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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 11, 2010 14:55:08 GMT -6
UPDATE!!!!!
So for whatever reason, I'm feeling much better now. Yeah, life is absurd, yada-yada-yada.
I went to Holiday Improv/Variety Night at Calhoun yesterday, and realized when I got there that I hadn't been to Calhoun in over a month. Huh. So next week is the Winter Concert, which I'll be back yet again for, and then sometime (or multiple times) over the break I'm bound to visit again! I just love seeing everybody!
So today I'm seeing The King's Speech with my dad, and tomorrow I'm catching a special screening of Black Swan where there'll be a Q&A with the writer. There are soooooooo many movies out/coming out! 127 Hours, Tangled, Black Swan, The King's Speech, Fighter, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Tempest, The Tourist, TRON: Legacy, and True Grit. I'm gonna try to see 'em all (well, maybe not Fighter - I'll see what reviews it gets). Yeah, this is gonna be a crazy month!
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 15, 2010 22:21:56 GMT -6
A Midwinter Night's Dream is complete! And with fantastic results! My class really liked it, as did the teacher and, for once in my life, me! Once I get it up on YouTube, I'll post a link here. I'm also now re-doing Go to Hell! with a script far closer to the original one (which is actually ALREADY posted here). That one I wasn't happy with at all, so I'm fixing it up and making it to my liking. Aaaaaaaaaaaand classes are over.... I don't wanna go back to the condos....
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jukenami
New Member
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Posts: 18
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Post by jukenami on Dec 16, 2010 11:21:41 GMT -6
I do want to see TRON: Legacy. I think I will go see it with Abby.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader... ehh. I loved The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. But Prince Caspian just wasnt very good.
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 17, 2010 16:26:59 GMT -6
I am officially done with schoolwork for the semester. [EDIT: Never mind. I forgot about Performance Strategies.] I had one final today, and an essay due at 5. And that essay was about.... (drumroll please).... SPIDER-MAN!!!!! We had to review a movie "in context," so I reviewed Spider-Man in the context of the comics. Basically, I was determining whether it's a good adaptation. And so, heeeeere it is:
Progression 3 Writing the Essay David B. Jacobs
“With great power must come an even greater responsibility.”
These were the words written in the final panel of Amazing Fantasy #15, August 1962, in which the all-new Marvel superhero Spider-Man debuted on cheap newspaper print. The issue was an enormous financial success, and fans kept clamoring for more. In March 1963, this wish was granted with a bimonthly comic series dedicated to the adventures of The Amazing Spider-Man. The title was so popular that it wasn’t long before the Marvel staff upgraded the series to a monthly status.
He was just so different from all the other heroes! (I think I read that in a really old letters column.) There was Superman, the larger-than-life embodiment of truth, justice, and the American way. There was Batman, the ominous one-man army striking terror into the hearts of criminals. And now, there was Spider-Man, the high school nerd fighting to make a paycheck while running away from the football team. Readers identified with Midtown’s wallflower Peter Parker, his money troubles, girl troubles, and his keen sense of humor. After all, Peter received by his powers by sheer chance, a random bug bite – it could have been you!
That began in 1962. Now, 500 issues, 40 years, and 139 million dollars later, Spider-Man has become far too big a property to be maintained on the page. It’s time at last for him to hit the big screen.
With director Sam Raimi, and actors Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Willem Dafoe among others, Hollywood and Marvel prepared to launch a franchise depicting perhaps the most popular superhero of all time. Doing so was risky – previous comic book movies had not always been met with glamorous feedback. But even if the movie jumped the shark, they’d certainly make some money, so they went through with it anyway.
The monumental task which Raimi’s team had to overcome was to take the character Stan Lee had created, along with 40 years of history now passed, and jam it into two hours of thrilling, action-packed awesomeness without perverting the icon, turning him into something hideous. To do so would not only be to let down fans everywhere, but to give the less educated world a false impression of the character, to prevent the themes of the character from ever spreading beyond the page.
Now, naturally, Raimi couldn’t show every adventure Spider-Man had ever been on. Spidey’s faced off with hundreds of villains (perhaps the largest “rogues gallery” of any hero), from goblins to symbiotes to the animal kingdom, fought demons and clones (PLEASE no clones!); he’s fallen in love, more than once too, gone through heartbreak and heartache; he’s proposed; he’s been rejected; he’s watched dozens of great people die, and blamed himself for every last one. He has been given great power, and with that he has been given great responsibility.
