"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" - Ben Parker, SPIDER-MAN

The superhero is the 21'st century's quintessential myth that embodies the conundrum of (in)humanity. We live in times of self-proclaimed heroes...expectations, technology, goals, advancements are greater than ever. We no longer want to be the creation / servant, but the creator / God..., but can our biological makeup and even more importantly our psychological wiring and state of consciousness sustain...transcend the chasm between mortal and immortal? Do we accept, respect our God-given power (whether it be beauty, intelligence, talents of all kinds) that we've been endowed with, keeping it in balance and sharing it with others..; or do we succumb to its power, falling from Grace, allowing it to engulf us, imprison us within an iron maiden suffocating our humanity? Do we fight for the quantum spectrum we could be, or do we allow being reduced into monochromatic clones...? We might create "wings" that can take us to the sun and beyond...but do we have the resilience and fortitude in character to transcend such limitations (and all those misconceptions we impose upon ourselves as blinded and blinding incarceration)...realizing we made them out of wax? The Concorde flew faster than sound, but all of them were caught in webbed cracks of steel fatigue. With Great Power Comes even Greater Responsibility. To be a hero is not to succumb to its power, but to its humility...to realize the power you have is the living power you continue to create through your deeds... Blessings shared are blessings that rebound... Ultimately we all return to the very stardust we come from. What remains are the memories we impart with those we share with. Costume Design is Character Design. When James Acheson was given the daunting task of designing the iconic costume for Sam Raimi's trilogy, he realized there was no way to circumvent the immeasurable gravity in the expectations of Spidey's followers. Jim honored the icon's color palette, but more importantly he introduced a subtle, yet revolutionary feature that encapsulates this delicate, complicated, multi-layered 21'st century myth characterized through Peter Parker and moments when he struggles with the higher cause of his alter-ego. Jim raised the webbing so at key moments when Peter battles internal pendulum swings between duty, responsibility and personal need / desire, the costume would glisten through powerful cinematography, transforming it into an encroaching iron maiden of a human silhouette. As Alexander the Great's right-hand Ptolemy poignantly reminded: "Men rise and fall...they rise and fall". Empires rise and in their excess imbalance reduce themselves to the very rubble they sprung from... I don't think we were ever engineered to be immortal, nor Gods. I do think we have the choice in immortalizing our memory and transcending our mortal nature by imparting memories onto a world that reminds us of the highest of angels we are capable of being, rather than succumbing to being the most benevolent of demons - the inbuilt counterpart at the heart of darkness...ever-present, ever-threatening at the chiaroscuro core of our human nature. "...Every action builds a link that binds us to it...the chain is everlasting..." - John Logan, PENNY DREADFUL / "Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." - Sonmi 451, CLOUD ATLAS Thank you Stan Lee for giving us an immortal mirror we find ourselves within,... aspiring to hold ourselves accountable....and perhaps in so doing, attain a sense of the superhero within...

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