1st Edition
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Youth, Race, and the Hypertext
Exploring the dynamic genres of animation and comic book films, this book examines the transmedia role of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its critical involvement in attempts to diversify representations in youth-oriented cinema and culture.
Several years after the movie’s immense commercial and critical success, a look back on the innovative features of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse shows how the film’s force derives from its thoughtful depiction of Miles Morales – a young, Afro-Latino superhero who must face systemic obstacles his white predecessor nerver worried about. Engaging a web of pressing topics in the field – from transmedia storytelling to identity formation and minority representation – this book offers an accessible analysis of the hypertextual design and animation techniques, which help this film to sensitively confront the combustible dynamics of racial representation in contemporary American youth culture.
Written in an approachable style, this book is suitable for undergraduates, postgraduates, and specialists in the field. It is a versatile resource for media studies, film studies, animation studies, and cultural studies courses, but will also appeal to fans seeking to investigate the thematic underbelly of Into the Spider-Verse.
Introduction: ‘My name is Miles Morales’ 1. Into a Spider-Verse of References: ‘I’m pretty sure you know the rest’ 2. Animating the Spider-Verse:‘This literally could not get any weirder’ 3. Racializing the Spider-Verse:‘You gotta choose a side’ Conclusion: ‘Which one pointed first?’
Biography
Charlie Michael is Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Emory University. His research focuses on popular culture and media industries in a global context. He is the author of French Blockbusters: Cultural Politics of a Transnational Cinema (2019) and the co-editor of the Directory of World Cinema: France (2013), and his work has also appeared in journals such as SubStance, Transnational Screens, and The Velvet Light Trap.
"Michael marries the worlds of film theory and larger popular culture critique in a way that is both deeply analytical and approachable for anyone interested in the majesty of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. His gradual unfolding of Miles Morales's debut film covers the vast complexities of its narrative and construction, from the animation to the racial politics at play, that offer a way for future superhero films to appeal to a youthful demographic that sees Miles Morales as "our Spider-Man". Michael takes a leap of faith with this work, and it is one that pays off handsomely by the volume's end."
- Marcus Haynes, PhD, Georgia Gwinnett College, Author of YA novel The Orange Scepter
