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Spiderman as Resistive Text Ed Carey TV Culture
Carey- 2 Research paper (unpublished) edited Jan. 2010 Spiderman is a multimedia phenomenon that began over 40 years ago as a comic book. Since then, it has been adapted for television numerous times in animation and more recently on film. The vast, complex narrative of Spiderman has spawned video games, merchandising and an enormous fandom, which in itself has produced fan fiction based on the characters. Narrative plentitude and expandability allows greater character depth and more complex stories, along with its seriality, as described by Roberta Pearson in her essay on Cult TV. Though it began in a different form, Spiderman shares the properties of the Cult TV genre. Seriality, plentitude and a lack of narrative closure have accompanied the story across different media forms. Mumford describes how narrative closure is still prevalent in serialized forms like the soap opera in her essay, “How Things End: The Problem of Closure.” Ideological closure can be found at the end of story arcs or even at the end of episodes, as in episodic television, or the end result of certain themes or issues. Heteronormative relationships of love, marriage and childrearing prevail in the soap opera form, as well as in other television genres. The lack of closure found in Spiderman is not temporary, as Mumford would argue, but the ambiguity of the text allows for more complex relationships and the moral ambiguity of characters. The prominent relationships between Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn are made problematic, not only by lack of closure, but by other possibilities as well. Fan fiction authors have even imagined a romantic relationship between Peter and Harry. Slash is a fan fiction form derived from the narrative spaces and lack of closure found in most Cult television shows, which remain purposely ambiguous. We can see how this plays out across the media spectrum as Spiderman is adapted for TV, film and videogames, with seriality playing a more important role in film in recent years.
Carey- 3 The origin of Spiderman in comics has changed little throughout all of the media adaptations, beyond updating it for younger viewers. A shy, introverted high school student named Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and imbued with spider-like powers, climbing walls and spinning webs with which to swing around on. Orphaned from birth and raised by his aunt and uncle, he learns the hard way to use his powers to help people. After arrogantly letting a crook escape the law, while using his powers for his own benefit and monetary gain, the crook kills his uncle. From that moment, he learns that “with great power must come great responsibility,” words spoken by his uncle before his death. This part of the story, told in only one issue back in 1963, has been the basis for the story in just about every televised version, as well as the film. From its inception, the Spiderman narrative resisted industry pressures which deemed it a failed premise. Stan Lee, creator and original writer on Spiderman, relates the conspicuous beginnings of the character [Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters and Marvels]. The publisher at Marvel Comics (then Timely Comics) told Stan that no one would like a comic about a guy with spider powers, nobody liked spiders. At the time, teenage characters were relegated to the role of sidekick and Lee was told that no one would want to read a book about a teenage superhero. Lee wrote the story his way, given the last issue of a canceled series in which to tell the original story. Despite industry conventions leading away from superhero books at the time, the character was a resounding success and the rest is history. Spiderman exists in a narrative space which he shares with other comic characters created by Stan Lee and through the years others. Other important themes encoded by Stan Lee in the production of the narrative were Peter Parker’s working class status and his family’s economic hardship, as well as much needed conflict within his personal life. Peter was not born to be a hero, like Superman, but had to learn through trial and error and at a high price, the death of his uncle. These themes were always important to the narrative (to
Carey- 4 some degree or other), especially in the animated Fox series, a more literal adaptation of the comic. The 90’s animated Spiderman (there is apparently one for each decade) encompassed the seriality and expansiveness of the original text, playing up to the fans extensive knowledge of the character. Relationships between main characters (Peter, Mary Jane and Harry) remained ambiguous and complicated by the narrative and a multitude of minor characters from the comic. Though the possibility of Peter and Mary Jane remains central to the narrative, other possibilities complicate their relationship and closure never brings them together successfully. A love triangle forms between Peter, MJ and Harry with Harry and MJ engaged for a short time, but even that possibility is cut off. Peter also has other “love interests” throughout the show, including Liz (a former crush who wants nothing to do with him) and Felicia Harding, a teenage socialite who eventually becomes longtime Spiderman nemesis The Black Cat. At the end of an episode [“Enter the Green Goblin”] which highlights the love triangle between Peter, Harry and MJ in a subplot, Felicia kisses Spiderman for saving her once again (not realizing its Peter). Peter’s alter ego allows him to carry on a flirtatious relationship with Felicia. Mumford discusses the importance of episode endings, even in serial form, in which “an important piece of information provides a kind of miniclosure very similar to the conclusions of conventional television episodes.” Whereas Mumford sees these moments of closure, even within long storylines, as ascribing certain ideological resolutions preferring a monogamous heteronormative relationship, the kiss between Peter and Felicia further complicates any resolution to the relationship between him and MJ, leaving viewers to entertain other ideas. Spiderman represented as “the Other” is a theme explored in the text as well, lending itself to the ambiguity of the text and the main character. Peter Parker’s alter ego resists normative values
