Commercial Patriotism Strikes Again

Having just watched Spider-Man for the 2nd time, a few details struck me.

a.) James Franco is also on my list. **swoon**

b.) Wasn't this a professional production? I saw the boom mic in the shot at least 8 times.

c.) I wonder if anyone has written an essay/article on the decidedly patriotic, America-post-9/11 subtext of the movie. Definitely of note. The whole "We're New Yorkers -- you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" moment. The song "Hero" and its NYPD/NYFD implications. I wonder how much was added in/taken out during the long time between filming and the release of the film. Certainly some shots of the WTC (as in many films) were excised, and there is no way that the last shot of Spider-Man landing on a flagpole, America's pride and joy billowing in the background, was there before the tragedy struck -- way too convenient. Perhaps I will be motivated and write something about it... Perhaps not...

Roger Ebert didn't notice the Ameri-propaganda, but he did have quite an amusing take on the overly dramatic last scene: "I have one question about the Peter Parker character: Does the movie go too far with his extreme social paralysis? Peter tells Mary Jane he just wants to be friends. 'Only a friend?' she repeats. 'That's all I have to give,' he says. How so? Impotent? Spidey-sense has skewed his sexual instincts? Afraid his hands will get stuck?" I prefer to think that Spidey's an unaware homo, but whatevs.

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On an almost completely unrelated note, anyone who wants to live in New York in their lifetime should never read Candace Bushnell novels (Sex & the City, 4 Blondes). They are so depressing. I already want to become a nun from my no-hitter in England; these books are gonna drive me over the edge. (I'll stop being such a whiner soon, I promise... or at least I'll stop being "verbal" about it.)