I've always been in your doorway
I went out and saw Spider-Man 2 over the weekend. It was lovely. Perhaps a touch long, though not because of any filler. Rather, Raimi just crammed a crapload of good in the movie. And I'm complaining? Well, maybe I just really had to pee. Regardless of my urinary situation at the time, I was also struck by the similarity between the first and second movies. Yes, numbnut, the whole point of a franchise is that you go with what works. It's a known quantity, and we shouldn't expect anything terribly different. And yet, in the first movie, we have Peter learn of his new talents, kick some ass, suffer a crisis of faith, and once Mary Jane is in trouble, his sense of purpose is reignited and Spider-Man returns to save the day.
What happens in Number 2? Spoilers will abound from here on out, so consider yourself warned. Spider-Man, while still an enigma to some, is wildly heralded, but soon comes to question his role and purpose in the city. His powers physically wane as Peter suffers - again - a crisis of faith. To swing, or not to swing; that is the question (I am aware that with that quote, I've lost half of the people that ever decided to be nice enough to read this damn thing). Peter decides not to swing. And while he does suffer's a Hero's guilt that we never will, he remains resolute in his decision to live his life, the way he wants to. Fuck NYC.
Until, of course, Mary Jane is in danger. Peter finds that his Spider-Man alter ego is as strong as ever, and he leaps and bounds back into action. He does save Mary Jane, not to mention New York City. Huzzah!
I certainly can't fault Raimi for this. it's not like the comics were ever any more original. Substitute one villian for another; hell, substitute one victim (Mary Jane for Aunt Mae) for another and reprint the whole damn issue. It's the heroic cycle for $1.99 (or however much comics used to cost; I admit that I never really bought any of them - oh, except for The Simpsons comics, and I actually received them as gifts, so I remain consumeritorially ignorant).
What is it about that cycle that keeps people buying month after month? Hell, what is it about that cycle that grosses a film nearly $200 million in five days? Living our lives day to day, perhaps we lose sight of the greater narrative cycle that our lives inevitably follow. I'm not saying it's an exciting narrative cycle, but it's a cycle just the same. Like, from where I am now, I don't see where the end is. Will I be making labels until the day I die? Will I send my kids through college on account of me moving boxes in stylish business casual attire? To quote J. Conrad, "The horror, the horror..."
So more than a brief glimpse into another world, one that is only as alien as NYC, really, Spider-Man 2 gives me a complete ride. I see an entire narrative arc play out in the brief spanse of two hours. Two hours that I might be spending going food shopping and then riding home. Two hours that I might spend sleeping, or, hell, I don't know what. anything else. But two hours, just the same, that are only a fraction of what I have already lived, and what I have to live still. As I sit by watching Spider-Man battle Dr. Octopus, I can admire the path that Peter Parker took, and can appreciate what it means for him to be battling a half-man, half-machine hell bent on seeing an experiment through to its ill-fated conclusion when only minutes before, seemingly, Spider-Man was reduced to taking the elevator because he was somehow spider-powers impotent. My own life takes so long to get going, to get anywhere, that at times I don't know that I'd mind bearing the burden of keeping Chicago safe, just so I can experience that immediate rush of purpose. Even if the costume would be kind of itchy.
xoxo,
ddm
email me
I went out and saw Spider-Man 2 over the weekend. It was lovely. Perhaps a touch long, though not because of any filler. Rather, Raimi just crammed a crapload of good in the movie. And I'm complaining? Well, maybe I just really had to pee. Regardless of my urinary situation at the time, I was also struck by the similarity between the first and second movies. Yes, numbnut, the whole point of a franchise is that you go with what works. It's a known quantity, and we shouldn't expect anything terribly different. And yet, in the first movie, we have Peter learn of his new talents, kick some ass, suffer a crisis of faith, and once Mary Jane is in trouble, his sense of purpose is reignited and Spider-Man returns to save the day.
What happens in Number 2? Spoilers will abound from here on out, so consider yourself warned. Spider-Man, while still an enigma to some, is wildly heralded, but soon comes to question his role and purpose in the city. His powers physically wane as Peter suffers - again - a crisis of faith. To swing, or not to swing; that is the question (I am aware that with that quote, I've lost half of the people that ever decided to be nice enough to read this damn thing). Peter decides not to swing. And while he does suffer's a Hero's guilt that we never will, he remains resolute in his decision to live his life, the way he wants to. Fuck NYC.
Until, of course, Mary Jane is in danger. Peter finds that his Spider-Man alter ego is as strong as ever, and he leaps and bounds back into action. He does save Mary Jane, not to mention New York City. Huzzah!
I certainly can't fault Raimi for this. it's not like the comics were ever any more original. Substitute one villian for another; hell, substitute one victim (Mary Jane for Aunt Mae) for another and reprint the whole damn issue. It's the heroic cycle for $1.99 (or however much comics used to cost; I admit that I never really bought any of them - oh, except for The Simpsons comics, and I actually received them as gifts, so I remain consumeritorially ignorant).
What is it about that cycle that keeps people buying month after month? Hell, what is it about that cycle that grosses a film nearly $200 million in five days? Living our lives day to day, perhaps we lose sight of the greater narrative cycle that our lives inevitably follow. I'm not saying it's an exciting narrative cycle, but it's a cycle just the same. Like, from where I am now, I don't see where the end is. Will I be making labels until the day I die? Will I send my kids through college on account of me moving boxes in stylish business casual attire? To quote J. Conrad, "The horror, the horror..."
So more than a brief glimpse into another world, one that is only as alien as NYC, really, Spider-Man 2 gives me a complete ride. I see an entire narrative arc play out in the brief spanse of two hours. Two hours that I might be spending going food shopping and then riding home. Two hours that I might spend sleeping, or, hell, I don't know what. anything else. But two hours, just the same, that are only a fraction of what I have already lived, and what I have to live still. As I sit by watching Spider-Man battle Dr. Octopus, I can admire the path that Peter Parker took, and can appreciate what it means for him to be battling a half-man, half-machine hell bent on seeing an experiment through to its ill-fated conclusion when only minutes before, seemingly, Spider-Man was reduced to taking the elevator because he was somehow spider-powers impotent. My own life takes so long to get going, to get anywhere, that at times I don't know that I'd mind bearing the burden of keeping Chicago safe, just so I can experience that immediate rush of purpose. Even if the costume would be kind of itchy.
xoxo,
ddm
email me
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