Spider-Man Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man

Or What To Do If The Story You Want To Tell Has Already Been Told.

    

They shared the same suit. They shared a production company, and a studio. They even share a plot. In both tellings, Peter Parker gets bit by a radioactive spider. Uncle Ben dies in both. Parker fights a bad guy and saves the world and a pretty girl both times.

It sounds as if you've seen one (and who hasn't seen the 2002 version), why go see the other?

I'll tell you why. The Amazing Spider-Man is better.

Don't get me wrong. Sam Raimi's version is fun, and awesome, and CGI-riffic. But, something always bugged me about the 2002 version of Spider-Man, that I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw the movie done right. 

That's just my opinion. You can see for yourself in this side by side(ish) comparison.

Peter Parker

Andrew Garfield

vs.

That guy you saw at a supermarket once and couldn't decide if he was
 cute, or maybe related to you, or you met him once at creepy navel gazers anonymous.*

  

In the 2002 version, Peter Parker is a nerdy, shy, bullied kid, who accidentally gets bitten by a spider and develops super powers.

In the Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker is a smart, hurting, outsider whose active search into his fallen father's scientific research on genetically altered spiders (say that five times fast) results in a spider bite. 

Active vs. passive characters. Yay!

The main strength of The Amazing Spider-Man, is the depth of the characters. So, when you want to tell a story that has already been told before, give the characters truth. Show us that they lived before the story starts, give them hobbies, skills, reputations, goals, love interests, shame, fears, and by all that is holy make them hot. 

Let your characters lead the story actively. Make the inciting incident happen because they made a choice, not because of random chance. Random things happen, but interesting people make random things happen. 

Gwen Stacey vs. Mary-Jane Watson

Fans of the comic will know that the Mary Jane  vs. Gwen Stacey is like...a thing. I-just-watched-the-movie people, like myself, may just be confused as to who this blonde girl is, but let me tell you; Gwen Stacey kicks Mary-Jane in the hiney.

Mary-Jane is a beautiful redhead who kind of likes Spidey, and wants to be an actress. She comes from a troubled home, and constantly needs saving. She is, IMO, more of a plot device than a character.

Gwen Stacey, on the other web-shooting hand, is smarter than Peter, beautiful enough for the elite of the school to respect her, but weird enough to be excluded. She is strong, kind, brave, and willful. She is so awesome, that Peter Parker had to get super powers in order to become equal to her. Basically, in all ways, she wins. Which breaks my heart, because I like her so much, I've looked into her story-line, so I know how this love story is going to end.

(giddy evil giggling)

Ahem. What I like is that she's a real person, and not written as a cartoon. 

So, if you're telling a story that has been told before, why not change up the love story? Romeo and Juliette's Age-Appropriate Cousin, might make for a fun option. Instead of killing the witch, Hansel and Gretel could bring the witch home to marry their father. Feel free to take liberties, and change things up. Even though you are telling a story that has been told before, that doesn't mean you can't let the story live.

Moment of Reveal

In the 2002 version of Spider-Man, Peter Parker falls asleep and wakes up wondering why his glasses aren't working, then takes his glasses off and checks out how buff he is in the mirror. Look, Sam Raimi points out, he's changed.

In the Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker falls asleep on a bus, and a drop of water falls on his nose. Chaos ensues. The moment of reveal is panicked, and violent, and awe dropping. Mark Webb (who also directed 500 days of Summer) shows what it would be like to go from normal to super power, in an instant, while keeping pathos, and attention, focused on the character's experience.

Lesson to be learned; if you ever have a character looking into a mirror and wondering about how much they've changed, then you are approaching the character from the outside, and your characters are probably a bit too shallow. 

One of the beautiful things about retelling a story, is that you can make a character that readers already love, and turn it into a real person. You get to turn a daydream character, into a friend, into an experience. How awesome is that?

In conclusion

At the end of the movie, Peter Parker walks into his English class, and his teacher says the following, (this isn't a direct quote, just from my memory, so I apologize for any errors), "In college, my Literature Professor told us that there were only ten plots, each retold over and over again, but I think he's wrong. I don't think there are only ten plots, I think there's only one; Who am I?"

