Movements and Rhythms; on Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3
2008; Issue: 75 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2562-2528
Autores Tópico(s)Digital Games and Media
ResumoWhereas the identity of Spider-Man was still a secret and Peter Parker's unrequited love for Mary Jane was the central theme in Spider-Man 2 (2004)--a love where the other is unaware she is being loved--this theme of secrecy is unceremoniously discarded in its sequel, Spider-Man 3 (2007). The theme of secrecy is from here on irrelevant since, in the latter film, Mary Jane as well as all his three nemeses (New Goblin, Sandman, Venom, respectively) have acquired the full knowledge concerning the identity previously hidden under Spider-Man's mask. What is more, identity becomes even interchangeable with the appearance of an evil black substance from outer space, which initially takes possession of Peter Parker and later of his rival, photojournalist Eddie. What we can observe in this thematic shift is precisely this: while superhero movies usually played out the issue of identity to its maximum effect--which is a matter of the hero's alter-ego--the director of The Gift (2000) makes it clear from the outset that he is no longer interested in Peter Parker's secret identity as New York City's favourite saviour. Rather, now that what had remained a secret is out in the open, this time Sam Raimi places more weight and emphasis on Spider-Man's gift as a superhero. What matters here could be directly traced back to The Gift, a film the American director made just prior to embarking on the Spider-Man series. Indeed, we believe that in the cinema of Sam Raimi, there is always a connection to be made regardless of the films' genre: whether telling a story about a Marvel comic hero (the Spider-Man series) or a Southern gothic tale about a single mother (The Gift), in both cases Raimi is concerned with the unique supernatural gifts with which his characters are bestowed. Now, in the case of The Gift, we have seen that Cate Blanchett's psychic power was carefully represented rather straightforwardly, by virtue of visualizing the ghosts and the past events, that this Southern woman is able to see in her mind's eyes. On the other hand, we all know, in the case of Spider-Man, what kind of supernatural gift Stan Lee's popular comic creation possesses: a young superhero with the power of a spider who is capable single-handedly of fighting monstrous adversaries and who, in the process, saves the lives of a lot of New Yorkers. Unfortunately, to our knowledge very little has been commented on how Sam Raimi represents that gift, despite the fact that the importance attached to this question becomes increasingly significant in Spider-Man 3, not least because Raimi does away with the theme of identity altogether, whereby emphasizing Spider-Man's supernatural power itself. If so, Spider-Man 3's first action sequence could serve as a good starting point for us to investigate Raimi's representation of Spider-Man's gift. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's something conspicuously very musical about Raimi's adaptation of Stan Lee's comic books, especially in this third and latest installment. Indeed, when we witness Spider-Man in action for the first time saving Bryce Dallas Howard from falling off a New York skyscraper, we are moved at once by Raimi's filmic sense, for so ably capturing the superhero's movements and rhythms. If we are seduced by its first action sequence, perhaps we are captivated by Spider-Man's gravity-defying movements, as he so rhythmically arrives at the scene to rescue Bryce Dallas Howard. Gone is Raimi's heavy reliance on Eisensteinian montage to create tension in action, such as the staging of the otherwise static duels between gunfighters in his 1995 spaghetti western, The Quick and the Dead. Indeed, Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man excels in the fluency of movements and rhythms, in contrast to his girlfriend Mary Jane who is dropped from her first big Broadway role immediately after the premiere due to a unanimous critical fiasco. Truth be told, if we pay enough attention to Spider-Man 3's action sequences, we recognize that it is always as battles of movements and rhythms that Raimi so elegantly stages Spider-Man's actions. …
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