To what extent does animation help develop the story pattern in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

The animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” demonstrates the journey of a young protagonist towards great responsibility while juggling internal and external conflicts. This film is a masterpiece of the coming-of-age story by integrating unique techniques from different mediums. The film successfully uses these techniques to display the journey of Miles Morales becoming the new Spider-man. 

In coming-of-age stories, the protagonist experiences several shifts in character. “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” borrows the onomatopoeia style of comics and incorporates it into the film. This special style only started appearing after Miles was bitten by the radioactive spider. This begins our protagonist’s journey into becoming Spider-man with a conflict. This comic-style ultimately changes the pace of the film by bringing more action and power to every interaction within the frame. Everything before this shift acts as the set up for our story and initiates the viewer into the main narratives (Bordwell 85). Miles’ world literally changes as he becomes part of the action as a new Spider-man. This fusion of fluid animation with a static comic style highlights a dramatic shift in the coming-of-age story pattern.

The frame rate of a film, especially an animation film, changes how we perceive the movements in the film. Most films are shot in 24 frames or 24 fps because it represents accurate fluid motion (Brown 8). “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” diverges from the standard 24-frame animation and brings back the classic 12 frame style in a few scenes. This style makes the characters static for two frames. This animation by twos creates a trippy and choppy movement for the characters. The animator uses this technique to exhibit the learning experience that the protagonist often experiences within a coming-of-age story. This is shown during the scene in which Peter B. Parker attempts to teach Miles while they escape from Dr. Octavius. At the start of the escape scene, the movements of Miles and Peter are out of sync. The framerate in which the two characters operate is mismatched. While Miles is in motion, Peter is static. This subtle difference between Miles and Peter shifts in sync as Miles becomes more comfortable in using his abilities. This unique way of animation directly shows the coming-of-age process within our protagonist. 

All protagonists of coming-to-age stories reach their final state after some sort of Epiphany.  Miles experiences his last transformation before the climax of the story. In “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, Miles takes a leap of faith, metaphorically and physically, to become Spider-Man. The film recreates some of the earlier scenes and contrasts them with the new Miles. The reflection of Miles’ face on the case of Spider-Man costumes now matches perfectly with the mask. Miles is now rising up the frame instead of falling. At this point, Mile is animated in 24 frames and his movement changes entirely. Aside from the frame rate, his movement becomes similar to all the other Spider-Mans. This metamorphosis of Mile in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was beautifully demonstrated visually. The use of animation transcended our protagonist into a whole other level or age.

Some of the soundtracks from the story.

Bibliography

Brown, Bill. Action! Professor Know-It-All’s Illustrated Guide to Film and Video-Making. Microcosm Publishing, Sep 2012. PDF file.

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.

“You won’t. It’s a leap of faith. That’s all it is, Miles. A leap of faith.”