Such is the tagline behind all Spider-Man-related material. It is the lesson taught to him by his aunt and uncle who raised him (Peter’s parents died when he was young), though as a teenager he didn’t quite understand the meaning behind it. One day, Peter saw a thief run past him, but he simply did not want to get involved, and so the thief escaped. That same thief then murdered Peter’s Uncle Ben, shattering his life and revealing what he is meant to do.
Such must be the core of any Spider-Man story. This concept of power and responsibility is what has defined Spider-Man over the years; it’s what makes him who he is. In Raimi’s 2002 movie, the origin of Spider-Man is adapted as such. At one point in the movie, Peter goes to a wrestling challenge with his new powers, hoping to win money with which he can get a cool car and impress a girl. But before he leaves, Uncle Ben stops him and tells Peter this important lesson. Instead of listening, Peter throws it in his face, yelling that his is not Peter’s father.
Incidentally, Raimi played with the details of the origin. The wrestling manager, whose money was stolen by the thief/killer, had used a loophole to rip Peter out of his money. As such, Peter’s motivation in letting the thief run by wasn’t simply because he didn’t wish to get involved, but for revenge. Furthermore, Amazing Fantasy #15 had the burglar later robbing the Parker residence, killing Uncle Ben when he ran into the elderly couple unexpectedly. Raimi instead has the burglar leave straight from the ring to hijack Uncle Ben’s car, as he waited to pick up Peter at the library. Such details may seem minor and unimportant, but to long-term fans who have grown accustomed to the story, they make all the difference.
On the former, it was explained that the filmmakers didn’t wish to make Peter out as such a cold-hearted person that he would let the thief escape for no real reason. His aunt and uncle had raised him better. Of course, this was the entire idea in the comics. Peter was selfish and uninterested. He had never truly listened to his uncle’s words. (Actually, the original issue never had Uncle Ben saying the slogan directly, but they basically sum up his teachings.) Besides, Peter had never fought someone with a gun before – getting involved could very well have been quite messy. Of course, we don’t want to see Peter portrayed as a coward either, shying away out of fear – selfishness should be the prime motivator, as this is where the lesson of selflessness is learned. Leave courage to Thor.
On the second point, Raimi’s team found the burglary of the Parker home to be extremely coincidental. In the comics, it was chalked up to fate, but it seemed almost too much to them. The direct result of Peter’s actions, by this logic, is that by not stopping the burglar, he allowed him to go on to commit other crimes. Instead, Raimi’s team show a man getting injured in the course of the same crime, and of course that man is Uncle Ben.
So are these changes satisfactory? Do they stray too much from the character, or do they fit in perfectly? Actually, I think they’re improvements. Peter’s sheer selfishness in Amazing Fantasy #15 makes perfect sense to me, but revenge is no less selfish – perhaps even moreso. And we all seek revenge from time to time, again going along with the relatability of Peter Parker that makes the character so popular. The carjacking, meanwhile, makes perfect sense in the context of the story and seems really to do nothing more than make it an easier flow of events. If anything, it adds another factor by which Uncle Ben’s death is caused by Peter, for if he weren’t there to pick Peter up, he wouldn’t have been killed.
Of course, with every great hero, there must be a great villain. Spider-Man has faced many, many villains over his long history – probably hundreds of them! Some have been obscure, used once or twice and then never heard from again. Others have proven to be iconic enemies, who Spider-Man has faced time after time, and they have become true classic villains. But no one would be more fitting to fight Spider-Man on the big screen than the Green Goblin himself.
When he first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #14, fans knew instantly that the Green Goblin stood out among Spider-Man’s other villains. Perhaps it was the large ambitions he had contrasted with the simplicity of the story – he’d set up a trap for Spider-Man, to get the hero out of the way. Perhaps it was the fact that Gobby escaped in the end of the issue, or perhaps it was the fact that unlike every villain Spider-Man had faced to that point, the Green Goblin’s identity had not been revealed – he was a mystery, and stayed as such for years to come.
Finally, however, in Amazing Spider-Man #39-40, Gobby surpassed expectations – he learned the identity of Spider-Man, and attacked him as Peter Parker. At last, believing to have overcome the hero, the Green Goblin revealed himself as none other than Norman Osborn, father of Peter’s best friend from college. And so, the series of battles between two masked men had reached a new level – it was now personal. Peter lucked out when Norman received amnesia, forgetting his Goblin persona, but it continued to re-emerge several times in years to come, until at last, in Amazing Spider-Man #121, the Green Goblin attacked Gwen Stacy, the then-love of Peter’s life. He killed her.
