Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

Why are Marvel movies and other superhero-based films continuing to do a killing at the box office during this pandemic, when most other movies are either becoming financial bombs in theaters or barely making their budgets back? I’m sure industry experts are doing their best to figure that one out, but honestly, I think that answer is rather simple, and I don’t believe it’s what everyone else thinks the reason is, that being the fear of going to the theater and getting COVID.

Here’s why I say that. Spider-Man: No Way Home, another Marvel movie, just made $253 million on its opening weekend, and had a total global opening of $587 million, off a $200 million budget. Obviously, people are going to the movies with numbers like that! Personally, I sat in a very crowded 2pm showing of the new Spider-Man movie the other day, so I know people are going to the theaters in droves, but only for certain movies.

But take Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake for example. It cost $100 million to make, yet only earned $11 million on its opening weekend and $3 million on its second weekend. It was well-reviewed and well-liked by those who saw it, including me, but is most likely going to become a financial disaster when all is said and done.

And how about this interesting fact? Did you know that five of the six top grossing films of 2021 have been Marvel/superhero-based films with Spider-Man: No Way Home being in 1st, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in 2nd, Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 3rd, Black Widow in 4th, and Eternals in 6th?

So why are superhero films continuing to draw such large numbers at theaters when so many other films aren’t? My theory? People really need a serious escape right now from the stark reality of the life we are still having to live in, an escape of good winning over evil. Presently, I think people see this pandemic as an evil in our world and they are desperate for this evil to go away once and for all. What better way to feel amazing in a bleak pandemic-stricken world where isolation and worry surround so many of our thoughts than to go see a superhero film where good triumphs over evil. It does help to improve the mood for so many!

Look, people aren’t going to overcome any of their fears and worries during this pandemic by attending dark movies like Nightmare Alley, or artsy movies like House of Gucci, even when big-named stars are attached to them. For most movie-goers presently, having a plot that takes them out of this world and into another, where they can eventually leave a theater feeling more hopeful and uplifted because evil was conquered by humans that could be just like them, that’s what people want right now.

To further make my point, rounding out the top ten of this year’s box office are F9: The Fast Saga in 5^th, No Time to Die In 7^th, A Quiet Place Part II in 8^th, Free Guy in 9^th, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 10^th. I saw each of those movies in the theater as well, which all dealt with some form of good triumphing over evil, where fantastical elements that really aren’t grounded in our current reality were present, (like Ludicrous and Tyrese Gibson going into outer space in a Fiero for example in F9!!!).

The reality is people want to escape the drama of this world and see a huge win over evil rather than watch something where the focus leaves them negatively charged. Why would the general movie goer want to go see any film presently that keeps them in their head and makes them feel more depressed and down, when their everyday world is already filled with so much of that right now. The fact is people want heroes currently to save the world from itself and so they’re looking for that in the theater and are willing to brave the pandemic for those types of movies. For the rest of films that aren’t superhero-based, well streaming has become the best solution for most now where they can hide in their own feelings in the comfort of their own home.

So, while Hollywood continues to try to figure this out in a world that has most definitely changed since this pandemic began, I decided to leave everyone with my own silly movie concept that might just work in these crazy times to become a box office hit.

Plot: A pandemic has hit our world even worse than COVID and has been around for a few years now. 1 in 3 dies from it by the time they reach 18 years old. But those who get sick and survive emerge with amazing new superhuman abilities and never get the virus again. Vaccines are available now to prevent any further deaths and can stop the virus even during a person being sick, yet they will also suppress any superhuman abilities from ever manifesting. Actor Timothy Chalamet and Actress Zendaya are the two lead characters, Eli and Ivy, who come from very different families in Chicago. Eli doesn’t believe in vaccination, but his entire family does due to all the losses they’ve endured, none having every survived without vaccination. Ivy’s family on the other hand are all unvaccinated due to their strong spiritual beliefs, including her father who almost died from the virus but survived and developed his own superhuman ability. He keeps his ability in secret though like most others do because most have vaccinated and those who haven’t and survived have become shunned in society, being blamed for why the virus is still around. Vaccination status is still kept private though and Ivy’s father works for Eli father’s company as a lead foreman for the largest construction company in Chicago. Eli works in the corporate office and occasionally is sent onto job sites for assessment. When one day he’s sent to Ivy’s father’s job site, a major accident occurs where Ivy’s father is forced to reveal his ability to save Eli’s life. Eli’s father fires him though over his superhuman status, knowing he was unvaccinated, even as his son protests his decision. When Eli decides to visit Ivy’s father’s home to apologize and offer help in any way he can, Ivy answers the door. Eli’s heart flutters as he lays eyes on her beauty for the first time, but Ivy slams the door in his face knowing who he is and what his father did. When Eli knocks again, Ivy reopens it choosing to hear out what he has to say. Eventually her heart will find a place for him, just in time for when they both succumb to the virus. Will they vaccinate to ensure their love’s survival, or will they take a chance to hopefully become a superhuman couple?

