Bridges within the Arts: Bob Dylan and Martin Scorsese

Abstract

"Arguing that film became the third most important component of Dylan’s work, after writing and music, we claim that his collaboration with Scorsese was best suited to facilitate his dependence on an audience.... The compatibility between Dylan and Scorsese, we argue, rests in their shared fascination with storytelling, and in their conviction that the bridge between fact and fiction is removable and sometimes redundant.... Our analysis of the cooperation between these two New York-focused artists includes three main aspects. The making of music and film mostly depends on collaboration; yet, despite successful work with their various teams and with each other, both Scorsese and Dylan remain the kind of auteurs who are adamant about their own ideas on their respective creativity. Their preference of fictionalized facts leads to considerations of their “romantic” as opposed to “realist” inclination. A connected reliance on emotions and the subconscious as opposed to the rational needs to be discussed, finally, in the context of spirituality."