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‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Not Woke Enough for SJW Critics

The new “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is so woke it stings.

Only it isn’t enough. Anyone shocked?

“Homecoming” stars two white actors in critical roles. Young Tom Holland is the new web slinger, and Oscar-nominee Michael Keaton checks in as the villainous Vulture.

The rest of the cast? It’s aggressively diverse by most measures.

Spider-Man: Homecoming - Trailer 3

Spidey’s love interest, school bully, nerdy sidekick and future love interest (is that you, Mary Jane)? All actors of color. Rising stars Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) and Bokeem Woodbine (“Fargo“) also get serious screen time. Woodbine, so very good in “Fargo’s” second season, might get a franchise encore given his colorful moniker. He’s listed in the credits as both Herman Shultz and The Shocker, the latter one of the hero’s classic villains.

The diversity parade doesn’t stop there.

RELATED: Schumer’s ‘Snatched’ Insufficiently Woke, Say Critics

The Queens, N.Y. school where Peter Parker flirts with cute students? Those scenes reveal a diverse array of students and teachers, befitting the actual east coast neighborhood.

That super-woke mentality doesn’t stop there. One character reminds a peer, and us, that slaves built the Washington Monument. Keaton’s villain goes sour, in part, thanks to a beef with the one percent.

So, we finally have a big screen blockbuster that can avoid those “problematic” think pieces, right?

Wrong.

Salon.com gives the film an “A” for effort but complains that “Homecoming” didn’t stick the progressive landing. Here’s the article’s sub-headline: ‘The film’s multiethnic cast holds promise, but — as some have pointed out — old problems persist.’

Symbolism matters, as the mere existence of superhero films demonstrates. It is therefore both simultaneously inspiring that “Spider-Man: Homecoming” contained a cast of unprecedented diversity and disheartening that, despite the progress which was made, the producers were clearly too timid to go even further.

TheRoot hit harder, lamenting the film is “an utter fail for Marvel diversity.”

It’s nice that Spider-Man comes home to a nongentrified neighborhood, but the movie goes out of its way to let you know that white guys are still running things.

Even casting not one but two women of color as Peter Parker’s romantic foils leave this critic sour. Why? The actresses aren’t dark enough, apparently.

Arguably the biggest fail in Spider-Man: Homecoming are the two female leads: Laura Harrier as love interest Liz, and Zendaya playing red-headed Daria-esque “Michelle”—who comic fans think might be you-know-who from the Spider-Man canon. While some people praise the casting of two women of color in Peter’s life, it’s actually still faux diversity and re-enforcing the status quo…In Hollywood, comic book films’ diversity still means giving white guys their choice of mixed-race or light-skinned, Hollywood-approved women of color as love interests.

The Oregonian got some licks in as well.

All of the people of color in “Homecoming” are relegated to side roles. Next to Holland, Michael Keaton gets the most screen time and Robert Downey, Jr. also has an outsized role as Tony Stark.

Note: Downey has very little screen time.

The big problem with the new film for these critics? Spider-Man remains white, and the film franchise hasn’t adopted the mixed race Miles Morales character as the franchise’s Spider-man. Morales is the current Spider-Man found on Marvel Comics store shelves.

Even a half-black, half-Latino star in the blue and red tights may not satisfy The Oregonian.

Why not make him Asian? Or Middle Eastern? Maybe Native American? Peter Parker’s ethnicity was never a major factor in his experience as Spider-Man.

But what if the Marvel Cinematic Universe listened to its Social Justice Warrior critics? Imagine a black or Latino actor as Spider-Man. That would yield a new set of problems.

  • He’s not empowered enough
  • He’s too weak/he’s weaker than the previous, white Spider-Man
  • Why did you make the character subservient to his aunt/the principal/the villain/J. Jonah Jameson?
  • Why did the film make him black, when he could have been Asian? Or Middle Eastern? Or Native American?

For those new to the culture wars, no action is enough for SJWs, no gesture can prevent more and more complaints.

Period.

Diversity, on paper, is a good thing. Hollywood hasn’t offered enough opportunities to date for people of color. Seeing Peter Parker in a setting that accurately reflects the tale’s New York roots makes sense. And audiences are clearly relishing the new “Spidey” adventure given the robust ticket sales so far.

