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Ok, I can't believe that in the middle of 2023 I have to say this, but I will:
None, I repeat, NONE of ATSV's female characters deserve the slander they're getting.
It's pure and simple misogony.
Gwen is one of the protagonists and the film shows us her point of view in relation to the film. She made a mistake and made a lot of mistakes, and yes, she needs to apologize. But it was established that it was not out of malice but desperation, in addition to residual trauma. She has regrets, wanna fix her actions plus it's clear that the guilt eats her alive the entire movie. She's not happy, she's devastated.
She is not a liar, snake or heartless villain. She's a lost and confused teenager who just wants to do what's best for the ones she loves in a difficult situation.
Margo Kess is an icon and a valued member of the team. She is a brave black girl who deserves to be highlighted and who has had and will have a more relevant role. She is the character herself and is far beyond the person who "is better than Gwen for Miles". She sure as hell doesn't hate Gwen, especially when they both have complicated civil comings and bonding about it, no doubt. She joined Miles' rescue team and certainly has as much regard for Gwen as she does for Miles. In the middle of 2023, I think it's time to stop pitting female characters against each other. Margo exists beyond ships and female rivalry, and is part of the spiderband.
Jessica Drew is an incredible character who is far beyond a cold and hard mentor. She is the one who extended the olive branch to Gwen, she is clearly a sweet and fair woman, who loves her family and tries to balance kindness with the seriousness that her work demands, she is Miguel's right hand man. She has a greater loyalty to him than Gwen for obvious reasons and that doesn't make her a heartless monster. She also believes in canonical events, she thinks about her own safety and that of her husband and son. And she has affection for everyone who cares as we see her at the end of the film.
We don't have to hate one of them to like another. Every character has flaws and the movie doesn't hide it, and that's okay. Because people, women, are failures. And all are being judged unfairly for simply being well-written characters.
And we know why this happens.
I feel like i need to say something because i keep seeing people ask why jess drew and peter b and all the rest of the spider society were so quick to believe miguel. Hell yesterday i saw someone make a tiktok that said "questioning who jess drew's real babydaddy is because why was she so ride or die for miguel" (which... ew).
First of all, look at jess and peter and the other spidermen. For the most part, they're all adults. They've already gone through their canon events. They may well still be grieving. And here's someone coming along to tell them that these deaths were not their faults, that they were supposed to happen, and giving them a community of people who have all gone through the same thing. Even if knowing that these deaths "had to happen" doesn't soothe the pain for everyone, just knowing that they aren't alone in their pain was probably a major help to the wider spider society.
But second of all, am i the only one thinking that this is a metaphor for older generations? Millenials are starting to break this, but there's been an observed trend that the older a generation is, the more conservative the people become. The less open they are to new ideas. Miguel's canon events theory is the status quo. Much like when a teenager is angry at capitalism, or conservatism, or injustice, or anything, the adult spidermen do not look at miles trying to save his dad thinking "hey yknow maybe this kid has a point". They're thinking "this poor kid, he doesn't realize that this is just the way things are".
And going more into jess drew- she clearly feels remorse for gwen and miles. We don't yet know how much faith she has in the canon events theory, but either way we know she's not as angry as miguel in enforcing it. Whereas miguel states it as fact, jess seems sadened by it. If we entertain the thought that she doesn't believe in it and wants to help miles, she can't just say that. Because she's in an unstable position of power. And that position could be very well lost if she said that. This position gives her social standing and stability, so she likely wouldn't want to give it up in fear of loosing those things.
So yeah. Its all a metaphor.
You know what? Im breaking my silence. Im TIRED of people missing Jess’ character on purpose. Like, everyone can use context clues and fill in the blanks for every other character but somehow Jess is the only one taken at face value? Jess is being seen as a cold, detached, mean bitch by fans but I cannot determine whether we even watched the same movie.
Let’s address the elephant in the room, because she is a black woman who is NOT a mammy character, people criticize her harsher. Jess was MORE than Miguel’s “lackey”. She had her own thoughts and opinions. She definitely had her own personality and feelings about the entire situation. She lowkey stalled time to give Gwen chances to fix her mistakes.
If Jess was as cold as Miguel and such a “bitch”, she would’ve left Gwen the first time. Let’s not forget that Miguel was fully about to leave Gwen with her own father holding her at gunpoint, JESS vouched to bring Gwen under her name. Jess put her OWN position at risk to help Gwen and it required that she do her job accordingly. Jess made the boundary VERY clear, she is NOT Gwen’s mother. She is NOT her friend. I seen people argue that “Jess’ maternal instincts” should’ve kicked in to protect Gwen” but fully ignoring that Jess HAS A FAMILY! Jess is PREGNANT with her OWN child. Her instincts DID kick in and she chose her dimension with her family in it!
