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Tarantino charges against Hollywood's new fad

The director laments the industry's "only" focus on superheroes. Simu Liu, star of 'Shang-Chi', responds to the filmmaker and accuses him of racism.

Tarantino Simu Liu

(Wikimedia Commons / Cordon Press)

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

Quentin Tarantino criticized Hollywood for basing its market on making superhero movies. The filmmaker went on the 2 Beers, 1 Cave podcast to promote his new book, Cinema Speculation, and at minute 1:09:52 he began his criticism of the film industry, which he accused of "marveling":

My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made. And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them. That’s what they’re excited about. And so it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.

Tarantino explained his argument by asserting that it is not the actors who shine, but rather the characters they play and blamed it squarely on the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

Part of the 'marvelization' of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times… but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.

Tarantino thus alluded to the comments that another of the great film directors, Martin Scorsese, made in 2019 to Empire magazine where he also criticized Marvel. That genre, the superhero film, is the only one that, according to what he said at the time, he cannot even watch:

I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well-made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.

Simu Liu comes to Marvel's defense

Simu Liu, the Chinese-Canadian actor starring in one of Marvel's latest hits, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings replied to the filmmakers on his Twitter account. According to the actor, if Tarantino and Scorsese's standards were maintained, he would never be able to lead in a Hollywood blockbuster:

Liu decided to also deepen his stance and praised House of Ideas (that's how Marvel is known) for its "sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes" while, in the same tweet, he slammed Tarantino and Scorsese as racists:

Liu's words did not meet with much acceptance among lovers of the seventh art. Thousands of responses appeared in response to Liu's post pointing out the great diversity that could be seen in both Tarantino's and Scorsese's films:

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