Spider-Man 3.1

Ok, so I'm rewatching Spider-Man 2 tonight to help clarify my thoughts on the new movie. I think I see even more parallels of consistency between them than I did initially last night. Both movies deal with individual choice, both with great power, and both with great responsibility. Yet they do so in near mirror images of each other.

In 2, MJ, not Parker, is on top of the world. A top theater gig, a great boyfriend. Her success is what allows us to read a high against Parker's low, stressed life where he is unable to meet all the responsibilities he (must) takes on. In 3, they switch. MJ is plunged into a lower existence and Parker is flying high on his hubritic success. But this is no simple switch on the level of thematic message.

In 2, the message is one of choice fed through the lens of the great power/great responsibility mantra. Peter can choose whether or not to be Spider-Man. He can choose whether or not to be there for MJ. The scene where he goes to the doctor is the first push to this message of choice. (Followed by a scene nearly mirroring one in 3, where he walks down the street to music, and stumbles. Where in 3 he struts down the street.)

In 3, the the power/responsibility message is fed (far more subtlety than the first two) through a lens of choice. Peter has heightened power with the venom suit. He may choose to use it. But the problem is that the second half of the mantra is missing. Responsibility. It's telling that Ben Parker (the embodiment and source of the power/responsibility statement in both previous movies) does not utter those words in this one. His only role is as victim, and thus foil for the irresponsible actions of one of the villains. Instead of power meeting responsibility, it is tied to forgiveness. (see my previous post for more on that)

So what we have is a failure of accountability. We're meant to forgive at the drop of repentance. I won't even go into how much this drips of Christian/Catholic ideology. Where we can feel sorry for Parker in 2 because we know the truth, that he's juggling impossible/incompatible responsibilities, in 3 we can only feel the disappointment that was restricted to the realm of his close friends in Spider-Man 2. But since it is a failure on the level of both personal (as in 2) and systemic responsibility (he failed in his Spidey duties), there is no nowhere left for sympathy. Yet we're meant to forgive him in the end and either blame it on the suit (I don't think it's reading too much into it that the black suit can be taken as the cause of his problems/failures) or sympathize with his situation. I just explained why I cannot feel sympathy, and I'm certainly not comfortable blaming it on the suit, afterall, as they say in the movie, it only accentuates traits that were already present.

That said, I feel I should reafirm that I did like the movie. I think most of the criticism I've read is acurate, if overemphasized. It is ultimately a fun movie. Nonetheless, I'm not comfortable with the thematic implications that I'm still trying to work out in these posts.