Studenty's Tom Crowley takes an alternative take on The Amazing Spiderman.
What is all this consternation about The Amazing Spiderman. So it's a re-boot and it may have been, as some people will claim, only produce because of contractual obligations with Marvel and the film studios. But so what? Does it make it a terrible film? Absolutely not, in fact it's quite the opposite. It's never too soon for a re-boot of a comic book franchise, as long as it improves on previous cinematic efforts, which The Amazing Spiderman does on many different levels. All due respect to Sam Raimi's vision, Spiderman (2002) and Spiderman 2 (2004) where both very entertaining films. However they were a little light on character development. His version of the story played out like a comic book, it was all very colourful, and well, cheesy. The Amazing Spiderman is darker and grittier, and it's definitely a shift in gears from the absolutely horrendous Spiderman 3 (2007).
Helming The Amazing Spiderman is the ironically named Marc Webb. His only previous cinematic outing being the critically acclaimed, 'indie' (and I use that term loosely) Rom-Com (500) Days of Summer (2009) starring the charming Joseph Gordon Levitt and the alluring Zooey Deschanel. Marc Webb's treatment of genre was a definite reason why he got the job of directing The Amazing Spiderman. Essentially (500) Days of Summer is a conventional Rom-Com but Webb's assured directing aided to mask this fact, on account of his filmmaking style the film was slapped with the indie label, some may even call it 'quirky'. Webb managed to blend romance, comedy, drama and tragedy very skilfully. For The Amazing Spiderman all he needs is the added ingredient of action.
After all the film has too fantastic leads in Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Their on-screen chemistry is undeniable, on a par with, if not exceeding that of Levitt and Deschanel. The romance side of the original Spiderman is all a bit messy. Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) is such a passive and unlikeable character; all she essentially does in the first half of the film is get kissed by her jock boyfriend and feel sorry for herself because she comes from a broken family. In the second half she starts dating Peter Parker's best friend Harry Osborne (James Franco); importantly she falls in love with Spiderman, not Peter Parker and feels sorry for herself because she can't make it as an actress in New York. She is a feminists nightmare. One wonders what Peter Parker's attraction to her was in the first place other than adolescence and puppy love.
The Amazing Spiderman reverts back to the comic books original love interest Gwen Stacey. Stacey and Parker are akin, as they are both physically, emotionally and intellectually attracted to each other. It is clear from Webb's direction of their scenes together that this is where he is at his most comfortable. Gwen Stacey is a much stronger and smarter heroine and is firmly a part of the plot, not just an observer and an object of all male attention. It fact it is the introverted Parker, played brilliantly by Garfield, that it's the subject of her attention. She is the one who takes the initiative and drives their relationship forward. However see doesn't see him as a symbol of awe and lust like Mary-Jane, but instead sees him as a figure of rebellion, perhaps against her conservative father George (Denis Leary). She gets involved with the villain in this film, The Lizard (Rhys Ifans), but only because she is always at Spiderman's aid. This is testament to the blurring of gender roles in cinema since the first Spiderman adaptation in 2002. In (500) Days of Summer it is Tom (Levitt) who is vulnerable. Vulnerable because of Summer's (Deschanel) polygamist philosophy when it comes to relationships. Since Spiderman, female character have become more empowered and male character's have lost there dominance. In cinema, masculinity has become vulnerable in general; the best example of this in recent times is in The Departed (2006).
Thematically The Departed and The Amazing Spiderman have a lot in common. One of the main themes in both films is the search for identity by its protagonist. Peter Parker's parents left when he was a young boy under mysterious circumstances. As a result of this traumatic experience Parker is left with something missing, a void he is endlessly trying to fill. Peter Parker has four patriarchs he must contend with in the narrative, his absent father, his Uncle Ben (Matin Sheen), the Chief of Police, George Stacey, and Dr. Curt Commons, the villain of the piece and former best friend of the absent father. Peter Parker tries to please all of these figures and ultimately ends up in conflict with them at various points in the plot. The faith of all these patriarchs is bleak, two die and one is imprisoned. At the end of the film Parker is left without any father figure and the audience is left with a cliff-hanger. It is clear that this franchise will look deeper into the character of Peter Parker rather than simply showcasing Spider-Man on the big screen.
Billy Costigan displays his psychological vulernablilty to Psycharist Madolyn:
At the beginning of this clip the bumbling Colin Sullivan tries to make excuses to his surrogate father Frank Costello, the further exchange between Madolyn and Sullivan is more relivant when watch in the context of the whole film as it points further toward's Sullivan's sexual impotence:
Gwen Stacey attempts to save the day as Spiderman is left helpless unable to get to her in time:
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
http://cork.studenty.me/2012/07/18/the-amazing-spiderman-masculine-vulnerablilty-in-the-re-boot-of-the-spiderman-franchise/