Jess was stuck in a rock and a hard place. She obviously wanted to help Gwen (considering she brought her in at the cost of her own position) but UNFORTUNATELY, GWEN messed up. Gwen saw Miles and that ultimately led to Spot escaping. You can love these characters and acknowledge that every character had their OWN thoughts and motivations that led to fuck ups. It’s not right to try to make Jess sound worse than the man who fuckin replaced his dead self out of grief, was about to leave a teen at gunpoint, and had an entire society of people chase a teenager who wanted to save his dad.
Don’t get me started on the “she’s fighting crime while pregnant argument” because we can accept superpowered people but NOT the possibility that their bodies are more resilient. NOT TO MENTION THAT PETER B HAS A WHOLE BABY ON MISSIONS???? Like, no one is calling him a bad father so what’s different with Jess? Miguel was mean as fuck to Miles upon meeting but Jess doing her JOB is considered being “mean”.
Then the “I didn’t see her enough to connect with her” is fair until everyone can somehow create entire {TERRIBLE} mischaracterizations of Hobie, Pav, and Peni who (arguably) had just about the same amount of screentime. She also shares traits with every other spider person with being snarky and quick-witted while being completely grounded. She’s literally one of the spider people that Miguel fully trusts but somehow the fandom erases her and goes “He loves Peter B and Lego Spidey🤪🤪”
Like, it’s crazy how people find it so easy to erase Jess and Margo (Spiderbyte) in fanworks for things they easily dismiss from other characters and it’s feelin like misogynoir. Like, Margo and Hobie served the same purpose with deciding to go against Miguel for Miles, yet only Hobie and Gwen gets that credit.
AND THEN THE MANY EXCUSES WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING! People keep hating on Jess/Miguel because she’s “obviously pregnant and married” but go right around and ship Miguel with Peter B. Same with Margo/Miles because it’s a bunch of “Miles and Gwen are obviously endgame” ANDDDD???? Since when did every ship HAVE TO be canon in order to be a ship? It’s especially crazy because I BARELY EVER see those comments on Miles/(Peni, Pav, or Hobie) or have no problem with having all the boys huddled around Gwen. The double standard is glaringly obvious.
In conclusion, some of you mfs dont deserve ATSV.
everyday i wake up and think about all the parallels between miles and every other character, specifically regarding the Two Cakes. the teacher telling him he can’t have his cake and eat it too, and miles retorting with ‘not unless you bake two cakes’. gwen’s dad trying to be both a cop and a father and, after everything, choosing the latter in the end. miles getting the two cakes, trying to balance his superhero and normal life, and the cakes ending up not how he wanted at all. gwen trying to be both a daughter and a spiderman and messing it up at first. pavitr having to choose between saving his girlfriend and the inspector and saying ‘i can do both’ — he can’t, but it’s miles who helps him do both. gwen wanting to keep miles safe and to make sure the canon event isn’t disrupted and saying ‘i was trying to do both’. gwen trying to do both when she hangs out with miles while looking for the spot, and spot getting away as a result. hobie doing both when he says he doesn’t believe in teams while being in a band, when he says he doesn’t believe in humor while joking around — just his whole inconsistency as a whole. peter b trying to be both on miguel’s and miles’ side at the same time. miguel and the whole multiverse trying to convince miles he can’t do both, he can’t have two cakes, and miles replying ‘i can do both’ anyways. there literally being both miles at the end of the movie. Somebody help me
claw machine ⚡️
He was a punk she did ballet: ❌
He and she are both punks and have a crush on a same art baby: ✅
Two journeys, together
they could be a dynamic duo they have the POTENTIAL!!!!!
