The meme-status of Peter’s drastic transformation masks its thematic resonance
You’ve seen the memes. You’ve seen the supercuts. I’m not here to argue that Peter Parker’s transformation into ‘Bully Maguire’ isn’t silly. The sequence is goofy, especially on a first viewing, as one struggles to digest the ridiculousness of what’s happening on-screen. I always heartily laugh whenever I watch this sequence though, partly because of Tobey Maguire’s gusto, partly because it’s such an effective piece of characterisation for Peter that dramatises his arc quite effectively.
A brief refresher: When a strange symbiotic goo merges with Peter’s Spider-Man costume, he discovers that his now-black outfit gives him greater power and aggression. After donning it to dispatch the man he believes killed Uncle Ben, he puts the costume away. But when his old friend Harry, a.k.a. the New Green Goblin, taunts Peter by telling him that he’s the new man that M.J.’s in love with, Peter breaks out the black costume, neutralises Harry, and starts to feel like a new man.
Cue the sequence that many remember as the most bizarre of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy: Peter Parker strutting down the street, acting like he’s the coolest guy to ever hit the pavements of Manhattan.
Studio meddling may have turned Spider-Man 3 into a messy, over-stuffed movie, but despite this, Sam Raimi’s style and humour is all over it. Nobody else could’ve envisioned Peter Parker’s fall from grace to be set to People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul by James Brown. The less interesting way to convey what Peter’s going through is to let his anger and abuses of power play as dark and brooding. Instead, Raimi undercuts all that overwrought edginess for three simple reasons:
1) Peter Parker is not cool.
2) Peter Parker has never been cool.
3) Peter Parker will never be cool.
To make Peter Parker at his least heroic feel in any way relatable would’ve been a misstep. We see him call a waitress ‘Hot Legs’ and want to curl into a ball and pretend we didn’t hear it. His emulation of how a ‘cool’ person would act is so delightfully off-base because of course Peter doesn’t know how to be cool. He’s been a poor, nerdy, social outcast his entire life.
As well as nailing Peter's characterisation, this movie never loses sight of its theme; even during the 'Bully Maguire' sequences. Spider-Man 3 tests Peter’s ability to stay humble and level-headed despite the power he’s been given. At the beginning of the movie, he’s no longer on the backfoot the way he was in his first two outings. As things start going well for him, he starts to lose sight of the little things, becoming ever more insensitive and selfish—all this before he has any contact with the symbiote.
The symbiote doesn’t turn Peter into a bad person. As Peter’s professor who studies the symbiote later states, the symbiote only amplifies the characteristics of the host. All it does is take Peter’s selfishness and aggression and turn the dial up.
For me, the ‘Bully Maguire’ sequences work so well because they’re taking the thesis of the movie—If power corrupts, how would it corrupt Peter Parker?—and pushes it to the extreme. He probably wouldn’t be making finger guns at random ladies on the street or swinging from a chandelier in a jazz club if it weren’t for the symbiote, but neither are these actions drastically out of character.
After all, the symbiote didn’t make him insensitive to M.J.’s feelings after she lost her job and it certainly didn’t make him kiss Gwen Stacy. This streak of selfishness has always been present in Peter—it’s only had a chance to reveal itself now that he’s not constantly fighting so hard to stay balanced.
Yes, Peter dressing preppy, chugging milk, and gobbling cookies makes him come across like Santa Clause’s spoiled nephew who works in finance, but laughing at him is the point. It reveals Peter’s perception of what it would be like to live free from responsibility and consequences while also building to a thematically resonant level of cruelty in the scene where he brings Gwen Stacy to the jazz bar where M.J. works in order to make M.J. jealous.
Sam Raimi took a risk with the ‘Emo Peter Parker’ sequences. I’m sure more than a few people ridiculed the movie for Peter’s heightened antics and mannerisms and would’ve preferred a more direct and serious portrayal of his antagonistic tendencies. I think these people fundamentally don’t understand the split between Spider-Man and Peter Parker.
Spider-Man is a power fantasy. Who wouldn’t want to zip through the skyscrapers of New York City like that?
Peter Parker, though? He’s the last guy you’d want to be.
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