I love that. What I want you to get from this post, is not matter how many times a story like yours has been told before, no matter how many cliches, or old tropes, or whatever, it's never been told by YOU before. Focus on the characters, focus on the experience, put yourself onto the page, and it'll work out.

Oh, and also, rent this movie. I enjoyed it as much as I would have if it were a book.

And that's saying something.

~Sheena

* Meetings every Wednesday at your local Starbucks.

Heroes!

Before I get into my rant, I need to tell you a little something about my husband. He doesn't watch TV. He doesn't watch many movies. He doesn't even read much, with a few non-fiction exceptions. He's very happy inside his own head, which is a completely foreign concept to me. Inside my head is a dangerous place, but that's a topic for another day.  

At the end of a long day, sometimes all I want to do is turn on the television and cuddle up with that man on the couch. It doesn't happen. And curling up on the couch all alone is a lot less fun when I can hear him in the kitchen doing the dishes I ought to be helping with. So I do most of my television viewing while he's not around.

Up until recently, though, there was one show I could count on having him watch with me. It was The Event, which we watched at the infinitesimally slow rate of about one episode every two months, but at least we were watching it together (except that one night last year when he watched one without me, which just about knocked my socks off!)

I'm not certain what it was about The Event that got his attention--the fast paced action? The jig-saw puzzle quality of the story-telling? But I can tell you exactly why we stopped watching it. I'll try to do it without too many spoilers, just in case.

Shawn Walker

There's a guy in the show. His name is Shawn Walker, and he is an everyman turned hero--a software engineer who isn't thrilled to be caught up in a government conspiracy.  All he wants to do is rescue his girlfriend from...well, from lots of things. Things do keep happening to that doe-eyed lady.

I don't remember exactly what episode we were watching that fateful night last week. It was somewhere between episode 15 and episode 20, though, so relatively far into the season. Suddenly, out of nowhere, really, this resourceful, morally straight guy (Shawn, not my husband J) lost control. How to say this without a spoiler...

Nope. There's no way. ***Spoiler alert!***

He tied up one of the minor characters (who might or might not have betrayed him. Shawn's evidence was flimsy) and threatened to torture him if he didn't reveal some important information that the man claimed to not know. And then he made good on his threats, hurting this man very badly. I'm not sure how badly, because at that point, my husband turned the TV off, and that was the end of the only television show he was really interested in. I was never interested enough in it to watch it for its own sake, so I may never know the fate of that poor man.

***

Oddly enough, on my own time, I happen to be watching another show that has a storyline involving torture. I'm a bit late in the game to the TV show Lost, and I'm watching a few episodes with torture scenes from season 2. And there's a difference. Maybe it wouldn't have been enough to keep my husband watching, but Lost is a character-driven show. The characters had different reactions to the idea of torture, and both before and after the scenes, they had to deal with what torturing someone did to their soul, and then they had to decide if they would ever torture anyone again. There was no cookie-cutter answer. Again, I didn't watch to see what happened, but it would have been very odd for anyone on The Event to take time for deep introspection. It's an action oriented show. The most they would do is stare off into the distance, shake their head sadly and continue blundering blindly down their chosen path. (Simon is the exception to that, and he was by far my favorite character.)

Sawyer

Sawyer is my favorite character on Lost, and I can tell you exactly why. Sawyer has a moral code. You don't see it at first, and he does a lot of things that would be reprehensible in anyone else. OK, so they are reprehensible when he does it too, but there is a line in the sand that he will not cross, and he knows exactly where it is. There are also lines he's crossed before and had to live with the consequences, and so he won't cross them again. He's an anti-hero.

(Again, I just finished season 2, and with the whims of television writers being what they are, I have no idea what Sawyer turns into by the end of the show, but I've got my fingers crossed.)

So today I have been thinking about my character's moral codes. What drives them morally? Truth? Justice? Family? Love? Duty? Do they expect more from themselves than they are willing to give? At some point, a hero will sacrifice something they desperately want because they will not cross a moral line. And they will be forced to cross lines they never thought they would. (Your people are torturing my family, so I am going to torture you until you promise to take me to them...) But IMO, these choices only work when the writer sees them for what they are--character defining moments. Not action scenes.

