The Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse movie isn’t your typical superhero film.  Combating bad guys, and ending with a purposeful meaning, is just the tip of the iceberg. While it also does that, it also manages to convey emotions and characteristics in a very intricate way. Overall this action/sci-fi movie is in a class by itself. This movie is a perfect depiction of African-American characteristics, family relationships, and teenage emotions themselves. So let’s explore the Spider Verse and get a clear ranking on the movie. 

The film starts off with Gwen (Spiderwoman) stressed and grieving, due to her losing her best friend and keeping her spider powers a secret from her father. You can see the emotion from listening and looking at the screen. In this scene you can hear in her tone of voice that she is upset. As she speaks with her father, the Police Captain, she raises her voice and makes slick remarks while he remains calm. During the conversation her dad tries to comfort her by saying the department has a hit on the case and it’ll be good for them because they’ll have closure, but because Gwen is angry she says, “Don’t be so sure”. This is a perfect representation of anger from a teenager. Some signs of anger are, “Are hurting others either verbally or physically,” or letting anger get out of control. Although hearing the dialogue is enough to understand the emotion, you can also see the emotion. During their conversation, a white line separates them, with the dad side showing shades of blue and Gwens showing shades of purple. The white line separating them is a figure of speech, it refers to how they are growing apart because they are arguing. Blue is also important; it is a color that can play the emotion of sympathetic, sadness, and commutative. Then purple, it shows arrogance, mysteriousness, and mourning. All of the colors that are in this scene are purposeful, it helps tell the story as much as the lines. Finally the  scene ends with the dad asking for a hug, and when Gwen hugs her father the room begins to turn pink. Which is a color that means healing and peace, showing that when they don’t argue they help and bring peace to each other. Generally speaking this one scene holds so much weight; down to the use of the color wheel, plot, and dialogue. This scene has such an impact on the audience, because they used pathos and tugged at our heartstrings showing us this relatable moment.

Later on in the movie we see another parent and child relationship, but this time it’s Miles (Spiderman) and his father (Jefferson).Although this is a different family one of the same conflict lingers; Jefferson doesn’t know that his son is spiderman.  Luckily, in this scene Jefferson is not aware that he is talking to his child. At the moment Miles is in his costume, so he uses this to his advantage. Miles asked his father if he wanted to talk about his problems, and without him knowing he was conversing with his son he agreed to talk after a slick but true to life remark. He said, “Well, men of your generation ignore their mental health too long”. This is an important line that needed to be added because it adds realism to the story, it is a fact that, “A lot of Black people don’t think of therapy as a realistic or viable option for help and mental health isn’t seen as something to focus on, improve, or get professional help for.” Therefore it helps the story not only be about a superhero having impractical conflicts, but about a superhero going through problems that minorities and others have everyday. This is powerful in many ways due to the fact it represents anyone can be a superhero no matter what you go through. Even Though this is just e doing everenough for a PG movie they went even deeper under the surface, throughout the conversation Miles starts to ask about Jefferson’s son.  As the conversation sparks, Miles’ father says that he thinks his son is, “A good kid. It’s scary. He says these things that are so smart, but does these things that are so stupid.” After hearing this Miles tells him, “To get off the kids ass,” Without a second to think Jefferson comes up with another excuse on why he is scared for his child’s future. He believes that his son is not being honest with him, although his son isn’t being honest with him Miles tells Jefferson his thoughts on the situation. “Maybe he’s scared to talk to you,” Miles said. This whole interaction tells a deeper story than the movie is trying to portray. In today’s time children with black parents tend to go through many trials with their parents, even if they are doing everything they can. That is why they highlight that Jefferson thinks his son is smart but lacks decision making skills. In reality Miles makes great decisions, but it is hard for his parents to see that due to the fact he is hiding a secret. Or is that what they’re just showing on the surface? Yes, yes it is. Truly the scene represents the paranoia African American parents experience worrying if their child is going to go down the right path for their safety. The risk statistically of being a black child in New York is very high. Most of the articles about African American kids in New York are about the increase in underage drug use, carrying of a firearm,  and murder. That being the case the movie hints at the deeper meanings but makes them subtle. 

