The Hidden Secrets Behind Spider-man: Homecoming
“I’m nothing without this suit” spoken by Spider-man in the movie called Spider-man:Homecoming. What do you think this quote means? Is there more meaning to it than just a suit? Spider-man is not just an ordinary superhero that we thought of, he is more than ordinary…he is extraordinary in most ways on how he saves the world. It demonstrates that he is unique in his way of fighting evil and saving the ones he love.
Spider-man is not just an ordinary superhero but he is more to it. In my observational study, it suggest that there is a story behind his past and how it has changed his life tremendously after he became Spider-man. Therefore, I will indicate some points about why Spider-man is extraordinary, one of the kind and different from others. These ideas will be expressed through his costume, his superpowers, the visual design of the set scenes and lastly the problems and criticism Spider-man has.
First of all, let’s talk about his costume. It may just look like it represent himself as a superhero called “Spider-man” but there is more meaning to that. During my study, it shows that the colour, red symbolizes sacrifice, wounds and emotions. Red shows his sacrifice to his everyday life of fighting for those he love. By protecting them, he gets injured and wounded. Although he is wounded, he is happy that he has save them. Unless he is unable to protect them or death is their only solution. Besides his suit, his mask with black lenses suggest concealment. It shows he wants to protect his identity without revealing to those around him as it might mean more harm to them. The reason behind his actions when Iron Man took his costume away from him and rebuke him for not being responsible enough to take up his superhero role. At that moment,it gave him the idea to improve himself in order to rise and be worth to take on the superhero role. In this case, it gives an idea that his costume represent Spider-man instead of a teenage kid, Parker. Besides his suit, . A web cartridge belt is also worn under the suit, which has a spider-signal on the buckle. The suit also contains a special ear-piece that protects Spider-Man from the effects of Hobgoblin’s sonic attack.
But before that, what made him protect people around him? How is able to everyone from danger? Well, these curiosity comes down to how he receive his superpowers. This could be related to the Science fiction genre of the movie. In the first Spider-man movie, it demonstrates a story of him getting bitten by an experimental radioactive spider when he attended a public Science exhibition with his high school class. He was academically gifted with Science. However during the exhibition, a spider bit altered Parker’s D.N.A which somehow made him obtain spider powers. It suggest that this danger gave an opportunity to change his life. From the author’s original story, it indicates Spider-man has the ability to cling to walls, superhuman strength, a sixth sense (“spider-sense”) that alerts him to danger, perfect balance and equilibrium, as well as superhuman speed and agility. Therefore, this gives an idea of using a spider as something that represents these abilities. Not only that, he is often described as “your friendly neighborhood Spider-man” It brings back to the scene in September 1963 where he saved New York from Sand Man. It does not simply mean that he is friendly, it suggest that he is like your friendly neighborhood corner store or the friendly neighborhood cop walking a beat. He provides services and it is like an institution. This catchphrase which later become his brand.
Thirdly, the production design of sets suggest that it was not easy for the production designer, Oliver Scholl. In his previous productions of Spider-man movies, it was other people’s choice. However, this movie is by its own which shows the need in re imagining. It combines Marvel and Sony working together. It expresses Spider-man is coming home into the Marvel-created universe. As a designer, he insist on building the set instead of looking for a location set. But he realize that it would be much easier to work using locations. Furthermore, there were scenes where the cast themselves did stunts while others used visual effects. For example, the action scenes of Spider-man was not animated. Tom Holland (acted as Spider-man) did crazy wire-work stunts instead of motion-capturing or acting. Unless there are a few actions where it was too dangerous for him. The production team picked him to be Spider-man because of his physical abilities. He is a dancer and a gymnast which cause him to do amazing stunts. Every stunts is done by Holland himself. The set scenes were covered with green screens and sheets and is edited using CGI. Tom Holland even mentioned his favourite stunt was running up a steel beam during a fight with The Vulture. He had to run up this steel beam and stop at the top. Apart from that, the villain, Vulture is a digital guy. The production team built a independent jacket, mask, gloves, and pants as well as a small section for the wings to fit in. And the overall design is done using concept art and few different iterations.
Fourthly, most people indicate that Spider-man is a superhero who balances his regular human life while fighting against the evil. But what if he is not admirable superhero as many would agree on? Let us focus on his lifestyle. He needs to balance his superhero life with his regular human life of going to school and getting good grades. But he does not have sufficient time to focus on his studies. He may easily give up on his education one day just to become a superhero. This may not be the right superhero as your children’s role model if parents want their children to succeed. Let us move on to his suit. Can he still be Spider-man without wearing his suit? Without his suit, he can be nothing. It shows a symbolism of knowledge given from someone and ego attachment that access limited data from the suit. Moving on to his encounter with his opponent, the villains. Instead of beating up the villains like how other superheroes do, he insults his villains to injury by bullying them. By this means mocking their outfits, motivations and any physical defects they have. It could be his revenge on how he was bullied in school? Or maybe a tactic to make his opponents feel small and negative? Other than that, Spider-man seems to lie to everyone frequently. For instance, he lies to the public in his journalism career, but it would be understandable if he is not doing for money. He does not want to reveal his Spider-man identity to the public as he worries that it might put them in danger. But why does he need to lie to his own family and friends? It could be his lack of trust in his childhood friend, Mary Jane and his Aunt May. But his Aunt cared for him and adopted him when his parents died. What made him decide to keep his identity from his close family and friends?
In conclusion, I have demonstrate my main points which are his costume, origin of his superpowers, visual design on the set scenes and problems in Spider-man. These points suggest that Spider-man is not just an ordinary superhero but an extraordinary one. During my observational study on the movie, Spider-man: Homecoming, I learned to observe Spider-man more in depth which change my perspective of him. Furthermore, many people who did not know or recognize his care might learn to respect him.