- they can also just as ambitious, dangerous, and romantic as Henry Hill in Goodfellas.

Producer, director, actor, EP, writer, editor...when it comes to film, no one can touch Scorsese. And if his movies aren't enough good shit for you, just watch Boardwalk Empire on HBO. My caterpillar eyebrow-ed main man is behind that too.