How “The Amazing Spider Man” Accurately Portrays Peter’s Humanity

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Christian Posts, Marvel
Spider Man

Most people spend their Christmas Eve watching Christmas movies. Me? I watched The Amazing Spider Man. Starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, the movie was Marvel’s second attempt to create a successful Spider man movie franchise. The film is considered a wild success, grossing over $750 million. It currently holds the record as the highest grossing reboot of all time. Obviously, a well-done movie.

The film also keeps to the original Spider Man comic storyline. With appearances of major characters Gwen Stacy and Uncle Ben, neither of which played major roles in the original Spider Man (2002), the story writers clearly took fewer liberties with the plotline. However, the major factor to The Amazing Spiderman‘s wild success was not the plotline, but rather Andrew Garfield’s accurate portrayal of the web-swinging superhero. Garfield, who was expected to poorly represent his character, did a fantastic job, showing the human side of Spiderman with both style and ease.

While some people will remain loyal to the 2002 Spiderman movies, starring Tobey Maguire, I believe that Andrew Garfield did a far better job then Maguire. Garfield not only shows the nervous teenager side of Peter Parker (something I can personally relate to, especially around girls), but also shows Parker’s humanity, something that Maguire failed to do. And, although Maguire did an excellent job of showing Peter Parker’s humor, the 2017 reboot Spiderman: Homecoming did an even better job, as star Tom Holland became known for his excellent sense of humor.

However, in my mind, Garfield’s portrayal of Spider Man was the most accurate out of any Spiderman movie. Garfield plays a character that has difficulty coming under authority, neglects his friends, and becomes angry and emotional at the slightest insult. And yet, at the same time, he also shows a character with a heart, one that loves both his aunt and his uncle deeply and, at the end of the day, makes the most difficult decision of his life in distancing himself from Gwen Stacy. Towards the end of the movie, Peter promises a dying Captain Stacy (Gwen’s father) that he will “leave Gwen out of it”. In essence, Captain Stacy forces Peter into promising to not date his daughter, lest she be known as Spider Man’s girlfriend and thus be thrust into danger.

The viewer immediately feels for all three characters. We understand Captain Stacy’s concern for his daughter’s safety, something entirely valid, given the situation. We feel Gwen’s pain as she is “rejected” by Peter. After all, rejection is something that all of us can relate to. And, finally, we relate to Spider Man’s dilemma. Torn between the girl he loves and the promise he made, he eventually does the right thing and temporarily leaves Gwen. Instead of remaining stoic like a “real” man, he cries through his pain, fulfilling the saying, “real men cry”.

In the animated movie Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, the teenager version of Spider man says something profound. As he is getting beaten by Kingpin, he stands up and says, “I mean, I’ve looked worse. But after everything, I still love being Spider-Man. I mean, who wouldn’t? So no matter how many hits I take, I always find a way to come back. Because the only thing standing between this city and oblivion is me.” No matter how many hits Spider Man takes, he finds a way to come back. This seems to be an echo of The Amazing Spiderman, as Parker is stabbed, cut, lacerated, thrown into walls, punched, flipped, and nearly drowned. And yet, through all of his injuries, he still manages to get up and fight, no matter the cost. Once again, this is something that resonates with the viewer. The ability to get back up again, no matter what strikes us down, is something we all want to emulate.

If you haven’t seen The Amazing Spiderman and its sequel, The Amazing Spiderman 2, be sure to give them a shot. They are wonderful movies, prone to make you cheer and cry at the same time. Also, one last thing: Garfield is better than Tom Holland. Fight me.

Alright, that’s all for today. Thanks a ton for reading! After taking Christmas week off, I’m glad to be writing again. I hope you enjoyed your break from me (kidding). Anyway, thanks for reading this post! I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven’t already, be sure to click that Follow button below (or to the side), so as to not miss out on posts like these. Thanks again, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

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22 thoughts on “How “The Amazing Spider Man” Accurately Portrays Peter’s Humanity”

  1. Uh oh, careful, you’ll get a bunch of Tom Holland fangirls ready to fight. 😂😂 I’m not entirely sure I’ve seen the Garfield version, but the movie does have excellent plot structure and character arc (nerdy writer words XD) so I want to see if I can see it. 🤔 Great analysis!

