Time to Lay the Man to Rest: On Gender, Trauma and Father Figure in Spider-Verse

Abstract

‘Being Spider-Man is sacrifice.’ said Miguel O’Hara in the latest Spider-Man movie Across the Spider-Verse. As the theme of trauma and loss was revealed in this Spider-Verse film, the film has also brought up the pattern that was shown in every Spider character’s story arc across the spider-verse: they all have to go through certain trauma to become independent beings and discover their nature as a ‘hero’. In the original Spider-Man story, it is through the death of his uncle Ben that Peter Parker discovers that “with great power comes great responsibility.” In the spider-verse narratives, it is revealed that all variants of Spider-Man have a similar traumatic moment of origin. The pattern that through every trauma there will be character growth, however, is problematic when applied to the female characters in the Spider-Verse story. Although they do go through traumatic events, their voices echo the sounds of patriarchal ideology ---- Instead of following their own pathway of character development often substituting their own desires in order to repeat the pattern of the classic Peter Parker storyline; supplanting their own values ideas, beliefs and identities and replicating a spider-man made ideological trope. Moreover, these Spider-women are often operating in the shadow of patriarchy, with no strong female role models to guide them into an alternative way of being. In the 2014 Amazing Spiderman#08, Mayday Parker, daughter of Peter Parker forcefully goes through the trauma of the death of her father. Similarly in Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy faced the trauma of the death of Peter Parker. But both of their development was influenced by society and father figures, which lead their development to an unsatisfying result ---- the repeat of Peter Parker. This paper will begin with the use of Helvie's trauma theory to examine the pattern of the classic Peter Parker storyline, followed by the close focus on female characters (Mayday Parker, Gwen Stacy) in the Spider-Verse comic line, and to see how they will eventually become the vessel that withholds nothing but patriarchal ideology under the influence of father figures.