In a sentence, I'd sum it up as the end of the innocence, round one."įrey also came up with a story of a person who, fed up of driving a long distance in a desert, saw a place to rest and pulled in for the night. In that sense it became something of a symbol, and the 'Hotel' the locus of all that LA had come to mean for us. Beverly Hills was still a mythical place to us.
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He said of their personal and professional experience in LA: "We were getting an extensive education, in life, in love, in business. Henley chose the theme of the song, pointing out how The Beverly Hills Hotel had become a literal and symbolic focus of their lives at the time. In 2013, he added: "It's a song about a journey from innocence to experience."ĭon Henley and Glenn Frey wrote the lyrics. It's a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream, and about excess in America which was something we knew about." In 2007, Don Henley said: "I know, it's so boring. California is used as the song's setting, but it could relate to anywhere in America and beyond. In general, the song is about materialism and excess. The song was written for the band's 1976 album of the same name. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics). A song that is actually quite bleak and cynical is flipped upside-down, becoming a promise to viewers that Shang-Chi is sticking around in the MCU, and that he will have a lasting impact on the franchise.Don Felder came up with the instrumental demo.
"Hotel California" fits with Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings on several levels, but it is this final twist that truly makes it a satisfying song choice for the latest MCU blockbuster. Nor does he have any intention of trying to "check out" of this superhero lifestyle, instead welcoming it by bringing Wong into his old life for a karaoke session. This scene is about establishing Shang-Chi's place in the MCU's pantheon of superheroes, as he interacts with Wong, Bruce Banner, and Captain Marvel Bruce makes this explicit when he welcomes Shang-Chi to what he calls " the circus." Shang-Chi has now "checked in" to a new life, as a Marvel superhero, and he can never be the same again. Shang-Chi's post-credits scene throws a more positive spin on this, though, redeeming it.
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Shang-Chi has tried to "check out" of his family business, but he can never really be free of it. It parallels Shang-Chi's own journey, the loss of childhood innocence after his mother's death and his attempt to leave the Ten Rings behind him. As Don Henley explained when he wrote it, the song is about the loss of innocence and the cost of naiveté, and how someone who has checked in to the Hotel California can never truly leave. But the significance goes deeper than that, because - though Katy probably doesn't know it - the message of the song is pretty bleak.
His first experience of life in San Francisco was of a would-be bully interrupted by Katy singing, " Welcome to the Hotel California," which seems amusingly appropriate. It's appropriate that Katy sang it when she first met Shang-Chi (going by the name Shaun), because - though she didn't know it - he had just arrived on U.S. "Hotel California" works on multiple levels. Related: Every MCU Easter Egg In Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings The song even bookends the film, because it turns up in a karaoke session in Shang-Chi's mid-credits scene, when Katy and Shang-Chi take Wong out for a night on the town. This seems to be one of Katy's favorite songs, and she has a habit of panic-singing it in a dangerous situation in order to throw enemies off apparently she sang it when she first met Shang-Chi a decade ago. Shang-Chi lives up to this tradition in an amusing way, even incorporating a couple of karaoke scenes where Shang-Chi and his best friend Katy sing together, but it prominently features one particular song: "Hotel California," by the Eagles. The trend began with Iron Man, who loved ACDC, and it even became a plot point in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy movies - courtesy of Peter Quill's mix tapes. The MCU has a reputation for integrating popular culture into its blockbuster movies. The Eagles song "Hotel California" is a smarter fit for Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings than viewers may initially realize. Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.