Raimi’s movie does away with the mystery behind the Goblin. While Peter is unaware of his identity until the very end, it wouldn’t make sense to hide it from the viewer when the majority of the audience will already know the truth. However, the aspect of amnesia was portrayed in the film. While Norman Osborn has never been an amazing person, he isn’t truly as evil as the Green Goblin. He’s a scientist and a businessman, and he’s willing to make sacrifices and take risks, perhaps immorally, for the benefit of his company. But Norman is not a killer.
The Green Goblin is. The scene in which Norman confronts the Goblin through a mirror, showing two sides of the same man, has been forever etched into the minds of movie-viewers. (This scene was most likely inspired by one in the ‘90s cartoon Spider-Man: The Animated Series, in which the Green Goblin is portrayed similarly to Raimi’s depiction of the character.) Norman is a sick man, and needs help, but he is still a villain through and through, and as the Green Goblin he will do anything to get his way.
He has been given great power, but he knows no boundaries.
Ultimately, in the climax of the movie, Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane Watson, Peter’s primary love interest throughout the movie, and hurls her off a bridge. Any comic reader knows that such was the plot of Amazing Spider-Man #121, when the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy. The difference is that this time, Spider-Man saves Mary Jane. The whole of the climax of the movie is littered with tributes to their climactic comic book battle. In the end, Norman reveals himself and as he pleas to Spider-Man for help, he sets up a trap which backfires and kills the Goblin once and for all, exactly as it happened in Amazing Spider-Man #122.
Perhaps most significantly, however, is the moment just before the Goblin dies, as Norman begs Peter to accept him like a father, and Peter responds, “I have a father – his name was Ben Parker.” Thus, Peter receives retribution for lashing out at Uncle Ben, bringing everything full circle and placing further emphasis on the lesson Spider-Man teaches. He has rejected Norman’s lack of responsibility and embraced Uncle Ben’s teachings.
And yet, there’s more to the character of Spider-Man than power and responsibility. Any superhero can sum up similar lessons, but Spidey is different. The reason that he has been able to inspire so many people has been that he can stand for something great while still maintaining humanity. He isn’t a god, he isn’t an alien, he isn’t a billionaire with a bat-cave. He is Peter Parker, a nerdy teenager struggling to make ends meet. He has a freelance job as a photographer. He’s picked on by the football team. He gets good grades, at least when he shows up for class. The girl he likes either doesn’t know he exists or insists that they’re just friends, whether her name be Betty Brant, Liz Allen, or every other girl in high school.
All these facts make it into the movie – his nerdiness, his bullies, his penny-pinching boss, and the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson. In fact, Raimi spent a particularly large amount of time developing the Peter/MJ relationship.
In Stan Lee’s comics, Peter met MJ on a reluctant blind date set up by their mutual aunts. It was comedically beautiful when he finally opened the door to meet her, and realized she was downright stunning. However, MJ went on to date Harry and Peter fell in love with Gwen; it was only after her death that Peter and MJ came closer. And yet, she still rejected his initial marriage proposal, then disappearing for years. When MJ finally returned, she revealed that she knew Peter was Spider-Man all along, and thus, the gap between them was closed and the two married in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21.
Raimi deserts all this. Peter and MJ are now next-door neighbors and Peter has loved her since he was six years old. To me, this is perhaps Raimi’s most radical change of the mythos. It was never set in stone who Peter would marry. Even today, it is questionable whether he ever had a single true love – Gwen and Mary Jane were both adored by Peter and it’s hard to say if one was more important than the other. However, Raimi sets it up from the beginning that Mary Jane is Peter’s true love, and there is no other girl.
Is this acceptable? It’s not as though it had never been done before - in Ultimate Spider-Man, a comic book re-adaptation of Spider-Man for the 21st century, Peter and MJ started off in a similar fashion. The quintessential question here would be why it matters that Peter have a flexible love life.
It all goes back to the idea that Peter is a relatable character, that fans identify with him. We like seeing him not always get the girl; we like seeing his first crush reject him for another man, and for Peter to lash out and suffer a little; we like seeing him face the same obstacles we do every day. But of course, he does face these conflicts with Mary Jane – throughout high school, she’s dating Flash Thompson, football jock and tormentor to Peter Parker. Later, she goes out with Harry Osborn, Peter’s best friend and son of the Goblin. And then she falls in love with Spider-Man, the most ironic rival of all. And even in the end of the movie, when MJ finally comes to Peter, he recognizes that as long as he’s Spider-Man, she’ll be in danger, and rejects her simply out of his own responsibility.
