New "Spider-Man" director Marc Webb:
It's all about regeneration. "I kept on going back to the single moment where Peter Parker was left by his parents," Webb suggests. "Realistically, anybody's whose parents disappeared in a very urgent or chaotic manner when he was six or seven-years-old, that's going to have a huge emotional impact. And that moment is more definitive than even the spider bite. It defined the character and the movie in a very specific way for me."As far as the orphan story, Webb refers back to Dickens. He finds the whole notion of these kids having a generosity of spirit yet distrust for the world around them very provocative. "It brings up questions of identity and in the last part of the film I inserted a lecture that my high school teacher had given me about there being [only one story] in fiction: 'Who am I?' I find myself when I watch movies or read books thinking that it's the soul of so many stories that I really enjoy. This idea of a kid who puts on a mask and becomes somebody else and has to lose part of his identity and sacrifice other parts of his life: it's the right question to ask."
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Superman, Batman.... both also orphans who lost parents to tragedy.
At any rate, either the director or the studio decided that the pretentious stuff was best left for the press and not the rubes. There were a lot of significant changes between the making of the trailer and the release of the film... The LAT explains:
The trailer (you can check it out below) starts with a Garfield voiceover in which he says his character's goal is finding out the truth about his parents. But that voiceover is absent in the film.
Meanwhile, at the 1:30 mark of the trailer, Connors says, "If you want to know the truth about your parents Peter, come and get it." That's not in the film, either.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-the-amazing-spiderman-20120704,0,3022455.story
Superman's orphaning is quite different than Batman's, and leads to him being raised -- depending on Golden or Later Age comics -- by a hard working and dedicated family who instill him with solid moral values.
The loss in Spider-Man leads to a magnificent moment.
[Spoiler]
When Peter's odd behavior has him coming home late one day, Uncle Ben tells Peter that his father "had a code which required people with great gifts to be responsible to others."
Peter's response? "Well then...where is he! How dare you!"
[End Spoiler]
The moment was genuine and heart ripping. Peter's engagements with father figures in this film are a spectacle well worth watching. Waiting for this film on the TV is a travesty. Watching it on a screener is a joke.
This is why films are made. The Amazing Spider-Man was the best superhero movie I have seen in some time...at least since the first Iron Man movie.
Raimi's Spider-Man movies were perfect adaptations of the comic books to the big screen, and they will always hold a place in my heart. Raimi perfected the skills he practiced in Darkman.
Webb's Spider-Man is a drama with super powers. It works on so many levels.
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