Dear Parishioners,

I watched the latest Spider-man movie and I noticed something that pricked my conscience. In this movie, they first portray one character as a possible villain before revealing who the real villain is. This would make sense if the framed person was just misunderstood or forced to do evil. However, the movie shows that the framed person does all sorts of intrinsically and gravely evil things like controlling people’s minds, putting them in needless danger, possibly even killing them, showing disregard for human life and cruelly taunting the hero of the story. All of this is then excused because they have a sad backstory and they are not as bad as the real villain. (I’m doing my best to not ruin the movie for anyone.)

While I greatly enjoyed this film, I really think this is lazy writing because it too easily excuses bad behavior. The evil done by this person is direct and unforced. Yet, the movie expects the audience to completely side with this person because they were wronged in the past. Empathy (which is being able to understand and share thoughts and feelings of another person) replaces reason and once you do that anything could be permissible given the right circumstances. It is why someone might side with a friend or relative in an argument even knowing they are wrong.

Empathy cannot be the basis of morals because it can lead us into doing or supporting immoral acts. Just because you love someone does not mean they are perfect people. In fact, if you really love them, you should desire their flourishing which includes growing to be a better person. The real basis of all morals is the God Himself who gives everyone whether you like them or not a basic dignity that cannot be violated. Empathy cannot be impartial because it naturally plays favorites and even leads to injustice when we more highly favor people who are already like us. Catholic author Flannery O’Connor pointed this out when she said, “In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness long cut off from the source of tenderness, ends in terror- in forced labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber.”

It is possible to have morally gray and even evil protagonists in a movie. Some of the best movies and television ever produced focus on characters like this. However, a line is crossed when a movie or TV show goes out of its way to treat poor behavior as unimportant or even good under a relativistic outlook. When that happens the people who produce this entertainment are showing their own morally bankrupt outlook and forcing it onto the story.

God Bless!

Fr. Carter