Get it Spidey... that’s Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, from the 2012
Amazing Spider-man Movie.
And that former 2012 movie had a different cast and characters from the
new 2017 Spider-man Homecoming movie, which is out in theaters now,
starring Tom Holland as the friendly neighborhood Spidey.I don’t enjoy ranting, but it’s been a while since I wrote a movie-related blog article. So here goes…. In my opinion, the new Spider-man Homecoming movie was a fun ride, with a nice twist added to the Vulture’s personal identity. But the new movie didn't handle the "MJ" issue very well… and I’ll be hanging my hat on that point for most of this discussion.
The
talented Disney actress named Zendaya Coleman [who formerly stared in
the Teenybopper dancing sitcom “Shake it up” from 2009-2013, and
in “KC Undercover” from 2014 – present] did an excellent job,
but her original MJ character [who should be “MaryJane Watson”
from the comics, which have been around for over 50 years] was
switched to "Michelle Jones", by the directors / writers,
when they got scared of the "racial switching backlash", shortly after the casting news was made public last year...
yeah, that's probably what happened.I have no problem with Zendaya; she is very talented and she has a spark of joyful life in her, which she uniquely brings to every role that she plays. Most comic geeks know that the original MJ is a beautiful busty white chick with red hair and she’s a famous model in New York, with a down-to-earth personality [see the quintessential MJ image on the right, by artist Adam Hughes].
But Zendaya, who is also uniquely beautiful and humorously witty, was presented as a geeky classmate of Peter Parker – yet Zendaya clearly made the best out of that restricting role. And Zendaya was actually called “Michelle”, throughout the movie, until the last 5 - 10 minutes when she asks her friends to call her MJ…. And yet per the restriction of the writers, she never told her friends that her last name is “Jones”… and none of them asked her what the “J” stood for in “MJ”…. Hell, they probably could have called her “Micheal Jordan”, and they would have gotten away with it - LOL
You can tell that something wasn’t right, if you're sharp and you've read the BS that the director was saying online about MJ; he sounded like he was rather ignorant or just ambivalent to the true lore and the undeniable significance of that female character’s name, and yet he seemed to respect the legacy of other characters in the presented movieverse. In fact, the new movie didn't present her upfront as “Michelle Jones”; it was the Variety website that first broke the news about her last name... which is awkward....
[You may need to click the words "Read More" slightly below and on the right, to see the rest of this long article]
A character's last name shouldn't be hidden in a movie, if they are a major part of it, and a major part of the franchise. The director even claimed that Michelle Jones is not the same MJ from the comics, who was the lover / future wife of Spiderman... but if she’s not the original MJ, then who the hell is Peter going to fall in love with in the next movie? Gwen Freakin’ Stacy? Will she come back from the dead?? Oh wait, Gwen died in Another Spiderman movie that’s in Another movie timeline that Marvel Studios has flushed down the toilet, since they keep rebooting their franchises once they seem to be getting stale every 3 - 4 years…
And mark my words folks, THE FANTASTIC FOUR WILL RETURN… BUT WHEN THEY DO, WE MAY NOT RECOGNIZE ANY OF THEM AT ALL - LOL
I doubt that the Marvel editors will ever see this article, but I don’t give a damn about that. I write this stuff for my true DSNG fans, who respect my work & my character development, as shown in my 17 DSNG sci fi ebooks, which are available on Amazon ;) [FYI, my books are rated M for Mature, since they contain action, comedy, drama and romance].
Anyway, MJ was not presented properly in the new Spider-man movie.
And here is my solution:
Personally, If I had touched the script as a consultant, then I would have suggested that MJ, who should be creatively called “Maryanne Jane Watson”, CAN start out as a geek in Peter’s class, but in the movie she should’ve been given 5 – 10 more minutes of interaction, spread out, so that we could see her grow / gain confidence, after a series of events at home and at school… plus Peter’s Aunty should give her some pep-talks that help her to think on a new self-confident level [after some sort of “mud sprayed in your face from a speeding car on the weekend before a hot date” event takes place, which brought MJ to Aunty May’s office or something, for help].
That hot date can be some other guy from the Marvel lore, like Harry Ozborne, who dumps MJ on that day for the future Black Cat aka Felicia Hardy.
From that point, MJ decides to say: “Screw you Harry! I’ll just be confident, even if I don’t have a hot rich guy walking beside me!”
And then MJ starts wearing makeup and getting her hair done, and she
becomes dolled-up and people started liking her more than Liz Toomes,
the other hot chick that was linked to Spider-man in the movie.
And then MJ gets stopped by a rich talent agent lady one day when she’s
having lunch with Aunt May in mall. And MJ gets signed that day,
under certain requirements: so she dyes her hair slightly red, in
order to fit into an Ad for some red-themed Rosey Breakfast Cereal,
and Boom! She is a redhead and she is a model and she is famous, and
she still has her witty down-to-earth character, but she has gained
confidence to step out of the shadows.The switch would be this: the model gig and all the big-time offers drag her away from a regular high school, so she has to take night classes or study at home / abroad… because technically, MJ and Peter were never in the same class, in the comics….at least I don’t recall that issue.
And notice that the Director did take his liberty with Aunt May Parker, who was presented as a younger widower lady, played by Marisa Tomei. That unique casting was perfect… and she didn’t have to be called “Aunt Maybelline Partridge”, or something else, to disguise the fact that she was “an original iteration of a classic character”.
Eugene “Flash” Thompson [played by Tony Revolori] was a new entertaining version of himself, but at least his name “Flash Thompson” was the core identifying tag that the director utilized to let you know that he was the same classic bullying classmate of Peter Parker [played well by Tom Holland]. And I believe that the Flash guy actually becomes Venom in some storylines.
Anyway, that makes my point… changing MJ’s true essence was basically a cowardly move… oh yes it was. And Spider-man Homecoming is in theaters right now, you can go and check it out for yourself...