By Lynn Hong (18A13A) and Choi Hoe Chang (18S07A)
The third reboot of this popular franchise was met with a mix of anticipation and skepticism but it has emerged as an enrapturing and competent love letter to fans of the beloved superhero. A decidedly more light-hearted take on the Spider-man’s origins story than the Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire reboots, it was a fast-paced and fun romp, presenting a dorkily endearing version of the superhero.
This movie picks up after the events of Captain America: Civil War where we see Spider-man being roped in by Iron Man to fight with the Avengers. The movie is not in the strictest sense an origins story, as Peter Parker starts the movie already with powers. Instead, it depicts how he finds his identity and ethos as a superhero even as he returns to the placid normalcy of daily life after his outing with the Avengers.
The third reincarnation of Peter Parker as portrayed by Tom Holland; many fans argue that his version of spiderman is the most comic-book accurate one.
Admittedly, this movie did follow the standard Marvel superhero formula. Though it was simplistic in that sense, the excellent execution made it an enjoyable watch. Rather than going down the angst-ridden protagonist path, Homecoming takes a lighter approach. Tom Holland portrays an energetic and eager Spider-Man, returning to the earliest comic characterisation of a spontaneous webslinger, prone to snappy one-liners before fight scenes. Only 19 when the movie was made, he gives the most convincing portrayal of a teenaged Spiderman. The movie uses a bright and preppy aesthetic, playing up the high school element of the movie with attempts at dry millennial humour.
There are elements of teen drama throughout the movie to remind the audience that Peter Parker is a 15 year old, high school Sophomore in Homecoming.
Rather than being bogged down by Spider-Man’s history of film adaptations, Homecoming turns audience’s familiarity with the story and characters to its advantage. With the decision to skip the recount of how Peter got his powers and his family background, the movie buys itself more time to establish a compelling character that will keep audiences coming back for more in subsequent installments. The movie finds space in its fast pacing to show us little moments which humanise Spiderman, such as his social missteps in school, his confusion when learning to use his equipment, or expressing his fear in the middle of a daredevil rescue mission. Scenes of him and his best friend, Ned, geeking out about the superhero world put him right alongside the audience in his innocent wonder and amazement. His earnestness, and sometimes excessive eagerness endears him to the audience – he may be pulling off acrobatics we could only ever dream of, but he’s no polished super hero.
However, there was little emotional arc to speak of. Due to how lighthearted this reboot was, in comparison to the previous versions with major character deaths capping each movie, there was not much in the way of an emotional punch. The constant high octane jaunty tone of the movie was integral in papering over instances where the movie suffered from “cinematic logic”. The character arc also left more to be desired. There appeared to be two possible character arcs or “learning moments”, the more explicit and predictable one of learning responsibility and the actual focus of the film, Spiderman’s commitment to staying on the ground, embedded within his community.
The Ferry Scene: perhaps an homage to the train scene in Spiderman 2 (2004) . Peter Parker face many challenges to showcase his ability as a superhero, which unfortunately did not translate into emotional impact as it did in the previous adaptations of Spider-Man
The first arc’s impact was compromised as Iron Man swooped in to save the day, rather than allowing Spider-Man to take responsibility. The whole debacle was concluded with a few cliched lines from Iron Man, which was a bigger reference to Iron Man’s character development in his own series than it added to Peter’s, as the incident did not seem trigger any large reflection in Peter. The focus of the movie was meant to be Spiderman’s realisation of the importance of staying rooted to his community as opposed to aspiring to grandiose heroism. However, the link between the final fight scene and this realisation was not substantial enough to elucidate this character arc, leaving some confused as to the title “Homecoming”. The writers relied on a short monologue delivered by Michael Keaton to point to this theme, but it managed to slip by with little impact and was swallowed by the bombastic action sequences. The Vulture’s back story of a powerless civilian forced to bear the repercussions of the Avengers or a specific Avenger’s actions was too overused in Marvel villains (recall the twin’s vendetta against Iron Man in Avengers: Age of Ultron) such that it failed to act as a pertinent clue pointing to this central concern as well.
Michael Keaton (top) and the Vulture (bottom). Michael Keaton’s performance as The Vulture was absolutely stellar, but his capabilities were perhaps under-utilized due to the way the character was written
However, this hardly means Homecoming was a subpar movie experience. The flaws of the story become evident in retrospect, but its brisk pace, colors and action kept us engaged like all blockbusters should. For fans, the movie becomes an easter-egg hunt to catch references and revel in the glory of Marvel’s world building. For more casual audiences, the movie serves as an irrefutably competent popcorn flick. Perhaps, the perks and flaws of Homecoming come from the fact that it is an episode in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
In a larger context, Homecoming is both typical of the MCU as a franchise, and a herald of its changes. A remarkable number of criticisms of this movie mentioned the film’s heavy reliance on cliches and comedy, which the rest of the MCU falls prey too as well. The repetitive usage of the “Marvel Formula” desensitises the audience to its charms, and the franchise eventually becomes stagnant rather than comfortable. Granted, Marvel has experimented with more serious tones and themes in the attempt to diversify its franchise, such as the successful Captain America trilogy by the Russo Brothers. However, it is undeniable that the light-hearted atmosphere and witty banter in Homecoming are the defining stylistic choices of the Marvel brand.
The duality of Marvel: Some films such as the Captain America trilogy are prime examples of superhero films with more serious tones, and Black Panther is anticipated to be Marvel’s attempt at a political thriller. On the other hand, films such as Guardians of the Galaxy or Antman are renown for as well executed action-comedies.