concept: after a few meetings, miles’ dad finally realizes that spiderman is like. a kid. and not even like a college kid, an actual, legitimate, “thinks dropping his voice actually disguises it” child. after his freak out (he went up against king pin but he’s so small?? rio he said he loved me he’s a baby-) he becomes very determined To Stop Spiderman (From Hurting Himself), but since the kid’s so slippery he mostly just… dads at him from the sidelines, yells encouragements and backs him up in fights and asks him if he’s okay afterwards between lectures on vigilantism and also do your parents know where you are young man? and at some point the double parenting starts to confuse miles and he accidentally calls him dad to his face while in the spiderman suit without even noticing. but jefferson notices and is like. Ah. My Child Now. and Operation: Stop Spiderman turns into Operation: Adopt Spiderman. so anyway he’s currently trying to figure out how to ask miles if he’d be okay with having a brother and miles is currently trying to figure out how to tell his own father that he can’t actually adopt him
I obviously do not have a crush on Rio Morales
Remember, The Enemy's Gate is Down
Summary:
“All these watches, all these Spider-Men, reporting to one man. You don’t see nothin’ wrong with that? The whole point of being Spider-Man is your independence, being your own boss– this whole thing goes against that.”
OR
Hobie and Miles talk before he meets Miguel goes a little differently. A seed of doubt is planted.
Keep reading
If ur drawing the arachkids having a sleepover and they're not all squeezed into one bed like sardines ur doing it WRONG
Spider-Verse spoilers sorta
ATSV + twitter
Can I just take a moment to appreciate that Gwen went through ALL of her worst fears in Across the Spiderverse?
She was afraid of her cop dad finding out that she's spiderwoman, and her fear is (seemingly) confirmed when he tries to arrest her. She was afraid that her dad would turn on her if he knew, and that's exactly what happens.
She was afraid of going against Miguel and the Spider Society (to see and then to help Miles) because she was afraid they'd take her watch and send her home, and that's exactly what happens.
She was afraid of Miles finding out what the Spider Society was really like and how much she knew about it, because she was afraid he'd be furious and reject her, and that's exactly what happens.
Gwen spends most of ATSV terrified of opening up because she's afraid of hurting others and getting hurt again, and all of her worst fears come to life.
And yet, DESPITE ALL THAT, she refuses to give up.
And the filmmakers actually cut her some slack and give her some W's:
After her dad has had time to think about their last encounter (and had an off-screen talking-to from Hobie) he realizes he was wrong and offers her the unconditional support she needs.
After Miguel stripped her of her watch and sent her home, she finds that Hobie made her her own watch.
Miles... well, it isn't too late for her to atone and help Miles save stop Spot, save his dad, and not get dragged down by the Spider Society.
She lived through her worst fears, survived, brushed herself off, and decided that she was going to try again and wouldn't stop until she made things right.
And I love her for that.
I love the film for that.
And I can't wait to see what happens next. :D
when ao3 is back up i want all of you to leave comments on the fics you were interrupted from reading, the fics you were looking to find, the fics you were thinking about re-reading, and the fics left open in your tabs for months now.
when ao3 is back up, i want you all to show some love to your favourite writers, favourite fics, or even just the 600 word one-shot that brought a smile to your face that tuesday three weeks ago.
when ao3 is back up i want you all to remember that comments and explicitly voiced appreciation are what keep writers going.
legit as someone who works in tech i cannot IMAGINE being one of the tech volunteers for ao3 and combatting this ddos attack FOR FREE. ALL. DAY. LONG. definitely donating to ao3 this year when this is all over and the site is back up and running.
People travel to India and China to "find themselves", convert to neo-pagan religions filled with stolen deities and traditions, wave around "smudge sticks" and go on "vision quests", all in an attempt to find some sort of cultural connection and spiritual meaning in the gaping void that colonialism and white supremacy left in them.
And they always fucking fail because they're looking for meaning in other people's lives, other people's cultures, other people's heritages. They try to build connections with things that they don't understand, that hold no personal meaning to them, and it shows in how shallow their own interactions with those traditions end up being. They cover themselves in hamsas and worship Lilith and Amaterasu-Omikami in the same altar and give themselves "spirit names" and they just keep looking and they just keep taking because none of it feels right and none of it fulfills them the way they desperately want.
And I feel bad for them because it does fucking suck to feel that way and to feel so incomplete, but it's hard to hold onto that sympathy when they just keep approaching things with the same colonalist entitlement and ignorance and they refuse to understand that that is part of the problem.
"all men are evil" is radfem/terf rhetoric, but clarifying "all cis men" because you want to signal that you're not transphobic doesn't work because it's still deeply rooted in radfem beliefs. It's saying you believe there's something inherently evil in being born/assigned "male", and you carry it over in how you treat ppl who transition in or out of that gender. "All cis men are evil", is gender essentialist and you can't get around that.
Fucking tired of ppl who think their terf soundbites with a fresh coat of paint are sooo progressive