My Thoughts on Spiderman 3
Well, to take a break from my reflections from the Holy Land, I saw Spiderman 3 last night, and I really liked it. There were several things I saw in it that were beautiful expositions on elements of the faith.
First off, everyone (except venom) explicitly loves a good thing. Harry loved his father. Peter loves his uncle. Eddie loves Gwen and the most understandable; Sandman his daughter. All these loves are very good things! However, these loves are the greatest loves of their lives, and as a result bad things happen. Harry starts out evil because his love for his father is greater than anything else. Eddie becomes evil because Gwen is taken from him by Peter and he loved her more than anything else. Sandman, since he doesn't blame Spiderman, is never fully consumed with hate, but because Spiderman is out to get him, he is defending himself and trying to get money for his daughter.
Anyway, the concept that I want to draw out here is that Hate is always just a twisting of Love. Hate is the result of a disordered love, that is to say, loving something out of proportion. God is to be our first love, and then, we are to love all things as a result of that love. The result of failing that is hatred. Each character has a particular disordered love that can be their downfall.
Venom is a unique character in all of this. I think he is supposed to be "pure hate" since he lacks personality and just pushes the one who he possesses to awful things. Since hate is just a love twisted, venom's love, instead of being on God, is on himself. Each of the other characters' disordered loves were for someone else, which makes it more forgivable. Remember that love is the decision to give of self for the good of the other. Their other is still an other, just the wrong other. Venom's love was the decision to give of self for the good of self. This is a complete rejection of any other. This is the ultimate diabolical mockery of how love is supposed to be.
So, the movie is the drama of how these disordered loves are either turned into purer loves or how they fall apart into worse problems. Each character has a different fate, and each fate relates to a different possible outcome.
Lets start with Sandman. His love for his daughter drove him to rob a bank which drove him to murder Peter's uncle. Even though this is grave matter, it is still just a venial sin. His good intention got twisted into something evil due to a malformed love. Ultimately, he does a great deal of damage, sins a great deal, but is forgiven. He can be forgiven because he ultimately is more attached to the love of other than love of self.
Harry ends up a martyr for love. Though he too had sinned against friendship with what he did to Mary Jane (making her break up with Peter) and he had tried to kill Peter, at the end of the movie when he had to make his decision between self and other, he chose other. It was a decision that ended up costing him his life, which we know that no greater love a man have than he lay down his life for his friends.
Eddie's fate... For the moment, lets consider Venom to be "stuck" in the hate state. Stuck in the state of choosing to give of self only for the good of self. He won't be doing anybody any good, and when that happens, there isn't anything to do with them except let them go off to the outer darkness. So, venom is evil, and bound for the outer darkness. Eddie gets into trouble because of his disordered loves, but all those sins are forgivable. Sadly, it wasn't any sin he committed, but his *attachment* to the personification of sin. Spiderman had him all pulled out, and the bomb was going to destroy Venom. Eddie chose to go back in, and that was his Mortal sin.
The last thing I picked up on was Peter being stuck in the single state. There were a couple moments where he had to choose between the police scanner and Mary Jane. Peter never put Mary Jane in front of his police scanner, and this is precisely what he must do in order to be a good husband. At one point, she asked him to turn it off and he just turned it down. Being able to manage a great gift requires an undivided heart. Marriage is a great gift, and it must be entered into with a heart undivided. So too is the call to the priesthood, which requires a heart set on God without division.
First off, everyone (except venom) explicitly loves a good thing. Harry loved his father. Peter loves his uncle. Eddie loves Gwen and the most understandable; Sandman his daughter. All these loves are very good things! However, these loves are the greatest loves of their lives, and as a result bad things happen. Harry starts out evil because his love for his father is greater than anything else. Eddie becomes evil because Gwen is taken from him by Peter and he loved her more than anything else. Sandman, since he doesn't blame Spiderman, is never fully consumed with hate, but because Spiderman is out to get him, he is defending himself and trying to get money for his daughter.
Anyway, the concept that I want to draw out here is that Hate is always just a twisting of Love. Hate is the result of a disordered love, that is to say, loving something out of proportion. God is to be our first love, and then, we are to love all things as a result of that love. The result of failing that is hatred. Each character has a particular disordered love that can be their downfall.
Venom is a unique character in all of this. I think he is supposed to be "pure hate" since he lacks personality and just pushes the one who he possesses to awful things. Since hate is just a love twisted, venom's love, instead of being on God, is on himself. Each of the other characters' disordered loves were for someone else, which makes it more forgivable. Remember that love is the decision to give of self for the good of the other. Their other is still an other, just the wrong other. Venom's love was the decision to give of self for the good of self. This is a complete rejection of any other. This is the ultimate diabolical mockery of how love is supposed to be.
So, the movie is the drama of how these disordered loves are either turned into purer loves or how they fall apart into worse problems. Each character has a different fate, and each fate relates to a different possible outcome.
Lets start with Sandman. His love for his daughter drove him to rob a bank which drove him to murder Peter's uncle. Even though this is grave matter, it is still just a venial sin. His good intention got twisted into something evil due to a malformed love. Ultimately, he does a great deal of damage, sins a great deal, but is forgiven. He can be forgiven because he ultimately is more attached to the love of other than love of self.
Harry ends up a martyr for love. Though he too had sinned against friendship with what he did to Mary Jane (making her break up with Peter) and he had tried to kill Peter, at the end of the movie when he had to make his decision between self and other, he chose other. It was a decision that ended up costing him his life, which we know that no greater love a man have than he lay down his life for his friends.
Eddie's fate... For the moment, lets consider Venom to be "stuck" in the hate state. Stuck in the state of choosing to give of self only for the good of self. He won't be doing anybody any good, and when that happens, there isn't anything to do with them except let them go off to the outer darkness. So, venom is evil, and bound for the outer darkness. Eddie gets into trouble because of his disordered loves, but all those sins are forgivable. Sadly, it wasn't any sin he committed, but his *attachment* to the personification of sin. Spiderman had him all pulled out, and the bomb was going to destroy Venom. Eddie chose to go back in, and that was his Mortal sin.
The last thing I picked up on was Peter being stuck in the single state. There were a couple moments where he had to choose between the police scanner and Mary Jane. Peter never put Mary Jane in front of his police scanner, and this is precisely what he must do in order to be a good husband. At one point, she asked him to turn it off and he just turned it down. Being able to manage a great gift requires an undivided heart. Marriage is a great gift, and it must be entered into with a heart undivided. So too is the call to the priesthood, which requires a heart set on God without division.