Episode 20 — “Amazing Spider-Man . . . Or Not?”

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4 responses to “Episode 20 — “Amazing Spider-Man . . . Or Not?””

1. 

   Hank Harwell

   July 12, 2012

   A good friend of mine, the Rev. Derek White (aka the GeekPreacher), wrote an excellent blog post on the ‘mainstreaming’ of geek culture, and applied his thoughts to The Amazing Spider-Man. I think he may have something: http://geekpreacher.org/religion/geeks-christians-and-pop-culture/

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   1. 

      Ben

      July 12, 2012

      He’s got some good points, but I don’t agree with his assessment of the loss of the “great power” line. I think that they were trying to distance themselves from the line, because it is such a big part of the lore — enough that it has become a bit cliche. Also, when we see him not acting responsibly, that’s a part of the growth of the character. We see him move from being selfish to being a bit more selfless. The line does appear in the subtext of the story.

      However, the idea of the message losing power as it moves into the mainstream is a very interesting one. And using early christianity as an example works. One thing I would add to that is that as things become mainstream, two results occur: 1. As mentioned, it loses power; 2. People become distrustful of things as they move into mainstream.

      Finally, I was listening to the Are You Just Watching podcast’s review of Spider-Man and they pointed out something very interesting that i missed in my viewing of the movie: the line that Uncle Ben gives Peter instead of the “great power” line — the line that Steve and I mocked in the podcast because it’s not nearly as streamlined — said something like “if you can help good people, you are morally obligated to do so”. The part I didn’t notice was the “good people” thing. As soon as I can find the exact wording of the quote, I plan to write about that, if that’s what he said.

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2. 

   Don Ensign

   August 3, 2012

   Just saw the Spider-Man movie a couple of nights ago. I was the only one in the theatre. I also wondered where J. Jonah Jameson was. Without him it seems as if something was missing.
   It seems as if they got the Gwen Stacy character right. She was the level-headed, nice Peter Parker girl friend (bring-her-home-to-Mom girl). I imagine Marvel somewhere along the ling did a What If story about Gwen surviving and marrying Peter.
   I agree the characters didn’t seem like high schoolers. Too mature. Good to see that Flash Thompson changed toward the end. Sally Fields grew on me through the movie as Aunt May. The Flying Nun as Aunt May–who would have thought it.
   I see the changes in the origin mythos as a variant re-telling of the beginning tale. Maybe this is a parallel universe re-telling. The movies really are almost a parallel universe from the comic books.
   Overall I enjoyed the movie.
   Oh, yes, the Green Lantern movie was not that bad!! It was actually pretty good. Dagnabit!

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   1. 

      Ben

      August 8, 2012

      Your idea of the movies being a parallel universe is something that has to be embraced to enjoy the movies. It is great when movies can really GET what the comic characters are about, but on the canvas of the silver screen you have to paint with different brush strokes. If it is done well, the changes aren’t a big deal, so long as they capture the tone of the stories and the heart of the character.

      For example: organic web-shooters? Who cares, so long as the tone and heart are there. (And to me, in Raimi’s movies, the tone and heart WERE there.)

      As for Green Lantern, I’m willing to give it another chance after a while . . . unlike Catwoman . . . I’ve heard the “uncut” or “director’s cut” version is a better version. But like too many superhero movies, it committed the sin of gluttony: it tried to have TOO much at one time.

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