The Core of Hip-Hop: Hip-Hop Influence in Miles Morales' Narratives

• In Event: Revolution Along the Margins: Exploring Speculative Counter-Story Through Hip-Hop and Comic Books

Abstract

This article utilizes hip hop lyrics from "Annihilate" by Metro Boomin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne & Offset as a conceptual framework to analyze the animated feature film "Across the Spider-Verse" and "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" (2011) #1-12. Analysis focuses on the ontological and epistemological discourses about the possibilities for black individuals' lives and the fate of the world. Furthermore, stories about Miles Morales as Spiderman provide a lens through which we view how black and brown children challenge our perceptions about the limits of saving the world in everyday life.

In "Across the Spider-Verse," Peter Parker and his variants epitomize those unable to imagine a Spider-Man straying from a "canon" narrative where the world's fate hinges on Spiderman's personal loss. Analogously, in "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" (2011) #1-12 we see Miles consistently having to choose between who he is expected to be and who he makes himself to be. The Spiderverse seems to crumble if this Miles fails to live through specific personal experiences. The world's fate seems tied to his suffering, emphasizing the power of canon events that serve as links binding our lives.

But what happens when Miles' connection to the Spider-Verse is not just a mere replication, but a distinct association that he creates on his own? In the movie, "Across the Spider-Verse" Miles is blamed but Miles perceives the situation differently, offering a novel perspective that is ultimately dismissed.

Much like this scenario, hip hop represents a divergent worldview. Many fear that society would unravel if it were structured according to the vision articulated through hip hop. Hip hop’s audaciousness and willingness to challenge the normative structures are beautifully mirrored and explored in "Across the Spider-Verse” and Mile Morales comic book stories.

I use multi-modal media analysis (Halverson, 2010) to analyze how this character serves as a specific example of how filmic texts and comic book stories can be analyzed as multimodal representations of the human/self that disrupts the construction of the aforementioned limiting normative models of human being (subjectivities) represented by specific characters in Across the Spiderverse in the comic book series.

Ultimately, this article describes how hip hop and comics intersect at the center of stories about Miles Morales’ as Spiderman as forms of audacious acts of world-building beyond the hero narratives where Black pain, suffering, death are required for heroic character development. Hip hop music and Miles Morale’s stories play off one another to challenges us to contemplate the audacity of imagining life beyond narratives of suffering. The article concludes with connections between the exploration of ontological/epistemological themes presented in hip hop music as well stories about Miles Morales and black and brown youth in real life who imagine new ways of being in the world that challenge our perception and go unrecognized.

458 words

Author

• Sarah Ishmael, University of Wisconsin - Madison