Movie Spider-Man - Essay Example

Topic: A Critical Review of the Movie Spider-Man I. Introduction Spider-Man is surprisingly a movie that managed to explore several different themes. The movie had the first impression that it was merely based on the comic book designed specially for children who are fascinated with the web-crawling antics of the unlikely hero of a teenager and the colourful suit that every kid on the block liked to have. While it maintained the pace of an action movie, it focused mainly on the human nature such as love, hate, rage, revenge, greed, sacrifice, insanity, success, etc. The movie is quite impressive but according to one review, it isn't subtle on how it deals with its main themes (johnleemk,2007) thereby presenting it as a movie not for children's delight but for matured people who are sensible enough to the messages the movie wanted to convey. There are intriguing questions to argue with. First, is the scenario where Peter Parker, the main character played by Toby Maguire, allowed a criminal to escape carrying loads of cash in return to the bitterness that his prize money was not awarded to him when he won in the wrestling match. Is it morally advisable to let a criminal escape' Realising afterwards that the criminal who escaped was the same person who happened to kill his uncle, a great remorse hounded Peter until the third instalment of Spider-Man was released. What if his uncle spared the death' Would the situation be reversed' Would he finally think that it's alright to let the criminal go' Next, Peter's strange powers because of the bug-biting scene made his nerdy personality made him even more shut from the world and he had more reasons to hide his identity. Perhaps that is one reason why some people misunderstood him. But Maguire was able to furnish his character until the end with the innocent face that captured the hearts of its viewers especially mothers and young girls. II. Brief Summary of the Movie A marvel counterpart to DC's Superman is Spider-Man. In real life, Spider-Man is Peter Parker, who is a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. (Anderson, Howard, 1997, p.104) Spider-Man is a story of a not-so-nerdy teenager who happens to snatch the admiration of his best friend Harry (portrayed by James Franco) because of Science quiz bee champ personality. He was the kind of a guy who's being bullied in school and couldn't confess his love for Mary Jane who from the start of the movie has already captured the heart of the young hero. His life is an ordinary school guy who has been orphaned by his aunt and uncle in a suburban housing project. He met his luck on a laboratory runaway when a radioactive spider bit him. (IMDB, 2002) Then, no one could ever imagine how his life changed. He gained his confidence, willing to woo to his dearest one whom he loved since he was six. The girl, MJ was just living next door. It took him years for him to be able to find chance to display his affection by beating the bullies which happen to be one of them is the boyfriend of MJ. The physical changes such as clear eyesight and bigger physique, the ability to crawl on walls and jump over buildings do not change him mentally and emotionally. Peter acquired a superhuman strength and super-fast reflexes, and he developed a precognitive sense that warned him of approaching danger. (Hammer2Fall, cited in IMDB, 2002). Peter realised that with such powers he can win MJ so he used it to make money. But after his uncle is killed, Peter promised to stop the criminals that killed his uncle. Later on, he devised a suit to continue chasing after evildoers by using his powers. But the domination of good over bad didn't last long. An eccentric millionaire Norman Osborn administered a performance enhancing drug on himself and his maniacal alter ego Green Goblin emerged. The twist emerged when Peter was unaware that Goblin is Norman Osborn, portrayed by Willem Dafoe, the father of his best friend, Harry. Here, Peter faces a dilemma. Peter must now juggle three things in his life: his new job at a local newspaper under a perpetually on-edge employer, his battle against the evil Green Goblin, and his fight to win the affections of MJ, against none other than his best friend Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn whom at the start favoured Peter for his diligence in his studies and for his winning in numerous science quests. All along Peter lead a normal life, as a student, as a photographer at the Daily Bugle under the tutelage of publisher J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), pining after the beautiful MJ (Kirsten Dunst) and hanging out with buddy Harry Osborn (James Franco). But when his life changed transforming him to a superhero, the war begins between Green Goblin and Spider-Man. Worse when the Goblin discovered the guy under the mask of Spider-Man. Equipped with the inspiring words of his uncle: "With great power, comes great responsibility." Peter takes this to heart and decides to us his extraordinary powers to fight those against his way. Especially Mary Jane, whom he thinks is the purpose of his living, Peter surpassed his more than hero ability by saving MJ and some people the Goblin used as hostage. III. Analysis Marvel Comics' presentation of Spider-Man was crafted for teenagers. Peter Parker, a Senior high school student was plagued by remorse, obsession, and self-doubt. It is ironic for the director Sam Raimi to put the film on frame for the children. But he was able to make the movie a blockbuster since it offers several kinetic and exciting chase scenes which for all we know are mostly computer-generated. But for Toby Maguire as Peter Parker, he is good enough for the role but not as Spider-Man. It is noticeable the Spider-Man in suit has a greater physique and a taller guy who is far opposed to the personality of Maguire. The movie was tailored-fit to suit the teenagers, unlike the comic book which is originally intended for young readers. Based on the critic of