Another core scene from the movie portrays how African- American families act and think. The clip starts with Rio (Miles/spiderman mother) and Jefferson (Miles/Spiderman father) throwing a party for Jefferson’s promotion to Captain of the police department. In this scene Miles (spiderman) is late and rushing to get to his father’s party, but he is also fighting crime and getting his dad cake together. So instead of dropping his responsibilities he does everything he needs to such as picking up his dad cake, fighting villains, and taking 3 different trains to get to his house. With him managing so much at once it consequently makes him late. Which makes his parents angry, they are not concentrated on why he’s late all they know is that he’s late. Eventually Miles gets to the party and without a, “Hi” his parents start to tell him how disrespectful he is due to his punctuality. Instead of his parents’ question where Miles was at, they started to “Tell” him where he was. Miles said, “ It was an emergency” and they said “What a graffiti emergency” and “ Party with friends I never met before”. Basically mocking what their son thinks is urgent, and not caring what miles have to say. Not speaking for all but this is a pretty common act in the black community. The scene continues with Miles trying to explain that maybe he’s doing “Benign, private, unremarkable things” and it’s his life to live. The parents reply to him and say, “It’s not your life. It’s mine and your father’s and your abuelos’ y abuelas’. Who put you in this spot, that I’d give anything to be in”. For the most part invalidating his emotions. They don’t believe he can be capable of doing anything else because he is only a kid. This is a common observation in a black family. I once read this article that said, “ African American parents used their authority & instilled a form of oppression into their children. IMO once black parents were given authority, they took on a “master mentality” or “master mindset”.” Which is shown clearly in this clip. In the end Miles become irritated and say whatever, now I don’t know if you know this but this is a common sign from a black child. Most of the time we are never heard, so that’s what we are left to say. In fact the same article also said, “ The end result for black children = “it is what it is” or “it be like that sometimes.” This becomes a blanketed statement for our feelings about life altogether. We don’t bother to explain anything: our feelings, thoughts, ideas, or aspirations.“ 

After the argument Miles had with his parents he goes downstairs to his room and tries to calm down. The first thing he does is grab his headphones and listen to music. This is a regular technique for teenagers. To some this is their only way to “express and explore their feelings and emotions.” Other than that music reduces anxiety and improves moods. During the scene you can see Miles calm down. You can see Miles in his bed with his headphones on. During this time, the film does a small shake to show that his breathing is calming down. When the music gets louder the objects in the room start to float slowly, this symbolizes the stress that Miles is holding is starting to float away as he calms down. The movie has also highlighted emotion with music, which adds even more progress to the story. This really helps show emotions instead of telling. Later in the same scene Gwen comes and visits Miles from a different dimension. When they first see each other they have a quick casual greeting, as they start to converse Gwen wanders around the room. As she’s looking she sees a toy that she used to have, Miles says, “That’s a collectible”. Gwen replies, “Why is it still in the package” and starts to take it out. Miles sarcastically laughs and says that’s fine. Now I know that it’s just a toy but most black families at least have one family member that doesn’t let their kids take certain toys out the box, thinking that one day it will be worth a large amount of money. For instance, I have a Dora Going to Paris doll downstairs right now in the original packaging because my mom still wont let me take it out. That being said these scenes hold many cultural impacts, and makes the movie satisfying and relatable. 

After a while of talking Gwen asks Miles if he wants to hang out and spin a few webs in the city. Miles agrees and they are filled with excitement while they swing through New York and catch up with each other. Throughout the scene while they are talking there is a song playing in the back. The song is Mona Lisa byDominic Fike. The song is pretty upbeat and sounds as if it fits the genre of pop, which is known to, “Encourage a feel-good factor, lighting up different areas of the brain and often encouraging the release of dopamine, making us feel happier and more connected to the music.” Every second and aspect of a movie matters, so this song was placed here to illustrate the feelings Miles and Gwen share when they are together. This enhances the director’s storytelling abilities because it shows they know how to tell a story in many different forms. Soonly after the two go back to Miles’ father party and say their goodbyes, but their interaction did not stop there. Miles turns invisible to follow Gwen and sees something that leaves him twisted. 

He witnesses one of the cases Gwen is working on, with the elite society of spider people. Although this was already a grim thing to see unexpectedly, it still managed to get worse. Miles finds out one of the villains he fought earlier in the movie is making himself more powerful so he can beat him. This leads Miles to feel like he needs to know what happens next for his own good, so while Gwen goes into another universe to handle the villain Spot. Miles rushes into the universe portal with her, leading them both into a fight with Spot. Fortunately they were not the only two helping in the fight. There was one other spiderman by the name of Pav. Pav is from Mumbai India, and this detail caught my attention because throughout the scene including him the dialogue referenced elements from their culture. This was something that stuck out to me due to the fact the writers are trying to make a cultural reference to all, and this is a great message to send to kids due to the fact that they see all different kinds of people being spiderman. They will feel as if they can do anything, no matter who they are or where they came from. The writers even point it out, in one scene Spot says, “I love how many variations of you guys there are.”

