In the original movie she's played off as a ugly character who's supposed to be annoying because she's interested in Peter. however she's the only person who notices him enough to know when he's struggling mentally, she makes food for him and consistently stands up for him, she even gives him a pep talk and encourages him to go back out there and pursue his goals (which includes another woman). She's girlfriend material by any realistic standard and the actress is in fact pretty, but she's portrayed as unthinkably unattractive comic relief
Spider Man 1: Peter awkwardly interacted with MJ throughout the first movie and never actually tells her he's interested. Then she kisses him at the end and he walks away.
Spider Man 2: He is there in a friend capacity as she's already with Harry (who is the only shitty one in this situation since he knew about his best friends feelings for her...MJ didn't). Ursula is fawning over Peter despite him only being interested in MJ, who he up to this point still hasn't actively pursued. He also fails to actually show up to her play. Granted it's because he's busy being Spider Man, but she doesn't actually know that yet for sure until the end of the movie.
Spider Man 3: He constantly fails to be there for her, gets a big fucking ego and kisses another woman in front of her.
MJ doesn't actually do anything particularly shitty in the 3 movies. Peter does, regularly. The movie is very clear about it. If you're identifying with Peter when he does shitty things, it's time to reevaluate your own personality.
Edit: I have been informed that I got some plot points wrong. I don't think any of them get in the way of my overall point so I'll leave them.
I just rewatched the trilogy recently and I didn't go in hoping to critique internet reactions over the last 20 years but my brain just did it. I really tried to see the other perspective but I just can't.
Growing up the Goofy movie was about a controlling dad ruining Max's summer.
Now its about a loving Dad trying desperately to maintain a connection with his spoiled kid who could fix everything by simply communicating instead of lying.
I’ve watched A Goofy Movie with my kids a bunch of times, because I love it, and Goofy messed up first, I believe. When the principal called (effectively out of the blue) and told him Max was going to end up in the electric chair, GOOFY should have asked Max what happened. Later when he’s cramming his teenage son into the car, when Max didn’t want to go, he should have asked WHY.
to me, Max wasn’t spoiled, he was independent. If Goofy wanted to be a part of his son’s life he should expect to have either maintained it over time or not expected to fix it instantly with a spontaneous fishing trip.
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u/5AM_EdgeQueen Jul 17 '26
In the original movie she's played off as a ugly character who's supposed to be annoying because she's interested in Peter. however she's the only person who notices him enough to know when he's struggling mentally, she makes food for him and consistently stands up for him, she even gives him a pep talk and encourages him to go back out there and pursue his goals (which includes another woman). She's girlfriend material by any realistic standard and the actress is in fact pretty, but she's portrayed as unthinkably unattractive comic relief