While the filmmakers behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are patting themselves on the back for making "strides" in diversity (with plenty of encouragement from legions of white film critics), they're busy missing the point. And though the movie will likely win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Hollywood has managed to screw the Black guy -- and the Brown guy -- again. Sure, Into the Spider-Verse features the first cinematic appearance of the Afro-Rican Spider-Man but unlike his white predecessor, Peter Parker, Miles Morales has to share his movie with other Spider-people, most of whom are -- you guessed it -- white.
In just 16 years, we've had two separate Spider-Man series, comprised of six movies, featuring Parker as not only the sole Spider-Man but the sole hero, who nevertheless manages to find his way without a mentor and save the day without help (though he did receive an extra pair of hands in the form of Harry Osborne at the very end of Spider-Man 3). Peter was mentored by Tony Stark in his most recent solo movie, Homecoming, but then again, Stark asked for his help in Civil War and Infinity War (Spidey's adventures alongside the Avengers). But for some reason, the filmmakers behind Into the Spider-Verse didn't feel that the half African-American/half Puerto Rican web-slinger was up to the task of stopping archcriminal the Kingpin without oversight, training and rescue from three older, white Spider-folk, a Japanese Spider-teen and an anthropomorphic Spider-pig. And just for good measure, Spider-Verse continues the time-honored Hollywood tradition of making sure that a romance between an African-American guy and a white girl does not blossom.
What's more troubling is the fact that Miles' father, a Black man, is named Jefferson Davis -- the name of the head of the former Confederate States of America. Wtf
Like the previous two Spider-Man origin movies (2002's Spider-Man and 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man), Into the Spider-Verse is a coming-of-age tale. But it's the only one in which the wall-crawler's hand is held during the journey from boy to hero. When the guy behind the web is a minority, he's not the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man -- he's merely the darkest face in the crowd.
I get the feeling that the filmmakers were more concerned with pandering and checking off diversity boxes in order to get progressive cred (Let's just put 'em all in, we'll be heroes!) than making a sincere effort to be inclusive. As a proud African-American, Into the Spider-Verse seems more like an F-U than anything else.
Originally Posted 2/2/19
Ditto that. Period.
ReplyDeleteI knew I wasn't the only one who caught this. I'm done with all white savior movies period. In real life white people are nothing like this, they are oppressing black people and only happy when black people are in positions where white people can look down upon them.This is why I have been done with these wack superhero movies, no matter if they try to throw in some "diversity" to mask their blatant white supremacist rhetoric. Great article.
ReplyDeletebs so we will ignore that they made the real Spiderman (peter parker) a feminet version of himself and a bumbling idiot and was told they had enough of him a clear reference towards white comic characters
ReplyDeleteI see you made sure to ignore the three heroic white characters (Peter B. Parker, Gwen Stacy and Spider-Man Noir) who showed up to save the day at various points. Your bs is completely transparent.
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