The Mary Jane Watson Appreciation Thread

[lone_wolf]

Whew! Let me tell ya...Tumblr is really a world of its own. Just came back from there and opinions are even more relentless there LOL.

I normally don't respond to many Tumblr post but one particular comment had me thinking about the general comic book commune regarding Shailene's portrayal of MJ. In my honest opinion I think she could do an excellent job given her acting chops in Descendents but since we have yet to see her adaptation of MJ on the silverscreen my opinion is pending. However, a part of me sometimes likes to play devils advocate because, I always like to see both sides of the coin. So the post is here but my response to the fellow fan is below (AND IT'S LONG...didn't realize I had PLENTY to say):

http://wulfin.tumblr.com/post/444086...the-comic-book

Here's my response. I doubt many share my opinion or childhood aspirations but sometimes, you just need to be heard in the name of a fictional red-headed character LOL (Did this all at Starbucks)

"...Yeah I agree with your sentiment. It’s a pretty sad group of people who have nothing to do but scream vitriol. And even worse, not provide an explanation.

Although to play devil’s advocate, I really don’t think it’s the body proportions that some people have a problem with. It’s her visage which to some doesn’t scream “Vivacious and Full of Life” type.

There’s a part of their rant I do understand and as a fellow female who grew up in the later part of the 70s when I was introduced to Spider-Man, there were not a lot of female comic book characters who screamed confidence as well as independent. Her face screamed those features. Growing up in the 70s, it still had remnants of prejudice where I was this little mixed Asian gal that still didn’t fit into a community of well bred caucasian kids LOL. Especially the females. Being somewhat exotic was just way too different from them and didn’t prevent them from calling me a hussie in the 80s when middle school and high school came around.

There wasn’t too much I could identify with in regards to MJ but she still had that glooming sentiment of not being able to get along with her fellow gender during her early years because of how much she also stood out. Her features alone had given people the assumption she was “easy” and there wasn’t too much in that cranium of hers which we already know is obviously furthest from the truth.

THAT was the element that some of us females back then could identify with. Despite the stereotypes and generalizations that people conjured up based on our mere appearances (no matter how plain or how bling), MJ had made some of us realize that we didn’t have to be afraid of being the center of attention, standing out and being modern. Modern is the key word here as MJ herself was conceived visually as a 60s Mod who adopted the philosophy and movement that it was okay to enjoy your youth and have fun. The philosophy is no doubt hedonistic but it was the attitude we wanted to adapt to and forget about the rise of cynicism. MJ was the epitome of all it exudes with her looks and overall attitude towards life and she really did make life look like one big party aside from the times where she new things were serious. MJ made us realize that sometimes we actually do sweat the small stuff.

We also wouldn’t let the baby boomer and lost generation naysayers prevent us from treating our bodies like an empty canvas that we could illustrate vividly whenever we wanted. MJ made us proud of flaunting our feminine charms and for some of us, her character type had aspired us to grow our own back bones and become the extroverts we are today.

I look back and wonder what life would have been like if I had not been introduced to a comic book at that time of life and had some redheaded female literally jump out from the pages of 4-color print with her dynamic looks and larger than life personality. I probably would have turned out to be some cliche anti-social asian american that skulks in corners in a room full of people and plays the part of ‘shut-in.’

That face of hers, that Romita visage (who was based off of Ann Margaret) that screamed, ”Don’t hate me because I stand out so before you write me off as some skank, you best get to know me first because I’m no victim and I refuse to define myself via my circumstances! ” No she’s never said that but her attitude was enough to pick up on that disposition. Which is why MJ will forever be the female character that made me aspire to become things I would have never dreamed off a year before my introduction to her in 1979 and I would have been a mindless drone who did EVERYTHING her parents told her to do without any regards to the phrase, “My life, my road.” We did it the MJ way which was a difficult path but with some rewards at the end. So for her to lose that particular edge in some other mediums is kind of a blow to some of us females who grew up back then. But we haven't seen the movie yet so we reserve judgment til the sequel actually commences.

I honestly would not have survived some of my careers in marketing and entrepreneurship if it were not for her influence. And as an independent artist you kinda need both LOL.

--Wolfie

[CMBMOOL]

It's not our fault that Marvel made Mary Jane look good in the comics ?

I mean it's not that hard to expect greatness in the upcoming Amazing Spider-man sequel when see the new MJ.

I mean is it wrong for us to assume and like that MJ should often always be the good looking red-head with the inner torment past that she hides deep within herself and behind a facade ?

[Kevinroc]

Let's be honest. A lot of these nerds wouldn't even know what to say if someone who looked like Shailene Woodley approached them.

This attitude many internet posters have taken to bash Woodley is embarrassing.

[lone_wolf]

It's not our fault that Marvel made Mary Jane look good in the comics ?

I mean it's not that hard to expect greatness in the upcoming Amazing Spider-man sequel when see the new MJ.

I mean is it wrong for us to assume and like that MJ should often always be the good looking red-head with the inner torment past that she hides deep within herself and behind a facade ?

Yes, but how can you judge an actress by candid shots? She was clearly out of costume in most of the recent candid photos. And we don't exactly know what angle they're going with as far as Shailene's adaptation goes. Do we know for certain that she's portraying a solid version of 616 MJ or a loose version of both 616 and Ultimate? From some of the in-production shots, they've at least got the independent down. Unless we've actually seen the sequel, we can't really say anything at this point.

--Wolfie

[Confuzzled Mutie]

I really liked what this article had to say about some of the venomous overreaction to Shailene's pics as MJ-

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwir...-_Xft4.twitter

Back at Cinema Blend, Katey Rich puts the whole Shailene Woodley-isn't-pretty thing into sharp focus -- but to me, how Woodley looks is almost irrelevant. She could have four eyeballs and three ears and a third arm growing out of her back -- that still wouldn't make it okay for anyone to hurl vicious insults at her because she doesn't perfectly resemble the unattainable dream girl they know from the comic books.

