Miles Morales and Black Solidarity

What did you think of the Black Solidarity aspect to Across the spiderverse? Do you think it’ll get expanded upon?

Miles's mom pointing out that he's gonna go to places where people tell him he can't belong wasn't just an allusion to what it's like for some black folks, it was practically a meta commentary on the character.

I would point out that Jessica Drew is also in a different generation than the young folks who teamed up with Miles. Jessica could represent older folks who are used to navigating the system and its flawed rules, vs the kids who still question them.

I started to wonder at how many times Hobie had probably had people be shocked he's black under his mask. How annoying that could be, and how tedious it could get. But Miles? Miles just made a comment on how cool he was.

I love that that this was a very black and brown film without being a Hollywood Black and Brown Film. It was being marketed to Spider-Man fans, not black Spider-Man fans.

I love how much subtle cultural stuff is in this film. I've seen Hispanic viewers talk about Miles conversations with his mom and brown viewers point out stuff with Pav, and the Black solidarity was something I noticed immediately. Spider-Byte had a single barely flirtatious interaction with Miles and was willing to risk her position to help him and Hobie spent a total of like 15 minutes and put all his faith in him. Based off what Jess did for Gwen at the very end of Across I'm certain that she'll come to Miles' side as well in Beyond. It just goes to show that at the end of the day, we got each other backs.

Miguel barely sees Miles as Spiderman but demands he follows the continuity that other spidermen deal with. It was weird they were so harsh on him as if the events of his world matters like the other spidermen. His situation is unique and his world didn't die when he became Spider-Man so I immediately thought Miguel was full of it and should've let Miles save his dad. Miguel's logic was bad and just came off as him bashing the boy for things out of his control.

For Spider-Byte, we are given some more context in her introduction. She’s an avatar while her real body is back at home with a vr headset on. Probably likes to spend more time in the virtual world / away from home because her real life isn’t good. I think we can hear her parents? (or some people) arguing in the background. Miles states he can relate to a home life not being the best at the moment so they connect on that too.

i would like to just say that miles did have his major tragedy. his uncle dying was a lot for him. just because he wasn’t his main care takers doesn’t mean the loss doesn’t hurt as much

I think hobie found it much easier to help Miles when he saw him BE THAT GUY, saving the people of Mubahattan. Miles took control and saved everyone, even Gwen was straight up like you're amazing. You see Hobie tone towards Miles change and he shouts 'Man like Miles, My guy!" which is British slang for showing someone you really respect them and see them as your friend.

I'm not black nor poc but miguel o'hara screaming that he was not supposed to be there that he was not spider man because he was not the "right" kind of spider man hit me so deeply I was about to cry in the theater and the lack of support from people who were supposed to hold your back not being there and feeling the loneliness from that was hard to watch i cannot wait for the next movie

This was something I thought about what you said about Jessica. But- wouldn't the lack of help from Jessica's side be thanks to this idea of older generations that you need to have it rough? I’m not black, but my family is from latin america, and attitude I saw back then (including some black folks too,) was this idea that they had it rough, but that's just life, and the sooner you learn to live with it the better. I feel is not even malice, really; more like this idea that society (or canon in this case,) isn't malleable, and younger generations need to swallow the pill now because the more they resist, the most painful it is. While Hobie and Margo (mostly Hobie really,) come with this idea that things don't need to be this hard, that they can fight to have a better life. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else said this already, but those are my two cents!

Seriously loved this level of commentary of Spiderverse that's deals with the more Black and POC perspectives of the movie messages. Especially that heartfelt speech by Miles mother Rio and how she said there's people out there who will try to make him feel like he's doesn't belong somewhere or how there's will be those out in life that will make him feel lesser and that he shouldn't let them tell him that he doesn't belongs, its something I think any black kid or Hell grown black adult can deeply relate to and knows how thats feel and should hear a lot more of. I knew Hobie was a real one from the very beginning and that he was obviously looking out for Miles' best interests, especially with the use his palms advice and Margo didn’t have to help him out but she did anyway with seeing how scared he looked and likely felt that she needed to help a brother out.

