Spider-Man 3: Everyday and Journalistic Ethics
(Cross posted at Say Anything: Reader Blogs .) Warning! There be spoilers here! I saw Spider-Man 3 yesterday. I thought the incorporation of an up and coming young journalist who gets canned for doctoring someone else's photograph and passing it off as his own was a nice touch. It was particularly potent given all of the scandals we've had lately involving people altering images and reporting "fake but accurate" news stories. Brock presents as unctuous and over confident character. His reaction to being caught in his deception reveals a serious lack of integrity. First he pleads for mercy hoping to play on the goodness of Peter Parker not to reveal his deception. (One wonders if the appeal would have worked had Parker not been under the influence of the symbiote at the time.) Once Brock's deception is revealed he is immediately, and rightly, fired by the always volatile Jameson. Rather than accept responsibility for his actions Brock seeks to avenge himself again...