Not that everything's a-OK in the world of Miles Morales, 15-year-old Spider-Man, or in the alternate world of his adored Gwen Stacey. Not only is there a nerd-turned-super-villain wreaking havoc across multiple universes to make Miles sorry for laughing at him, but Miles is also grounded for two months. Meanwhile, in an alternate world, Gwen's father Police Capt. Stacey is relentlessly pursuing Spider-Woman, unaware that she's Gwen.
But so much good humor and goodwill went into the creation of this animated feature that I came out of the theatre cocooned in a protective energy-field of delight. The story zig-zags among dimensions that each have their own visual styles, so we're watching a kind of rapid-fire animated collage much of the time. The inventiveness and funny juxtapositions are exhilarating, with an emphasis on the hilarity.
At key moments, the story slows down for us to savor quiet personal dialogues. Of those, my favorite was at a picnic dinner with Miles and Gwen upside-down under an eave atop a Manhattan skyscraper at sunset. (From their perspective, we see the sun setting upwards, and Gwen's pony tail standing tall.)
My other favorite was any of the scenes when the mom and dad of Miles try to figure out how they can both encourage their fifteen-year-old's independence and yet protect him from forces that would make him doubt his place in the world. It's unspoken that this is a dilemma routinely faced by parents of color. Even the sympathetic school counselor suggests that Princeton would be a stretch for a kid "like him."
[The Young Adult novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds gave me a head-start on appreciating Miles and his parents. See my blogpost Behind the Spider-Man Mask (12/2019)]
The parents' fears for him are realized by a cosmic circumstance that has Miles feeling like he doesn't have a right to exist. But he fights back.
Miles picks up allies along his way. There's Spider-Man from "Mumbattan" on an earth where the culture of India predominates, and there's Spider-Punk, very funny, very fearless: in his cool anarchism, he defies authority to give Miles a boost when he needs it.
So I came out of the theatre also feeling better about humankind.
Is it my imagination, colored by the Spider-Verse, that some news is trending positive, at least for now? Polling suggests that most Americans, even most Republicans, object to state houses that interfere with removing books and with teaching children to respect others with differences. The compromise on the borrowing limit gave no side what it wanted, but gave the American people what we needed, the outcome our Constitution was designed to produce. NPR aired interviews with an author writing about how women in the Red Cross gave soldiers of World War II forgiveness and kindness besides coffee and donuts; with elders who as children participated bravely in demonstrations against segregation; with a rock musician who just wants to tell good stories. And NPR's critic Bob Mondelo put me and my friend Susan on to the Spider-Man movie with his rapturous review.
All together, these have me feeling grateful for movies, books, acts of kindness, acts of bravery, and programs that highlight decency through polite conversation -- gifts that we human beings give each other.
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| Scott and Susan with Miles: We give him two thumbs up. |
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