okay... is it just me?? Only one annoying thing about the Spiderman movie....

[Kyla]

okay i am not giving away anything here about the end
i LOVED Spiderman, it was a great flick!
but.....
was i the only one annoyed with the last shot being Spidey hanging onto an American flag??
i don't know why that bothered me so bad...
probably because of the whole Twins Towers scene that got cut from the trailer...
i don't know..

i know i just get really really annoyed when i see things like freedom and patriotism being mass marketed ....

anyone please feel free to put me in my place...
or just let me know what you think
thanks

[Will]

I agree.  You could totally tell that the flag shot and the bridge scene ("you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us") was shot after 9/11.  They were kind of grating, but oh well.

[J.R.]

Yeah, I thought this movie would be above that sort of "en vogue" New York stuff. When that scene happened I was sickened. It would have been hilarious if the Goblin just blew the crap out of them. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" KA-BOOM! And then they start acting like real New Yorkers- "Screw you pussbags, I'm outta here! Hey, Spidey- you suck, your mom sucks and your sista woulda sucked but I didn't have exact change!" I imagine that since it was a big part of the finale it was shot pre-9/11, at least I hope so.

[Chris K.]

Watch movies like THE PATRIOT and PEARL HARBOR and you will definately see some overbearing, American flag waving patriotism that is really not needed in any of these types of films. I am not against "flag-waving", but if it's being done a million times in each scene then it does become tiresome.

But I personally did not expect to see that in SPIDER-MAN. Maybe the studio executives said we need the flag to wave in the background so they (the "bad guys") know who we are (the "good guys"). At times it does become very annoying, but "flag-waving patriotism" was done in films way before 9/11 as well so it really is nothing new.

When is Hollywood going to actually make a film that doesn't show the US as "the center of the universe". Time will tell.

[AndyC]

As a Canadian, American flag waving in an American movie doesn't bother me at all. Nothing wrong with being proud of who you are and where you live. Knocking other countries is where I draw the line, good-natured jabs aside. Personally, I've never understood why it has become fashionable to be offended by patriotism, especially something as harmless and innocent as showing a flag waving magestically in a movie. Same goes for religious references.

It just boggles the mind that people might enjoy sex, violence, gore and all sorts of disturbing or risque stuff in a movie, but don't you dare wave a flag. Come on.

As for the New Yorkers on the bridge, it was silly and obviously thrown in post-9/11, and the goblin could obviously have blasted the living crap out of them, but it made me laugh. It's just a little joke and a tribute to New York. Again, what's the big deal? I think it sort of dates the film, and in a good way. People will look at that scene in years to come, and remember why it was done.

[Lee]

Andy you hit the nail right on the head with that one.

[Jay O'Connor]

I agree.  While I'm not in favor of mindless jingoism, neither do I care for elitist bashing of patriotism

[Will]

Well, Andy has a point; and I don't mean to bash patriotism....in fact, Spiderman as a comic character has always been real all-New  York, all-American guy.  What bothered me was the fact that both scenes were somewhat out of context with the rest of the film.  If anything, the fickle tastes of the public regarding Spiderman as hero or menace doesn't say much for them.....they love him, they hate him, they love him again....I didn't mind the final flag scene as much, because in many ways the slogan "with great power comes great responsibility" is particularly American.  Citizens' greatest power is their freedom, yet we often don't take the responsibility it brings......so I actually like that scene.  Spiderman as Everyman/American.  But the NY scene on the bridge just didn't play well for me.

[Chris K.]

I am for patriotism. But when it is pushed in your face TOO MUCH, then yes it becomes apparent to me that the feature I am watching will be some overbearing patriotic movie for the patriotic audience. And if they want it that way, ok they can have it that way. I will just walk out, say it was not a good movie, and find something else to watch. It does upset me to see that some audiences need a Hollywood product that shows you what patriotism has to be rather than let the audience decide, but what are you gona' do? That is their decision, and I have already made mine.

But for me, I feel patriotism comes from loving your country and not relying on some stereotypical, jingoistic film that tells you what to be/what not to be patriotic for.

[J.R.]

"Hey, Spidey! I got 'ya web-shooter right here!" and thn he starts chucking batteries at ol' webhead.

[J.R.]

I'm all for being proud of your country, but seeing the little flag decals on every single vehicle on the road and all this gushing about freedom and blah, blah, blah just seems forced and a bit heavy-handed. It only took the deaths of thousands for people to become patriotic, and wasn't it worth it? I read that the consumption of "comfort foods" jumped astronomically after the attacks. We're proving that maybe the terrorists were correct in some of their ideas about Americans being arrogant. Almost wish I was Canadian so I'd have nothing to be proud of.

Off-topic: When axactly did it hit you how dead-on this adaption is to the spirit of the comic? For me it was when Pete came home late and Aunt May left the note saying there was meatloaf in the oven. I'm not gushing and I've only been a casual Spidey fan over the years, but this is a comic movie that gets it, you know?

[Lee]

For your information, I have been proud of being American since birth. I do admit that affter 9/11 I wanted to see people like Bin Laden get what's coming to them even more.

[Squishy]

Honestly? I think the flag is there to add a dramatic element, helping indicate the height at which Spidey is clinging, without distracting sounds like wind. Eliminate it from the shot, and the shot becomes a lot duller. This is why so many comic-book superheroes still wear capes in spite of the sexual-orientation jokes they provoke--the cape adds a strong, controllable visual element.

The "mess with one of us, mess with all of us" bit may be overzealous patriotism, or it may just be New Yawk New Yawk. That one's a coin toss. After all, Gobby is ALSO one of "us"--but he's also the one blowin' s*** up.

[john]

I haven't seen Spiderman yet (I rarely go to the movies anymore, it's just too expensive), but I don't like when movies shove things like that in your face either.

 I watch the show 7th Heaven Monday nights on the WB, and the one on the 6th was just sickening. They dedicated the show to a real marine who was killed recently, SSgt Dwight J. Morgan, and while I'm sure they meant well, the fact that they used a real person's death for a fictional show just left a bad taste in my mouth. Intsead of honoring him, it felt more like they were trivializing his death just to make a point.

[Chadzilla]

Was never "cut" from the movie.  A second unit director shot the footage solely for a teaster trailer, the scene was never intended to be in the film and was pulled from theaters during its run in the fall season because of the attack.

Frankly I didn't really notice the flag at the end, I was too busy enjoying the movie to care that much about anyway.  But now that you mention it, perhaps we should change Spidey's colors because they use red and blue and those sliver stripes can be construed as white.  While we're at let's change Superman's as well, his colors are red and blue, far too close to our flag for foreign audiences.  And that shot in Superman 2, where Superman flies the American Flag and replaces it atop the White House, let's cut that out while we're at it,  I mean we all know that Imperialistic America sucks right?  Let's forget that a lot of the Super Heroes Mythic powers and semi-patriotic colors symbolize America's Nationalistic love for itself, perhaps.

Sheesh I'm cranky as hell today.