Spider-man: No Way Home, Identity Crisis, and Cancel Culture

For my son Solomon's 12th birthday, he asked to see the newest Spider-man movie in theaters. So on December 30th, my four older boys and I went to see it, and we need to talk about that.  Spoiler alert: I will be exploring some major plot components from the beginning of the film to the end. Go out and watch this movie before listening to me talk about it.  That said, if you don't plan to watch the movie, or if you don't mind finding out ahead of time what is going to happen, carry on. Just remember you were warned. Suffice to say for the purposes of the write-up, this film got me right in the feels. I laughed and I cried. It moved me, Bob.  But magic is dangerous. Higher education is highly overrated. And cancel culture is a super-villain. Of course there needs to be another installment in which the annihilation of Peter Parker is rectified.  Also, to the folks who think these comic book superhero films are shallow, repetitive, and predictable, I say you are really missing out. A deep-dive into the nature of purpose and belonging and what it means to be human is here in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly in its latest entry. If you ask me, Spider-man needs to settle down with MJ and raise a family. The critics and detractors be damned.  And so what if MIT won't let you in? You're Spider-man! You're amazing! You don't need to have your value and worth validated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If anything, it's the other way around and they could benefit from being validated by you. Work and study hard. Do the right thing. Marry the girl. Raise a family. If the wider world doesn't understand or like you for it, that's no reason to give the world a hocus-pocus lobotomy and destroy yourself. Just make a mental note, accept it, and move on.  There's a lot more to life than being liked and understood by everyone. And thank God for that.