#there’s like a 90% chance i get some sort of d/eath th/reat over this

[idk-my-aesthetic]

Ok. Ima say smthn really controversial. But Pls hear me out

The way MCU Spider-Man is written completely, disastrously misrepresented Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, to the point where it’s damaging to the character’s legacy

Also like the writing choices also have some lowkey racist and antisemetic undertones, which are hopefully accidental, but we’ll get to that 

NOW WAIT. Before you send the hate mail please hear me out! Bc tbh I like a lot about the spider man movies!!! All the actors are like perfect choices and almost all of the scenes work really really well on their own

But there’s a HUGE problem with the portrayal of the character as a whole. Because the writers completely threw away the heart of Peter Parker’s spiderman in the name of ripping off Miles Morales’s spiderman.

We all know the “with great power comes great responsibility” line, right? Well there’s a bit more to it than just that

Peter Parker as a character is meant to embody the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olum. Translated literally tikkun olum means “repair/heal the world”. It’s a major concept in Judaism, and basically teaches that it’s everyone’s responsibility to do as much good as they are able to. Not just by being kind when the chance presents itself, but by actively seeking out things to help with. (Hey, doing the right thing bc u have the power to? Sounds familiar!!) it’s supposed to be his whole motivation, and what he represents as a cultural icon

But in the MCU movies he’s completely rewritten for his motivation to instead be to live up to Tony Stark’s legacy. A character arc that is one of the many, many things straight up stolen by the MCU writers from Miles Morales’s spiderman.

And like.... it just doesn’t work the same way guys. Not only because that’s not what Peter Parker’s spiderman is about at all, but also because there’s a lot of different connotations bc of the different characters/how it’s portrayed specifically in the movies, bc it completely erases the Jewish themes and history behind an inherently Jewish character, and bc it’s basically stealing a story meant specifically for black characters and giving it to a white one instead. (Not just miles btw- Riri Williams- the person who is actually supposed to continue the iron man legacy- is a black woman literally replaced by a white boy. That’s.... really not great)

Which is a huge issue, and greatly damages the legacy of the character. spiderman is a cultural icon. He’s just as recognizable as characters like bugs bunny or micky mouse. But unlike characters like micky mouse or bugs bunny, spiderman as a symbol is a lot more divorced from his source material. Basically anyone you ask has probably seen a loony tunes cartoon, but the amount of people who’ve read a spiderman comic or seen one of the cartoons is much much smaller in comparison

Which isn’t really an issue on its own. Ppl know what spiderman stands for in an abstract way from pop-culture, even if they’ve never necessarily seen it first hand. But there’s a big difference in being told a character stands for something and seeing/feeling it in a peice if media

But when a massively popular movie franchise completely fucking misinterprets that character and establishes itself as the definitive version? Well shit! Now everyone is told he’s a hero because it’s the right thing to do, but instead what they see is a hero fanboy. And that’s really damaging when the most popular version of a character completely undercuts it’s legacy

*for clarification, the issue is not that he is in awe of tony or looks up to him. The issue is that his primary motivation is to be cool and impressive like tony- slash like straight up impress him in the first place, instead of his motivation being doing the right thing. Peter Parker was never a hero to be cool. He was a hero bc it was the right thing to do. He was serious about it, even if he joked around he knew how dangerous it was. He was confident in his own moral code, was a leader who actively searched out things to fix. and the idea that he’d look to someone else for directions? Or let himself be limited by someone else? Is insulting.

Oof. That ended up a lot more aggressive than I intended. I don’t wanna make people feel bad for enjoying MCU spiderman. Like I really, really get it guys. The relationship between him and tony stark is really cute, and Tom Holland plays the best teenage Peter Parker in film history. You’re allowed to like it!! I’m actually really happy that y’all have found smthn you can truly enjoy

I’d just like to bring some attention to how this portrayal of the character isn’t the most faithful to the heart of the character. Which is ultimately much more important than anything else about a character, even things like their name or how they look. The heart is the most important part of them

I don’t think these movies are going to completely destroy the legacy of spiderman, or that they’re actively malicious. But I do think the way they misinterpret the character is damaging, at least in the long stretch of time until a new version takes it’s place.

I just don’t want these movies to give people an incorrect idea of what Spider-Man stands for. And I don’t want these traits that belong to other characters to be attributed to the wrong person. Like, y’all know they basically had to cut out Miles’s best freind Ganke from spiderverse bc he was too much like Ned? Even though Ned is literally based on Ganke, who’s role in spiderverse was cut down so much he literally doesn’t talk

ANYWAY. Y’all can like what you like and I’m legitimately glad u found smthn that makes u happy. I’m not gonna go get mad at ppl for writing a fic where Tony adopts Peter or enjoying the MCU movies. That would be a total dick move. But if u could please just.... share this if u don’t completely h8 me, and try to remember Peter’s true motivation is that he just wants to help ppl bc it’s the right thing to do. It would really mean a lot to me, and help preserve the inherently Jewish themes of the character’s and author’s legacy.