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The presence of Marvel, Star Wars, and just about every superhero and sci-fi franchise has gotten ridiculously oversaturated in recent years. No longer does the audience need to wait for a project every 5 to 7 years – the novelty has long since worn off. Francis Ford Coppola, one of the last few representatives of New Age Hollywood and its radically original movies, knows as much.
![Francis Ford Coppola in Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse [Credit: Triton Pictures]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/30163429/Francis-Ford-Coppola-in-Hearts-of-Darkness-A-Filmmakers-Apocalypse-Credit-Triton-Pictures-1024x576.jpg)
In the hyper-streaming era of superhero projects where the spell between any two superhero projects is measured by criticism and mass outrage, studios like Lucasfilm and Marvel keep their head down while scraping away at the same old time-tested formula of concepts that work on the screen.
There remains no room for invention or a sense of adventure since veering too far from the source can offend the loyalists and staying too close to the source can lead to fatigue – superhero or otherwise.
![Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) [Credit: 20th Century Studios]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/30162959/Star-Wars-A-New-Hope-%E2%80%93-C-3PO-and-R2D2-.jpg)
Time Fails to Heal All Wounds
In the era since the debut ofGeorge Lucas‘s bold and inventiveStar Warsfranchise in 1977, the world has not been the same. Science fiction employed the theory of the suspense of disbelief so effectively that the audience began to flit around like a moth to a flame when the next best thing, i.e., the superheroes, made their first serious grand debut on the screen.
Forget theAdventures of CaptainMarvelof 1941 or theCaptain Americaserial film of 1944, the era succeedingStar Warssince the launch of Richard Donner’sSuperman(1978) ushered in a new era of entertainment business, the likes of which can still be seen today.
50 years on, the craze surrounding the superhero franchise as well asStar Warsis yet to die down. However, as so often happens in life, too much of a good thing never works out in anyone’s favor.Francis Ford Coppolaknows it too and isn’t afraid to lend his two cents on the subject.
Nothing is so terrible as a pretentious movie. I mean, a movie that aspires for something really terrific and doesn’t pull it off is sh*t. It’s scum. And everyone will walk on it as such.
![The Acolyte [Credit: Disney+]](https://i2.wp.com/fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/30163109/The-Acolyte-%E2%80%93-Vernestra-Rwoh-Credit-Disney-1024x683.jpeg)
“I fell into popular movies by accident”: Star Wars Trapped George Lucas into Abandoning the One Thing We Love Francis Ford Coppola’s Movies for
Coppola’s insight, which was recorded in a documentary titledHearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse(1991) about the making ofApocalypse Now, was aimed at capturing how a filmmaker’s greatest horror can be to aspire toward something great and end up with a pretentious movie.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Words Hold Great Meaning
Pretentious or otherwise, Francis Ford Coppola was right to criticize the modern approach to filmmaking as a fool’s errand. No matter which way one turns, it is billboards chock full of familiar faces in spandex or superhero gear. Lightsabers, which were once a rarity, have now become so monotonous that a single Disney+ series with 6 short episodes had to introduce 3 new features, including a Lightdagger, a Lightwhip, and kyber crystal bleeding into its plot.
Marvel, on its part, is in no short supply of pretentiousness infusing every plot and storyline. Be it the cheesy intergalactic space adventure of theMarvelstrio, the cringe-worthy and forced comedy inShe-Hulk, or the simply shocking disrespect to the fans’ intelligence committed bySecret Invasion, Marvel has seemed to take its viewers for granted.
The current modus operandi of the MCU may as well be Kevin Feige screaming “Let them eat cake.” Despite the mass outcries against the shortage of quality content, the MCU keeps on delivering stale, underdeveloped, and nonsensical stories because they are truly convinced the fans would rather consume stale entertainment than starve.
“You can’t do that, that’s not something that will work”: The Acolyte Creator Was Warned For a Gutsy Move That Even George Lucas Never Attempted
Moreover, his current move to bring backRobert Downey Jr.as the biggest villain sinceEndgameonly goes on to signify how off-course and oblivious he is to his own audience’s needs. Instead of solving the pre-existing problem within the franchise, Feige only plasters a layer of fresh paint on top to hide the rot underneath. Peel it off and all that remains is, in Coppola’s words, shit.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2410
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
