Spiderman: Far From Home

Dedee here. This last post for our top 10 movies is a group effort so there will be thoughts from all of us.

Karen: Just like all the other movies I have posted about on this blog, I am very late on this one. It’s unfortunate because I actually really liked the movie. I definitely wasn’t caught up, having skipped Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Endgame, but it wasn’t hard to follow the story, especially because of all the spoilers I saw online.

I was pretty impressed with the movie’s representation of people of color. Most of the main supporting characters in Peter Parker’s class were minorities. Some people may see it as pandering, but with New York being among one of the most diverse in the U.S. it makes a lot of sense. And we get Zendaya! As Spider-Man’s love interest!

We also get Hawaiian Jacob Batalon as Peter Parker’s best friend.

One of the classmates is also shown wearing a hijab, which has made her the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though this is a great step forward, frankly I’m surprised that it has taken 11 years not for a main character to wear a hijab, but for any character to do so. 

We also get Marvel’s first out trans actor, Zach Barack. Unfortunately, he has a very minor role, as he’s also one of the classmates on the trip. His character is also not acknowledged as trans and I only found out by scrolling through articles.

I am glad that so many minorities were cast to be a part of this movie, but some of them definitely need a little more depth in their stories in order to have a powerful impact in representation. But am I glad that these actors are securing the bag by being cast in one of the highest-grossing movies this year? Absolutelyyyyyyy.

From Brady: I too am late to the MCU party and went into Spider-man: Far From Home without watching Endgame first but was able to follow thanks to the memes about Endgame. It was pointed out to me recency that the major theme of the movie was deception. It makes sense when you think about the entirety of Mysterio's character, Peter trying to keep his secret identity and dodging Nick in the beginning, as well as the last scene of the movie and what the after-credits reveal about Nick.

As for representation I think Karen covered the major players but I would like to point out that while Beck's Deception crew had a few minorities in their ranks I don't remember any of them having a major speaking role.

Since the entire premise of the Deception crew is that they all felt that they were wronged by Tony Stark the directors probably did this so we wouldn't add raciest to Tony's flaws. I would say that denying a role to an actor to avoid making a character look bad is in poor taste if there weren't any other minorities represented. But since there are minorities in major roles on the protagonists side I'll let it slide.

Back to Dedee: This was an interesting ride. This is the second time I've seen Far From Home. Unlike Karen and Brady, my family is very into the Marvel Universe, so I've seen most of the movies and saw Far From Home in the theaters within weeks of it coming out. Honestly? I didn't like it as much the second time. Part of the crazy cool of seeing it for the first time was the reveal, and knowing what was coming kind-of lessened the impact the second time.

And I'm just saying, Beck turning out to be the bad guy made me soooooo mad!

In terms of representation, Karen and Brady have covered it. There aren't really any mental health references and the movie does not pass all three of the Bechdel tests, so the big representations here are minorities in major roles and the beginnings of Marvel's LGBTQ representation. 

On to next year!