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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 11, 2023 15:42:24 GMT
It's kind of interesting that we three can find agreement on an issue like Gwen and Peter Do we? Agree on that?
How would you two answer the poll?
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Post by dav on Jun 12, 2023 20:00:55 GMT
It's kind of interesting that we three can find agreement on an issue like Gwen and Peter Do we? Agree on that?
How would you two answer the poll?
Hmm, that's kind of a loaded question! What did Gwen bring to the relationship and what did Peter? What qualities was Gwen looking for and what qualities was Peter looking for? All I can say is when I read the comics and saw how their relationship was developing, it gave me the feeling that it was a good match. Was Peter perfect? Of course not, but he had qualities that Gwen sensed and admired that eclipsed his faults. In fact, it can be argued that Peter had a lot of the qualities that Gwen admired in her father. Gwen had a lot in common with Peter with their interest in science. Then of course there were the intangibles. Why do two people find themselves attracted to each other? What was it about Peter that Gwen found herself attracted to? "Did Peter deserve Gwen" is as subjective as "did Gwen deserve Peter." "Why did Gwen want Peter" would be the question that could answer the first. |
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 13, 2023 5:29:18 GMT
The "deserve" part is related to the lie Peter was constantly telling Gwen, a lie to protect a secret that she had a right know about and which ultimately exacted on her the ultimate price. Qualities aside, trust is a basic premise for every couple, and Peter was undermining that principle on a daily basis. I guess I could ask whether he deserves to have a serious relationship at all, but the option to come clean is always there, in theory. In practice, with Gwen, he never came to it.
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Post by dav on Aug 1, 2023 2:15:49 GMT
The "deserve" part is related to the lie Peter was constantly telling Gwen, a lie to protect a secret that she had a right know about and which ultimately exacted on her the ultimate price. Qualities aside, trust is a basic premise for every couple, and Peter was undermining that principle on a daily basis. I guess I could ask whether he deserves to have a serious relationship at all, but the option to come clean is always there, in theory. In practice, with Gwen, he never came to it. I guess I see it differently. Did he lie to Gwen? Yes, partially to protect his secret identity, but also to protect her from the dangers of this secret. However, it also needs to be acknowledged that if it wasn't for Peter/Spider-man's actions on several occasions, Gwen, as well as other friends and loved ones and numerous (hundreds, maybe thousands) bystanders would be dead. Yes he lied to her, but considering she would have been long dead if it wasn't for him putting his life on the line to save her, I think a few lies can be forgiven. It can also be argued that this heroic side of him was something she sensed intuitively about Peter and why she fell in love with him, despite the lies. |
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Post by Ozymandias on Aug 1, 2023 9:45:32 GMT
Allow me to extract quotes from your post, to better be addressed, as well as bold some parts of the text: Did he lie to Gwen? Yes, partially to protect his secret identity, but also to protect her from the dangers of this secret. Can't say that worked very well in the end, can we? Regardless of what the logic at play might've been here.
However, it also needs to be acknowledged that if it wasn't for Peter/Spider-man's actions on several occasions, Gwen, as well as other friends and loved ones and numerous (hundreds, maybe thousands) bystanders would be dead. Yes he lied to her, but considering she would have been long dead if it wasn't for him putting his life on the line to save her, I think a few lies can be forgiven. It can also be argued that this heroic side of him was something she sensed intuitively about Peter and why she fell in love with him, despite the lies. To be fair, back in the Silver Age, no bystanders died, at all. Except for the Stacies, so Spider-Man's presence was a liability more than a safeguard. He was always saving them from dangers which would've never been there in the first place, if not for his existence. This is an argument which has been brought on both inside and outside of comics quite often: super-heroes bring about most super-villains, and the people closest to the heroes are invariably the ones more prone to an attack. Add to that, his secret identity was know to his mortal enemy and you have a sure recipe for disaster. Not disclosing that information, so that the affected party could choose to, at least, relocate, was even legally liable. |
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Post by dav on Aug 2, 2023 10:04:57 GMT
Allow me to extract quotes from your post, to better be addressed, as well as bold some parts of the text: Did he lie to Gwen? Yes, partially to protect his secret identity, but also to protect her from the dangers of this secret. Can't say that worked very well in the end, can we? Regardless of what the logic at play might've been here.
However, it also needs to be acknowledged that if it wasn't for Peter/Spider-man's actions on several occasions, Gwen, as well as other friends and loved ones and numerous (hundreds, maybe thousands) bystanders would be dead. Yes he lied to her, but considering she would have been long dead if it wasn't for him putting his life on the line to save her, I think a few lies can be forgiven. It can also be argued that this heroic side of him was something she sensed intuitively about Peter and why she fell in love with him, despite the lies. To be fair, back in the Silver Age, no bystanders died, at all. Except for the Stacies, so Spider-Man's presence was a liability more than a safeguard. He was always saving them from dangers which would've never been there in the first place, if not for his existence. This is an argument which has been brought on both inside and outside of comics quite often: super-heroes bring about most super-villains, and the people closest to the heroes are invariably the ones more prone to an attack. Add to that, his secret identity was know to his mortal enemy and you have a sure recipe for disaster. Not disclosing that information, so that the affected party could choose to, at least, relocate, was even legally liable. Well, it's not like Peter had a crystal ball and was able to predict what was going to happen and the way I see it, he made the choices he did based on the circumstances at the time. One of the things that I have had to accept is that one can only make the best decision possible given the information one has, and although it might be a thoughtful, carefully considered decision, a "good" decision, it can still be the "wrong" decision. |
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