Spider-Verse and the trans narritive

Across the Spider-verse is a phenomenal piece of animation showcasing the power of the storytelling form and a powerful narrative. And it has heavy subtextual relations to the queer narrative. Before we start that discourse, we must establish the inherent queerness of American superhero media. American superhero comics are, for the most part, semi-unintentionally queer. The biggest marker for this is the dual-life plot point, which is common in their stories. They have these dual lives because they need to protect not only their families from criminals but also themselves from society, which likely fears and hates them, which can be directly related to how, for most of American history, LGBTQ+ people had to hide themselves from not only society but also their own family to protect themselves from violent backlash. Then there are the flashy costumes and overly theatrical storytelling, which can be related to LGBTQ+ culture that has developed over the years in the form of drag shows, parades with elaborate costumes, and a general rebellion against the culture that rejects them. And in particular, the concept of superhero-chosen names relates specifically to a Trans and non-binary narrative. Plus, a large number of creators have intentionally put subtextual representations of these people in their comics. Outright textual representation was disallowed by the Comics Code Authority and also by non-accepting comics creators of the time. Accepting that American superhero media as we know it has elements that can be especially linked to queerness, we must also accept that it is also inherent to the film. Spoiler alert for the rest of the article. For proof of my statement, I will point to the lowest-hanging fruit. The treatment of the spider identity in the film for Miles is framed as a coming-out story. Miles is hiding half of his life from his parents because he is afraid of how they might treat him and that they might love him differently, a fear shared by many people in the closet. And at the end of the film, we get a scene that feels incredibly like a coming-out scene. If you were to change the word Spiderman to gay or bisexual, it would be a coming out scene including the emotions and acting of the characters. Now, it is onto the semi-controversial take that Spider-Gwen in the film is heavily implied to be transgender. We are going to start with the surface level. Gwen, throughout the film, is surrounded by trans signifiers. She has a trans flag in her room; her color pallet is the trans flag colors. This is very surface-level evidence but is important because this is a visual medium. Every visual has a meaning, whether intended or not. Putting those things in the film means something. More important, however, is Gwen’s narrative. Gwen is a young teen who feels like they are outside of society and who feels as though they can only really be themselves when they put on the Ghost Spider suit and become Spider Woman. She has to hide this identity from her cop father because this identity of hers is illegal because of a crime she has been blamed for. When this identity is discovered by a police officer (her father), She is attacked and has to leave her home. When she returns and comforts her father, she gives a speech about how her identity as a spider person gives her meaning, but it does not erase who she was before she became Spiderwoman. This is a trans narrative. Many transpeople go through a section of their life where they collect and hide clothing that makes them feel truly like themselves. Unfortunately, the identity of being trans is seen as a danger, and transgender people are regularly attacked by police officers because of who they are. Even harsher rejection from family is a common occurrence in the trans narrative.

               There are so many more things I could point out about this connection. Unfortunately, there are a number of people out there who will deny my observation because it was not explicitly said in the film. Therein lies the problem. While I do not need to see a scene or hear the line of a character outright saying they are trans to recognize them as a trans character, most viewers need that confirmation to accept. We need explicit representation now more than ever so we can get to a point where a character can be trans, and we treat it as normal if they were not.