Even though James Gunn has literally spelled it out on social media, one of the most obvious references in the various trailers and TV spots for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 keeps going over too many heads.
Film snobbery is never something to be encouraged, but it’s worth noting that pearls have been clutched on more than one occasion after the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s blatant homage to Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey was misinterpreted as something else entirely.
Anyone that’s seen the existential great is fully aware that’s what the filmmaker was paying tribute to, but it isn’t an unforgivable sin if you haven’t seen it, despite what the saltier side of Film Twitter likes to hammer over many a head. And yet, we can now add Pac-Man into the mix, after Vol. 3‘s candy-colored nod towards one of the finest features in the history of cinema was misconstrued yet again.
We’ll get there eventually, but at least Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is generating brand new conversations among the MCU-supporting faithful, away from speculative theories and potential deaths of major characters. It’s perfectly okay to have a greater knowledge of something like Pac-Man or Among Us at the expense of 2001: A Space Odyssey, especially when the latter was released in 1968.
Just because a certain project is deemed as one of the greats – which is very much is – it doesn’t mean you need to actively go out of your way to track it down, never mind the fact you get the distinct feeling Kubrick would be firmly in the Martin Scorsese camp when it comes to his thoughts on the sprawling superhero saga.