Spider-Man and True Love
I just saw the trailer for the new Spider-Man 3. And right up front I'm going to say... it looks good.
It's been an interesting trend lately. Not only have superheroes really found a home on the big screen, but it's been more interesting to see how they are portrayed so darkly. We've come a long way from the Superman of the 50's or the Batman of the 70's. We had a dark Batman in the late 80's and an even darker one last year. Superman is being portrayed with some darker undertones. Soon we will have a Spider-Man who is apparently going to have to fight his inner demons.
Not that I think it's a bad thing, altogether. After all, the superhero genre has always meant to be a way to measure ourselves against a higher standard. Superman for example fought for "Truth, Justice and the American Way"; an icon for our country in WWII. But now the enemy is seen to be within. And while I would probably differ greatly with what anyone in Hollywood would say those demons are, there is truth in that.
We all have our weaknesses, and sometimes they're nothing more than personal shortcomings. But sometimes our weaknesses have a direct impact on the people we love. And these really shouldn't be ignored. We live in a country that seems more and more to celebrate selfishness and to disdain the notion of sacrifice. I'm going to go out on a limb, though and say that the only way Peter Parker will overcome his inner demons and get the girl is to embrace sacrifice on some level. I really don't know anything about the movie other than what I saw in the trailer, so I could be completely wrong.
But we know deep down, that sacrifice is at the heart of true love, and when it's portrayed correctly, audiences eat it up. The first movie that comes to mind is "The Notebook". Other movies try to show love as being a totally selfish endeavor and they wind up falling flat on their faces. The first to come to mind is "Must Love Dogs".
So, even though it's not really on the surface in our culture these days, deep down we know that to truly love we must sacrifice. And to love deeper means to sacrifice deeper. This is when love becomes charity. Hopefully Spidey will not disappoint in making my case. But given the recent output from the Left Coast, I won't hold my breath.
It's been an interesting trend lately. Not only have superheroes really found a home on the big screen, but it's been more interesting to see how they are portrayed so darkly. We've come a long way from the Superman of the 50's or the Batman of the 70's. We had a dark Batman in the late 80's and an even darker one last year. Superman is being portrayed with some darker undertones. Soon we will have a Spider-Man who is apparently going to have to fight his inner demons.
Not that I think it's a bad thing, altogether. After all, the superhero genre has always meant to be a way to measure ourselves against a higher standard. Superman for example fought for "Truth, Justice and the American Way"; an icon for our country in WWII. But now the enemy is seen to be within. And while I would probably differ greatly with what anyone in Hollywood would say those demons are, there is truth in that.
We all have our weaknesses, and sometimes they're nothing more than personal shortcomings. But sometimes our weaknesses have a direct impact on the people we love. And these really shouldn't be ignored. We live in a country that seems more and more to celebrate selfishness and to disdain the notion of sacrifice. I'm going to go out on a limb, though and say that the only way Peter Parker will overcome his inner demons and get the girl is to embrace sacrifice on some level. I really don't know anything about the movie other than what I saw in the trailer, so I could be completely wrong.
But we know deep down, that sacrifice is at the heart of true love, and when it's portrayed correctly, audiences eat it up. The first movie that comes to mind is "The Notebook". Other movies try to show love as being a totally selfish endeavor and they wind up falling flat on their faces. The first to come to mind is "Must Love Dogs".
So, even though it's not really on the surface in our culture these days, deep down we know that to truly love we must sacrifice. And to love deeper means to sacrifice deeper. This is when love becomes charity. Hopefully Spidey will not disappoint in making my case. But given the recent output from the Left Coast, I won't hold my breath.
posted by AdmiralDack | 2:17 PM
1 Comments:
I haven't seen either of those movies, but the example of sacrifice for true love that came to my mind was the Disney version of "Hercules"... or maybe I watch too many kids movies. :)
Anyways... sacrifice is as important an ingredient to true love as flour is to bread. I'm sure any movie that leaves that out of its, er, recipe will certainly... well... fall flat. Heh.
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