sunflower fairy

Imagine a super hero having a dark side? Is he still a hero? This theme was explored in the recent Spiderman movie. In the story, a chemical substance preyed host on him and slowly he succumbed to its dark nature. His evil side was revealed. First, he became insensitive to the feelings of his girlfriend. He was not listening to her anymore. He became self-centered and realized how popular and well-loved he is as a hero. This got into his head and I can say he became short of a megalomaniac.

Seemingly, his dark nature is revealed as a result of an external element. But the series of events in his life weakened him. He is hounded by the past; the death of his uncle in the hands of a criminal who is on the loose haunted him. He felt guilty for punishing the wrong person whom he mistook killed his uncle. His internal defenses are down. He became an easy prey and his evil side gained strength.

Paying attention to semiotics, I find it interesting when he entered a Catholic church to divest himself of the black Spiderman costume which clothed him in evil. My naive reading is: Spiderman man is Roman Catholic. (har har). And he needs to go to church to summon his good nature. (Hardy har har)

I think everyone noticed the scene where Spiderman flew over the hoisted American flag. More semiotics. America is the home of super hero Spiderman. America is a super power.

Nothwithstanding, I still think Spiderman is my kind of hero. Showing his dark side and conquering it makes him my kind of hero.