Posted on 08/22/2016 2:09:22 PM PDT by drewh
Spider-Man has many powers: Wall-crawling, web-slinging… and race-bending.
According to a story posted by The Wrap, 19-year-old Disney Channel star Zendaya is set to play Mary Jane Watson in next year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, a re-reboot that will see young British actor Tom Holland as a high school-aged Peter Parker.
This is a great idea. It’s 2016, why couldn’t – or shouldn’t – Spidey have a love interest who isn’t white? And many people agree, with Twitter and Facebook full of responses from folks who think a black Mary Jane is a fantastic choice.
But, as always, there are pockets of dissent, ranging from stubborn fans to outright racists. Which is puzzling, frankly. Not that this kind of ignorance still exists – you need only look at the U.S. presidential campaign to see that racism has been emboldened by a candidate who thinks prejudice and xenophobia are acceptable, and even commendable.
Rather, it’s that people are still freaking out over comic book colourblindness.
Off the top of my head, I can think of five black actors who’ve played characters that were traditionally white in the comics – Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin and Will Smith as Deadshot. Some of them were good. Some were great. All gave us a different perspective on the character.
None, as far as I’m aware, brought about the apocalypse.
The “it’s not how it’s written in the comics!” refrain just doesn’t wash. A film is not a slavish recreation of its source material, and thank goodness – had Captain America: Civil War been faithful to the Civil War comics, it would have been a bloated, incomprehensible mess.
From the comic book page to the movie screen, costumes get changed. Powers get changed. Backstories get changed. Characters’ physical appearances get changed. These are creative choices made in service to the film.
Do they always work? No. But in the case of Marvel Studios, who are co-producing Homecoming with Sony Pictures, these decisions are being made by people who are very, very good at what they do, and spending very, very large amounts of their own money on the process. As frustrating as it may be to hear, they know better than we do.
I admit, I always had a thing for Mary Jane, with her luscious red hair and impossible curves. But just as the talented Kirsten Dunst didn’t look like the MJ in my mind when she played the character in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies, the biracial Zendaya will bring a different look to Mary Jane in Homecoming – if that is indeed the role she’s been cast in. And that’s really cool.
Does Zendaya have the acting chops for what might be a relatively meaty role in a major superhero movie? I’m not sure. She’s got great energy and plenty of talent, but we’ll have to wait and see. Does indie film director Jon Watts have the directing chops to be behind the camera for a major superhero movie? I’m not sure. His film Cop Car was really good and he’s a smart guy, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Yet, oddly, he isn’t subjected to the same amount of Internet scrutiny.
Kind of makes your Spidey senses tingle.
Maybe some kid that was stung by a wasp and has the ability to make houses from mud. And his girlfriend has to deal with his dirty pad.
They do have a black latino spiderman now if they were really brave they would use him
Which is puzzling, frankly. Not that this kind of ignorance still exists – you need only look at the U.S. presidential campaign to see that racism has been emboldened by a candidate who thinks prejudice and xenophobia are acceptable, and even commendable.
/sigh
“I thought Zendaya was mixed race, black father and white mother. She’s all black now?”
I have ZERO problem with this actress playing MJ as the whole red-hair thing was never important to the story, but yeah, she’s apparently all black now.
Me, I’m waiting for the female re-boot of Brokeback Mountain.
http://www.morningledger.com/lesbian-brokeback-mountain-confirmed/1395037/
No one cared that Raquel Welch was Hispanic, since she presented herself as a person rather than as a category/label. It's the same with this "Zendaya", whom I had never heard of. If she'll wear a red wig, she's close enough and cute enough that I'm okay with the actress. But they have to keep the red hair, since that was the signature that identified Mary Jane, which makes it as essential as Aunt Mae being old (yes, I chose that on purpose).
Also, if they are going to make Mary Jane an angry black woman who had never been proud of the United States until Barack, or otherwise change her culturally from the cute girl next door in the comics, then I won't watch the movie under any circumstances.
The hair is what identifies Mary Jane. She needs it like J Jonah Jameson (or, in another context, Bill Clinton) needs a cigar.
No where daring enough. A much better version would be if this young woman self-identified as male and then played the title role.
Or could they simply be purists who are sick of watching Uber Liberal Stan Lee and others bastardize the Marvel brand?
A female Captain Marvel? Puhleeeeeze.
Oh sure. Just like Mariah Carey, Halle Berry and Odumbo...the first black president.
Why are the fanboys upset? Easy, folks. MJ is a redhead in the comics and (supposed to be) a red hot (pardon the pun) supermodel. Nick Fury? Johnny Storm? Eh, fanboys don’t care. But MJ, well, MJ is supposed to be a 90’s era Cindy Crawford with red hair.
You’d think they’d cast some girl as Betty Brant (Betty was Peter’s first girlfriend brunette, worked at the newspaper. Peter broke up with her because she blamed Spider-Man for the death of a relative.) or Gwen Stacy (blonde, who infamously died falling off a bridge when her neck snapped) or Felicia Hardy (platinum blonde criminal, basically Marvel’s version of DC’s Bat-nemesis Catwoman)
All of these girl characters aren’t supermodels, they dated Peter, have interesting stories and could be played by “any” actress without fanboy upheaval. I don’t get it.
Of course we all know it is the consequence of Political correctness run amok.
Just as you can no longer see any show that doesn't have a "gay" reference in it somewhere, so too must non white non males always be pushed as a narrative.
I disagree, but to each his own.
She looks like a child who hasn’t even reached puberty yet, and I don’t ever remember MJ having that “look” in any of the comics I read as a child.
Too skinny, not what I would even remotely call pretty or sexy, but as I started, to each his own.
Maybe that’s what they’re shooting for, I don’t know...
Just another repackaging, rewriting the same script over an over and over.
In that picture she looks more like a guy.
So, when will Black Panther or Storm be portrayed by a white actor?
A classic example was the fake outrage over the casting of "a Black storm trooper" in the last Star Wars movie. Were the storm troopers really positive characters you'd want to identify with? (I guess here's where the racist-Nazi angle comes in -- if somebody's a racist the idea is that they would identify with storm troopers, past and future.) How do we know that some of the original Star Wars storm troopers weren't Black? And who provided the voice of their leader, Darth Vader?
“I guess when the character (of Spiderman) is a teenager”
Since they’re reinventing characters then why can’t Spiderman be a college student or even a 31 year old swimmer? I hear Ryan Lochte is looking for work!
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