I also felt like Jessica’s interactions with Gwen had a feminist narrative. Jessica is a woman looking out for another woman in a world dominated by men. Jessica covered for Gwen and was worried about her risking her position in the Spider Society for Miles, because even though helping Miles was the right thing to do it was still dangerous. Jessica is also older than Gwen - and might want to look out for her as a mentor. IMO Jessica’s power comes from being the right-hand of Miguel, her decisions and actions matter because Miguel allows them to matter and she’s wary of going against that even though you can see glimpses of her not fully agreeing with Miguel. But Gwen does say ‘fuck it’ at the end, because she wants to help her friend, she feels like it’s the right thing to do, and she won’t let fear dictate her life anymore. Jessica seems to me, like she’s still a little consumed by fear because of Miguel. But Gwen knows there might be another way of doing things, especially since her father decided to step down from being the Chief of Police. So she creates a group, a community of people who will band with her. I was also really glad the film didn’t set Hobie and Miles against each other as romantic rivals. Two young black guys having each other’s back makes more sense to me. Hobie doesn’t bow down to any establishment and he isn’t going to let the Spider Society fuck over someone just like him. Mrs Morales telling Miles not to let anyone make him feel like he doesn’t belong really spoke to how black people can feel like they don’t fit in, and are told to conform as well as foreshadowing Miles’ choosing his own path.

I honestly wasn’t sure what to t hink of Spiderbyte’s and her decision in the film. I was a little worried she was just a deus ex machina to give Miles his plot armor. But I think your read fits super well, even for a character we don’t know much about. What we do know about her is that she gets to participate in Spider society without physically being there. On one hand this gives her some layers of protection from Miguel’s influence. On the other hand, it severely limits her ability to make an impact on that world and all the others the Spiders get involved in. It would stand to reason she might have some pent up feelings of powerlessness around that. When Miles crosses her path as he does, I could totally see her not only seeing a scared and alone black boy who needs help, but a unique chance for her to make a significant move according to her own personal values in a way only she can. It’s a really powerful moment for an as yet minor character. Thanks for helping me see that! Great video!

Love this read. The whole meta-textual thing in this film, Miguel's attitude about Miles paralleling people's complaint Miles isn't the "real" Spider-Man was, for lack of a better word, amazing. And this layer is so significant, it'd be wrong to say I didn't notice it. I didn't think about it, but I think that's because it's just so natural it didn't need stating. You can feel it. Hobie and Spider-Bye both "get it" without needing to say a word. While Peter doesn't really get it, as he's caught up in his own mid-life rebirth experience. Jess Drew gets it, but she's so invested in Miguel's way, it's incredibly clear her better judgement is fighting against that wall of investment. And Gwen kinda gets it, but is just so broken down by this point, she doesn't have the will to fight. But that's what Spider-Man is all about, fighting past exhaustion, because people need you. On the subject of Hobie, his whole joke was that everyone assumed his anarchy was just a part of the theme costume. All his rebellion jokes came before we saw him unmasked. So by the time we see he's black, we've already drawn a conclusion that his antics are just for lols. If he were a white suburban punk out of Repo Man, just in it for the music, or to piss off the squares, that might have been the case. But it turns out Hobie was the first to realize how Miguel's operation was gonna do Miles dirty, and immediately takes action. That's when the real picture comes into focus. He's not rebellious because he's into punk, he's into punk to rebel against oppression. It's not his style, it's his substance. So he recognizes oppression, and the rhetoric that rationalizes it. And knows how to respond. Spider-Punk IS his response. Turns out, BLM is punk as fuck. I never thought of it that way before, was too busy just trying to piss off the squares.

Love this commentary, this can be further read into Queer and BIPoC solidarity during civil rights movements with the way Gwen (and even miles tbh) has a lot of trans/queer allegory in the writing of these films, as well as the spider-society being a Very good Capitalism allegory with the youth choosing to rebel and upend it is some real solid politics for a series with so much insular copaganda. This film paints a character in a trans flag while she says everyone in her life can only know half of her, but Miles, he understands. One of the best films of all time FRFR

So I can't lie. I'm not black, so the black solidarity aspect was not something I noticed when I watched this movie. But watching this essay makes me see how big an impact it was, has helped educate me on the topic, and given me a deeper perspective and love of the movie. I appreciate what you have done for the Spider community with your video, and I am going to take this perspective and knowledge with me into future movies.

I'm guyanese/peruvian and an anarchist and i am so so happy about the representation in these movies!! Its already rare for me to find afro-latinx rep and rarer to find positive anarchist rep, and i got all of that and more!! And it was also incredibly cool to see Indian folks talking about how much they connected with Pav. I especially always felt Rio's relationship with Miles in my soul "its my life, and your father's, and all your ancestors that put you here" it rlly resonated with me having been raised by my granparents who are immigrants, and then on top of that we get Hobie being an anarchist mot just for the meme or in the "lmao anarchy is chaos for the sake of chaos and bad an evil" type shit but genuinely an anarchist with the praxis to back up a well-developed ideology. Can't wait to see more in the next movie!!!

I do love that aspect of the movie! Just them helping Moles out of everyone spoke volumes to me. And Yes I do feel that Big bro vibe with Hobbie. I have older sisters and I can see us having a talk like that.