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  3. Tom Holland is so much better………. I have this argument with my brother all the time. And it’s not Andrew Garfield’s fault, it’s the writers. 1. Andrew Garfield is a cry baby and when he’s two cents off for a deal of milk then he just lets a robber get away, I mean the reason Tobey let him get away is way more legit. Also 2. He’s too cool and not nerdy enough. At school he gets bullied so much, which doesn’t make sense because he’s so cool. If that kid was actually in a school he would be popular. Tobey McGuire on the other hand is too nerdy and not cool enough. Tom Holland is right in the middle, making him the all around best Spiderman. Honestly I would like Garfield a lot better if the whole milk thing didn’t happen. Just my opinion, but I like debating about Spiderman XD.

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    1. Interesting, I thought I would only get this from girls…… Holland is not Spiderman. He’s not a photographer, his aunt May is completely unrealistic, and Spiderman never knew Iron Man. At best, Spiderman: Homecoming was a Spiderman parody. Although, you are VERY correct about the milk; that hurt my soul 🙂

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      1. He he…. That’s hilarious! XD That’s a good point, and I agree about aunt May, however, they had to make him know Iron Man because he was supposed to become part of the Avengers; had he not known Iron Man then Infinity War and End Game wouldn’t be half what they are. Hmm… Yep. 🙂

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  4. Naomi Hope McMahan

    I certainly agree that Andrew Garfield is much better than Tobey Maguire. Whether Andrew Garfield is better than Tom Holland is definitely the question. I think I like Tom Holland as an actor better, even though Garfield is really awesome. Thinking about the points you made in your post, I do think that Garfield did an amazing (get it?) job of portraying Spider-Man. I didn’t really like the two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies as much as I’ve LOVED certain other Marvel movies. They were good, but if I watch Homecoming too many times in a row, it really gets on my nerves. II think the best part about Tom Holland Spider-Man is his interaction with the Avengers and his relationship with Tony. Every time I’m watching Civil War and my sister is not, the moment the Peter-meets-Tony scene starts playing, I yell her name, and she runs into the room and watches just that scene with me. That’s pretty much Spider-Man’s bestest moment. (The word ‘bestest’ is copyrighted to Naomi McMahan, by the way. As is ‘favoritist’.)
    So, Garfield and Holland are great. If asked outright, I would say Tom Holland is better, but you, Elisha, have raised some very good points that I now have to consider about Garfield’s version.
    And whoever Ezra is that commented above, I agree with what you said: Garfield’s too cool and he does cry a lot. Maguire is weird and nerdy (which is why my mom likes him).
    But still, Tom Holland isn’t a photographer, or a huge nerd, since his whole school are nerds, so he’s not very much like the original Spider-Man. That’s one downfall of him.

    P.S. It’s technically Spider-Man, not Spiderman or Spider Man. I read somewhere that Stan Lee, the original comic book writer, but the dash and capitalization of ‘Man’ so that it would be different from Superman.

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      3. Talk to my sister, she’s obsessed with Andrew Garfield, and not Holland. Also I would add that the reason Spider-man: Homecoming doesn’t go along with the comics is because no one wanted to have to see the same story over and over again, since they kept re-making the movies with different actors. So it’s less of Tom Hollands fault that he’s not as much like Spider-man in some ways, than it is the writer’s fault. Also I would say the same for Garfield about the milk, they could have done better than that, it’s not Garfield’s fault really. Sorry I keep going on about this; I’m probably getting annoying, I just like debating XD.

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  6. landonfor30

    I’ve never seen the Andrew Garfield Spiderman movies, heard they were low budget…

    I still like the Tom Holland ones best (even though I know they are completely different from the comics) it does a good job of incorporating Spiderman with the rest of the Avengers and also Ned is hilarious
    Before someone comments on MJ and Aunt May being completely different, I know xD

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  7. mimerific

    I am upset that you said Tom Holland is ugly. You are wrong about that. I have nothing more to say to you.
    P.S. I did tell a couple of my friends what you said, and they were as horrified as me.
    P.P.S. You made me really want to watch Amazing Spider-Man again. I hope I can soon.

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