They aren’t complaining about the lack of super-duper diversity. And that’s what matters most.

35 Comments

  1. Peter Parker is still Spider-Man in the comics. Miles Morales’ Spider-Man comes from the Ultimate universe which recently combined with the original universe, so both Spider-Men are currently being published.

  2. I didn’t appreciate the Washington Monument racist mythology (no, it wasn’t constructed by slaves) and the school was so diverse as to be almost incapacitated…they even had a retarded kid on the Academic Decathlon team. But that made it a very realistic view of school life 🙂

    Yeah, you just can’t please race hustlers, you shouldn’t try, America.

  3. What you need to understand about SJWs is that for them, the outrage is the ends, not the means. They have no goal, no objective, they exist only to find things to dissect and be offended by, and even if we gave them everything they wanted, they’ll just move the goalposts.

    1. As long as there is a good living in the outrage industry the sjw critiques/demands/violence will continue

      As long as you pay the danegeld you’ll never be rid of the dane

    2. Jim, because like lawyers, they have chosen “careers” where there is not enough real grievances to keep the current crop employed. They must do their own form of ambulance chasing to make a living.

  4. I thought the movie went distractingly too far with the political- correctness, diversity b.s. Liberals are mentally deranged.

  5. You simply can’t win with sjw types. The love interest isn’t dark skinned enough? What kind of an ideologue cares? If she was black, it’d be accused of token casting, or people would complain that it was a heterosexual relationship, or that peter should be trans. There’ll always be some demographic that they feel needs to be presented, Black Panther will probably be diverse enough but no disabled trans characters so that won’t be good enough I suspect.

      1. Haha, I had a similar conversation with someone about the walking dead where they complained about lack of diversity. After I’d listed the non white, non straight major characters and also pointed out that the main characters in the prequel series seem to be a mature female and an Hispanic man I had to eventually admit that they’re aren’t any transsexual half Italian, half Japanese marxists with learning disabilities being represented and that this truly was problematic. Also I learned that Ellie from the last of us isn’t a suitable protagonist because despite being gay and female…she’s still white. Enlightening

  6. WOW, this author is a piece of WORK! Going around calling people SJWs? Zero credibility, then. Go back to your manfest over at Return of Kings and bash women and minorities with your racist friends instead of churning this stuff out

    1. Social Justice Warrior is an apt moniker for types like you. And hardly offensive, as many of your ilk self-identify as SJWs.

      And thanks for falsely accusing the writer of racism. So typical of SJW scum. And why you are loathed by so many decent folk.

    2. “If you have the law, hammer the law. If you have the facts, hammer the facts. If you have neither the law nor the facts, hammer the table”.

      1. If you don’t have a table, throw a temper tantrum on the floor and hold your breath until you get your way.

    3. You’re right– I prefer to refer to them as the Society of the Perpetually Offended. Finding things to be offended by, perpetually. If they can’t find something personally to be offended by, they have the arrogance to assume offense on behalf of entire groups of other people they have no relation to. Rather patronizing …

    4. Dang it. I just bet my friend that there would be a comment calling the writer racist within the first 5. I lost. Sooo close though!

  7. Not a spider man fan, but I did just read a very positive and unprompted boost to this movie on my local town’s facebook page. So, if you are into this kind of flick, one lady in NJ really liked it and recommends it highly. At least she had something positive to say!

    1. I liked it better than I thought I would, but then I’ve hit the fatigue level on super hero films in general.

  8. The problem is that if you used Miles, without the setup that explains his position in the Marvel universe, most of the audience if going to say “Who is this?”. Just like you suddenly had Sam Wilson as Captain America. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of the movie audience aren’t comic readers and doesn’t know Marvel outside of what they see in the movies.

  9. Peter Parker is still white because, in SJW land, pigment comes with a long grievance list. A diverse Spidey would have required too many changes to the story.

  10. SJW’s are to stupid to understand what comes out of their mouths and should be shunned, period. Only a truly ignorant idiot would complain the movie Dunkirk doesn’t have any black dudes on the beach! Really? Are you SJW’s devoid of even an iota of reality? Here’s to hoping an SJW destroying meteor makes an impact soon, very soon.

