Part 4 – Heart break
This is the part that got to me. Apparently it got to a lot of other people as well.
As I said in Part 1, I haven’t seen these movies, just bits in the socials. So I’ve seen them out of order, out of context. But some of them reappeared after I had more context and they were even sadder.
Peter Parker lost his parents when he was very young. Raised by his uncle and aunt, Uncle Ben died when he was still young. (or in a different MCU) Aunt May dies in the universe of the current version of Peter. Tony becomes like a dad figure. A near hug and an actual hug during a dying scene. Later he loses Happy, not to death, but to the forgetting spell.
He eventually sacrifices all his friendships to protect people from the danger of being associated with him. Dr. Strange understands what this will mean for him and them. People die, drift apart, break up. That is always sad, but it is part of most of our experience. This loss hits different. Peter still remembers and has to live on the outside of their lives, knowing they have no idea who he is. It almost would have been better if the forgetting went both ways.
The most heartwarming and heartbreaking scene for me is when he goes to the coffee shop, rehearsing his story the whole way there. And when he gets there he realises he can’t tell her. I cried for a while after that. I don’t know what it touched inside, but Holy Spirit does.
There are lots of commentary on the socials about Peter/Spiderman going it alone and the loneliness he has. I think this film has been great on character development and reaching out to the very human experiences of the humans watching it. I am better for it.
Puzzle Pieces Coaching 