The character of Gwen Stacy holds perhaps more significance then any other non-powered or otherwise super character in American comic book history. While she lacks the longevity and name recognition of Lois Lane and the prominence of Mary Jane Watson, she holds the distinction of marking the end of the Silver Age of comic books. The boundary between the Silver and Bronze Ages is the hardest to easily determine, and it is a contended matter. I've come to view the Silver Age as ending with the death of Gwen Stacy in 1973, and the Bronze Age properly starting with the introduction of the New X-Men in 1975, but that's just my opinion.
Gwendolyn Stacy is a creation of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, first appearing in "Amazing Spider-Man" #31 in December, 1965. She is considered to be the first true love of Peter Parker. Given my contention of Spider-Man as an esoteric initiatory figure embodying concepts of higher states of consciousness and goddess worship, this can not help but be a significant matter. Peter and Gwen were both students at Marvel's fictional New York City college Empire State University. This important local was the school for much of the Spider-Man cast, as well as being the alma mater of Mister Fantastic, the Thing and Doctor Doom. Metro College, another fictional Marvel New York City college, was attended by Jean Grey and the Silver Age Human Torch. It was at Metro College that Johnny Storm (the Torch) met his friend Wyatt Wingfoot, a name clearly referencing Hermes/Mercury. It is easy to see how an imaginary school with this nature of students can reference the Invisible College.
At its heart the Spider-Man story is a romantic melodrama emphasized by super heroic allegory. The Parker/Stacy romance was on-again/off-again for a very long time, with several bizarre love triangles involving Mary Jane Watson, Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn. Peter and Gwen's relationship was further strained when her father, police Captain George Stacy (played in "Spider-Man 3" by James Cromwell) was accidentally killed by falling debris dislodged during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (see Doctoring Art Gotic Part II).
After nearly eight years as a Spider-Man cast member the decision was made to kill off the character. The story, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died", was presented in "Amazing Spider-Man" #s 121 & 122.
The plot involves Spider-Man's archnemesis, the Green Goblin, who was aware of Spider-Man's secret identity, kidnapping Gwen and holding her captive on a New York City bridge tower. He threw her from the bridge. Spider-Man managed to snag her leg with a web as she fell, but the sudden stop apparently snapped her neck and she died.
Art by Gil Kane and John Romita
Art by Gil Kane and John Romita
In the subsequent battle Spider-Man nearly killed the Goblin in a fit of rage but stopped himself. The Goblin, however, did himself in when he accidentally was impaled by his own glider. This portion of the story was recreated in "Spider-Man 1", minus the underlying pathos.
Art by John Romita
The Green Goblin is a Lee/Ditko character first introduced in "Amazing Spider-Man" #14, July 1964. His identity remained a secret until issue #39, where it was revealed that he was industrialist Norman Osborn (Oz-Born), the father of Peter Parker's best friend Harry. We learn that Norman Osborn ingested a serum (an alchemical detail) that granted him super-human strength and intelligence but also drove him insane. He became a super-villain with a Halloween theme, equipping himself with high-tech weapons like his pumpkin bombs and his glider. Initially the Goblin's flying device was a rocket-powered flying broom.
Art by Steve Ditko
And this is why I emphasize the synchronicity of the last name Oz-Born. The Goblin shares clear characteristics with the Wicked Witch of the West, particularly the green-skinned version popularized by the 1939 film. Thus both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are male characters representing iconic female figures. Note the presence of the green-skinned, Apollo/Dionysus/Priapus Hulk in this issue. The Goblin next appeared in "Amazing Spider-Man" #17, which guest starred the Promethean Human Torch.
Art by Steve Ditko
Interesting that Spider-Man, the Human Torch and the Hulk are the three headliners presented in the original run of "Marvel Team-Up" as discussed in my article Marvel Alchemy.
After several defeats at the hands of Spider-Man, the Goblin developed a gas that suppressed Spidey's Spider-Sense (his key ability, his Intuition). This allowed the Goblin to follow Spider-Man undetected, and he was able to learn Spidey's secret identity. He captured Spider-Man, and during the course of his super-villain taunt/rant, revealed his own identity as Harry's father. In the subsequent fight the Goblin suffered a convenient head injury that caused an amnesia of his Goblin identity. For a time the Goblin was another Apollo/Dionysus split-personality sufferer, with the Goblin identity occasionally resurfacing. This was the status quo until the events of "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" storyline.
