Simple Plot Hole Solutions
The one where we talk about problem solving Spider-Man 3, the frustration of plot holes, and learning to create social media content for your brand.
We made it to another week!
Are you like me and realized when you were very young that you were meant to be a storyteller because you would get inexplicable rage at a movie or show that didn’t make sense? Everyone would look at you weird and say things like, “Calm down, why can’t you just relax and enjoy the movie?” No, just me? 🫣
I jest, but for real, getting particularly bugged by plot holes and inconsistencies in good stories is something all writers are doomed to suffer with. And when you find plot holes in your own stories?? Good gracious, your brain almost explodes!
What if you could get your brain off the hamster wheel before it explodes? Today, is here to help you discover how to do just that. And if you happened to be frustrated by a certain plot hole in the film Spider-Man 3, this article might finally give you peace of mind.
(OBA Media Newsletter Editor-in-Chief)P.S. Scroll all the way down to hear about how we learned to create social media content for marketing.
Simple Story Problem Solving with “Spider-Man 3”
Love from a Lifelong Spidey Fan
Though I took a long time to appreciate, understand, and truly connect with the film, I dig Spider-Man 3, the 2007 threequel that capped off director Sam Raimi’s awesome Spider-Man trilogy. Yes, the picture is flawed and does not cap off the superhero tale on the high note the characters and audience deserve. Yet, there are some spectacular filmmaking elements, moments, ideas, and scenes that affected me as a pre-teen when I saw the film on opening day with two of my buddies and, now, as a full-fledged adult, hit me even deeper than before. When I revisited the trilogy last year with my brother, I realized that, imperfect as the flick is, Spider-Man 3 ends the story of Peter Parker and Mary Jane “MJ” Watson in a powerful, poignant way.
HOWEVER.
Of the film’s many unavoidable issues (and there are a ton) there is one significant problem with Spider-Man 3 that drove me absolutely nuts . . . until I found a simple bit of mental gymnastics to make the flaw go away, which actually serves as a great example of solving problems in storytelling. Let me explain.
The Context
Spider-Man 3 begins with Peter and Mary Jane, two New Yorkers with serious self-esteem issues, having suffered through the ups and downs of their blossoming friendship turned into a longing romance, finally together as a couple, happier than ever. MJ knows Peter is the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and Peter can be by her side as she chases her Broadway acting dreams. Like so many great romance stories, (and make no mistake, Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is a romance), the couple is in a great place before their love is tested.
MJ gets a part in her first major Broadway production, Manhattan Memories. Peter, having previously never been able to attend MJ’s shows due to being Spider-Man, excitedly takes his front row seat to watch his girlfriend shine. The curtain opens, and MJ sings the opening number beautifully. Later, we hear one audience member tell her friend: “I thought she was good” (though, one can interpret, in a not-so-confident tone). The night is a success, and everything is, as MJ sings, “Wonderful” . . . until the reviews come in.
Turns out, critics hated her performance, saying she was lovely to look at but her voice could not reach past the first row, where Peter was sitting. Peter tries to be a dutiful boyfriend and help his hopeful-fiancé out of this low-point, but only ends up proving he is still learning what it means to be in a relationship. As MJ shares that the critics’ words hurt her because they feel like they were written by her abusive father–the man who convinced this beautiful and wonderful gal that she was a piece of trash–Peter’s Spider-Man responsibilities cut their conversation short, and the problem is left to linger in her heart.
Soon enough, MJ goes back to the theater for work and finds out the producers are hosting new auditions for her part. They have fired her behind her back in an agonizing bit of cruelty that serves as a reminder that, to quote Bart Simpson, “Show business is a hideous bitch goddess.” As the film goes on, Spider-Man’s public stardom shines brighter and brighter, while MJ’s fades away. Their relationship starts to hit the rocks, as Peter becomes emotionally unavailable for her and refuses to let her into his own problems, isolating her. Her need for attention to feel whole, a constant personal challenge created by her low self-esteem, returns and nearly makes her cheat on Peter.
While many fans find the pair’s break-up suffers from comic book supervillain contrivances, I argue that, while a fair criticism, Peter and MJ’s relationship was going to crack under ordinary circumstances anyway. Eventually, MJ winds up as a singing waitress, much like she was in the first Spider-Man film, and that is before Peter, spurred on by an alien symbiote to act on his worst instincts and desires, turns up to further emotionally torment her. Ultimately, MJ’s story in Spider-Man 3 is about her learning to stand on her own without depending on being in someone’s spotlight to keep her going: the perfect conclusion to her tale.
BUT.
