tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post5171654125853869465..comments2024-03-18T08:38:01.678+00:00Comments on The Life And Opinions of Andrew Rilstone: Amazing Spider-Man #10 (II): Why does J Jonah Jameson hate Spider-ManUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-86074341203107940812019-03-15T00:04:02.563+00:002019-03-15T00:04:02.563+00:00I was referencing a story called "Behind the ...I was referencing a story called "Behind the Moustache" in Tangled Web of Spider-Man, in which J.J.J is in therapy and reveals his father's cruelty. I have no idea the extent to which it is regarded as canonical. Certainly the "cruel/alcoholic" father motif has been quite heavily over-used over the years. <br /><br />I was dimly aware of the "Auny May marries J.J.J Snr" story but am rather weak on contemporary Spidey continuity. It could have been worse; she could have married Doctor Octopus...<br /><br />Thanks for your interest!Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-55855067671188207882019-03-13T20:21:14.092+00:002019-03-13T20:21:14.092+00:00"Later continuity has revealed that Jameson h..."Later continuity has revealed that Jameson had an alcoholic father who beat him"<br /><br />Coming late to this, but not sure if this should be a reference to Flash? Don't remember this about JJJ having an alcoholic abusive father, and if true it seems Marvel probably forgot, as they recently introduced JJJ's father who was a very nice man who married Aunt May & then died. (All a bit silly, but I guess it's not always easy coming up with new stories of characters that have already been in thousands of stories.)<br /><br />Come to think of it, as well as Flash, you also have MJ's alcoholic crook father & Harry's abusive super-villain father. I guess Peter was lucky that his father was only a dead spy who was believed to be a traitor to his country.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-70608167541140759902019-03-13T20:19:53.501+00:002019-03-13T20:19:53.501+00:00"Later continuity has revealed that Jameson h..."Later continuity has revealed that Jameson had an alcoholic father who beat him"<br /><br />Coming late to this, but not sure if this should be a reference to Flash? Don't remember this about JJJ having an alcoholic abusive father, and if true it seems Marvel probably forgot, as they recently introduced JJJ's father who was a very nice man who married Aunt May & then died. (All a bit silly, but I guess it's not always easy coming up with new stories of characters that have already been in thousands of stories.)<br /><br />Come to think of it, as well as Flash, you also have MJ's alcoholic crook father & Harry's abusive super-villain father. I guess Peter was lucky that his father was only a dead spy who was believed to be a traitor to his country.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-83532698083872870692016-10-20T22:17:02.672+01:002016-10-20T22:17:02.672+01:00http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/jealo...http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/jealous-vs-enviousAndrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-50792253766158683562016-10-20T18:53:57.040+01:002016-10-20T18:53:57.040+01:00'Envy' is when you want something someone ...'Envy' is when you want something someone else has, like their car or their wife. <br /><br />'Jealousy' is when you are afraid someone else will take something you have got (eg, a lover).<br /><br />Not according to the six dictionaries I consulted. Sorry.Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16934052271846235431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-73957755467297084152016-10-20T16:45:36.743+01:002016-10-20T16:45:36.743+01:00(So, for Jameson to be 'jealous' as Spider...(So, for Jameson to be 'jealous' as Spider-Man would be something like him being possessive of Spider-Man, and not wanting to share him with the world; perhaps to the extent that he regards Spider-Man is 'his' discovery, for first publicising him, and would rather destroy him than let the rest of the world think of him as also belonging in some way to them. <br /><br />It sort of makes sense, as a newspaperman, for Jameson to think in terms of exclusive, doesn't it? So if Jameson is 'jealous' of the Spider-Man, rather than 'envious', it could be because he can't control him: he can't hold him to a deal whereby his deeds only get reported in the <i>Daily Bugle</i>, for example. <br /><br />so he decides that if he can't have sole rights to publish Spider-Man's heroism, then damn it he will make Spider-Man into a villain and then everybody will hate him and the fact that he isn't Jameson's own creature will not matter. <br /><br />But I haven't read the comics so I don't know how well that fits. Maybe not at all.)SKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102522819364312684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-86207418349323826092016-10-20T16:40:53.896+01:002016-10-20T16:40:53.896+01:00'Envy' is when you want something someone ...'Envy' is when you want something someone else has, like their car or their wife. <br /><br />'Jealousy' is when you are afraid someone else will take something you have got (eg, a lover).