Genre in Spiderman

Superhero Movies

• Superman 2 (1980) • X-Men (2000)

Typical Superhero giveaways

• Narrative:– Superhero as a ‘regular guy’– Villains of equal or greater strength to superhero– Villains threaten town, country, world– Superhero has complicated romantic

entanglement (never quite settles with love)– Villains threaten Superhero’s love– Superhero defeats villains

Use this as a checklist for the films we will study...

Typical Superhero giveaways

Jor-El with his son Kal-El (Superman)

Lois Lane with Clark Kent (Superman)

Superman in costume

General Zod Ursa, Zod & Non

Lex Luthor

Typical Superhero giveawaysSenator Robert Kelly

Professor X

Rouge Wolverine

StormCyclops

Toad

Sabretooth

Magneto

Typical Superhero giveaways

• Narrative:– Superhero as a ‘regular guy’– Villains of equal or greater strength to superhero– Villains threaten town, country, world– Superhero has complicated romantic entanglement

(never quite settles with love)– Villains threaten Superhero’s love– Superhero defeats villains

• To what extent are these elements present in Spiderman?

Typical Superhero giveaways

• Villains– Clearly sinister

appearance– Often avenging some

slight or crime committed against them• Zod – imprisonment• Magneto – Nazi

Holocaust• Green Goblin – losing

contract; being fired

Typical Superhero giveaways

• Villains– The hero’s equal &

opposite• Equal

strength/abilities• Opposite outlook

– Utterly convinced of their own righteousness

– ‘Evil’

Typical Superhero giveaways

• The Superhero– Visually heroic (muscles,

flags, US colours)– Stands up for what is

‘right’– Will fight against

uneven odds– Utterly convinced of

their own righteousness– ‘Good’

Discussion

• How do the character archetypes of Spiderman compare to the archetypes used in ‘The Breakfast Club’ or ‘Eden Lake’?

Origins

• Marvel Comics (1962)• Originally conceived as a

teenage superhero– Most other teenagers in

superhero comics were consigned to the role of sidekick (e.g. Robin in Batman)

The Death of Gwen Stacy• In the comics, Peter Parker’s

first girlfriend is Gwen Stacy• She is killed when the Green

Goblin throws her off the top of the Brooklyn Bridge

• Although Spiderman tries to save her with his webbing, the whiplash effect from her sudden stop is what actually kills her...

How is this idea recycled in the movie? What is changed and why?