angry, spiritual spiderman
Much like an Old Testament prophet whose message was ignored or scorned, Joesnake spoke long ago about Spiderman 3 and its spiritual impact. I confess I was one of the skeptics throwing a few jocular pebbles at the ludicrous proposition of a Spiderman-inspired spirituality. (So Marvel Comics is the MTV-generation alternative to a robust Inductive Study?) Despite the jocularity, Joesnake stuck to his Spidey-position with the tenacity of the old web-head himself.
Like the despised prophets of old, but still holding on.
And Joe was right.
What can I say? I thought of apologizing, but how is it possible without jocularity despoiling any semblance of sincerity? So I wrote this blog instead.
I watched Spiderman 3 for the first time last night with Sean and Connor (that youngster asked how I got it a week before the DVD’s release, which posited ethical conundrums…). But just as Joesnake forebode, and much to my delightful surprise, here was a movie from beginning to end depicting the freedom of forgiveness juxtaposed with the depravity of resentment, and all the struggles of vacillating heart-rage!
Watching a movie with Sean and Connor is like Joe’s Bedford football games with interminable loudspeaker commentary. It drives poor Darlene crazy. But a movie means non-stop relating for us. What a joy! I cherish these moments forever. (Parents do that, you know, but kids don’t as much, being love-takers.) I pray Connor remembers the Spiderman Love Ethics we talked about when he sinks into that dark hole called Junior High and emerges a young man. Oh, how I will miss that happy, high kid-voice!
It’s an fascination fact that anger starts out feeling bad but then feels so good because endorphins are triggered similar to physical exercise, research shows. I believe it. I’ve often embellished in a good bout of anger, even if people around me don’t enjoy it as much. This is what happens to Peter Parker and he devours anger in a smorgasbord of self-indulgent blood-revenge, ravaging his ability to love and steam-rolling good people in his life. What follows are some of the life-lessons the movie’s commentators observed in Spiderman’s life.
Lessons in Anger
Venom courses through his veins…
All these points and more were graphically depicted in the latest Spiderman movie:
