The love story in Spiderman 2

[tony12]

I just saw this movie this weekend and I really did like it. And though it is kind of embarrasing for me to say. But the part of the story I liked the most was the love story between MJ and Peter.

I liked it because it really seemed like a much more realistic love story then their is in most teenage or young adult romance films.

In most young adult romance plots it seems that the two characters unrealistically fall head over heels in love with eachother right away and the only thing that they fight against or have difficulties with are those who don't want them to be together.

But that is generally not the way it is in real life between teenagers or young adults with romantic feelings towards eachother. And I thought the Spider man 2 love story did a good job of staying much truer to the real world with all the insecurities felt, frustrations felt, and mind games played between the two people in love.

In Spiderman 2 the battle is not fought between them and those who do not want them to be together. But it is much more realistically fought between the actual guy and girl in love with eachother.

To start off with I found it interesting how the roles totally reversed between MJ and Peter between film 1 and film 2. In film 1 Peter was the insecure one who was struggling with the fear of having unrequated love towards MJ. And in film 2 MJ was the one who was struggling with the fear of having unrequated love towards Peter. In film 1 Peter just deals with those thoughts by not really telling MJ how he felt about her. But in film 2 MJ's fear is much more complex than Peter's in film 1 was.

In this film MJ has to go to more drastic measures because she has already acknowledged to Peter how she feels about him. And because of this her frustration in this film is much greater than Peter's in film 1.

And because of the frustration she resorts to playing mind games with him. MJ spends most of the film attempting to make Peter jealous as away of getting back at him for causing her so much frustration and pain.

She tells Peter very directly just out of the blue that she is seeing someone and that it is rather serious.

After the play in which she invited Peter to and he could not get into because he was late and she had her boyfriend pick her up I saw that as another attempt of making Peter jealous (not sure though when MJ looked back at the stairs rather or not she knew Peter had been sitting there and she was taking satisfaction because she new Peter saw her with the astronaut or not).

And then when MJ finally finds out who Spiderman really is and all the things Peter had been telling her finally starts making sense the peace and joy that finally comes over her face after all the frustrations are dashed away. And the frustrations of Peter's that are finally dashed away once he is finally able to tell MJ the truth.

That's why I enjoyed this love story alot because it played out much more like a true to life teenage or young adult love story then what most movies display. Spiderman 2 had all the trials, frustrations, insecurities and mind games that generally come along with a young adult love story in real life.

Unlike say for instance love stories in films like Titanic where everything is just gooey between them from the very beginning.

So what did you guys think of the love story in Spiderman 2

[Michael]

When Mary Jane came out of the play, she was looking around for Peter, not for John Jameson (who surprised her when he showed up).

Peter's internal conflict was a serious obstacle for the relationship. Mary Jane was trying to move on with her life but she didn't want to settle for second best. Her heart kept telling her that Peter was hiding something important from her.

There non-verbal expressions both actors put into their roles were very good.

[tony12]

Alot of people I have talked to seem to think the love story was good but rather predictable.

I don't think though that the love story was meant to be unpredictable. I just think it was meant to show the insecurities that alot of young people in love, or young people with crushes on eachother have with one another.

[Michael]

Considering that Peter married Mary Jane in the comic book, I have a lot of confidence that they will get married in the movies.

So, the sense of predictability is somewhat unavoidable.

I suppose they could kill her off in the next movie. That would be a bit bizarre, but it would keep Peter's character on the emotional roller coaster (which was why they killed off Gwen in the comics, of course, and left him with Mary Jane).

[tony12]

that is only though if they choose to follow the comic book story directly. They seem to have strayed away from the direct comic book storyline abit thus far (including the MJ/Peter relationship up to this point). So I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to altar the MJ/Peter relationship in the future.

Also I think they only plan on making 3 movies. As Sam Raimi is only contracted for three. So that would be another reason for them to altar the MJ/ Peter relationship.

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by tony12
Also I think they only plan on making 3 movies. As Sam Raimi is only contracted for three. So that would be another reason for them to altar the MJ/ Peter relationship.

Given the success of the films so far, and the revenue generated by such films, not to mention the growing desire for franchises where once sequels or trilogies only stood, I have little doubt that there will be additional films past the initial three. That these films may suffer from the extention of the series, or that they may suffer from other reasons (loss of stars, directors, writers, etc.) is another question. If I were to bet the family farm, barn, animals and all, I would bet there will, however, be more than three movies.

As I recall from the murky depths of my comic readings:

To view, use your mouse to select the text:

Mary Jane does get killed at some point.

[Michael]

I think someone told me your spoiler a few years ago, RobRoy. I am sure there must be a Web site somewhere which concisely retells the comic history for Spider-man, anyway.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the movies.

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by Michael
I think someone told me your spoiler a few years ago, RobRoy. I am sure there must be a Web site somewhere which concisely retells the comic history for Spider-man, anyway.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the movies.

My foggy memory tells me that it was back in the early 90s / late 80s when that occurred. Still, given that there are many more fans of the movies than there are of the comics, I'd rather not spoil it. :bg:

Given the nature of everything in comics, I still find it a rather bold move by Marval. Do you?

[Benji_West]

I wonder if the series will attempt to introduce Peter's first and true love: Gwen Stacy. For those who don't know she was thrown of a bridge by the Green Goblin....a scene that was referenced in the ending of the first Spiderman movie. But I believe it will be an interesting aspect to add in Gwen to the movies, creating a dynamic love triangle between the main characters. In the comics , Peter was always chasing MJ, whereas Gwen was always there for him.

[august]

According to her entry at a site called the Marvel Directory:

To view, use your mouse to select the text:

However, Peter and Mary Jane have now moved into a new apartment in a building that is owned by their friend Harry Osborn and is located in Manhattan's SoHo district. Mary Jane has also returned to acting in his one role on a daytime serial secret hospital.

Note: I do think it's pretty unlikely that we'll see Gwen, since Sam said that he intentionally wanted to use the Gwen story in the first movie, and ended up just transferring it to MJ, and allowing for a happy ending. That said, they could always introduce a new character, just to be competition for MJ, but that would be such a shame, since their declaration of love is so sweet at the end of this one. (I mean, the daughter of Pete's landlord is a cute girl, but I'm not sure she's really much competition for the va-va-voomish Kirsten.)

To respond to the original question - I think it's the love story angle that makes this film so much more accessible to a mainstream audience than most comic book movies. Normally, Lois Lane and/or Vicki Vale and/or Selina Kyle and/or Chase Meridian or whoever is just sort of like MJ"s "crush" on Spider-Man in the first film - the hero is heroic and mysterious, therefore the heroine is in love. The cool and virtuallu unique thing about this film is that it's a love story between two misfit kids from Queens.

[tony12]

and it did a very good job of displaying what an adolescent love story is generally like.