Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 1)

[Taco Bell Tower]

Fine, I'll elaborate but if you see no room for nuance then this will be a lengthy exercise in futility.

Touching someone and invading their personal space, without any hint of permission, in order to hit on them is not cool. Aaron teaching Miles that is not cool. His masculine bravado is outdated at best. Yes, it's played for laughs and obviously that was a good choice so as to not play into harmful/racist stereotypes. While also showing that it's not a good thing to do. The creative team does a similar thing in Across by having Gwen react fondly/positively to Miles' journal of obsession. I can better frame my point by saying Miles is an awkward teenager who does things that are genuinely creepy in real life. I say that with some ounce of authority, because I'm a trans woman and once was a "teenage boy" with creepy, awkward crushes/obsessions. Am I projecting onto Miles? Absolutely! It comes from my own personal lived experience. It's from a place of empathy that I cringe at some of Miles' actions while also loving him as a character.

I am not a fan of Aaron's portrayal in Spider-Verse, there isn't a lot of nuance to his character like there is in the Insomniac games. He's the cool uncle that encourages Miles' creative spirit which goes outside what is "lawful." That part is fine, great even, as it ties into being a vigilante which all Spider-People are (generally speaking). But (in the film) he's also kinda literally a villain that is willing to kill a kid until he realizes it's his own damn nephew. Mind you, I'm cognisant of the fact that he works for Kingpin. There may have been an attempt at commentary there but it goes nowhere as he almost immediately dies so as to be this Miles' equivalent of Uncle Ben. Uncle Aaron evoking Uncle Ben is deliberate in that it's a shorthand to show he instilled some wisdom into Miles. Which is muddied in the execution of the movie but is reinforced by Miles still loving his uncle and paying tribute to him through graffiti. A medium of rebellion and expression outside of (white) laws. They had elements of something great there but fell short.

My intent was to convey that Aaron didn't have good wisdom to give Miles in regards to approaching girls/women. How I expressed and worded that in my original post is not okay, and I again apologize for that.

Yes, this can boil down to me not liking Miles/Gwen for personal reasons and it does to a degree. It can simultaneously be true that I genuinely feel they are better as friends as of Beyond. As I said in another post, I can be sold on them as a romantic pairing. It's plenty possible that Beyond will be able to do that after we see the rest of Miles' arc and how Gwen's ties into it. Especially after she betrayed Miles and was not a good ally to him.

I do not view Miles as a "threat" to Gwen, and I apologize for using rhetoric that, intentionally or not, plays into racist notions. I also realize the importance of Black boys/men getting together romantically with white girls/women in mainstream media, especially when it's aimed at children. "Children's animation" is a very important medium for conveying good and progressive messages/representation to children, as well as adults. Especially for minorities. My personal feelings on the pairing should not take away from that, but I realize they can and probably do.

I could not convey what I wanted to in a concise manner, so here's my verbose thoughts. Warts and all.