Carey- 5 of propriety and allows Peter to have an alternate lifestyle. Spiderman allows him to carry on multiple relationships and to act differently. In the episode “Mutant’s Revenge,” he meets with the X-Men, more characters from the comics’ narrative universe whose status as ‘mutant’ lends itself to the discourse of Other (or disenfranchised group). Both mutants and Spiderman are feared by the public, pursued by authorities and presented as a ‘threat’ by the media. The episode poses a recurring thematic conflict between Peter’s personal life and his disenfranchised status as Spiderman. By the end, he comes to accept (once again) his status as “Other” with the help of the X-Men. The adventurous, non-normative lifestyle of superheroes and mutants places them as resistive to normative values since they are often seen as “criminals.” In the narrative space of comics, good guys can become “bad guys” and vice versa. The X-Men and other superhero teams have many reformed villains on their rosters. Fans of the Spiderman text embrace the ambiguity of the text and the moral ambiguity of the characters. In a fan-fiction story on fanfiction.net (an archive of fan interpretations), the child of Peter Parker and Felicia Harding, born out of wedlock, assumes the mantle of Spiderman. Moral questions and implications are not easily resolved in the narrative. An important storyline in both the comic and the animated television version posed the possibility of Spiderman as a villain. In the “Venom” storyline, Peter is bonded to an alien symbiote which becomes a new costume. As the symbiote exerts greater influence over Spiderman, negative emotions rise to the surface and he starts acting villainous. The resolution rids Spiderman of the symbiote only to take control of another character, Eddie Brock, and becomes the villain Venom. Though the symbiote is an outside (alien) force, the implications for Spiderman are still manifested by the fate of Brock; it could just as easily have been him. Brock was presented as a negative character to begin with, but there are social reasons for his transformation: the loss of his job, his girlfriend, rather
Carey- 6 significant losses. Video games permit a modicum of interactivity and fan feedback is important to developers. Recent games allow gamers to play as a hero or villain, just as in “Ultimate Spiderman,” a multi-platform game which allows you to play as Spiderman or Venom. Fan fiction writers imagine all kinds of possibilities for the characters: an African American Spiderman, a female Spiderman, multiple relationships. A popular form of fan-fiction is slash, which resists heteronormative relationships by imagining same sex relationships between characters. Lack of heteronormative closure in the relationships between Peter and Mary Jane, as well as other female characters, motivate fan authors to see a possible relationship between Peter and Harry Osborn in the text. The love triangle between Peter, Harry and Mary Jane figures heavily into each adaptation, from the 90s Spiderman to the film and the MTV animated version which followed. The short-lived MTV Spiderman focused intently on this triangle, almost to the exclusion of other relationships, though additional love interests were introduced for Peter later in the series. In the episode “Keeping Secrets,” Peter seems jealous of Harry’s new girlfriend Cheyenne, who’s also the villain Spiderman duels with during the episode. At episode’s end, the newly dumped Harry walks off with Peter to drown his sorrows at the doughnut shop. The ending spurred two fan authors to write a story picking up where the episode leaves off, in which Peter and Harry start a relationship. The ambiguous closure of this episode provides a significant narrative space to “read” a relationship between Peter and Harry. Usually, the non-normative lifestyle of the adventurer/hero suspends or inhibits heteronormative relationships, as Spiderman does with Mary Jane, but in this case a personal relationship is strengthened despite the intrusion of Spiderman on Peter’s life.
Carey- 7 Subtext for the non-normative lifestyle can also be found in 90s Spiderman. Peter’s alter ego does not allow him to have a relationship with Mary Jane. In the episode “Morbius,” Peter’s spider powers are causing him to mutate and therefore avoid Mary Jane. After dodging Mary Jane, her friend Liz remarks that “any guy who isn’t interested” in her, “just isn’t human anymore.” If it weren’t a Saturday morning cartoon geared toward a young audience, she might have implied he was gay. Associating his alternate lifestyle with something ‘inhuman’ or ‘monstrous’ (since he later mutates into a monster) could be problematic, but the resolution of the storyline does not just rid him of this mutation. First, it is the “cure” he seeks in the episode which causes further mutation into something monstrous. In a later episode, when he is cured of the mutation, he proudly identifies with his otherness, his alternate lifestyle as “Spiderman.” Eventually, he does get married to Mary Jane (as he does in the comic), though the lifestyle of Spiderman always takes him away from her (and vice versa). In the last episodes, Mary Jane mysteriously disappears, leaving Peter to search high and low for her (even in alternate dimensions). The storyline is never satisfactorily resolved and at series end he does not find her. Lack of closure is repurposed again and again by the narrative, throughout comics, TV and film. Seriality can now be found in many film series, encoding a lack of narrative closure into films which traditionally would have a happy ending, or at least final closure. Jenkins describes how industry practices have caused a media convergence which could enrich transmedia storytelling (though he leaves it open to question). The Spiderman film series (with a third installment impending), I would argue, does enrich the transmedia narrative of Spiderman by resisting the narrative closure of Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship (at least so far, though many of the other possible relationships have not been introduced). At the end of the first film, Peter tells Mary Jane they can only be friends and walks away, burdened by his “gift” and “curse” of super
