Spider-Man and the Importance of Long-Term Consequences

A post by P.T. Phronk,
of Forest City Pulp fame

I just watched Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it got me thinking about the importance of long-term consequences in storytelling—and also about the chupacabra, mythical goat sucker.

I'll avoid major spoilers for the latest Spider-Man movie aside from what's now plastered on every poster and description, but if you're sensitive to that sort of thing, then it'll be best to stop reading now.

 

What the movie does shockingly well is form a cohesive narrative out of an unwieldly number of characters and events from various related stories. I think its success highlights how much people love it when one story affects another story, which affects future stories, and so on. In other words, long-term consequences make for better storytelling. 

The longer the investment, the more satisfying it can be. Spider-Man slings in threads from the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is now 14 years old. Then it weaves in elements from other stories that are up to 20 years old. The little spark of recognition from the continuation of movies we saw in a theatre (remember them?) as literal children is a bit of cinematic magic, but there's also the sense that what we're seeing on screen now could affect other stories 20 years from now. That continuity gives weight to everything that happens, as long as what's happening stands on its own as a good story.

 

It's less satisfying if the bits of old stories are just passing references, with no consequences of their own. Take Ready Player One as an example. We get the same hit of recognition from all the childhood 80s references, but it's like empty calories—the things we recognize flow right through us. Seeing a Delorean doesn't mean there are wider consequences for the Back to the Future Cinematic Universe. Maybe recognition alone is still enough for some, but I had to use Google to recall any references in Ready Player One, and never bothered with the novel's sequel.

The chupacabra: myth or reality?

This applies to writing a book, too. Not every writer can have their own cinematic universe, Dark Tower multiverse, or even a sequel, but if something comes up in the first paragraph, you better make people happy by giving that thing consequences later on. The latest Spider-Man shows that it doesn't even have to be planned to be effective. I'm sure every writer can relate with the strange magic of finding the perfect place in the plot for some character or detail that they cannot recall the purpose of writing in earlier, sloppy as it may feel at the time. If soulless Sony executives can throw characters from 20 years ago into a modern movie for critical acclaim and 2 billion dollars, you can make it work too.

 

So what does this all have to do with the chupacabra? Absolutely nothing! I put that in the first paragraph with no idea where I was going with it, and now you can see how deeply unsatisfying it for something early in a story to have no consequences. Learn from my mistake. Do better.