Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse trailer.

(Sony Pictures)

Miles Morales Gets Soul-Glo Treatment in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Part One)?

I'll take texturism for 100.

Alyssa Shotwell

Published: Dec 6, 2021 01:04 pm

To all the defenders: no

Some of the defense of this change comes out of a general misunderstanding about hair texture, while others are straight-up anti-Black.

For example, some say something along the lines of “he is now showering, so his hair is nicer.” No, stop it. This attitude perpetuates the racist stereotype that kinkier and tighter-textured hair is dirty. This is why 3-4 hair types (especially women and femmes—and starting from a young age) feel pressured to get our hair straightened with chemicals (Just For Me), heat, weaves, or a combination of the three.

The change in Miles Morales’ hair texture may not seem like a big deal, but it is. It reinforces antiblack narratives surrounding texturism and the idea of “bad hair” or “pelo malo” which is already deeply engraved in Puerto Rican culture. It might seem subtle but it’s NOT okay. pic.twitter.com/oPj17dEIRx

— CapriCOÑO ♑ (@tentaculous) December 5, 2021

There is no such thing as “biracial hair”

Others on the defensive point to the looser curls as a visual cue that Miles is more mixed. I use “mixed” and not “biracial” (even though some tried that) because being Puerto-Rican (his mother) or being Latinx, in general, is not a race. Latinidad is Black, white, and Indigenous heritage mixed to various degrees.

Now that Race/Ethnicity 101 is out of the way, there is no one way of looking multi-ethnic, biracial, etc.

That’s why people saying his hair texture being looser in the sequel cause he’s mixed is a reach to me … they just want him to be more palatable or it was a quick animation job to get a teaser out (hoping the latter). Either way keep the pressure so they fix it like Sonic movie

— Daric C., M.A. (He/Him/Él) (@DaricCott) December 5, 2021

Just because those with a white parent and a Black parent (like myself) get the most representation in media, it doesn’t mean all people of multiple ethnicities look like us. (And we don’t all have similar features like texture, features, and skin color!) That expectation extends to Miles, whose parentage (racially not ethnically) is vaguely similar.

WHY ARE PPL FLIPPING OUT OVER A SMALL OBSERVATION? PLUS THE “He’s half Hispanic”? Y’ALL KNOW JACK ABOUT BLACK PPL HAIR 💀

HE LOOK “HISPANIC” IN THE FIRST PICTURE, AND THE 2ND ONE KINDA LOOK THE SAME WITH THE ADDITION OF THE SWIRLY SHIT BUT YOU CAN’T SAY IT DON’T LOOK LOOSER💀🤥 https://t.co/mybxAohuP9

— Sorry if you followed for art LFMAIOASKGYJ🤷🏾‍♀️ (@NicosBigHead) December 5, 2021

This is so upsetting to me. Like very much so because there are barely any animated characters with hair like this. They literally changed his dna, for what? It’s not a little hairstyle change, it’s not even an art style change. His genes are different https://t.co/Iio8cDhObz

— Teju Abiola 👩🏾‍🎨 (@tejuabiolaart) December 5, 2021

The only excuse I’m taking at this point is that all the events and massive radiation scenes from the first movie did something to his hair. This is not a serious theory; I’m just scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point. We’re all super excited to see this movie and hope that this either gets fixed or is both explained (by official sources or in the film) and adjusted narratively. This is especially pressing because they are working on Part One and Part Two simultaneously.

(Image: Sony Pictures Animation)

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Author

Alyssa Shotwell

(she/her) Award-winning artist and writer with professional experience and education in graphic design, art history, and museum studies. She began her career in journalism in October 2017 when she joined her student newspaper as the Online Editor. This resident of the yeeHaw land spends most of her time drawing, reading and playing the same handful of video games—even as the playtime on Steam reaches the quadruple digits. Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 & Oxygen Not Included.