#otherwise i think they'd probably be about tied for last in terms of messiness with characters i mostly enjoy

[softgrungeprophet]

tasm is my favorite spidey movie alongside raimi’s sm2 obviously but it definitely falls into a lineage of tropes that is far too prevalent, as far as dr connors is concerned

super frustrating cause i think that movie does a lot of things right in its writing, approach to peter and his relationships, to gwen and may specifically but also uncle ben and even flash in some ways, plus design language (i love sporty suits...) (prefer the eyes in 2 though) etc etc, even the skateboard as a really solid way to call back to the motorcycle— but the whole like “woe is me, nothing is worse than being disabled” thing is extremely obnoxious and mars an otherwise very good movie for me (also the voiceover scene in the deleted scenes is better than the final version imo, the version where it sounds more like a recorded playback fits better aesthetically and thematically imo whereas the final version mostly is just corny and is probably legitimately one of my least favorite scenes in the movie)

tasm2 also imo has similar pitfalls with max, though imo the electro aspect of that movie is by far the best part. i don’t really like the goblin stuff unfortunately lol—except i do think gwen’s death was like, very effective, especially in the context of the first movie and previous fakeouts, so it definitely did that well, even if i think the movie would have been better split into two and allowed more room to breathe for both

this is also a criticism i have of the batman’s depiction of the riddler once unmasked, though in this case the way he’s played onscreen is not the “wow being physically disabled is the worst” sort but rather the “wow look at this neurodivergent creature” sort that is, again, very prevalent in media especially in these genres and is nothing short of maddening as someone with a whole lot of both physically disabled and neurodivergent family members (and myself)

also appears in like.

SO many comic books lmfao

frustratingly widespread. either it’s weird inspiration porn or it’s weird self hatred, spanning all kinds of stuff from romance to horror to action, and it’s like YEAH there are difficulties in being disabled obviously and a lot of people get depressed or have rough patches or self-hatred because of that and because of not being able to do things they used to do but like... this one specific POV (usually a POV that is mostly held by abled ppl) is so deeply overrepresented in media, movies, games, comic books, novels.... where like... being disabled is just the worst possible thing you could ever be, and it’s worse than death, and so on and so forth, as though a man who’s been disabled a long time wouldn’t just be kind of used to it by then lmfao

reason number 454968549 why i find the agent venom origin SO frustrating cause previously, like, you had this whole really solid mini arc in web of spidey about flash coming to terms with his disability and accepting himself and understanding that he can both be loved and love himself while disabled without needing to “fix” that via weird secret government experimentation, and then like... a year or two later you have a comic that literally uses the exact thing that comic showed was not necessary for his happiness (aforementioned secret gov experiments) and said, actually, he IS going to do that, and also, i’m a bad writer who thinks flash is a fucking moron who doesn’t understand how friendship works between tWO PEOPLE HE’S BEEN FRIENDS WITH SINCE HE WAS LIKE 18 i’m sorry i just hate the AV origin so much it’s so contradictory to every aspect of this character

sure character regression happens but that just felt like contradictory writing and the usual lack of interest in character development, in favor of blatant military propaganda and a story the only redeeming aspect of which was, to be quite frank, the art

anyway what was i talking about

oh yeah disabilities aren’t the end of the world and it would be nice if media could approach them better. even stuff that’s otherwise good or that i really like often stumbles in this area, whether it’s various agent venom comics that ALMOST have it (this is often most noticeable in the fact that flash is using hospital-style wheelchairs or the wrong kind of prostheses) or a movie that does everything else just right but drops the ball on self-loathing and what that actually feels like over time (imo) or a game that inexplicably has an entire asylum based subplot for no fucking reason other than the fact that it came out in 2012 and that was en vogue then because of arkham asylum lmao

#it's funny tho cause for years and years all the criticism ppl flung about tasm was always shit like oh peter's too charismatic #or oh he's too confident or oh he rides a skateboard or— #it was never the ACTUAL things about that movie that CAN and SHOULD be criticized like its approach as a series to mental illness #and physical disability no it was always well peter has too much of a personality or too much of a handsome face or he's too jewish #or the soundtrack isn't danny elfman therefore?? it's??? inherently bad? that was a real weird take i saw once #and it's like there are real criticisms to be had but all you can come up with is that you took the eggs too fucking literally? #and can't understand their purpose and why they were included as a specific way to symbolize peter and may's relationship? #that's your problem??????????? #it's so fucking annoying #nadia rambles #nadia reads comics #kind of #there is a lot of media i really like that has these kinds of things that are very frustrating cause they end up dragging down good stuff #as an aside my movie ranking is that ITSV - TASM - SM2 are my number 1 tie #SM1 and TASM2 are about equal for me for complicated reasons #SM3 is mostly last because of the stuff with Gwen and the casting and writing for her I really disliked a lot #but as a movie i still find it fun to watch and gwen is basically the only reason it's lower than tasm2 tbqh #otherwise i think they'd probably be about tied for last in terms of messiness with characters i mostly enjoy #i also am just not a big fan of tobey as peter... like he's not the WORST choice but... like if i was casting a spidey movie he'd not be #on my list of choices #neither would everyone's little cinnamon roll you know who #andrew garfield was absolutely top tier casting for peter in terms of physique and physical appearance and body language and hair and #eyebrows and well his only fault is that his butt is flat. #and as we all know peter parker canonically has a fat ass #sorry about this #long post #idk what the point even is it would just be nice if people were a little more open to the notion that being disabled #is not like... a Fate Worse Than Death even when it sucks in a lot of ways #i mean it's a little complicated too though and depends on the disability like #how that ends up playing out. obvs. i WOULD like to be fixed actually. but that's my personal experience.