What are your thoughts about the moral codes of characters? Are anti-heroes more sympathetic than archetypal heroes? Have you ever lost interest in a character when they deviated from their moral code?

The Best Superhero Movies

So my husband and I finally got around to seeing the Avengers movie.  I enjoyed it.  The character interactions were fun with lots of good humor, and the story was fast paced, with lots of action (but not too much action) and a nice overall story arc.

I think this movie worked well because of all the individual movies building up to it.  It helped that a lot of the characterization had already been done coming into it, and I’m a bit curious about how well the movie worked for someone who hadn’t seen Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor. 

I wish Black Widow and Hawk Eye had a movie together.  I liked their characters, and it sounded like they had an interesting history with each other that would’ve made a good story.

The Avengers movie (along with previews for the latest Batman movie and the Spiderman reboot) got me thinking about all the superhero movies I’ve seen.  My husband loves superheroes, so I’ve seen every one of them.  For the most part, I like them too (could have done without Hellboy and Sin City).  So here is my list for the top five favorite superhero movies of all time (note:  I've chosen one movie from each series otherwise my list would be dominated by some of the more awesome series).

5.  Batman Returns (1992). Batman is probably my favorite superhero (I’ve never read the comics, but I’ve seen a lot of the cartoons, and all the movies, unless there are some really old movies I don’t know about).  This is the one I liked the most from the first Batman series started in 1989.  I remember complaints that this movie was too dark, but I really like it although I’m kind of a Tim Burton fan in general.  I really liked Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Catwoman and the interaction between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne as well as Catwoman and Batman.  I thought they did a great job.  I was always hoping they’d bring her back for another Batman movie, but then the whole franchise took a lighter turn, which I think was the death of it.  But I really liked this movie.

4.  Spiderman (2002).  Spiderman is an interesting hero to me because he is younger and a little more self-doubting than the others.  I like the mixture of vulnerability and super powers; it makes Peter Parker an interesting character.  Also it is nice to see a superhero struggle with day to day life of trying to hold down a job while saving the world.  A nice change of pace from the normal billionaire-type superheroes.  I thought Toby McGuire did a great job as Spiderman/Peter parker, although I’m looking forward to the reboot.  Like I said, I find Spiderman to be a very intriguing character, so I’d like to see a different spin on him.

3.  Iron Man (2008).  This movie surprised me.  I had never heard of Iron Man before this movie came out, and when my husband explained who he was, I have to say, I wasn’t very excited about it.  But the movie blew me away.  I loved Tony Stark’s character.  There is something awesome about an unapologetic narcissistic character who tells it like he sees it.  And I loved how at the end, Tony outs himself, surprising and awesome.  But the interactions between Tony and Pepper are really where the heart of the story is, and proof that Tony does have a vulnerable side.  Loved this movie, maybe it should have been number two.  Close call.

2.  X-Men (2000). I really enjoy stories with great ensembles, and X-Men definitely hit the mark here.  Wolverine, Jean Grey, Mystique, Xavier, Magneto, Rogue, just great characters all around.  But what really makes this stand out for me is the relationship between Magneto and Xavier.  I always love it when the bad guy has some sort of personal relationship with the good guy, and the fact that Xavier and Magneto had been such great friends, and even though they were now on different sides, it was very clear that they still cared about each other, made the whole story more compelling.  I loved the second X-Men movie in this series as well, but the third wasn’t quite as good as the other two.  I wish Bryan Singer had directed the third.  I think he really knew how to make it work.

1.  Batman Begins (2005).  I already stated how Batman is probably my favorite superhero.  I’m not really sure why, maybe I like the dark, mysterious, brooding type.  I like that this movie was a little more serious than the 1989 Batman series, less cartoony.  What makes this movie really stand out was the amazing job developing Bruce Wayne’s character, and the journey he took to become Batman.  The movie was more focused on Batman than the villain, and the main conflict (The League of Shadow’s plan to destroy Gotham) was tied to Batman’s training.   Overall, it was an amazing character driven story with lots of great action and interesting characters (loved Alfred and Lucius Fox), and great acting.  Just an awesome movie all around.  It is hands down my favorite superhero movie so far. 