..When I see these people hurling brutal insults at Shailene Woodley, or female film critics who don't like "The Avengers," I wonder whether readers of "Amazing Spider-Man" comics these days identify with Flash Thompson instead of Peter Parker. Because that's who they act like: mean, vindictive bullies. They might say in their defense that they don't mean it, or they're only joking. So what? I'm sure the bullies who tripped me, and knocked over my books, and called me Matt Singer Booger Flinger thought they were hilarious.

That anonymous user at Superhero Hype was right when he used the phrase "a slap in the face to Stan Lee's vision" -- only the slap in the face here isn't Woodley, it's these jokers who think it's okay to spend their days abusing people in the name of "Spider-Man" fans. Well I'm a Spider-Man fan, and they don't speak for me. I think Shailene Woodley could make a great Mary Jane. I look forward to seeing what she brings to the role. And I hope at some point the guys leaving these comments break out their copies of "Amazing Fantasy" #15 and reread those all-important nine words. They seem to have forgotten them.

[stewart48]

Mary Jane's looks to me always reflected what was intended of her personality, that came from redheaded girls being called firecrackers, because that is exactly what MJ would be without the looks. The problem is comic writers, and really too many men in general, portray the term firecracker with sexuality a bit too much, and MJ is much more than that. I think the loss of her personality at times during the marriage was because of writers struggling to write a woman with a personality as strong as MJ in a context that doesn't involve sexual innuendo, also reading comics for the past 20 years it just seems modern writers are a bit downers in general.

Just watching Woodley interacting with Garfield without knowing what is being said gives me a lot of confidence that they are getting her personality down pat. Pretty sure her revving that bike is her playing fully teasing Peter a bit. Her personality and teasing to me have always been a great match for spidey, given the way he mocks his villains and then gets pulled right back down to earth at times by MJ.

[spideybr]

Never liked mj, and i read spidey in the late 80s and early 90s, i didnt even know about gwen untill i found the internet, i knew of debra whiteman but while pity i don't like her either. For me the best soulmate for peter was betty brant.

[DebkoX]

Has anyone here ever got that mary jane friends series? An online secondhand book store I use always have it and I was so close to purchasing earlier this week. Is it a trade or small book?

[Overhazard]

I'm sure shaliene will make a fine Mary Jane, though I would have picked Katie Leclerc from Switched at Birth (she was also on the big bang theory), just because she looks more like MJ from the comics, its the freckles I suppose. I had heard about the comments on DCwomenkickingass, its things like this that make me feel ashamed to be a spider-man fan, a comic book fan, and a man.

[lone_wolf]

Latest image surfaced today of Shailene as an Eisenberg waitress in ASM 2. She looks good in my opinion. Anyhow, these share the same batch of images of a car apparently crashing through? Just speculating but perhaps she'll get her first close up of Spider-Man here I guess.

http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/ima...er-man-2/?p=51


I'm wondering what order they're shooting these scenes though. Some production companies shoot backwards but this doesn't seem to be the case. And Shailene is supposed to be shooting Divergent soon if I can recall so perhaps they're just getting her scenes done first? It would make sense since Emma Stone recently tweeted and deleted her post LOL. It's gotta be an ASM scene. Her tweet (Gotta love Emma's humor):

"nawder nad islasehne tsintgi ni a erte"

(Andrew and Shailene sitting in a tree)

--Wolfie

[UK Pete]

Have they all got fucking colds?

[Ballard Blues]

Have they all got fucking colds?

No, the "Red Nose" effect has been a prevalent theme throughout human art for very long time. You'll see it all the time if you look at portraits depicting monarchs or angels.

[Confuzzled Mutie]

Latest image surfaced today of Shailene as an Eisenberg waitress in ASM 2. She looks good in my opinion. Anyhow, these share the same batch of images of a car apparently crashing through? Just speculating but perhaps she'll get her first close up of Spider-Man here I guess.

Lol, so that would be the second time on the big screen that a car would come crashing through a cafe/joint MJ is in. Even automobiles cannot help being drawn to her magnetic personality.

[stewart48]

Never liked mj, and i read spidey in the late 80s and early 90s, i didnt even know about gwen untill i found the internet, i knew of debra whiteman but while pity i don't like her either. For me the best why soulmate for peter was betty brant.

Begs the question... Why come into an MJ appreciation thread

[stewart48]

Latest image surfaced today of Shailene as an Eisenberg waitress in ASM 2. She looks good in my opinion. Anyhow, these share the same batch of images of a car apparently crashing through? Just speculating but perhaps she'll get her first close up of Spider-Man here I guess.

http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/ima...er-man-2/?p=51


I'm wondering what order they're shooting these scenes though. Some production companies shoot backwards but this doesn't seem to be the case. And Shailene is supposed to be shooting Divergent soon if I can recall so perhaps they're just getting her scenes done first? It would make sense since Emma Stone recently tweeted and deleted her post LOL. It's gotta be an ASM scene. Her tweet (Gotta love Emma's humor):

"nawder nad islasehne tsintgi ni a erte"

(Andrew and Shailene sitting in a tree)

--Wolfie

He
The order scenes are shot in are irrelevant to any sort of story order or the absolute need to shoot backwards. Most the time it has more to do with what scene can be shot where to save money or to use a specific location. Then reshoots if changes need to be made

Avengers shot their big action piece fist because of time and money.

Spider-Man seems to have more time in production than avengers so who knows if spidey gets the big cg stuff shot first