Besides, who says no one meets true love at age 6?
All in all, while Raimi has taken a different route with Mary Jane, I do not believe it truly destroys the foundations of Peter’s character. In fact, it’s actually quite nice to see a firm romance throughout the film, to have a moment where climactic battles are a non-issue.
Spider-Man is truly a masterpiece of an adaptation. It captures the spirit of the character and understands the appeal. While it’s friendly to a new audience, Raimi certainly includes more than enough tributes, from the climactic bridge scene to simplistic character references. (In one moment, Peter refers to Dr. Connors, a teacher and biologist who fans know better as villain the Lizard.) Every aspect of the movie, from Peter’s conversations with Uncle Ben to the contrasts between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, brings out the theme that with great power comes great responsibility, and yet we never lose sight of who we’re watching beneath the mask. Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but more importantly, Spider-Man is Peter Parker.
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 18, 2010 18:52:50 GMT -6
I'm having a great day today! First, I woke up at 10am for the Deck'd 2 shoot, and, of course, the girls didn't show up. Actually, that's not "of course," seeing as this is a singing/dancing thing and, seriously, the fact that we were all guys was.... kind of funny, actually. So we got a few more people to come and re-met at 12:30. Shoot lasted about 3 hours and it was FUN!!!! There is no other word to describe it! I'll link you all when it comes out - I think Dom's aiming for Tuesday, but I'm not certain.... BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! After the shoot, I went over to the Apple, and, get this - THEY FIXED MY COMPUTER!!!! They replaced the harddrive, and it took a few hours, but it's working great now! (And, yes, I'll see Dexter and the rest of the Avengers sometime soon, so don't worry.) BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Later tonight, me and my roommate will probably be seeing 127 Hours, the new Danny Boyle movie with James Franco! I'm soooo pumped for this!!! AND NOW, THE BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL.... MIDWINTER'S IS ON YOUTUBE!!!!!!! Tell me what you think!
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 19, 2010 19:00:27 GMT -6
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Post by cradleman on Dec 20, 2010 6:28:20 GMT -6
and Go to Hell is still the oddest thing you've ever written, lol
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 20, 2010 11:07:23 GMT -6
Naa, the Gorilla Man is the oddest. Go to Hell! is simply the most absurd!
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 21, 2010 12:44:35 GMT -6
Damn, I hate it when dreams make me think.... Anyway, dropping that note, I'm going back to the condos today. REALLY don't want to be there, but there's nothing left here and I told everyone I'd go, so I must. Which also means I'll spend the day preparing for it (much-needed laundry, packing, more packing, yeah....). Still, I AM looking forward to seeing all my high school friends again! Furthermore, something you may be interested in - I am REALLY getting into the spirit of the season this year! And so, I'm determined to write a short story/Christmas story! Weird coming from an atheist jew? Maybe. Awesome nonetheless? Definitely. The story will be titled "Dinner Guest," so you'd better look out for it on the Story Boards.
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jukenami
New Member
I Can Be Anything
Posts: 18
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Post by jukenami on Dec 23, 2010 22:53:09 GMT -6
I love the Spider-man essay. Very interesting and a nice read.
And you still caught up being an atheist jew... tsk tsk
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Post by Nickpick on Dec 25, 2010 22:31:24 GMT -6
lol...atheist jew or not, your an awesome writer
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Post by Kranstin Kardashian on Dec 25, 2010 22:46:13 GMT -6
Yeah, he knows the difference between "your" and "you're"
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 26, 2010 11:35:22 GMT -6
Thanks, Nick!
SGK: We can only make fun of Brucie's grammatical errors. Oh, and crade's!
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 26, 2010 12:28:17 GMT -6
PRESENT UPDATE!!! It may not be the meaning of Christmas, but it is what we like to talk about! -All of TSSM Season Two sets -Spider-Man 24/7 and American Son, so I may begin to catch up -Adaptation DVD, one of my favorite movies ever -Toy Story DVD -collection of Buster Keaton shorts -book about Steven Sondheim -pre-order of the next Zelda game which doesn't even have official box art yet, 'cause my mom, I mean Santa, didn't realize it wasn't out yet -NYU sweatshirt (one size too big, but whatever) -jeans, which fit -belt, which I don't plan on ever using -chocolate -50 bucks from miscellaneous relatives -100 bucks from grandma
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Post by dcmarvelfanguy on Dec 26, 2010 17:14:25 GMT -6
Nice. I hope you have a good winter and a happy holidays. Which Toy Story movie did you get on DVD? Oh, and it's awesome that you're starting to get caught up. I really enjoyed 24/7 and I liked what I read from American Son. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the winter. The blizzards crazy over hear, I think I just heard some thunder.