Yeah, The Avengers didn’t make the list, but it still was a great movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet, and you love the superhero genre, go see it.  

So what is your favorite superhero movie?

~MaryAnn

Even the Noblest Characters Need Flaws

Sheena blogged yesterday about the conflict she has being a parent and a YA writer.  The desire to create believable, flawed teen-aged characters, but at the same time, not making those undesirable behaviors seem acceptable. 

Her post got me thinking about characters who are great role models.  Characters with a strong sense of a moral code, who are self-sacrificing and loyal and always do the right thing even when it costs them everything.  Characters who are real heroes.  While their virtues make these characters admirable, it is their flaws and imperfections that make them lovable.  Even the most noblest of characters needs to be deeply flawed.

Jean Valjean

Jean Valjean is one of the most compelling characters ever, and Les Miserables is in my top five greatest books of all time.  It is an amazing story.   If you haven’t read it, you should.  I believe you can download it onto your e-reader for free, so there really is no excuse.  And watching the musical is not equivalent to reading the book.  The novel is so much deeper and richer.  You really really need to read it (although I do recommend the abridge version).

Warning-mild Spoilers

Jean Valjean starts out as an ex-convict, imprisoned for stealing some bread to help feed his sister and her seven starving children.  When he is finally released from prison (nineteen years later), he is bitter and angry and doesn’t believe in any sort of justice.  He is broken.  But a single act of kindness from a bishop (who shows Valjean mercy even though Valjean stole from him) transforms Valjean into a compassionate, heroic man of faith. 

Valjean makes a lot of sacrifices for others.  He turns himself in to save another man who Javert (the policeman obsessed with bringing Valjean to justice) thinks is him.   He is generous even when he is running from the law and his generosity attracts too much attention and many times brings the law down on him.  He devotes his life to care for an orphan girl named Cosette who has no one but him to take care of her.  He even is willingly buried alive at one point to help her. 

But his noble and self-sacrificing traits are not what makes him such a compelling character.  He constantly struggles to hide from the law and keep Cosette safe.  All the while, he is plagued with self-doubt and moral dilemmas.  And because he has devoted his life to Cosette, he struggles with letting her go even though it is what is best for her.  At one point, he even selfishly tries to keep her from Marius, the boy she loves although later he risks his life to save Marius for her, but still, doing the right thing is hard for him to do.

It is Valjean’s self-doubt, his moments of selfishness, and his struggle to do what is right that makes him a sympathetic and compelling.  His flaws are what makes him feel real.

Jack from Lost

I’ve been re-watching Lost on Netflix lately, so I got Lost on my mind.  Jack is one of my favorite characters.  He definitely has an interesting story-arc and grows more than any other character on the show.  In fact, he kind of does a 180˚. 

Jack is a noble character.  He is self-sacrificing to a fault.  He is always thinking of everyone else before himself and makes a compassionate and inspiring leader.  Out of everyone on the show, I think he is the most admirable character, but he as deeply flawed as the rest of them.

His desire to save everyone is as much a flaw as a virtue.  His wife leaves him because of his devotion to his job and his unrelenting need to fix everyone.  He ruins his already shaky relationship with his father because he refuses to cover for his father’s malpractice (sure this was the moral thing to do, but Jack pays a steep price for doing it).  And ultimately, Jack’s inability to save everyone on the island breaks him, and he is only whole again once he sacrifices himself to save those that are left.

In his attempts to save everyone, Jack struggles and struggles, and so many times he makes the wrong decisions that only complicates their problems.    He is quick to act and slow to think, closed minded, plagued with self-doubt, and has some serious anger issues.

And just like with Jean Valjean, it is these faults that make him interesting, and his constant struggle that makes him feel real.

The Real World

In real life no one is perfect, but a lot of times we like to appear that we are.  I feel this happens a lot in my community.  Everyone is almost afraid to admit that they struggle in life.  We all try to pretend that our marriages are ideal, our houses are always clean, our bills are always paid on time, and our children are always obedient, talented, and brilliant in every way.

I don’t know if people are like this everywhere, or just where I live, maybe it’s an issue with middle class America, but I feel like we are almost afraid to admit that we are human, that we struggle.  But I think this perfect image that we try to project holds us back and keeps us from really connecting with each other.