The reason for this phenomena boils down to how the the MCU is managed. Every single MCU film is produced by Kevin Feige, the CEO of Marvel Studios, who is accountable for all choices made in the filmmaking and production process. In many cases, the involvement of the respective directors and other key production personnel tends to be less significant. Moreover, the directors and writers are often chosen specifically such that their styles are compatible with the existing Marvel formula, thus perpetuating the style. Additionally, if these key creative personnel are less established, Feige will naturally override their authority. This is why the notion of “creative freedom” and distinct artistic approaches rarely manifests in Marvel productions.
(Top): John Watts, the director of Homecoming, his previous works include Clown (2014) and Cop Car (2015). His works were criticized for their reliance on tropes and shaky resolution of the story.
Jonathan Goldstein, the writer of Homecoming. He is most well-known for writing Horrible Bosses (2011) and Horrible Bosses 2
On the other hand, Homecoming is also the herald of greater ethnic diversity in the MCU. Feige himself has expressed his desire to shake up the MCU, especially with regards to characters. He stated in an interview with Vulture magazine that the MCU will become more “inclusive”, moving away from a “completely white, European cast”. Homecoming , featuring perhaps the most ethnically diverse cast in recent memory, definitely delivered on that promise.
Kevin Feige, the CEO of Marvel Studios and the mastermind behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is dubbed as one of the most successful film producers in history of cinema.
It was precisely the issue of ethnic representation in films which stirred controversy on social media. Specifically, the debate was to do with racebending, where the media content creator changes the race or ethnicity of a character. Two characters, Flash Thompson and Mary Jane, were the focal point of the debate, particularly the latter. Both characters were traditionally depicted as white in both the comics and past live-action adaptations, but in Homecoming were played by non-white talents. The controversy surrounding this movie was exacerbated as it was compared to another instance of race-bending in Marvel: The Ancient One in Doctor Strange. It raised hackles with the casting of the originally Asian male Ancient One as Tilda Swinton, with criticism of it as yet another incident of whitewashing, heightening the fans’ sensitivity to racebending. This raises an interesting and important question: in which cases, if any, is racebending acceptable in comic book adaptations?
Usually, racebending is meant to enrich the lore of the character by bringing in elements of culture belonging to or associated with a different ethnicity, although sometimes it comes across as blatant disrespect towards that culture. In some cases, racebending goes completely unnoticed altogether. In the case of comic book adaptations,racebending reads as deviation from the much-loved source material. In comic books, every visual aspect of a character is meticulously illustrated to the smallest detail, and particular character designs are re-used over the years until it eventually reaches “canonical” status. The defense of this cannon becomes even more imperative when it comes to pop culture icons, like Spider-Man. Thus, to the fans, the ethnicity of a character usually becomes a non-negotiable aspect of live-action adaptations. It is vital in upholding the film’s integrity as an authentic adaptation of the comics, this authenticity being the main draw for these fans.
However, the idea of authenticity does not really hold water in the world of superheros. Superheros and their stories have survived for decades, precisely because the writers and editors had persistently reinvented and reimagined them to appeal to the changing demands of the audiences. Granted, there are irreplaceable aspects of a story that cannot and must not ever change (for example, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and is motivated by the death of his uncle), but superheroes must be updated regularly to stay relevant to the times. Superheroes appeal to us as reflections of societal landscapes, an articulation of our common imagination. The role of comics and fiction in escapism has been well documented. At the point at which superheroes and their stories stop reflecting the aspirations and values of their audience, these icons lose their magnetism as symbols for readers to rally around.
This is what we saw in Homecoming. The diversity of the cast is meant to reflect the metropolitan social fabric of the modern Queens, New York. Flash Thompson is now snobbish and passive-aggressive, rather than playing the overused “big dumb jock” stereotype. As for Mary Jane, she is a different story. Zendaya is playing Michelle Jones, and not the feisty redhead. It was confirmed that her character borrowed the initials in order to emulate the character dynamics from the comic books and Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy.
Admittedly, this is still problematic and a dissatisfying resolution to a problem with serious implications. The casting choices in major studio productions like Homecoming is an indication of the potential paradigm shift in the attitude of Hollywood producers with regards to race representation in mainstream films. However, the rationale behind Zendaya’s character we were given might as well have been a haphazard reaction by the studios to appease the fans and the public after being met with outrage and contemplations. Nevertheless, her character was unique, her mixture of rebelliousness and nonchalance bringing an enjoyable twist to the character dynamics. It was moreover commendable on Marvel’s part that they did not resort to racial stereotypes to characterise Michelle, as racebending is , by theory, liable of exploiting the stereotypes that are associated with the ethnicity of the talent / character. On a separate note, it is worth noting that this is not the first occasion of which Marvel successfully executed “White-to-black” racebending. Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D, for instance, was depicted as a caucasian in the comics but was played by Samuel L Jackson , an African-American actor. This was , however, received with unanimous applause from both comic fans and general audience alike , as the sheer charisma that Jackson exerted on-screen was sufficient to convince the audience. This boils down to perhaps an obvious conclusion that racebending, like all other ideas, must be well-executed to be convincing and thus be well-received.
(Left) : Zendaya as Michelle “M.J” Jones in Homecoming
(Right): Mary Jane “M.J” Watson in the comics
In sum, as far as action-comedies go, Spiderman: Homecoming does not quite push the boundaries of the genre or the house style of MCU, but nonetheless is a well executed mix of light-hearted humour and web-slinging worth your two hours. Viewed against the backdrop of the larger MCU, it is a marked step forward for Marvel in the diversity of its cast. The studio will have to continue grappling with the questions of canonical authenticity and ethnic representation, a point of particular note in its upcoming Black Panther.
