Why grow up?
A good question…in fact a great question. Have you tried being an adult… it’s all just work, bills and the idea of sex (not actual sex though, that’s rare).
As much as we as a species are obsessed with maturity and the idea of being more stoic with age, there is generally a part of us that wishes to remain in our childish innocence. And this has been often reflected in popular fiction from ancient times. From the goddess of virgins, Artemis being depicted with childlike innocence to Peter Pan the boy who never grows up.
This ideology in the refusal to grow up can clearly be seen in modern fiction as well. And it’s not reflected better than in the case of your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
Spiderman is easily one of the most popular superheroes out there, to the point where even your grandma knows who this wall crawler is. So one must ask why a character based off a spider, a generally disliked or feared creature gets so popular.
And the answer is being relatable. But a very specific type of relatable, the awkward nervous relatable nature of being a teenager.
The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Despite man literally being in his name, Spiderman in his most popular depictions is always seen as a teen. This is in all honesty rare when it comes to superheroes.
The idea of a superhero is always that of larger than life characters, and are often depicted as accomplished men and women in their own right before they became heroes. Batman and Ironman were already billionaires. Black widow was a super spy and the Hulk was the best scientist in his field. But the one thing they all have in common is this: they are all adults.
Then we have Peter Parker, in stark contrast his story starts when he’s still a teenager going through puberty who gets bitten by a radioactive spider, on a school trip no less.
Unless he’s played by Toby Maguire, in which case he looks like a grown man who was held back in high school for ten years
And this is where relatability comes into play. You at a given time were or possibly still are a teenager. And it’s also very likely that you at some point of time went to a high school. This near universal feeling of dealing with puberty, the stresses of high school and finding ones identity is mirrored well in Spiderman.
See what makes Spidy stand out from the rest is not honestly his power set. There are much better sets of powers out there than doing whatever it is that a spider can. But what makes him unique is that he is a superhero standing toe to toe with the big boys, while still managing to do his math homework on the side.
This in turn makes him a very natural…
Spiderman, More like Spider-underdog
Peter Parker at his core is a person who has to take on the adult responsibilities of a man, while still in school.
An adult man heavily involved in the mob that is
What this does is make him a natural underdog in most situations. Even though he has super-strength and web shooters we know that when he is up against adversity, behind his mask he is still an unsure teenager being asked to take the adult responsibilities of the world on his shoulders. A super hero world no less with mad people dressed like rhinos and metal tentacle monster.
We as humans also have a natural tendency to root for the underdog. There is something cathartic about someone facing great adversity and coming out on top. The reason most sports movies have the down on their luck smaller team win against the team of rich snobbish bullies is because we as a species also enjoy people being down a peg, even though it’s not very realistic. In the real world usually the teams with the better funding wins, the obscenely rich often get away with some horrendous things.
Even in movies the 4th sequel to an over milked franchise often does better a new well put together movie made with love and passion. But we as a species still like to hope that the underdogs prevail. That thought process is mirrored in the character of Spiderman, a down on his luck teenager with a heart of gold and a difficult home life.
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