Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane seemed very insecure about not just her career, but who she was, her looks, everything. She was not a good role model because she constantly doubted herself and actually used ther men because of it. The thing about MJ was she covered that 5hit up. She was a hero in her own right. She had suffered a lot of pain and managed to put a brave face on it. She rose above her abusive home life and became more successful.
The characterisation in the Raimi series was very off. The only characters truely done right seemed to be the older characters i.e J.J.Jameson, possibly Aunt May and Uncle Ben. At a stretch Norman was pretty good too. The characterisation was pretty good in TASM, some felt Peter never learnt anything and was pretty selfish by not heeding Captain Stacey's words. However everything else was pretty good. For Mary Jane they wanted the confident Mary Jane, like Lois Lane was SUPER confident and in control of herself as a woman on Smallville. It's not like some impossible feat to get a beautiful talented girl.
As for the story itself, on Big Bang Theory there is that geek- beauty thing going, same with the TV show Beauty and the Geek. Geeks are sterotyped just as much as Beauty's are. No-one is saying MJ has to be dumb. MJ has a big heart and is a warm, fun person to be around. She just takes care of her appearance as a way of showing she is a 'fashion girl' it contrasts Peter's scientific world. Romantically, it is like two oppisite worlds coming together.
It would be a little bit of a letdown if this dynamic isn't played out.
