Podcast # 434-ASM (Vol. 4) # 16, Zendaya as Mary Jane Discussion, Marvel Legends Update

6 Comments

1. I would say that 90% of movie-going people do not feel like George does, about absolute adherence to the printed page. But where they do draw a line is fuzzier. It’s unpredictable what the mass audience will accept or hate. Black Nick Fury went over fine, because it was Samuel L. Jackson playing him, and because the mass audience neither knew or cared about the ethnicity of Nick Fury. Audiences mostly rejected the new Ghostbusters because it was a poor movie (combined with the foul obnoxiousness of its makers), not because it cast four women.

   A Peter Parker growing up in the Queens of today is much more likely to go to a high school with a super-multi-ethnic population (that’s NYC for you), as opposed to the Germans, Norwegians, Irish, and Jews of Stan’s days. But I also agree with George, that there was a deliberate attempt by websites to claim racial outrage against Zendaya and then self-righteously cry woe over it, when no such racist outrage existed (not counting trolls). They were all lying about it.

   Cast a beautiful, spunky, feisty young actress as MJ and give her red hair, and she could be almost any ethnicity. After all, Kirsten Dunst is Caucasian, and yet she really wasn’t playing MJ.

2. I don’t have much of an opinion on MJ, but on the subject of “Social Justice Casting”, I think it’s kinda a good thing.

   No creator worth their salt would prioritize flat out diversity OVER making a good piece of media. Consider it important, perhaps, but it’s never priority number one.

   In psychology, there’s a concept called a schema. It’s basically google auto-fill for the brain. There’s an association of a concept with various characteristics. When a toddler looks at a deer and calls it a “horsey”, it’s because that toddler’s schema for “horse” is something like, “four legs, bigger than a dog, ect”. People notice and absorb information that fits their schemas, and reject information that contradicts them.

   The media has a HUGE influence on schemas, especially for kids.

   When every doctor you see on tv is a white man, you’re going to associate “doctor” with the traits of “white, male”, whether you want to or not. When every female love interest you see on tv is a white, light-eyed, straight-haired girl… you’re going to associate those traits with beauty, and deviations from that will go against your idea of beauty at least on a subconscious level. If you’re, say, a little girl with dark skin and brown eyes and coily hair, that can be pretty discouraging.

   Race-bending characters provides necessary role models for various members of the audience while using the draw of a popular name/identity to increase the amount of people who will see the new depiction. The reason anything-to-white leaves a bad taste in so many mouths is that white was the default for so long, so there’s heaps of white characters in every role imaginable.

3. For a while there I thought it was Zendaya singing the Spectacular cover. :p

   Speaking of whom, I don’t really see what the problem with her casting as MJ (if it’s true) is. In the 60’s, Romita Sr. modelled her after Ann Margaret, the “teen queen” of the time. Zendaya is the teen queen of today. From that perspective, for a Spider-Man film set in 2016-17, she is the perfect choice for Mary Jane Watson. As long as she nails the character (which she should as a lot of people say she IS a “real life MJ”). And it’s not like Kirsten Dunst set a particularly high benchmark anyway.

   As Brad said, the more worrisome thing is if they alter the character’s personality.

4. Really enjoyed the episode and I agree with JR. There is interest and to bring more of the human Jackle and not the weird “joker” one they seem to go with. However, once again, he’s all about those clones, about those clones, no originality.

5. The link is on the message board discussion thread. I like it too.

6. Wow! Where did you get that cover of the “Spectacular Spider-Man” theme? It’s awesome!

   (I’ll speak about the rest of the podcast when I listen to it. It’s just that I really liked the cover. lol)