Sam Raimi’s version of Mary Jane Watson was actually a mixture of MJ’s and Gwen Stacy’s personality and traits. As a nod to that, in the first movie Kirsten is wearing a green coat with a purple blouse underneath, the color scheme of Gwen’s famous “death outfit” and a black headband and chunky leather boots, also trademarks of Gwen’s.
#WHAT GWEN STACY PERSONALITY TRAITS #ALL I REMEMBER IS #’Save me Spider-Man! Saaaave meee!’ #granted she had a few moments here and there but you know she was just there to be a damsel in distress (tags via nerdyspiderman)
hmm. we must have watched different movies.
Ah yes, just there to be a damsel in distress – here is what you forgot:
- Her insecurity over her class status. This forms a massive part of her character in Spider-Man 1 – she won’t even tell her rich boyfriend she’s working as a waitress! (Also, mad props to the franchise for actually dealing with classism and remembering Peter, May and MJ are poor.)
- Her putting on a party-girl mask to hide her real feelings (as seen twice in the first Spider-Man movie: first she stands on the street crying only to change moods instantly when her friends show up, secondly she is having a serious conversation with Peter but changes to the ‘adoring girlfriend’ role as soon as Flash arrives.
- She’s a realistically portrayed abuse victim – because of the abuse, she’s insecure and clingy and can’t take criticism, and the movies makes it clear that that’s ok, and I think that’s massively important.
- She achieves everything she sets out to do by herself. She wants to be an actress, so she becomes one. And her career ups and downs, and her dreams, are portrayed as just as important as Peter’s.
- She demands respect from Peter – see: the ending of Spider-Man 2. Hell, she demands respect from everyone. She leaves Harry because she feels he failed to defend her when his father called her a gold-digger. (Hey, it’s the classism thing again!)
- In the first movie, despite being Flash’s girlfriend and very clearly one of the popular kids, she still stands up for Peter more than once. (The first time we see her do anything, it’s demand that the bus driver stop for Peter despite the groans of her fellow students.) She has a moral backbone, in other words.
- Her whole arc in Spider-Man 1 is her realising it’s okay to be herself ‘more than I could be…I’m just me and that’s ok’. This is why she chooses Peter, out of all the men in her life: he’s the only one she feels she can be herself around.
- Peter even says at the beginning of Spider-Man 1 that this story is about her?!
She’s fascinating, complex and clearly written by people who respected her – it’s so, so frustrating to see fandom constantly reduce her to ‘damsel in distress’ or worse.