Spider-Man Embodies The Tremendous Expectations Faced by Young People in the 21st Century

We can't exactly blame Peter Parker for wanting to go on a school trip to Europe with his friends and spend time with his crush rather than save the world—he's sixteen, and best of all, he's more preoccupied with his personal life than the fame and prestige that his Avenger status grants him. That's what makes him so endearing and genuine. His goal isn't to live up to the savior expectations that the world holds for him. It's to finish what he started first, and that's being a teenager and going to high school. If he can't even find his own sense of identity through the biggest developmental period of his life, he's going to have a hard time saving the world and filling in Tony Stark's shoes.

But the new Gen-Z rising to adulthood in the next few years have probably faced similar struggles; those about to enter the modern workforce need to be prepared for fierce competition and high expectations. Establishing a career is becoming harder than ever. Like Peter, they have a lot to live up to. Their biggest "Tony Stark" may not be companies, though, but themselves.

Gen Z is being called the loneliest and most stressed generation, and for good reason; we have better education and technology (more on that below), but we're also more anxious and ambitious than ever. Unlike Peter, our generation prioritizes success and productivity over our mental health. We don't give ourselves the slack to be our age. Can you blame us? We have bigger savior complexes than Spider-Man—for ourselves, our families and our futures. Gen Z is obsessed with changing the world, because in part, that's what we need to do to survive now. Good grades aren't nearly enough anymore; we need to prove that we're unique, we're special, and we can make a difference—more than the next guy/girl interviewing for the same job, anyways.

Spidey's Young Fame and Power Dilemma Touches on Similar Issues With Hollywood's Youth

Not all child actors turn out like Macaulay Culkin. But it's still a tough future for young stars who make it big too early.

If the expectations of an average workplace without any public spotlights were too high for a teenager, it's ten times more intense for kids in Hollywood. Famous young actors and celebrities often don't get the same chance to grow up and develop their own identities in a healthy, so-called "normal" environment without a constant audience. Imagine being a household name or the face of brand _____ by the age you're supposed to start puberty and get your driver's license. Big-name child actors (currently trending Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things, or iconic Harry Potter star Emma Watson) can probably relate hardcore to Peter Parker's post-Endgame (and more importantly, Tony Stark-less) struggle. With his mentor and father figure gone, and now (SPOILER ALERT) his identity revealed to the world, Peter has a long, very public career ahead of him. It's almost a direct parallel to that of a child Hollywood star—who may rightly be called the "heroes" of our generation. We don't need a Captain America for our PSA's and ads; we have Tom Holland and Zendaya, who are probably just as effective for Gen Z target consumers.

Technology is the Superpower of the 21st Century 

If you felt any Black Mirror vibes throughout this movie, you're not the only one. Far From Home explored technology in more ways than one, and it wasn't limited to just AI and drones. We see it in how Peter finds his way back to his friends, his close-call killer drone mishap with his rival Brad, and most importantly, the backstory of the villains (SPOILER ALERT). Potential warnings and messages about technology are everywhere.

While the film draws most of its attention to the high-level technology of Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio and his motley crew of dissatisfied ex-Stark employees, there are more subtle but familiar odes to tech-themes like social media and cyberbullying. Thirteen Reasons Why reminded us of the common trope of a school nemesis spreading around a humiliating photo, like Brad tried to do with Peter. And it's ironically hilarious that Flash Thompson's Instagram story helps Peter find his friends in London.

Technology is used by both the villains and heroes in this movie, and it doesn't shy away from the popular theme found in shows like Black Mirror. There's a ring of "The National Anthem" (S1, E1), arguably one of BM's darkest episodes, when Mysterio makes his final speech to Peter: "People need to believe. And nowadays, they'll believe anything." Through the literal and metaphorical use of illusions, FFH's villain depicts a chilling but all-too-real scenario of technology's power on today's society. It's a world only Gen Z may fully understand, because we've been fully entrenched in it since childhood. As Mysterio says, those who control the technology may certainly "control the truth."

And of course we can't forget about the use of artificial intelligence, a huge trending topic in modern technology. EDITH isn't the first introduction to AR technology in the MCU, but it's the only one entrusted to a sixteen-year-old boy. We see the disastrous consequences of this, but is it that far off from reality? A few decades ago, parents may not have dreamed about handing that much money and power to a teenager. Now there are second-graders with their own iPads. Our smartphones won't bring on killer drones to kill your enemies (although that might have been handy for some of us in middle school), but they still create a network as powerful and maybe even more influential than that of EDITH. And this power isn't just in the hands of one teenager—it's in millions. Kids are already familiar with Siri or Alexa; who knows how long it'll be before advanced AR technology is available to all of them, not just Peter Parker?