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'Spider-Man: Homecoming'

Yes, Our Favourites Are Problematic

By Monita MohanPublished 6 years ago 11 min read
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Spider-Man: Homecoming (Credit: @SpiderManMovie via Twitter)

There are times when we all think "can’t we have this one good thing." What this "thing" is differs from person to person, and more often than not you will find yourself second-guessing why it isn’t a "good thing." Chances are, it’s because that good thing is deeply flawed, and said flaws need to be called out.

If you have been to the theatre recently, you will know that Thor: Ragnarok is out and that it is a laugh riot. It is reminiscent of the other two Marvel films out this year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Homecoming was recently released on blu-ray and fresh off that, I thought to put some thoughts together about our favourite friendly neighbourhood hero.

Everyone loves Spider-Man: Homecoming, and unsurprisingly, that "everyone" also includes me. I laughed along with the jokes, leaned in closer for the action and admired the antics of our newest MCU superhero. I have plenty of great things to say about the film, but all I’ve read since the film’s release are criticisms of it. Criticisms that are frustratingly valid.

Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was first introduced in Captain America: Civil War in 2016, and anticipation for a Marvel Spider-Man film reached an all-time high after it. If nothing else, most fans believed, it couldn’t get any worse than Sony’s desperate The Amazing Spider-Man films.

After watching the film, I don’t think anyone was surprised that it turned out to be good, entertaining and charming. Marvel understands their audience, and importantly, their intended audience, and adjusted the film’s tone accordingly. The film’s coming of age storyline brings superheroes to teenagers, a refreshing departure from the mature, burdened nature of the rest of the MCU outings off late.

While the majority of the MCU audience probably identifies less with Peter Parker’s high school angst than with Adrian Toomes’ (Michael Keaton) righteous indigence, the youthful exuberance of the cast is tangible. The writers stick to the clichés of high school life, paralleling them with Peter’s growing frustration with his mentor Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) molly-coddling. I’d like to put some of that controlling down to Tony’s secret guilt for dragging Peter into Civil War, but Pete hasn’t figured that out, and like every other kid on the planet, he thinks he’s always right. Peter and Tony’s relationship plays out similar to that of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. And, I guess that is really not the kind of comparison Marvel is hoping for.

The jaunty tone of the film can’t hide its issues, however, and it is becoming a bit of a drag to point out the opportunities Marvel avoided capitalising on yet again — diversity, female representation and non-formulaic risks.

Straight Outta Marvel

Spidey in Civil War (Credit: Marvel Studios)

True confession: I thought Homecoming was refreshing with a vital infusion of levity added in. It didn’t break new ground, but didn’t feel like a re-tread either. At this moment, I feel like I’m probably the only one who thinks like that.

Granted, it follows the usual Marvel formula of character (rise-fall-rise) x film (intro fight-middle act fight-climactic battle) = $$$. But one could argue that this is a classic formula for most classic literature, and this is a pattern we enjoy. Homecoming was never going to be anything but a light-hearted look at the life of a teenager juggling life as a superhero with his personal commitments. The film’s tone was always going to be bright and rose-tinted. Despite it all, the addition of a heavy-weight actor like Michael Keaton adds some gravity to the villain’s motivations. Had the film not relied so heavily on Peter’s story, we could have seen more of Toomes’ journey, especially given it is one centred on personal survival rather than delusions of grandeur. That is pretty refreshing, right?

Maybe not. But there is a risk of becoming jaded if you can’t enjoy the sillier things in life — and Homecoming really is that; it rekindles the majesty and tragedy of youth and the boundless possibilities that holds.

I would argue that this film, in its current state anyway, is the least guilty of risk-aversion, unlike say Civil War which threw out any possibility of developing Captain America’s existing relationships so as to take the path of least resistance. Or Doctor Strange, which was a CGI marvel, but forgettable in most other aspects.

Homecoming, at least, gives its hero a couple of scenes of unabashed vulnerability without them feeling like tacked-on attempts to humanise the character (see: Tony’s PTSD in Iron Man 3 and Star-Lord and Yondu’s relationship in GOTG2). The two aforementioned short scenes in Homecoming play out incredibly well and give pause to the otherwise generic proceedings. And, of course, it has a twist thrown in that is truly marvellous, if not for any other reason than it being a gentle reminder that our hero, at the end of the day, is still just a 15-year-old boy.

I might be grasping at straws here in my defence of the film — but you cannot deny that an all-encompassing apathy has been seeping into most mainstream media. And while I’m happy to revel in Homecoming’s trivial pursuits, I can’t quite avoid some of the graver issues the creators of the film attempt to wash over.

Miles Away From Perfection

Miles Morales is Spider-Man; well, maybe not in the MCU (Credit: Disney)

Peter’s classmates and teachers are a line-up of diversity — Filipino, Latino, African-American, other Asian characters; thin, tall, short, fat; girls, boys and at least one person possibly on the genderqueer spectrum. It is amazing to see a cinematic landscape attempt to reflect that of daily society. I loved (most of) these characters, irrespective of race. But the problem remains, all these diverse characters are in the background to Peter Parker’s story. Most of them have little impact on his life and superheroing. They are incidental to the plot, even more so than Scott Lang’s team in Ant-Man. At the end of the day, the holy trinity of the film — hero, villain, and mentor — are all straight, white cisgendered males.

The easiest way to fix this problem, would have been to bring Miles Morales to life. He is the current comic book Spider-Man, and his story has appealed to audiences across the globe. Instead of resuscitating yet another Peter Parker, a new generation of viewers would have been able to watch a young hero of colour.