<br /><br />So Othello is jealous of Desdemona, because she is hers and he is afraid someone else is having her. But Iago is envious of Othello, because he wants the position and regard in which Othello is held.SKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102522819364312684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-18682413587657328752016-10-20T13:18:53.520+01:002016-10-20T13:18:53.520+01:001: Stan Lee certainly sometimes misuses vocabulary...1: Stan Lee certainly sometimes misuses vocabulary, often when he is using slightly grand words. (In the Silver Surfer he uses "pedagogue" (a teacher) when he obviously means "demagogue" (a rabble-rouser); in Thor he thinks that "noisome" means "loud" when it really means "smelly"; and of course he thinks that "Enfant terrible" literally means "terrible child".)<br /><br />2: I take it that you wish to limit the word "jealousy" to meaning "sexual" or "romantic" jealousy, and use the word "envy" when someone wants another persons wealth, talent, comic book collection etc. The Protestant Church treats "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house...or anything which is thy neighbour's" as a single commandment, where the Catholic Church treat "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" as one sin, and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house...etc" as a different sin. <br /><br />Google Ngram cites a rather charming book from 1804, with the snappy title "The Joy of Faith in the Shadow of Death: Addressed to the Respectable Family of the Blakers of Bolney, in Sussex, Upon the Death of an Indulgent Husband, a Tender Father, and an Honest Believer in Christ". It contains the following passage:<br /><br />"Your nice distinction between jealousy and envy I must leave to the learned. I believe that Rachel was provoked to jealousy at the fruitfulness of Leah; and thought that she stood higher in the divine favour than herself; and the consequence was, that she envied her sister. The apostles were provoked to jealousy when James and John craved their seats on the right and left hand of Christ in the Kingdom, and the other ten were filled with indignation against the two brethren."<br /><br />(Note Rev Huntington still uses "nice" to mean "pedantic" as opposed to "mildly pleasant. I don't know at what point we started saying "brothers" rather than "brethren"; or indeed why we carried on saying "children" rather than "childs", or I suppose logically, "childers".)<br /><br />3: If you utterly insist on this usage, then, yes, it is easy enough to see how Jameson might be "jealous" of Spider-Man<br /><br />a: Jameson puts up with having his authority challenged by Betty because, at some level, he is in love with her.<br /><br />b: Jameson resents the younger and more good looking Peter Parker, because Betty is obviously attracted to him. (This is why he keeps making jokes about "lonely hearts clubs", etc.)<br /><br />c: Jameson is subconsciously aware that Spider-Man and Peter Parker are the same person.<br /><br />d: Jameson's hatred of Spider-Man is a projection of the fact that he is sexually jealous of Spider-Man (Parker's) relationship with Betty?<br /><br /><br />4: No-one apart from Quentin Letts thinks that language is fixed and unchanging. "Jealousy" as been used as a synonym for "envy" for decades. Every dictionary which I can find includes both shades of meaning, and most regard "wanting what the other fellow has got" as the primary meaning. <br /><br />CAMBRIDGE:<br />2: unhappy and angry because someone has something that you want:<br /><br />OXFORD<br /><br />1: Feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages.<br /><br />DICTIONARY.COM<br /><br />1.<br />feeling resentment against someone because of that person's rivalry, success, or advantages (often followed by of):<br /><br />2.<br />feeling resentment because of another's success, advantage, etc. (often followed by of):<br /><br />MERRIAM-WBSTER<br /><br />1: an unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what someone else has<br /><br />THE FREE DICTIONARY<br /><br />1: 1. Envious or resentful of the good fortune or achievements of another.<br /><br />OXFORD LEARNERS DICTIONARY<br /><br />1: feeling angry or unhappy because you wish you had something that somebody else hasAndrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-43756701436135809472016-10-18T14:51:15.970+01:002016-10-18T14:51:15.970+01:00The first reaction, of course, is 'he doesn...The first reaction, of course, is 'he doesn't mean jealous at all, he means envious.'<br /><br />But then… one wonders, what would it mean for him to actually be jealous, not envious, of the Spider-man? Is that an interesting line of thought?<br /><br />SKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102522819364312684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-82194224619714007592016-10-17T21:28:00.707+01:002016-10-17T21:28:00.707+01:00That's a very good point, and would fit in nic...That's a very good point, and would fit in nicely with my split-hero split-text thesis. <br /><br />Damn you...<br /><br />(Goes back to chapter 1 and starts all over again :))Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-75455007315574983872016-10-17T18:14:26.197+01:002016-10-17T18:14:26.197+01:00I've always imagined the "sells papers&qu...I've always imagined the "sells papers" speech was Lee's rationalisation for Jameson and the jealousy soliloquy was Ditko's. It has a Randian sense to it of there being innately greater and lesser people, and to me the cadences sound more Ditko than Lee. Though it does work well as a spoken rebuff leading to a later 'thought voice', the quick denial followed by the later admission only to himself.Gavin Burrowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347163260510316959noreply@blogger.com