Carey- 8 powers, but nevertheless proudly proclaiming his identity as “Spiderman.” In the comic “Amazing Spiderman” (one of many versions of the Spiderman narrative) following the film, the once-married couple is now separated. Even at the end of the second film, when he and Mary Jane decide to start a relationship, duty calls and the life of Spiderman intervenes. The last image onscreen is Mary Jane’s anguished face as she watches “Spiderman” swing off into the sunset. Resistance to a “normal” relationship is repurposed through a significant lack of closure at each film’s end. In the final two-parter to end the 90s Spiderman cartoon, we see the same lack of closure and how resistive meanings are encoded into the text. A multitude of Spiderman characters are presented through multiple dimensions: some heroes, some villainous. One world shows a villainous Spiderman in league with Kingpin (longtime Spidey nemesis), but with plans of his own to destroy New York City. Nevertheless, this villainous Peter Parker has everything he ever wanted: a beautiful wife, loved by all (even J. Jonah Jameson) and extravagant wealth. The “real” Spiderman feels overwhelmed playing the part of this “other” Spiderman. He stops the villainous Spiderman by empathizing with his situation, putting himself in the other’s shoes. In this world, the one person that can save Spiderman still exists: Ben Parker, Peter’s uncle. The “evil” Peter, influenced by an alien symbiote, sacrifices himself to stop the overwhelming control of the symbiote. Sympathy for the villain opens up the discourse on morality and legal recourse in dealing with them. Aside from undue influence, there are social reasons for Peter’s transformation, just as there are with other comic book villains. After all this, Peter visits one more world: “our” world, where Spiderman is a fictional character created by Stan Lee (who makes an animated appearance). When Spiderman tells Stan how happy he is now with his life, Stan remarks that “you sure aren’t the character I’ve been writing about all these years,” an
Carey- 9 acknowledgement that the fictional character must remain in conflict to be interesting (by his own words in an interview, he gave Spiderman personal ‘problems’ to deal with to make him more real). Full closure and happy endings are not possible within the Spiderman text and as if to elaborate this point, Spiderman is told by the mysterious Madame Web that she would take him to Mary Jane and that is how the show ends; we never see Mary Jane (except in other realities), who has been gone for some time now. We are purposely left with an open-ended conclusion to the series, which leaves much unresolved.1 From the very beginning, the Spiderman narrative resisted not only industry conventions, but by the encoding of its writer/creator normative values surrounding personal conflict and relationships. The ambiguity of the text allows for resistive readings of societal norms and morality, also engendering resistance against heteronormative relationships of love, marriage and child rearing. Through the years, fan engagement with the text has intensified, allowing fans to extend the ambiguity of the text in their own imaginations. Expandability of the characters is extended to discourses of race, gender, and alternate lifestyles (i.e. homosexuality) by a committed fan base. Industry practices on television and in film have evolved to reproduce the thematic ambiguity already encoded into the text. Though the newer MTV version allowed fans to imagine a relationship between Harry and Peter, arguably found in the subtext of the show, it did not encompass the expansive depth of the text found in the 90s version, a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at children. Ambiguous themes and lack of closure are so deeply encoded into the text, they can be found in numerous versions of the narrative: in numerous comic book variations, different TV adaptations, and the film series. The convergence of these different media forms in creating a transmedia narrative is not only one of technological convergence, but
Carey- 10 of cultural convergence, repurposing resistive meanings which might not be countercultural, but open up the discourses surrounding morality, race and gender.
Footnotes: 1 A spinoff called “Spiderman Unlimited” had Spiderman shifting through different realities every episode, bringing the character back to a point of conflict/irresolution encoded into the text. Short-lived, fan engagement seems impossible, perhaps distanced as it was from the familiar narrative. Besides, fans didn’t need a weekly dose of ‘other’ Spidermans when the text was already rich with alternate versions.
Carey- 11 Sources: Jenkins, Henry. “The cultural logic of media convergence.” International Journal of Culture Studies. Sage Publications; London, CA and New Dehli, 2004. Jones, Sara Gwenllian. “The sex lives of cult television characters.” Mumford. “How Things End: The Problem of Closure.” Pearson, Roberta. “Kings of Infinite Space: Cult Television Characters and Narrative Possibilities.”
“Sins of the Father (4): Enter the Green Goblin.” Spider-man. Writer: Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir. Fox Network. 18 May 1996 “Spider Wars (2): Farewell Spider-man.” Spider-man. Writer: John Semper. Fox Network. 31 Jan 1998. “Neogenic Nightmare (5): Mutants’ Revenge (2).” Spider-man. Writer: Francis Moss, Ted Pedersen. Fox Network. 7 Oct 1995. “Neogenic Nightmare (6): Morbius (1).” Spider-man. Writer:Brynne Chandler Reaves, Lydia Marano. Fox Network. 28 Oct 1995. “The Alien Costume (1,2,3).” Spider-man. Various writers. Fox Network. April, May 1995. “Keeping Secrets.” Spider-man (2003). Dir. Alan Caldwell. MTV. 18 July 2003.
Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters and Marvels. Dir. Scott Zakarin. DHG Productions. 2002. Spiderman: The Motion Picture. Dir. Sam Raimi. Columbia Pictures. 2002. Spiderman 2. Dir. Sam Raimi. Columbia Pictures. 2004. www.fanfiction.net