  11. Gag! What about plot, characterization, drama? These SJW types are nuts. Why doesn’t someone just say STFU and make a decent movie with the best actors they can find? Would normal people even notice the demographics,

  12. The Marvel Comics staff have gone completely SJW and the result? Tanking sales because it’s clear that Marvel hates it’s core audience and SJWs don’t buy comics. It’s so bad that one joke going around is that Marvel could publish their comics with blank pages and no one would notice.

    At least the movie branch has a survival instinct.

    1. Marvell’s sales were tanking prior to the changes, hence why they tried something different. Why they came up with alternate timelines/etc.

  13. “Even a half-black, half-Latino star in the blue and red tights may not satisfy The Oregonian.

    Why not make him Asian? Or Middle Eastern? Maybe Native American? Peter Parker’s ethnicity was never a major factor in his experience as Spider-Man.”
    .
    If his ethnicity was not a major thing, why the fug do they whine so much about it?

  14. Remember— no matter what you do the Society of the Perpetually Offended (SOPO) will find a reason to be offended.
    Saw the film and liked it. Diversity of the characters actually was akin to the upper middle class suburban high school my kids attended.
    It’s a business- folks who liked the comic have already had the character depicted for them as a lower middle class white kid. People who have to make money off a character have to figure out what the market wants and is willing to pay for. Folks will want to see what they’ve come to expect and has already been defined as ‘Spiderman/Parker’. They won’t necessarly want to come and see a character that is similar but isn’t ‘Spiderman/Parker’ as the comics defined him.
    Make a Peanuts cartoon, if you changed Snoopy to be an Irish Wolfhound vice a Beagle, folks just wouldn’t have the same attachment to the character. To them it wouldn’t be Snoopy. So why think they’d still be fans of this new Snoopy that contradicts what’s been defined for them?
    I think changing character attributes from books to movies is easier than comics to movies. The character is really only an image you’ve conjured up for yourself. You see something different and just think, oh, that’s not what I pictured but then go with it. Unlike a comic where the character image already exists. Interesting in seeing the Harry Potter play kerfuffle over casting a black actress as Hermione. Folks were upset because they’d seen her depicted in a movie a certain way. It defined the character for them, when even Rowlings pointed out nothing in the books precluded Hermione from being black. If the movie had cast a black actress and then a white one in the play, I think there would have been the same reaction. It’s not racism as much as the change to the character they’ve come to accept and follow. They won’t necessarily be fans of a change.

    1. Realize this is 3 months late, but just came across your comment and you are spot on. Figure you took the time to type it all out and no one else seems to have responded, so I will.
      Just a side note, SJW’s insist on Peter Parker being black, Asian, middle eastern, or heck, even a Martian, just so long he isn’t white. Fine…. Just 1 question though, how many black guys have the name “Peter Parker”? How many Asians? Middle Easterners? Thought so. SJW’s have ruined our culture, and it’s really all our fault. There’s 1 reason everything has gone to hell… Adults have forgotten they’re the adults! Schools bow to any and all demands coming from 15 year olds today! College administrations around the country today act is if they’re powerless against their students! I’m ending it here…
      I’ll never stop if I don’t do it now lol. The Left has shredded every core value & moral we held in the past… When I say “past”, I’m referring to only a decade ago lol. It’s astonishing how quickly things became so divided and politicized.

  15. Can someone explain how changing the race of iconic superheroes like Spidey and Superman is not cultural appropriation?

    Or is that only forbidden for white people. How is that not racist?

    Sting Like A Bee! The life of Muhomed Ali, played by Chuck Liddell….

  16. In real life, schools in big cities would he overwhelmingly Latino. You would hear Spanish lots of time.

    People think interracial relationship is common or organic, and it just isn’t. Frankly, most resistance will come from non white / immigrant families, especially the older generation.

  17. glad i pirate my movies i would neve rpay for this sjw mess watched first 15 mins mary jane is black flash is pakastani. I think they want a gay trans spiderman to be happy. anyways this movie sucks gonna watch something else

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