Elliot Kessler

Spider-Man: No Way Home was an incredible success. It breathed new life into the MCU and made $1 billion at the box office. It was an incredible movie that brought the childhood of three generations together in a fantastic way. So many people loved the film and it became an incredible success. But, for some people, the movie simply didn’t work. They thought the story was stupid and said that it was an excuse to bring back the Spider-Man villains and other Spider-Men from the previous movies so they could make bank off of everyone’s childhood. They don’t like it because they think it is a very bland story cloaked with nostalgia. So, do fans love No Way Home because it’s a great movie? Or do they only love it because of the nostalgia?

Before we begin, we have to talk about what nostalgia is and how it has been used in cinema. So, nostalgia is defined as a sentimental feeling for the past, particularly parts of the past that bring back personal, happy memories. Take, for instance, seeing your favorite wall-crawling superhero on screen for the first time. Especially for those who became huge fans and fell in love with the character, that memory is precious and valued. Remembering Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man battling the Green Goblin for the first time brings back happy memories from someone’s childhood. So does remembering Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man fighting the Lizard on top of Oscorp tower. These bring a sentimental feeling, a joy for the fond memory, and, sometimes, a longing to go back and experience those memories all over again. But nostalgia isn’t limited only to experiences in the cinema. One whiff of a specific smell and I’m back with my grandma and grandpa in their house in Louisiana. Any good memory that you have of something that you remember with longing or a sentimental feeling is nostalgic.

Now that we’ve defined what we mean by nostalgia, let’s see how it’s used in movies. Most modern movies use nostalgia as a marketing tool or a way to make themselves seem relevant. The studios are going, “Hey, you remember that cute animated movie we did about two dogs who fell in love? Well, we’re doing it again! It’ll be just like when you watched it for the first time as a kid.” This makes people want to experience the magic and joy of watching their favorite movie for the first time again. That’s why movie studios remake their old work. Sometimes studios remake or make sequels of classic films to remaster them or because they didn’t have the technology to do what they were trying to do back in the day (take Tron: Legacy for example), but it’s usually for the cash. I suppose studio CEOs really like to make it rain. The point is, nostalgia in films can take many different forms, whether it’s a reboot of a franchise, a remake or sequel to an old classic, a soft reboot of a franchise, or, in the case of No Way Home, bringing in the previous attempts at a beloved character and having them all meet by using the excuse of a multiverse. Could the multiverse in the MCU simply be an excuse to bring back characters from other Marvel films released before Iron Man? I don’t think so, but they are not shying away from milking it for all the nostalgia it’s worth.

So, there are some movies that handle nostalgia well, while there are others that don’t. Let’s look at two examples from the same franchise, and if you know me then you probably already know what it is: Star Wars. What’s a Star Wars property that handled nostalgia well? It’s the Disney Plus original series, The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is about a bounty hunter named Din Djarin who comes across a strange target, an alien baby, and becomes attached to it. After rescuing the child from the remnants of the Empire that hired him to capture it in the first place, he brings the child to its own kind, the Jedi, where he will be kept safe. (Although, if you’ve seen The Book of Boba Fett, then you know that didn’t last very long and Grogu is back with Din Djarin.) This show was an instant success and brought a lot of attention back to Star Wars. Fans loved it, casual viewers loved it, and the internet memers loved it. While the show is a standalone story all on its own, for us Star Wars fans who have read, watched, and played as much content as time allows us, it was a real treat. This show was full of references to the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and even a little bit of the sequel trilogy, as well as tie-ins to shows, books, and games. While the nostalgia and fan service were there and, sometimes, very prominent, it was not necessary to understand every little reference to follow the story, even if it did enhance the experience and, on one occasion, moved grown men to tears. There were a lot of characters, events, and objects like droids, ships, and weapons, that were essential to the plot and came from other shows or the movies, but you didn’t need to know who or what they were beforehand to enjoy the incredible story that is The Mandalorian.

The second example comes from Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. If you’re a Star Wars fan and have already read articles or watched videos on this movie, you probably see where I’m going with this. The movie right before Rise of Skywalker was a disaster. It completely derailed the trilogy’s story, threw a bunch of plot holes into its story, and completely ignored the previously established canon of Star Wars at times. It was a nightmare of a movie. So, to make up for it, Disney decided to put a lot of fan service in. Like, a lot of fan service. From planets to characters to events, all from different movies in the franchise, the plot stuck as much fan service into it as possible (except that they made the ancient Sith homeworld some new planet Exegol instead of Korraband, but whatever). But, just like in The Mandalorian, you didn’t need to watch every single movie or show prior to this film to understand what was going on. So, why did it work for The Mandalorian but not for Rise of Skywalker? Because Rise of Skywalker decided that since they had nostalgia they had already won the heart of all the fans and having a good story didn’t matter anymore. Every single lazy bit of writing in the movie is followed by “Hey you remember this from that other movie? Well, here it is again!” Take, for instance, Emperor Palpatine coming back to life. There might be an explanation getting retconned into the story’s continuity via the new shows and books, but it should have been in the movie to make it better. Anyways, at the beginning of the movie, we see Kylo Ren traveling to the ancient Sith planet Exegol, where he meats with papa Palps and asks him how he returned. What explanation are we given for this unforeseen twist of events? “The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.” Fantastic! That’s the line that old Sheev said in Revenge of the Sith. What does it actually mean? Who cares! Moving on. That’s why the nostalgia and fan service didn’t work for Rise of Skywalker. It was being used to cover up awful and lazy writing and Disney didn’t even care. As long as it was Star Wars and fans were willing to pay to see it, it had the thumbs up from the House of Mouse.

“Wait a minute,” I hear you say, “what does Star Wars have to do with Spider-Man?” Well, my friends, the point is that No Way Home relies heavily on nostalgia for its story. If you went into the movie not having seen the Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield movies, you probably were treated to a very generic, bland comic book movie with an over-reliance on CGI. However, if you grew up with the Maguire and Garfield movies and absolutely loved them, then you were treated to a beautiful, emotional, and tear-producing celebration of a character who has been in our hearts ever since he was printed onto a comic book… with an over-reliance on CGI. What I’m saying is that No Way Home only works well if you have seen all of the other Spider-Man movies and have seen the “Something of a scientist myself” meme. The movie is brilliant and moving and heartfelt unless you’ve only watched the MCU Spider-Man movies. There are a number of moments that would seem random and meaningless, such as Garfield’s Spider-Man crying after he catches MJ, but are actually heartbreaking moments that make all the over Spider-Man fans cry after watching them.