I agree they got the core qualities of Gwen's good nature and Science loving side right. However if Gwen was such a prima donna, thinks all the boys love her, no man would ignore her type when we first meet her in college, then those seeds would have to have been sewn pretty early. Definitely in her High School years where she was probably Prom Queen and had all the guys swooning over her like Liz Allan. Part of Gwen's character progression in the comics was seeing her thaw out and Peter bringing out her nicer side, and her losing that kind of shallow image and personality she originally had.
So I'd say if we were imagining what Gwen was like in High School, I can't imagine her being the shy bookworm nerd she was in this show. Not based on the way she was when she is in her first year of college. Just like I cannot imagine Gwen in this show becoming the way Gwen was when we first meet her in the comics.
This was definitely a different interpretation of Gwen from her character as seen in 616. That's to be expected to some degree imo cause after all this is an adaptation of the source. As Leenie so kindly pointed out, the Raimi films also contributed to the story/characterizations that we see here as well as USM comics. It's what I would like to call a comprehensive take on Spider-Man--not a direct page for page take on the mythos. I will say though this has by far been the best adaptation outside of the original material that we've gotten in any medium.
There were hints of Gwen's 616 fiery character with confidence in the show. It wasn't as blatanly obvious as we see in 616 but still there nonetheless. Her line of "no Peter, no Harry, someone is sooo getting the look," points toward her having an edge, backbone or strong female side to her. At one point Gwen is giving Peter the so-called look and he throws his hands up in a surrendering fashion and says "Ok, OK anything but
the look." They don't really explore it much beyond that but imo this suggests that she does have a fiery side to her and Peter is very much aware of it, has seen it, or maybe even was directed at him at one time. His body language and language itself tells me that he wants no part of it. There was also confidence. "You haven't said one word to me since the you-know-what, and I get it. I'm not your first choice. But I won't be your second, either." Sure, her confidence seen in the show was not a bolstering, sassy pants confidence we see with 616 but again, this is a younger version of Gwen. She still has another year and half of HS to go and much can happen in that time that would allow her confidence to grow. We see in the end of season 2 how she was given that makeover and blossomed into the bombshell that we know and love from the comics. There's definitely some confidence boost right there and the boys would no doubt be swooning over her, imo. It's difficult to say these things with certainty though because in 616 we're not given that info and TSSM was cut short so we don't know how much change she would have be given.
To go back to your original question, yes, I think this was a different take on Gwen obviously being an adaptation, however, I don't think they got her character wrong. Some changes made but the core essence of her character was intact enough, as provided in the examples above that she was recognizeable to me.
Yes thanks for that great insightful response, Spider-knight.
He's destined to do this forever.
Spectacular Spider-Man did do a different take on Gwen, but for storytelling purposes, I think it made sense. I especially believe this because they introduced Mary Jane so early (not a bad thing, mind you; I love MJ!). Both girls had distinct personalities.
Gwen has always been perceived as the "sweet" girl, and her personality in the show represented that very well. Most of the females in this show are introduced as shallow, especially in the beginning. I think it was important to make Gwen stand out.
I also think that Spectacular Spider-Man made the decision to make Peter and Gwen childhood friends as some sort of interpretation of the Raimi movies (remember, this show came out less than a year after Spider-Man 3). There were quite a few things from those movies that were adapted/interpreted on the show (especially a lot of the visuals).
Solid points all around, Leenie.
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