So, I recently saw
Spider-Man 2 (from the original series) on television and, I've got to say, compared to the
Amazing Spider-Man, it was kind of disappointing. And I'm not saying that just because Tobey Maguire is short and says things like 'gee' (although, don't get me wrong, that is a problem). Actually, I was really bothered by Mary Jane's portrayal in the movie, and, actually, in all of the other original Spider-Man movies.
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| Just waiting to be saved |
It's not just that her hair is obviously dyed and she has horrible taste in blouses, she's just such a flat character. I mean, really, a howler monkey could play her part. All she does is stand around and scream and wait to be rescued. Not to mention that, in
Spider-Man 2, she gets engaged essentially just to spite Peter Parker and ends up leaving her fiancee at the altar. Obviously, she's not a terribly encouraging character from a feminist perspective. Take the third movie, it's been a while since I've seen it, but, as I remember it, the finale fight had no greater objective than saving Mary Jane from the cab of doom. Now, from my perspective, that's not a terribly good reason for Harry Osbourne to die and for a building to be destoryed in the heart of New York City. Just saying, but Mary Jane is not the most important person in the universe and, if she just used her brain a little bit, maybe she could figure out how to get out of these situations by herself. Then she wouldn't
have to be saved.
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| Lab coat and everything - impressive |
Compare that with Gwen Stacy's portrayal in
The Amazing Spider-Man. No one is saving her. People even try to save her, and she's just like, "no thanks guys, I'll handle this". Now that's an empowering female lead. Like, I'm not sure if anyone realizes this, but Gwen Stacy actually saved the day in
The Amazing Spider-Man. She was the one who made the anti-lizard potion thing. You ask Mary Jane to make an anti-lizard potion and you get a vacant expression. Actually, I would argue that there's a good chance that Gwen Stacy is actually smarter than Spider-Man. Besides being top of her class, she's interns at a major research facility with top scientists while still in high school, whereas Spider-Man chooses to spend his free time skateboarding.
Not to mention that, when the lizard man was terrorizing the townspeople, Gwen stayed in Oscorp Tower (even after Spider-Man told her to leave) and made sure that everyone was evacuated safely. She even tried to protect the ganali device from the lizard man. She wasn't successful but, come on, he's a giant mutant
lizard; you can't blame her for that. Speaking of giant, lizard men, who was it who hit the mutant over the head with a trophy when he attacked the high school? Oh right, that was Gwen Stacy. If Mary Jane had been standing there with an AK-47, she couldn't have been half as effective. Why? Because apparently her character can't lift a finger to save her own life or the lives of the people she cares about.
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| I wouldn't mess with her |
So, obviously, Gwen is a big step up from Mary Jane as a character. The disturbing thing is that
Spider-Man 2 came out in 2004. That was less than ten years ago and Mary Jane could barely tie her own shoes. For all the talk about how far the feminist movement has come, it doesn't look like much ground has been gained in movies. What's worse is that female characters are still being portrayed this way in a ton of movies (cough, cough
Twilight). The Marvel Comics movies, however, are a bright spot. I love the Marvel Comics movies (hint, hint go see
Iron Man 3, it was really good), and, usually they're pretty good about giving their female characters strong personalities. I mean, you've got Pepper in the
Iron Man movies, who is a brilliant scientist and CEO of Stark Industries; Natasha in
The Avengers, who beats everyone up; and, in
Thor, you've got Jane, who is an astrophysicist.
You don't see Mary Jane doing whatever it is that astrophysicists do. (I think it has something to do with physics but hey, who knows - I'm a liberal arts person.)
Just sayin'
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