YOU SHALL NOT PASS: Why Gatekeeping is Ruining Movies

I love movies. I love watching them, reviewing them, and discussing them. I love the insight they can bring into people’s lives and experiences; I love the bond they can create between other film lovers, and how events like the Oscars can rally a whole community into celebrating this art form that means so much to us. With all that in mind, I also believe that movies, at least how they have been defined in the past century, are dying. To be clear, this doesn’t mean I think that good movies aren’t being made anymore. Every year I have no problem filling out my top 10 list with films I deeply enjoy. However, in the last two decades especially, the list of movies that are good and the movies that are popular are very different. In 2019, Indiewire polled 304 film critics from around the world to share their favorite films of the year. The five films that received the most votes were, in order: Parasite, The Irishman, Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Compare this with the top five films at the 2019 worldwide box office: Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Frozen II, Spiderman: Far From Home, and Captain Marvel. If you’re wondering, the top grossing film from the Indiewire list, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, came in at number #24, beneath such critically-acclaimed hits as Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

I could write a dissertation on the issues that have contributed to this change: the introduction of streaming services, big company buyouts, the takeover of movie theaters by franchise films (these can all be attributed to capitalism by the way). However, there are countless others who have already talked about those things in a much more effective way than I could. Instead, I want to discuss an issue that many people overlook. One that, in my opinion, is driving people away from movies and film more than anything else: gatekeeping.

Over the past decade, gatekeeping has become an increasing issue in all types of entertainment and media. This is especially true of the film community, which has become more and more hostile to outsiders as the art of film becomes less and less a part of mainstream culture. Film fans will gatekeep pretty much anything: directors, genres, specific movies, even distribution companies (*cough* A24 *cough*). This barrier of entry we've created has made it incredibly intimidating to get into film — painting "loving film" as something you need to work at, rather than something intended for everyone. If you don’t have the credentials to prove you understand cinema, your opinions are immediately considered wrong. Different interpretations of film are not accepted unless you have a bullet-point list to back up your claim.

I’ve seen this issue firsthand. On TikTok, teenagers who start film-centered accounts have been bullied for saying their favorite movies are Pulp Fiction and American Beauty, just because they are “basic” and “cliche”. People on Film Twitter who DARE to praise a Marvel movie that has been deemed “bad” are forced to block dozens of trolls mocking them for being too mainstream and contributing to the death of film. This is, of course, not how everyone in the film community behaves, but it is an issue that I believe is big enough to hurt any chance we have of getting movies back on the center stage of culture.

Unfortunately, this type of gatekeeping does nothing but drive people further away from the art form. Instead, they retreat to the safety of straight-to-streaming releases, Marvel content, and rewatching old favorites, all things that feel much less intimidating. Viewers would rather rewatch all the Star Wars films or binge the latest Netflix series, as opposed to turning on The Power of the Dog or going out to catch a screening of C’mon C’mon. These movies come with the baggage of what we have turned “film” into: an exclusive club with rules, regulations, and requirements.

Rotten Tomatoes

A few months ago, Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune was released into theaters and on HBOMax. While Dune is technically a form of IP, it was relatively niche enough to feel like a new thing to a lot of people. Furthermore, it was a film helmed by an auteur director with a real vision. It was, by the film communities’ definition, a “real” film. However, something surprising happened with Dune. It was a hit.

And by a hit, I don’t just mean commercially either, though it did earn $390 million worldwide in the middle of a pandemic. No, by a hit I mean people LOVED it. Film fans and non-film fans alike loved this film.

While there could be other explanations for its success, I believe part of it was because it truly felt like a movie for everyone. No strings were attached to loving this movie. You didn’t have to have a degree in film criticism, you didn’t need to be a long time Villeneuve stan, and you didn’t even need to read the book! There were no requirements.

While I don’t see Dune’s success as a sign of film gatekeeping slowing down, I do see it as proof that people are still hungry for movies. They still want to be wowed, entertained, and, most importantly, engaged by a film. For this to happen though, we as film lovers need to let go of the unnecessary feeling of protectiveness we have over the art of film. We need to remember that film is inherently egalitarian, giving everyone a chance to be seen, heard, and understood. If we don’t do this, I fear movies as we know them will eventually become nothing more than a relic of a bygone era, when the most exciting thing in the world was sitting in a dark room and hearing the faint hum of a projector.