In fact, the inclusion of Donald Glover — criminally underused in this film, I feel like he was the click-bait to bring in more viewers — seems an even greater reason for including Miles. Glover campaigned to play the character before Sony went with Andrew Garfield; he has voiced the character since. It is like the universe is screaming for us to include Miles in the MCU, but Marvel can’t hear it.

A POC Spidey would have balanced out the sidekick and window-dressing feel of the diverse cast, something this film deserved, because it is just so much fun.

This isn’t to say Holland doesn’t deserve the role; he seems born to play it, and is obviously enjoying it. He embodies the hero’s agility and physicality, while bringing in enough pathos and wide-eyed enthusiasm with his acting chops. I feel we may be doing his love for the character a disservice by wishing someone else was in the role, but Marvel’s constant lip service to diversity is not on Holland, it’s on Marvel and Kevin Feige. Head honcho of the cinematic universe he may be, but Feige’s need for risk aversion is detrimental to the franchise. GOTG2 was already an underwhelming entrant this year, and the formulaic approach of Homecoming has most critics nodding off. Much rests on the shoulders of Black Panther and on Captain Marvel, but we still have an entire year to wait for anyone other than a white man to headline an MCU film. When the DCEU is ahead of the game, you know you need a good shake up.

Sisterhood of the Travelling Decathlon

Zendaya as Michelle (Credit: Columbia Pictures)

The film has three women of importance — Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), Liz (Laura Harrier), and Michele (Zendaya). None of these women are seen talking to each other, even though Liz and Michele are on the same Decathlon team. There is not even a chance of the Bechdel Test being passed. The one time we see a bunch of girls talking to each other, they are discussing the attractiveness of male superheroes. Now, while I accept this is an attempt to subvert the trope where male characters engage in lengthy discourse over the attractiveness of the women around them, the film threw away its one chance to build on Liz’s character from "love interest!" to human being the audience will care about. Liz is nothing more than a cardboard cut-out, there for the sole purpose of being Peter’s heart’s desire. This particular kind of characterisation feels completely out of place in 2017, but fits with director Jon Watts’ vision — remakes of John Hughes films.

Zendaya, despite being central to all promos, has a handful of scenes as super-smart, super-dazed Michele. We know nothing about her, barring her no-nonsense attitude. While her biting comments are amusing, it is evident the writers are saving the details of her character for future instalments. Had she been essential to the plot, she could have been fleshed out, allowing a talented star like Zendaya the screen time she deserved.

And let’s not start with Aunt May. I think it’s worrying that I feel the previous Aunt Mays were of greater significance than this one. Tomei’s May is invisible and in line for worst guardian of the year (I think Tony would clinch the award though, because, no, I still don’t think he should have dropped Peter into the Civil War, the kid is 15!).

To top it all, the writers aren’t squeamish about adding in some non-PC jokes about women — Aunt May’s at the receiving end of a couple of crude jokes and Peter has no qualms about making a sleazy retort about a man’s daughter (the dude deserved his comeuppance, but not like that). These are relatively insignificant in comparison to the grander issue of sexism at play in Hollywood, but it is uncomfortable all the same. Again, this kind of dialogue doesn’t belong in a film in 2017.

Music to My Ears

The one criticism I would love everyone to levy on the film is for its score. It is yet another underwhelming, generic mashup put together by Michael Giacchino, and it astounds me that he continues to be Disney’s favourite. He has grabbed plenty of great gigs recently, composing the music for Doctor Strange, the new Star Trek films, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, all of which have been forgettable and tonally incorrect. He is unable to grasp the idea of a signature theme — the most iconic part of his Spidey soundtrack is his rendition of the original Spider-Man theme song.

For the most part, listening to the score would have you believe you’re in some 80s lifestyle film, not a cool, updated Spider-Man created for the millennial crowd. We admittedly can’t turn to Hans Zimmer for all musical needs (I believe he has quit superhero films), but perhaps the music of either of the Gregson Williams, Henry Jackman, or maybe even JunkieXL, would have fit this film much better. Or hey, why not give a woman the chance to score? I do love the puntastic titles, however; they are far more amusing than the cringeworthy John Carter ones.

I am ready to defend Homecoming forever, but can also recognise its missteps. Smarter people than me have written about the film’s writing and directing flaws, but what sticks with me is how out of place the writing occasionally feels, which is astounding given there are six people credited for its screenplay and story. Despite it all, Holland is a joy to watch and I am really looking forward to the likes of Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, and Tomei growing into their roles and playing larger parts in the sequels.

Diversity (Credit: CTMG Inc.)

So, yes, we can have this good thing, but we have to also accept that most good things haven’t tried hard enough to be universally appealing or accepting. In this case, we can consider where diversity and representation could have been better as well as applaud the people that made the most of being visible on screen. I loved Homecoming, and on re-watching it recently I continue to love it, but if we, the fans, continue to be blinded by everyone’s new gimmick, we will never reach peak representation (or any, for that matter). Love it or hate it, we still have to call it out for not passing the Bechdel, Shukla/Duvernay/Latif and Vito Russo tests. It’s the least Hollywood can do.

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About the Creator

Monita Mohan

When not dreaming of a one-way trip to Coruscant, I'm usually staring at a blank page, hoping my articles write themselves.

Website: lightspeedwriter.wordpress.com

Twitter: @Monita_Mohan

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