Much of this is brought into the portrayal of the Green Goblin in the first Spider-Man movie. The Goblin was of course portrayed by Willem Dafoe. In Tingly Intuition I mentioned the interest in Dafoe's roles as Jesus in the highly controversial "The Last Temptation of Christ" and as Max Schreck in "Shadow of the Vampire". This is just the beginning of the synchronistic interest we can find by inter-associating Dafoe's various roles. To keep things as brief as possible I'll merely mention his part in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" which stars Bill Murray (see Bill Luminati) and resonates Submariner symbolism and the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Most pertinent to this conversation is Dafoe's role as the sociopath Bobby Peru in David Lynch's masterpiece "Wild at Heart", a film that overtly refers to "The Wizard of Oz" in several significant ways. The name Peru is of high interest in major matters involving the Mayan Calender, the Precession of the Equinox/Age Shift, and as the potential location of ancient Atlantis.
That the death of Gwen Stacy occurs on a structure that is both a Tower and a Bridge is important symbolism at a level that is self-evident. The Tower is of course one of the many symbolic structures that can be utilized as a reference to the Axis Mundi, the imaginary column extending from the Earth to the pole star. Due to the tilt of the Earth's axis the pole star periodically shifts, an action again associated with the Precession of the Equinox/Age Shift. The Bridge naturally is a transformative symbol, implying the movement from one state to another, one world to another, one life to another, etc. It is in nearly all cases related to Water symbolism, which includes passage into Otherworlds and the esoteric Underground Stream. In this instance the dark goddess figure of the Green Goblin tosses Gwen towards the Water. The light goddess figure of Spider-Man catches her with his magic thread, but while he halts her literal fall he fails to prevent her figurative plunge.
The name Gwen can easily be read as a reference to the important esoteric figure of Queen Guinevere from the Arthurian Grail Romances. This is no minor detail. Guinevere is an ideal example of a Sovereignty Goddess, where a female figure represents a kingdom or country (as Britannia represent Great Britain, Erin represents Ireland, Columbia represents America, etc.). The King must be wed to the goddess representing his territory. The betrayal of Guinevere with Lancelot is the impetus leading to the waning power and illness of King Arthur, the degradation of his kingdom into the Wasteland, and the subsequent need for the Knights of the (zodiacal) Round Table to Quest for the Holy Grail (returning the blessing of the Goddess to the Kingdom). Wikipedia suggests the name Guinevere may derive from the Welsh Gwenhwyfar, meaning "the White Fay/Fairy" or "the White Ghost". It is "Gwen" that means "White". "Stacy" derives from "Anastasia", the feminine form of "Anastasius", which means "Resurrection " (from Greek, "Ana" is "Up" and "Stasis" is "Standing").
Another key Goddess figure in the Arthurian Legends is the Lady of the Lake. Note that the Lady of the Lake, a water fairy or nymph, grants Arthur his kingship by supplying him with Excalibur. Noteworthy is the comparison between the Lady of the Lake and the Greek mythological water nymph Thetis who raised the hero Achilles. This concept of a supernatural, feminine Water entity inspiring a great leader or hero is highly pertinent.
All of these factors make consideration of Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" very interesting. This is a much maligned film. Personally I loved it. No matter your opinion though, the movie is undoubtedly swimming in esoterica (pun intended). In fact it is esoterica that is not hard to read, a rare gift that Shyamalan should be thanked for.
The movie tells the tale of Cleveland Heep, the caretaker of an apartment complex who discovers a strange woman named Story who was living in the swimming pool. Heep finds there is more to Story then meets the eye when she is attacked by a wolf-like creature with a grass-like coat. Story describes herself as something called a Narf, and the creature that attacked her a Scrunt.
Note the grid/chess board patterning in both of these images, a major initiatory symbol utilized throughout the film. Heep learns from a tenet that Narfs and Scrunts are figures from a Korean fairy tale. The legend states that periodically Narf's, a type of Water Nymph or Fairy, journey from "The Blue World" in order to enlighten a human being termed a "vessel" (the Grail is a vessel). The vessel then will be able to in some way change the world for the better. Scrunts, enemies of the Narfs, and apparently mankind, try to kill any Narf that takes this action, however, strict laws govern these events, upheld by a trio of ape/tree like creatures called Tartutic. Story informs Heep that the vessel she seeks is a writer living in the building. Once she fulfills her mission she would be able to return to her home world via a giant eagle termed the Great Eatlon. A giant eagle relates to solar symbolism, Zeus/Jupiter, the punishment of Prometheus, the constellation Scorpio, John the Evangelist, etc. It is also a device utilized in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, most significantly at the end of "The Return of the King" when Sam and Frodo were rescued from Mount Doom.
