***Spoiler Alert!!!! This post contains plot details for Spider-Man: No Way Home, Cinderella, Moana, and Encanto. As with all media, I recommend you do your research on ratings and content to decide what you're comfortable watching.***
---
There must be something special about Spider-Man.
In a world where people are speculating about the end of the movie theater, the third installment in the Marvel franchise (Spider-Man: No Way Home) is a runaway hit. According to Variety, Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently the third highest-grossing film of all time in North America ($760.9 million) and the sixth-highest of all time globally ($1.8 billion). Why are people so wild for the web-slinger? Because it's a story that resonates; it echoes a deep, unrecognized need in our cultural consciousness and brings it to light.
We need a hero, but not the kind we've seen before. In Avengers: Endgame, the heroes already saved the world. Now we need someone who can make the neighborhood a friendly place for everyone, young and old.
FRIENDLY
There's a funny thing about Homelanders, the generation sometimes termed "Gen Z". Born from 2005 to the present, these children are part of what Strauss & Howe call the ARTIST generational archetype, a group who are born into a Crisis Era, live overly-sheltered lives, and come of age as "sensitive and complex social technicians, advocates of fair play and the politics of inclusion" (LifeCourse Associates). Growing up in multi-generational homes with plenty of emphasis on getting along, Homelanders are uniquely positioned to absorb and exemplify the virtue of friendliness.
Consider the Buddy Bench. Conceived by a third-grader in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Buddy Bench is the perfect intersection of internalized Homelander values. The benches themselves are made of sturdy, recycled plastic (saving the environment is this generation's Victory Garden) and are clearly labeled for placement on playgrounds. Any child who feels lonely is invited to sit on the bench to signal their emotional need to others, who are then encouraged to invite the sitter to play.
If that's not enough evidence for Homelander Friendliness-As-Virtue, take a look at the resurgence of Silent Generation cultural icons in the last several years. The Silent Generation (born 1925-1942) is another ARTIST archetype, and their faces are everywhere lately. "The Golden Girls," the television series about four 50+ women sharing a home that ran from 1985-1992, has made an unlikely comeback inspiring everything from a rash of newly-merchandized products to an hour-long tribute to its recently-deceased alum Betty White (and who can forget the theme song, "Thank You for Being a Friend"?).
Fred Rogers, of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" fame, received both a documentary and biopic in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and the cartoon spinoff of his popular television show, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," has been going strong at PBS since 2012.
Meanwhile, Bill Withers' anthem to loving friendship, "Lean on Me," has become a rallying cry since early in the Crisis Era, beginning with the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and continuing through the pandemic. In an interview with American Songwriter, Withers explains that the song means loving someone at their worst, and the article further explores the theme of reciprocation. "Please swallow your pride / If I have things that you can borrow" invites the same sort of vulnerability as the Buddy Bench: Go ahead and say you're lonely. People want to help.
This is transformational friendship at its best: a relationship that gives without keeping score, keeps both parties feeling safe and loved, and provides the material for individual change. Millennials (a HERO generation archetype) have a difficult time with this kind of relationship; the constant emphasis of their upbringing was competition and winning, so transactional friendships are more prevalent there. That's a good thing when it comes to winning a war. It's not so great for rebuilding communities afterward. And that's where Spider-Man: No Way Home comes in. When a rift in the multiverse brings former Spider-villains to the Tom Holland-Spidey universe, Peter Parker and his friends don't vanquish them; they rehabilitate them, even when it costs Peter everything he loves.
NEIGHBORHOOD
It's not just a prioritization of people that makes Spider-Man: No Way Home a special film. It's a sense of place. Spider-Man has always been a neighborhood hero first, defending his corner of New York from crimes large and small. This is important because neighborhoods are made up of homes, and home is the place that Homelanders know best.
I don't think it's a coincidence that all three Tom Holland Spider-Man movies have "home" in the title (Homecoming; Far From Home; No Way Home). As I wrote in "Always Wear A Helmet", safety is extremely important to the parents of Homelanders, and our culture seems to agree. The overwhelming answer to the biggest perceived threat of the last decade, COVID-19, has been this: Stay Home. Why? Because home is safe.
