Dreams Denied! A Hero’s Sacrifice

Art & Literature, Film, Other, Picturing the Word — By Picturing the Word on March 24, 2010 at 2:02 am

Welcome to Week 5 of Picturing the Word!

This week in class we watched movies and read books with the theme “I Offer You A Change At Greatness.”

We watched:

Star Trek (2009)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Superman II (1980)

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

We also read:

Chapter 2 of the comic book Kingdom Come

This week John and I ponder the question of whether or not Heroes are allowed to have dreams and desires of their own. Because Heroes have such a clear calling (given the gifts and talents they have been allotted), we wonder if heroes are morally obligated to give up any desires of their own (desires for a lover, for an alternate career, for a “normal” life, etc.). It seems to us that heroes are required to live a lonely life if they are to be effective heroes.

As always, please feel free to join our conversation by commenting below or emailing John and I at picturingtheword@gmail.com.

Happy listening! ‘

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:13 — 27.7MB)


Tags:
Print This Post Print This Post
  • http://wspapers.wordpress.com David Nilsen

    Not to quibble, but I don’t think that Mary Jane ends up being the perfect girl for Spiderman at the end of the film. Watch the ending again. After the “hero shot” where Spidey goes swinging through the skyscrapers to the bombastic theme music, the cut back to Mary Jane standing at the window watching clearly shows disappointment on her face (even the music conveys this feeling). In that initial moment after hearing the police sirens she is supportive, to be sure, but in the following moments as she stand alone (like you pointed out, after ditching her own wedding!) she seems to come to the realization that she’s given up much more than she realizes to be with Peter, and she’s clearly not happy about it.

    And as you mentioned briefly, this theme does come out strongly in the third Spiderman, to the point that their relationship is almost lost (the film’s ending is somewhat ambiguous).