For the duration of the fight Spot and Miles held slight conversation, but one of the sentences caught my attention. Spot says, “This is gonna be good for us, Spider-man. You and me are finally gonna live up to our potential. You’ll finally have a villain worth fighting. And I won’t be just a joke to you.” Now this plot isn’t as intense as the others covered in the movie but it still indicates keen points. For example when Spot mentions being a joke to miles, that can relate to how others in the real world feel. This is a significant plot owing to the fact it’s targeted towards children and young adults. Everyday Someone is tormented or pushed around, which usually affects the person’s characteristics and mind set. This is exactly what the movie is trying to demonstrate, by letting us know that Spot has become this way because he has always been seen as inferior. While the two are talking the background is full of the colors purple, red, orange, and slight yellow. All of these colors matter because they help depict the characters emotions and story. The color purple can symbolize devotion, pride, and mystery. Red portrays the danger and courage that is happening. Orange represents ambition. Then the hint of yellow could be due to the fact Spot is happy he is getting stronger or he could feel cowardly. So, considering that the director did even more digging and made the color assist with storytelling is a beautiful add on. 

After the fight Miles, Gwen, and the rest of the Spider people head to the Spider Society. When Miles first arrived there he was amazed, he never knew there were so many people like him. At first he genuinely felt normal, but after a few minutes of realization he figures out it’s not what he expected it to be. Miles learns that being spiderman comes with many events that each one has to experience. Some are good and some are bad, but there was one Miles was not going to stick around for. The death of his father, when he heard this news he was urgent to stop what was soon to come. Everyone around was trying to tell him, “You can’t stop a canon event” but he didnt care. No matter how much they told him that his events will shape him as a person, he didn’t care.  This scene really made me gain love for the movie, this is an intricate concept in a movie. To know what is going to happen in your life is not something we have capability of, yes we can plan our day but it will never go exactly as planned. That’s just not possible the world is unknowing, so to think if you did know what was going to happen would you stop it. Lets really act as if we are in the spider verse and this algorithm that is NEVER wrong tells you, “If you let this person you love die, it’ll play out in the future.” Would you let it happen because in the end it doesn’t affect you deeply? Or would you try to save your loved one because in the present time your love for them is too strong to let them go so easily? I don’t know if it’s just me, but that stuck with me. Even to this day I Don’t know what I would do. 

Soonly after the discussion about Miles’ father, Miles is sure that he will not let his father die without a fight. For that reason, the head Spiderman (Miguel) locks Miles in this indestructible force and tells him he will be freed after his father’s death. This puts Miles in a panic and outrage, I couldn’t imagine being locked in a room just waiting for my parents to die. So just as it would anyone else, Miles becomes overwhelmed with emotions. However this is used to his advantage. After Miguel calls him a kid one last time, Miles becomes triggered and bursts through the force only using the palms of his hands. This was so intriguing in my opinion, to see the build up of his emotions, and how they took over. These are real life scenarios being put into a fiction story. That adds more amusement to the movie as well.  

Besides breaking through the force Miles also runs away from spiderman society and tries to find a way back home. This wasn’t an easy task, he had to run from and fight over 500 different spidermans while also being lost in a new environment. Finally after getting through all of the spider people, he finds his way back to headquarters where he can get sent back home. Granted that he made it home, something was wrong. His mom was too calm, in fact she was so calm Miles told her he was spiderman. She had a vague response, it was as if she didn’t believe him for a split second. This freaked Miles out, he soon realized he was in the wrong timeline. Everything here was different; his dad was already dead and his uncle was ALIVE. When he saw his uncle this made him emotional, he hasn’t seen him since in his universe he is dead. This made his uncle question his behavior and knock him out of consciousness. Once Miles woke up he was tied to a punching bag and confused about what was going on. All he saw was his uncle Aaron, so he starts to tell him who he really is and how he is from a different universe. Miles goes into detail on how in his universe his uncle is dead, because he was the prowler, and didn’t know he had an option to be a good guy. Yet, it doesn’t seem like this uncle Aaron here cares. Maybe because in this universe he is not the prowler. The groundbreaking twist is that Miles is the Prowler in this universe. This happened because the spider that bit the Miles we know was meant to bite the Miles on the other universe. All because the spider was placed in the wrong dimension, it caused a major shift. At the end that was all we were left with. Until 2024 summer we will not know what happens next. Does his “friends” save him, does he save his dad, is the other Miles going to kill him. We will never know until the next one comes, this is a form of great storytelling. The plot is so entertaining and complex I can’t even assume what will happen next!

In general the movie is way deeper than most expect, the movie from the outside looking in is portrayed as a kid superhero movie. But underneath the surface lies a beautifully written and designed story. Overall when the movie ended there was no other number I could think about than five. YES a five, the highest number on the scale. To receive a five the movie must have many lovely qualities, and yet it did. Down to the color contrast, emotional impact, cultural reference, and music factors. The movie was excellent. I’m not sure if any other movie will get a 5 so easily but this one deserved it.So, next time you watch Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse think about my statement and see if you agree, tell me in the comments. Peace!!!!

If you are wondering, “Where did she get her references?” You can look here.