The use of Microsoft’s Zune in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 provided a good chuckle, but it was also used to convey a deeper message about the special bond between a father and son. The mix-tapes that Meredith Quill made of her favorite songs and gave to her son, Peter, before she died in the Guardians of the Galaxy were the most precious things in the world to him. In the sequel, Peter learned that his biological father, Ego the Living Planet, implanted a brain tumor in Meredith’s head to remove any temptation of returning to Earth to be with her — because it would’ve endangered his immortality and Expansion plan. After Ego divulged that heartbreaking info, Peter became upset and blasted his father full of holes. An infuriated Ego took out his rage by squishing Peter’s Sony Walkman, along with one of the mix-tapes inside of the portable audio cassette player.
During the climactic finale, thinking of the Walkman’s destruction and taking Yondu’s advice to heart, Peter tapped into his Celestial powers and pulverized Ego, distracting the “little g” long enough for Baby Groot to set the bomb and his friends to get to safety. Once Ego was destroyed, Peter lost his Celestial abilities, but Yondu swooped in and sacrificed his life to save his foster son. In that tear-jerking moment, Peter realized Yondu is the “cool” father he always wanted and that love, not blood, makes family.
Related: How Yondu’s Death Impacted Kraglin
Up until his death, Yondu wasn’t good at expressing the love he felt toward Peter. He often said he only kept the earthling around because his small size made him “good for thievin’.” During his funeral, we got one last look at Yondu’s softer side as Kraglin handed Peter a Zune and explained that it was a gift that Peter’s blue-skinned father got for his music-loving son but never got around to giving him. In the following scene, Peter sits down and plays Microsoft’s inferior Apple iPod alternative. Baby Groot crawls up beside him, and they listen to Cat Stevens’s “Father and Son.”
As part of the film’s Blu-ray release, director/screenwriter James Gunn explains in the featurette above the importance of the song choice and the Zune:
“It's a song about a father's love and words of wisdom to his son, and it's about Yondu and [Peter] Quill. If the mixed tapes of Meredith Quill were her way of communicating with her son, the music on the Zune is Yondu's way of communicating with his son.”
During a Facebook Live Q&A back in May, Gunn elaborated:
“We see Peter Quill looking down at Baby Groot; we see a father's love for his son. And it is a very unselfish moment on the part of Peter Quill. A moment that was completely about him and his relationship to his father now becomes about his son and passing it on to the next generation and being a part of that. And that's why that moment is so important to me in the movie and why it is so important to the development of Peter Quill."
Now that Peter has a Zune, which can store up to 300 songs and was first released in 2006, Gunn has a lot more freedom to fill out the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 soundtrack with a mix of modern and classic songs. While we aren’t sure what the playlist will include, we do know that it will be influenced by Yondu. And if Gunn is in need of any suggestions, we took the time to offer up some.
Next: What Songs Should Be On Awesome Mix Vol. 3?
Source: Disney, Facebook