Heep figures out that the vessel is a tenant named Vick (played by Shyamalan), an unpublished author in the process of writing a book on political philosophy titled "The Cook Book", but suffering from writer's block. When he meets Story he experiences what he terms "an awakening" allowing him to return to his important work. Story is then free to return to the Blue World, but when she tries she is again attacked by the Scrunt, and is nearly killed. Heep learns further details of the fairy tale and determines that Story is a Madame Narf, a future Queen of the Blue World, a figure whom the Scrunts would willingly break the law in order to eliminate. He further learns that there should be humans capable of assisting the Madame Narf unconsciously drawn to her location, residents of the apartment building, a Guardian, a Healer, a Symbol Interpretor, and a Guild.
I don't wish to spoil this film too much for those who haven't seen it, but I want to point out a couple of interesting synchronicities surrounding the role of the Interpretor. Initially Cleveland Heep believes the Interpretor is Mr. Dory (Door-y and also related to the Greek "doron" meaning "gift"), played by Jeffrey Wright. The "instrument" Mr. Dory seems to draw his insight from are crossword puzzles. It turns out, however, that Heep was wrong and the true Interpretor is Mr. Dory's son Joey. Joey is portrayed by Noah Gray-Cabey, the young actor who plays Micah Sanders on "Heroes". Joey draws his insights from studying cereal boxes. This is a clever bit of esoteric symbolism, maybe beyond even Shyamalan's intent. Cereal refers to Ceres, the central figure of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries. There is also the pun (which I frequently utilize) between Ceres' cereal and the term serial, for anything that occurs in a series, from TV shows to murders. Magazines and comic books are also normally serial in nature. The prophetic comic books created by Isaac Mendez are an important plot device in "Heroes". Micah Sanders is one of the characters who draws knowledge from Isaac's comic books. Amazingly "Heroes" also utilized the crossword puzzle as a symbolic device.
"Lady in the Water" is highly criticized (something Shyamalan is well used to, and bitingly refers to in this movie) but I find it to be an important statement about the necessary role of art in our culture. It is no mistake that the water nymph is named Story. Mythologies of course have anthropomorphized abstract concepts for longer then our species can remember. It is perhaps the oldest Story in the book, the Queen Story if you will. This is why I'm so taken with the incidental connections between Story, Gwen Stacy and Guinevere. Very interesting that as the film progresses, Story's hair gradually shifts from dark, to red, to blond, to white as the need for her to return to her own world increases. Guinevere is the White Fairy or Ghost. A similar process is seen with E.T., another inspirational/initiating figure with a vital need to return to his home.
Cleveland Heep was played by the gifted Paul Giamatti significant in many of his roles, including Miles Raymond in the Dionysian "Sideways" with Thomas Haden Church. How very interesting then that Church was also in "Spider-Man 3", playing the part of Sandman.
But the accounting of the Sandmen of the comic book world is a bedtime Story for another day.
Bonus synchronistic detail. The next Bryce Dallas Howard movie due for release is "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond", based on a screenplay written by American theater genius Tennessee Williams. The item I find of interest is her character's name, Fisher Willow. Howard's father is the actor/director Ron Howard. He directed "Willow", a fairy tale centered around the female messiah Elora Danan (which had sequels in the form of novels written by X-Men/Marvel Team-Up guru Chris Claremont. Book one of the trilogy is "Shadow Moon") and of course "The Da Vinci Code", a Grail quest. Grail symbolism is inherently tied to the term Fisher due to the important symbolic figure of the Fisher King.
The films of Ron Howard are a matter of great interest. Bryce Dallas Howards' first film role was in her father's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" about another diabolical green man. Christmas was also stolen by by the White Witch in C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". If you agree with my observations, you perhaps may find the underlying concept of stealing Christmas not so far removed from the murder of Gwen Stacy.
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