Anderson and Howard (1997, pp.104-105), Spider-Man is the obvious counterpart of Marvel Comics to DC's Superman. He also wears red and blue suit, colours associated with the American Flag and ideals of national patriotism. However, the Marvel Universe in New York has a darker side than that of the Metropolis in DC Comics. In contrast, Spider-Man has limited powers while Superman has almost gotten all the powers. Spider-Man crawls and jumps from building to buildings of New York. Though he is strong enough to save people at the same time, his power deficiencies would still make him unable to save more human lives. What if there were no buildings in New York' What if he is not from New York, assuming he lives on a vast plain, where would he cast his web' Such limitations were overlooked by the writer and Sam Raimi, the director of Spider-Man. What the movie focused on is the emotionally-stricken scenes that would stir the drama in a real life. This movie made Peter Parker as an obsessed character hounded by his deep affection for a girl that seem to have cause his turmoil, confusion and self-identity. The opening narrative movie says, "Who am I'" At the start of it, it is pretty evident that the personality of the character is based on what he is going to discover in the next scenes. Peter Parker is running down the street of Queens, New York chasing a bus which he has missed and the bus driver will not stop for him. The students are laughing at the situation finally Mary Jane Watson tells the bus driver to stop for him. Here, Peter is shown as the helpless nerd who is highly obsessed to get a glimpse of his love interest. (BookRags, 2006). It is quite predictable that if Parker had not become Spider-Man, he would have been a great failure. The movie is showing that to be able to finally discover oneself, there must be a miracle or a sort of an instance to be able to realize your place on earth or to be able to understand your existence. The marginally troubled love interest in Mary Jane Watson has not resolved her issue. In some way or the other, MJ played as the user type looking for rich boyfriend aiming for a ludicrous dream, that is, to become a stage actress, perhaps in desperation to escape from reality that she has a broken family. If not for the heroic schemes of Spider-Man letting her feel that he is Peter under the mask, MJ would not realize how important friends are and relationships. In marginal perspective, Harry Osborne displays the same dilemma in character build up. The younger Osborn also focused on his jealousy on Parker over MJ and on Parker again over his father. He seemed to feel at the beginning that his father has favoured Peter for his feats in school, which, him as a total opposite of Peter. So, the story goes when the character have met their opportunity to bring on their issues in life. The concept of structuralism is quite evident here. As the characters, the setting, the plot and the theme, and the language are well organized so as to create a well-crafted narrative. For example, it is fittingly normal to say for Spider-Man in mask "I was in the neighbourhood' mentioned several times when he saved MJ from the men chasing her, when he caught sight of her on a road offering her a cheap lunch, and when he saved MJ once more from the explosion initiated by the Goblin. In this case, the character rebuilt as one who is so shy to reveal his identity but quite brave to give a little sense of who he is. IV. Summary/Conclusion Spider-Man focuses on a superhero who hasn't fully realized his complete potential. But what pushes this game to the top is the ability to play against his arch-enemy, the Green Goblin, to save and win MJ's heart, to save his aunt and relive the lost the downgrading friendship between him and Harry. As a whole, the audio-visual working of this movie is highly appraisable. The jumping and dexterous works of the hero is undoubtedly a well-designed and well thought by the artists. Really, Spider-Man wouldn't be amazing as he could be if not for the graphical manipulation of the graphic editors. The setting or the place of the story would not have been so convincing if the director fail to produce a most suitable locations for each of the characters. The reason perhaps this movie become a blockbuster despite of its frailties (Farlex, 2009) in some areas, the total package is well done. Main Characters: Tobey Maguire ... Spider-Man / Peter Parker Willem Dafoe ... Green Goblin / Norman Osborn Kirsten Dunst ... Mary Jane Watson James Franco ... Harry Osborn Cliff Robertson ... Ben Parker Rosemary Harris ... May Parker J.K. Simmons ... J. Jonah Jameson Directed by: Sam Raimi Filming Production: Columbia Pictures Corporation Bibliography: Analysis of "Spiderman" from BookRags Student Essays. '2000-2006 by BookRags, Inc. Available at: http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm'harvard_id=6#6 [Accessed 18 February 2009]. Anderson, S, Howard G., 1997. Interrogating Popular Culture: Deviance, Justice, and Social Order. Illustrated Edition. Criminal Justice Press. Barker, R. Kirk, J. & Munday, R.J., 1988. Narrative analysis. 3rd ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Branston G., Strafford R. The Media Student's Book 3rd Edition, 2003. London: Routledge. Chicago Reader, Guide to Arts and Entertainment. Spider-Man by Capsule by J.R. Jones. Available at: http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/21835_SPIDERMAN_SPIDER_MAN [Accessed 19 February 2009]. IMDB The Internet Movie Database. Spider-Man 2002. (Copyright ' 1990-2009) Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145487/plotsummary [Accessed 18 February 2009]. Infernal Ramblings. Spiderman and Literary Analysis by johnleemk May 2, 2007. Available at: http://www.infernalramblings.com/articles/Entertainment/349/ [Accessed 19 February 2009]. The Free Dictionary by Farlex. Definition of Frailty. Available at: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/frailty [Accessed 19 February 2009] Read More