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

I never have seen the original West Side Story movie that was originally released back in 1961. Yes, I know how absurd that sounds for a movie aficionado like myself, especially in that the film is now deemed a classic and has 10 Oscars under its belt. You would think a guy like me who sees as many movies as I do and even took a film class in college would have opted to watch it at some point in my life thus far, but I never have. I’m not sure why, yet when I learned that Steven Spielberg was remaking it, I decided it would be worth seeing solely because I’ve rarely been disappointed with any of his directorial work in Hollywood.

Beyond Spielberg, the only name attached to this film that I even knew was Ansel Elgort, an actor from Baby Driver and The Fault in Our Stars, two movies I really enjoyed mostly because of Elgort’s incredible acting in them. In this modern retelling of West Side Story, I learned he would be playing one of the main leads, a guy by the name of Tony. While another big star was also attached to it, Rita Moreno, someone who had also been in the original, I honestly didn’t know her name or any of her prior work, so I went into this movie rather blindly about who else was in it or what it was even about. I knew of course that it was a musical, but given I’m not much of a musical fan, (which so many of my gay friends think is a travesty!) I went in with low expectations, unsure if I was even going to enjoy any part of it. But ironically, I did, and then some. I attribute that mostly to the genius of Spielberg, someone who seems to place magic in just about everything he puts his hands on in Hollywood.

For those like me who never saw the original film, the plot of West Side Story is simply about two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, fighting over territory in New York City in the 1950’s just as urban sprawl begins to truly take shape. The Jets are comprised of a bunch of young guys who want to keep their area filled with nothing but fellow whites, while the Sharks on the other hand, are made up of a bunch of guys from Puerto Rico just trying to defend themselves and make a new and better life in the big city. It’s clear the Jets don’t want them or any of their “kind” there right from the start, just as much as the same is true of the Sharks with them. But enter Tony, a former very active Jet who recently was just released from prison and is now trying to stay on the straight and narrow. When his eyes fall upon Maria (Rachel Zegler) one night at a local dance meant to try to integrate the two rival groups together, lines get crossed, tensions rise, and battle cries ensue. Will Tony and Maria be allowed to make it as an item? Will peace ever come between the two rival gangs? How far will Tony and Maria go for their instant love for each other?

While the plot overall of this 2021 version of West Side Story seemed like a rather subtle retelling of the story of Romeo and Juliet to me, Spielberg of course put his modern-day spin on it that felt very fresh. I did learn that he did make some big changes from its original counterpart, but so as not to ruin any of it, I simply want to say the story overall felt quite relevant even to this present day and one that I believe needed to be retold again in the way it was.

Our world has changed dramatically in the last five years. I have seen far too much of the racist overtones depicted in West Side Story emerge and take a front and center stage in our country during this period. While this racism has probably always been there, I feel there are far too many now who proudly and boldly display how much they desire a return to a predominantly, white-ruled America, something I’d totally abhor.

I have spent much of my adult life spending time with numerous people from many other cultures, immersing myself in practices and belief systems far different from the ones I was raised with. Sadly, I grew up in white America, in a middle to upper class Caucasian family. It wasn’t even until my junior to senior year of high school that I had a single person of color in my life. Finally in college that all changed when I grew to love and care about two women of color, Carlean and Renee, and saw how racist our world was even then, on both sides. African Americans hating the fact that a white man was dating one of theirs and whites constantly calling me a traitor and labelling me often with a racist word that instead of beginning with the letter “N” was replaced with a “W”. Over the many years that have passed since those collegiate days, I of course came out of the closet, and learned a lot more about other forms of racism that I eventually became a target of.

All in all, I’ve learned much over the years hanging out in one culture after another. Unfortunately, at their core I discovered there is still a gross disunity that exists in society no different than what was originally depicted between the fictious Jets and Sharks in both versions of West Side Story. The Sharks these days are all the non-white cultures just trying to make a life in this world where too often they have to defend themselves from far too many threats. Threats that come from the Jets of today, those from white society who are afraid of losing a dominance in their world that came only because of our country’s racist roots.

I am neither a Jet nor a Shark. I am someone though who only wishes to help foster a peace between both in this world, something that I continue to express through both my writing and speaking, and something I ask God every day for the strength to continue doing, while so many around me vie for me to take a side.

West Side Story’s 2021 release truly is a phenomenal film, one that inspired me enough to write about, and one that’s left me thinking long beyond the credits ended.

Peace, love, light, and joy
Andrew Arthur Dawson