WILLEM DAFOE APPRECIATION LIFE
stuff wot i posted elsewhere
fuckyeahraimispiderman:
An Ursula Ditkovich appreciation post
I enjoy talking about the non-superpowered ladies of superhero films, a lot. Maybe you’ve noticed.
Anyway, Ursula- she’s actually kinda my favourite thing about Spider-Man 2. (It doesn’t hurt that Mageina Tovah is cute as a button.) I think she’s sort of the audience surrogate throughout the film, picking Peter up when he’s down. I read so many reviews of that film saying the ‘cake scene’ was pointless, but I think it was probably one of the most important scenes in the whole film: people like Ursula are what Peter’s fighting for. There are other scenes, of course, where we get to see why Peter puts his life on the line to save these people- like the train scene- but with Ursula, we get to put a name to a face.
And I think, as well as being a sort of symbol, Ursula’s a good character in her own right too- in a way, she’s almost a female version of who Peter was before he got superpowers. She’s got a crush on the person next door but is too afraid to show it, she’s clumsy and she’s shy. Mageina Tovah described her as “just a very sweet person who wants to take care of people and fix people”. (And that’s the sort of character I always like, so I suppose that’s the reason she’s stuck in my mind all these years.)
But, interestingly, those aforementioned characteristics aren’t her only characteristics- you ever noticed, she’s not in the least bit jealous of MJ, even though MJ’s the actual girlfriend of the man she likes? She tells Peter to call her and is delighted when he does. (I wish Ursula and MJ had had a scene together.) And– her adoration of Peter doesn’t extend to when he starts yelling at her father. She’s the one who says how uncool that is, a tiny little character thing I always appreciated. I never really liked that the last we ever see of Ursula, Peter’s taking advantage of her good nature, being all flirty with her and making her bring him stuff. I always wonder what happened after that, to the other girl next door…but I guess we’ll never know. I like to think she had a nice life fixing people.
And, of course, she’s named after Steve Ditko. He really couldn’t have asked for a better tribute.
The ladies of the Spider-Man movie trilogy appreciation post:
Mary Jane Watson: Already looked at her in some depth here!
May Parker: Is the main (well, the only) reason I can’t get behind the ‘Steve and Tony are Peter’s parents!’ thing that fandom has going on. Because Peter still has a living parent: her! And while she could have easily been nothing but a featureless advice dispenser in these films, she actually had some depth to her- the scene where she shouts at Peter to take his birthday money from her even though she’s broke, that’s such a parent thing, it’s happened to us all, I loved it.
Gwen Stacy: I probably do prefer Emma Stone’s version of her, just because we got to know her better. But I love Bryce Dallas Howard’s interpretation too, she was just so nice. I like to think her and MJ became friends in this ‘verse too, sometime in the future.
Betty Brant: Her role amounted basically to a cameo in every movie, but it was still good to see her. I loved the couple of moments she did get with Peter. Also, I love Elizabeth Banks.
Ursula Ditkovich: I’ve thought for a long time that she (and her father sometimes, too) are basically the audience surrogates in Spider-Man 2 and 3- Ursula’s constantly rooting for Peter, and picking him up when he’s down. Plus, she’s named after Steve Ditko, one of Spidey’s creators. In other news, I love her to tiny pieces and might do an in-depth post about her, too, if there’s any interest. Or even if there’s not.
Rosie Octavius: We didn’t get much of a chance to know her, but her relationship with her husband was one of my favourite things about Spider-Man 2. I know that she’s really more of a device to humanize Doctor Octopus than a character in her own right, but I still liked her a lot. The novelisation expands a bit on her, actually, which is nice.