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Post by spideyfan914 on Dec 26, 2010 19:15:46 GMT -6
Toy Story 1, though I plan to buy the others via Christmas money. Also will probably get Red-Headed Stranger and Return of the Black Cat, and some Ultimate once I get back to the city (no comic stores out here).
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Post by dcmarvelfanguy on Dec 26, 2010 19:36:02 GMT -6
Cool. I got a couple of graphic novels as well. which I might post elsewhere.....
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Post by spideyfan914 on Jan 2, 2011 12:13:29 GMT -6
Quick update:
Happy New Year!
I'm going to take Driver's Ed this summer!
Seeing my old babysitter today, who was like a second mom, and then having a Coen Brothers marathon!
End quick update.
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Post by spideyfan914 on Jan 4, 2011 14:44:59 GMT -6
And so, the question of the day is.... HOW DID THE COEN BROTHERS MARATHON GO??
Well, me and my friend Dan came up with this idea about a month ago. We lined up True Grit, A Serious Man, Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and Miller's Crossing in that order - reverse order, to be exact. We also invited our friend Teddy to the marathon, and in fact wound up at his house, as he has the biggest TV. So, in order....
TRUE GRIT. We caught it in theaters, and it was great. Not much in line of the Coen Bros. usual style, but still pretty good nonetheless.
A SERIOUS MAN. This one I'd seen before, actually. I think I actually liked it even better the second time. However, as we were watching, Teddy began talking and sneezing at random, as well as receiving various phone calls, shifting his position, and generally making noise all throughout. (Apparently, he's getting sick, and was also sick just last week.) We paused and rewound many, many times. And of course, in the end, I was laughing not at the movie but at Dan and Teddy's ridiculous reactions to it.
BURN AFTER READING. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie. Seriously. Also, Teddy wasn't as annoying, except then Dan and Teddy's friend Mark who I've only heard about showed up halfway through and sat down. Then with 2 minutes to go, the TV froze. It wasn't the DVD - it was the DVD player. It stopped working. Finally, we watched the last 2 minutes on my laptop (and it WAS worth the wait).
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. So, with Teddy's DVD player no longer working, I suggested we go to his room to watch. However, being very paranoid, he was worried that if he left the living room while his mom was out, he wouldn't hear it if someone broke in, plus he wished to remain there to "expel negative energies." So I suggested that Dan and I go there, since Teddy already saw No Country and didn't really like it anyway, and he laughed at the idea. Instead, he turned on the TV and watched that. So Dan and I, being the only ones interested in watching, figured we'd watch on the laptop, but with the noise pollution of the TV, we finally found the one place we could go - the car. So we put down the back seats of the car, stretched out in the trunk, and watched it on my laptop. Warned that Teddy may not let us back in if he was asleep, we also brought blankets and were well-prepared to sleep there. Teddy and Mark opted to sit on the porch and watch us watch the movie. The movie was very good, though a bit confusing when watched at 1am in the trunk of a car. When it was over, however, Dan needed to go to the bathroom, and Teddy and Mark were asleep. Luckily, they left the front door unlocked, so we entered. (Note: This is not breaking and entering, as we did not break anything. In fact, we actually locked the door for Teddy. Also, he never questioned us on it.) Needless to say, it was a strange night.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI. So, Mark peaced before we woke up, meaning it was back to just me, Dan, and Teddy (who was feeling a bit better). With Teddy's DVD player still not working, we opted to go to Dan's house to finish the marathon. Though his TV was smaller, at least it worked, and this movie was hilarious. Granted, Teddy kept talking (he's more of a casual viewer), but it was still great.
FARGO. Though we were running low on time and Teddy was Coen Brother'ed out, we managed to squeeze this one. However, the lousy sleeping conditions finally caught up to me here, and I really feel like I missed something, so I'll have to watch it again. (Of course, I'd wanna see ALL of 'em again, but that's beside the point.)
MILLER'S CROSSING. It was Dan's mom's birthday, and dinner was approaching, so we had to end early. Dan and I have discussed possibly meeting up to watch this, but since it was rented, we'll see what happens.
I also have O Brother, Where Art Thou? now loaded on my computer to watch this afternoon or tonight. All in all, Dan and I have agreed that next time we do a marathon, it's gonna be just us.
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Post by Reaper on Jan 4, 2011 17:37:08 GMT -6
Sounds like a fun night.
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