The people I am closest too have seen the ideal version of me stripped away.  They have seen my insecurities, my stupidity, my vulnerability, my arrogance, my doubts, my selfishness, my weirdness, and I have seen the worst in them as well.  But those parts of ourselves that we work so hard to hide, that we fear will make us unlikable actually can make us more lovable, because these are the aspects of ourselves that we struggle with, the parts of us that are damaged, that make us real, that make us human.

And this is exactly why characters need to be flawed.  They need to be sympathetic.  They need to struggle.  They need to be human.

 ~MaryAnn

The Loveable Rogue

Since it is February with Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, I’d thought I’d talk about the first fictional character I ever fell in love with.

I don’t remember when I first saw Star Wars. I’m guessing I was pretty young, but I do remember watching it again at somewhere between ages ten and thirteen, and just loving Han Solo. Can you blame me?

What a scoundrel
Han Solo epitomizes the loveable rogue. The charming, funny, handsome, only in it for the money scoundrel type that still makes your heart beat faster against your better judgment.

“Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money.” Han Solo, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Some of my other favorites in this trope are Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Flynn Rider (Tangled), Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly, Serenity), and Sawyer (Lost). All pretty awesome characters.

They always start out morally grey as pirates, thieves, or smugglers, but with some sense of a moral code (although sometimes not much of one). But we forgive them for their unseemly behavior because we understand their motives. They are not cruel or malicious, but just in it for the money (and who doesn’t want more money) or (in Captain Jack Sparrow’s case) they are trying to get something back that was lost or stolen. And they are usually sticking it to a greater evil like, in Han’s case, the evil Empire. We don’t see them conning a little old woman out of her savings or a single mom with a couple of kids she can’t feed (okay maybe we do in Sawyer’s case; he was a little darker than most loveable rogues).

But really it is their humor and charm that wins our hearts. Oh and their rugged good looks. :)

In the end, they usually either become a full-fledged hero or end up at least doing something noble, like for Captain Jack Sparrow giving up immortality or control over the ocean to save Will’s life, or in Han’s case blowing up Darth Vader’s ship to save Luke.

I honestly think it is that transition that is so appealing. To see the guy go from self-centered to self-sacrificing. To go from scoundrel to something noble. I don’t know why, but I love seeing a guy change even though I never expect it in real life. Come on guys, it’s fantasy.

But really I think this trope may go deeper than that. I think we like to believe that there is something noble in everyone, and given the right circumstances, even the most questionable of us will rise up to the challenge when it really matters.

Every scoundrel needs a princess

“Wonderful girl. Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her.” Han Solo, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Every great guy needs an awesome girl, and you don’t get more awesome than Princess Leia. Honestly, would Han Solo be so attractive if he hadn’t been paired with a strong, confident woman that challenges him in every way?

How can you not love a girl who takes control of her own rescue?

Han Solo: [after Leia blasts a vent] What the hell are you doing?
Princess Leia: Well somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage, fly-boy!

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Princess Leia is the opposite of Han. She is rebel leader, who is willing to sacrifice everything including her life for her cause. While he only looks out for himself (and Chewie), she is dedicated to a higher purpose.

They clash from the second they meet, and I’m sold. I really want to see these crazy kids get together.

Princess Leia: Looks like you've managed to cut off our only escape route.
Han Solo: [sarcastically] Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, your highness.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

No matter how awesome the romantic hero is, he needs to be paired with the right girl, or the whole thing will fall flat. And Princess Leia is the perfect girl for Han Solo.

Reality Bites

I have to say that in real life I don’t want a Han Solo. In real life, you can’t count on a guy changing for you. Change is hard and slow and people really only change for themselves. In other words, what you see is what you get, and I don’t really want a scoundrel, even a charming, intelligent, kick-butt one that looks like a young Harrison Ford.

In real life Han Solo would be racking up Leia’s credit cards and doling out the charm to sweet talk her when the bills come in. Good thing she’s rich. :)

But in fiction, I love, love, love those scoundrels. So if you got a story with a good one, send it my way. Seriously, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of this trope.

~MaryAnn