Spider-Man's New Archnemesis is Capitalism -- How Studio Strategy is Squishing the Creative Guts
- Raffi Roberts
- Jul 17, 2017
- 5 min read
via Spider-Man: Homecoming - film still
Okay, I know what you’re going to say: obviously big money and superhero flicks fit perfectly hand-in-hand. The comic book genre has become Hollywood's biggest cash cow, and they are the perfect source material for formulaic action movie. Unfortunately, the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe realized that all you need to make a profitable film is their logo. To be honest, I generally love these kinds of superhero flicks, and they are my first choice for action escapism. But in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the studio seemed far less interested in Spider-Man than they did in making bank off of the next Avengers. While Homecoming does have its own style, it does away with fully realized characters, organic motivations, and emotion.
The new film stars Tom Holland as techy high schooler, Peter Parker. It takes place right after the events in Captain America: Civil War, when Peter fought along with Iron Man's squad to (unsuccessfully) capture the Winter Soldier. Tony Stark decides to keep him on call in case the Avengers need him. While taking down petty criminals to stay busy until he gets Tony's call, Peter also tries to keep his teenage life - socially, romantically, academically - intact. Will his adolescent curiosity and eagerness prove his worth as a real asset to the Avengers or pull him into danger?
Now, I didn't hate Homecoming; many parts of this film are admirable. I think it is one of the funnest Spider-Man films to date and I think Tom Holland is a rock solid choice for the quippy, youthful titular character that feels similar to the Spidey in the comics. The humor also gave the film a certain energy that felt different from the previous takes on the material (Hannibal Buress and Donald Glover are hilarious in their small parts). The film's direction, at the helm of Jon Watts, has a very static, matter-of-fact quality to it that sometimes works in its favor by adding coherency to its action scenes. The post-credit scene, and the superhero cameo are also my favorites out of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks.
That being said, Spiderman: Homecoming is also one of the most shallow entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By adding Spidey to the roster in the middle of The Avengers, the studio gutted a huge amount of individual backstory to make him fit in this specific world and story arc. It’s not that Homecoming is bland, but it's hard to accept Homecoming as hardly more than an entertaining plot point in the greater Avengers arc.
For example, he ditches his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), a few times throughout the story without any conflict arising from that. As a result, Ned's character felt like a cheap archetype of any protagonist's funny friend with no other purpose to serve. He didn’t change or evolve, and the character wasn’t even that funny to begin with.
Liz, the love interest, is also not developed at all and there was hardly any sort of real romantic connection between her and Peter; they didn’t even talk much throughout the film other than a few brief, static instances that never went beneath the surface until the very end end of the film.
Zendaya's character, Michelle (who by the way has a very familiar nickname revealed towards the end that just makes me even more irritated with the character) is only used to randomly deliver quirky, smart-ass lines to people. That's literally all she does.
Then there's Aunt May, a character who doesn't add anything to the progress of Peter's character or the story. Marisa Tomei, the actress playing Aunt May, just seems to be oblivious and attractive. When she is introduced, Peter quickly states that Aunt May has had a rough life but does nothing else to explore or elaborate on it. In 2017, this type of role for a woman seems archaically objectifying and tone deaf. And it's such a shame because Aunt May in the original film trilogy, played perfectly by Rosemary Harris, has always been my favorite character.
Michael Keaton's Vulture, the villain in this story, is no different. But, unfortunately, villains are usually the weakest part of any Spider-Man film (save for Doc Ock in the Spider-Man 2, the best Spidey flick). Keaton starts out as a blue collar worker getting screwed over by big business. Then he runs an underground operation that sells alien weapons and he builds a flying robotic suit for some inexplicable reason. Then there is a "twist" towards the end that is supposed to manipulate the audience to sympathize with him. While Keaton’s superb acting makes any character tolerable, the effort the script puts into his story is weak and and underwritten.
The most convincing and interesting relationship in the entire film, however, is the one between Peter Parker and Tony Stark. Since Tony’s character arc is consistent throughout all the films, his actions carry some weight and authenticity here when he takes away Petey's suit and talks about the consequences and responsibilities of being a hero.
Now, think about this in comparison to the old Spider-Man movies. While the old films might be silly and have some outdated visual effects, the characters and emotional engines of the story’s drive pulses throughout each of them.
So why are all of these new characters so underdeveloped? Capital! More specifically, the sandwiching of Spider-Man’s story into the already profitable Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Since 2008, there have been sixteen Marvel movies, with each film connecting to a larger story. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an interesting concept and, so far, Marvel has done a pretty good job of making sure that each film has its own flavor while managing to fit into the larger world. And while many of these films have been damn good, such as Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy, the Marvel Universe has diluted Spider-Man, a once iconic character, and his backstory to a mere ad for the next big film.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore superhero movies, and I know that the genre has always been a close friend of consumerism. I'm certainly not attacking studio films themselves. I’ve even defended the Marvel Cinematic Universe strategy many times, appreciating and understanding the appeal. However, after watching Spiderman: Homecoming, I am starting to understand the real concern clouding the future of expensive studio films.
Hollywood has turned into Wall Street, but with prettier people and shittier pizza. I'm not mad a studios for being money hungry because that is their whole infrastructure - but I am concerned about any strategy that puts ticket sales way ahead of actually making a quality product.
I truly do like superhero flicks, and I think they are fun escapist entertainment, but it would be nice to get more ambitious comic book movies like this year's Logan or even Zack Snyder's Watchmen. I just hope that after the two part Avengers finale, Sony and Marvel might consider taking things one film at a time. Don't green-light five sequels before the first one even gets released! Not only does the work suffer creatively, and as a result will affect the box office. So before they fire up another hot production, maybe they should take some of Uncle Ben's advice first: "With Great Power comes Great Responsibility."
Raffi Roberts
Raffi is an aspiring writer/filmmaker from Bellingham, Washington, who attended and dropped out of The New School for Public Engagement and who is now attending Vancouver Film School next year. He has seen literally every movie that was in wide release from 2013-2015, a feat that, he hopes, will be useful someday.
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