Introducing Characters In Opening Scenes 1 - 'Spiderman'

                                       'Spiderman'

Now that I have looked at a number of opening scenes I have noticed something that happens quite frequently. Some films will start by introducing the main character and their personality traits. I am going to have a closer look at two opening scenes that introduce the character and the way they are presented.

The first film is 'Spiderman' (Tobey Maguire). 

           

Peter Parker is the main character in this film.  He starts off with a voiceover about how much he likes a girl and that he'd be happy even sitting near her, and would rather be anyone else. 

After the voiceover we see him shouting and running for the bus whilst the other students and even the bus driver is laughing at him which shows he is very unliked. 

Peter apologises to the bus driver, when he was the victim, which shows he is weak. Then Mary Jane (the girl he likes) tells the bus driver to stop and wait for him, that presents her as kind and sympathetic, as she was the only person to say anything and stand up for Peter. 

When he enters someone trips him up and no one lets him to sit next to them. We can tell that he is meant to be 'nerdy' and 'shy' as the way he dresses. He wears glasses and has a neat hairstyle which is a stereotype in many other films. Unlike the popular characters who have spiky and messy hair. 

As he walks through the bus aisle he smiles at the other students hoping to sit with them but after being rejected he looks sad and totters away with non-diegetic melancholy music playing in the background. This makes him seem unconfident and mostly friendless.