For Homelanders, the neighborhood home is often a multi-generational place too. Thanks to the trend of "aging in place" and a sluggish economy that has boomeranged some adult children back to the parental home, Homelanders often find themselves on the bottom side of the generational sandwich. For other generations, this may feel odd, but children are adaptable creatures and ARTIST generations are especially so. Today's kids are more apt to find themselves exposed to the wisdom and experience of multiple generations, which only increases their emotional intelligence and empathy.
We definitely see this in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as the third act of the film brings previous Spider-Man actors Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire into Tom Holland's plane of existence. Tobey Maguire (born 1975) is the slightly-grizzled Generation X Spider-Man, complete with a "middle-back thing" who has successfully negotiated an existential crisis and a meaningful romantic relationship, despite the odds. Andrew Garfield (born 1983) is the Millennial Spider-Man, full of nervous energy, still beating himself up over the death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. Tom Holland (born 1996) plays the 18-year old Homelander Spider-Man who just wants to go to college with his friends.
The previous Spider-Men had all been about to kill the villains who entered Holland-Spidey's universe. But Holland-Spidey and his friends persuade the other Spideys to "cure" the villains instead, and he teaches them to work together as a successful team. In turn, they offer him sympathy over the death of his aunt. Maguire-Spidey offers Garfield-Spidey some advice on forgiving himself, and the limber Garfield-Spidey cracks Maguire-Spidey's troublesome back. Together they save the day and can return to their separate universes (and neighborhoods) with a renewed sense of hope.
SUPER-HERO
If there is one thread that ties the friendly neighborhood Homelanders together, it's kindness. As in many things, art both reflects and leads trends. In film, the theme of kindness has shown up repeatedly over the last several years.
First there was the live-action remake of Cinderella (2015), where director Kenneth Branagh envisioned a heroine (not a damsel in distress) whose choice to be kind was a superpower in its own right. Branagh openly explained his directorial choices as making "the pursuit of goodness sexy and proactive" and demonstrating Cinderella's service to others as noble instead of demeaning. Throughout the film, Cinderella is guided by her dying mother's words, "Have courage and be kind," and even tells her cruel stepmother "I forgive you," at the film's end.
Moana (2016) gave us the tale of a girl living with her multi-generational family, encouraged by her grandmother to save her tribe's island (her neighborhood) from the environmental menace Te Ka. It's hard to set out on a quest when your parents are overprotective, but with the help of her friend The Ocean, Moana makes it off the island. Moana's mentor, the demigod Maui (a Generation X style outsider complete with an orphan backstory) schools the girl in the art of sailing and wayfinding, aiding her on the quest. Moana in turn defeats Te Ka not with violence, but with kindness; she restores the creature's "heart" and transforms Te Ka to Te Fiti, the life-giving goddess of nature.
Encanto (2021) is yet another tale of a girl living with her multi-generational family. This time, we learn that the fate of an entire community (her neighborhood) rests on-- you guessed it!-- her magical home known as "Casita." Though the rest of Mirabel's family has magical powers, the heroine herself seems to have none. However, as Mirabel delves deeper into the mystery of the magic, her kindness skills of empathy, reflective listening, and forgiveness transform her troubled, dysfunctional, and secluded family into a joyful, open, and self-actualized one. The message? The dangers of a Crisis Era necessitated one kind of power and protection, but that time is past; it is now time to (literally) rebuild the home and open ourselves to a new, creative future.
WHAT'S NEXT?
We're not there yet. The Crisis Era is still going strong, with division and conflict abounding. However, the seeds of the future season's harvest are planted in the present. If we keep a watchful eye, we can guide the lives of Homelanders into the Friendly Neighborhood Superheroes we're going to need when the next First Turning of the the generational saeculum arrives. Good thing is, there's a guidebook on how to be friendly, love your neighbor, and show super-powered kindness. It's a bestseller, a sacred text, and it's been around for thousands of years. It's worth checking out.