There Are Problems
This entire drama, while emotionally resonant and great, is triggered by MJ’s performance in Manhattan Memories. The critics say MJ’s voice could not reach past the first row, which is the reason she is fired from the production, but that conceit is utterly ridiculous.
As a theatre veteran having worked back but most prominently on stage, I declare with absolute certainty that one of the first lessons one is taught about being a stage performer is to project their voice. The old saying that is oft repeated: “Be sure the old lady in the back corner seat can hear you.” Considering that the first film established MJ is clearly serious about her dream of acting and Spider-Man 2 showed she was doing well in a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, MJ definitely knows how to project her voice past the first row.
Ah, but the point in Spider-Man 3 is that she could not cut it with the big Broadway gang. I say different for two critical reasons. Firstly, anyone who has seen any videos, bootleg or official, of big budget theatre performances or behind-the-scenes footage knows that these actors have forehead microphones that project their voice around the audience. Naturally, no one’s voice can naturally project to the furthest reaches of the biggest theatre houses while still easily maintaining character, so, microphones have been a staple of the craft for decades. There is no way MJ was not hooked up to a sound system in a Broadway show.
Secondly, fine, for a moment, I will pretend that this production did not have microphones for their actors, outrageous as that idea is. If MJ could not project her voice past the first row (which may be a scientific impossibility anyway) then the producers would have never hired her in the first place! She would never have passed the audition. Her voice’s limitation would have appeared in the weeks, if not months of rehearsals, not the opening frigging night! If her voice was that much of an issue, she never would have even joined the production.
By the way, this criticism is not just me being a curmudgeonly, overly-analytical scholar. Even in the theater on opening weekend of this film, sitting between my friends in the new Cinemark multiplex in the summer of 2007, I innocently thought the whole “MJ’s voice couldn’t reach past the first row” idea to be really weird.
The problem is that so much of the film’s drama comes from this minor but seriously preposterous detail that undermines the story’s authority. I dwelt on this issue for years and years, trying to think of how I would resolve or get around the problem if I was the script’s last editor. Then, last year, when re-watching the film, I suddenly realized how this problem could vanish, and the answer was surprisingly simple.
The Solution
Have MJ just not be liked by the critics, and then the already greedy and unkind producers fire MJ behind her back. Done.
(Sidenote: to cover all bases, I do not think the small bit of Peter explaining sound science to MJ after her performance is necessary to set-up the villainous Venom’s weakness, as the foe’s vulnerability to loud sounds is established elsewhere prior to the film’s climax, but, if necessary, MJ can express doubt about her voice and Peter can assure her that science is on her side without her vocal skills being the reason she gets fired).
In this imaginary version, everything that works in the final cut still remains, but now there is a much more believable and relatable catalyst for the arc of MJ’s story. Instead of MJ losing her dream because of the illogical silliness of her doing something wrong that the trilogy has established she can do right, MJ simply does everything right and is deemed unworthy by the people whose approval she needs for her career and spirit. The result is more aligned to her character and connects to how she is dealing with the scars of her father’s abuse. Plus, any audience member can believe that an actress was hated in a show and so scummy producers fired the lady behind her back; that kind of cold reality fits the style of both the film trilogy and the original Spider-Man comics.
With just a few line revisions, this issue vanishes and Spider-Man 3’s core drama remains intact.
The Writing Takeaway
This article is (relatively speaking) a long way of saying something short, and that is precisely the point of this lesson. Sometimes, the solution to a story’s problem is as simple as tweaking a few lines; taking a metaphorical left instead of a right; thinking just the tiniest bit more about the story beats that flow together to find the answer that just feels right. Yes, the solution to this tedious Spider-Man 3 problem took me years to uncover, but you don’t always need to rattle your brain for a long time to find the right answer to a story problem.
In fact, often in my own work, I find the way a story wants and needs to be told feels like it was sitting right under my nose the whole time, not found after some grand mental quest. Before spending sleepless nights trying to figure out the inventive way out of another pit in your story’s development, see if you can find the quick and obvious solution first, right from your gut, and see where that idea takes you. Give yourself a break and think a little smaller, a little simpler, to fix a problem with your story. If an easy solution does not work, then bring out your big thinking cap and do some imaginative problem-solving.
Until then, remember that the most direct answers are often the best, and will help your story be that much better.
Chime in the discussion: What plot hole in a movie or book has bugged you for years?
Need a second brain skilled in storytelling to help you find the solution for your plot that’s either staring you in the face or hidden super well? OBA Media’s writer/editors and story coaches are here for you! Book a FREE consult today.
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CAPTAIN’S LOG
3/9/2025
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