Gimme Shelter - Looking into the career of Martin Scorsese

The Unique Direction of Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese was born in Queens, New York to Charles and Catherine Scorsese. He had asthma and couldn't play with other children, so his parents would take him to movie theaters. A passion for cinema soon blossomed and the rest is history.

Martin Scorsese is one of the most famous filmmakers in the field of cinema. Many of his films are critically acclaimed and well known in pop culture. Some of his films include: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed, Gangs of New York, The Wolf of Wall Street, and many others. He developed an admiration for neorealist cinema and historical epics as a child and films such as Bicycle Thieves, Paisan, and Rome, Open City inspired him and influenced his view of his Sicilian roots. He initially desired to become a priest, but that gave way to cinema and as a result, Scorsese enrolled in NYU's University College of Arts and Science

One of Scorsese's first films was the black and white film Who's That Knocking at My Door with one of his long-time collaborators, Harvey Keitel.

One of my favorite films, Taxi Driver, is one of the most acclaimed films of all-time. This film is Scorsese's dark, urban nightmare of one lonely man's slow descent into insanity.

Some of his trademarks include: frequent use of slow motion, portrayal of blonde leading ladies as angelic and ethereal, long tracking shots, references to westerns, corrupt authority figures, role of Catholicism in creating and dealing with guilt, and use of the song "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones in several of his songs.

Scorsese plays with the temporality of film. He is forever manipulating his dream of what the film should be. His cuts are so well placed that the audience doesn't even notice them. The audience isn't annoyed at the disjunction when his cuts call attention to themselves, and the film is enhanced as a result.

In the article Rewarding creativity: when does it really matter?, Baer says that many managers continue to emphasize the use of extrinsic rewards to stimulate their employees' creativity, but there is little agreement among scholars concerning the likely direction of the effects of such rewards on creativity. Some scholars argue that offering extrinsic rewards for creativity will enhance individuals' subsequent creative performance, while others argue that the use of contingent, extrinsic rewards will actually diminish creativity by undermining individuals' intrinsic motivation. I would say that Scorsese isn't motivated by external awards, such as receiving an Oscar for example. Rather, he wants to make movies that explore themes that he feels should be explored.

I'd highly recommend watching movies from Scorsese's filmography. Below are the posters for some of Scorsese's films.