Is “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” woke done well?

By Katlynn Rossignol

It took the whole season, but this show won me over. What appeared at first glance as a show with meager animation grasping for ‘diversity points’ actually provides an enjoyable narrative and fantastic build-up. 

“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” is Marvel’s latest animated series, focusing on an alternate universe Spider-man. When Midtown High School is destroyed in battle, a What-If series of events has Peter Parker switch schools and never meet the iconic cast of supporting characters we’re familiar with, such as MJ, Liv, Flash Thompson or Ned Leeds. 

Instead of Iron Man’s recruitment as seen in “Captain America: Civil War,” Peter is approached by Norman Osborn, who offers him an internship with Oscorp. Spider-man must sort through friends and foes to become the hero New York City needs. 

While some Spider-man shows focus on Peter Parker’s high school dynamics, his superhero work, love life or a little bit of all of it, Marvel’s latest version chooses to spend most of its runtime introducing an unfamiliar cast of supporting characters for an MCU-adjacent Spider-man. And it certainly takes its time. The first two episodes are dedicated to these introductions, leaving little action or conflict to keep the viewer’s attention. 

The series has a slow start with its pacing. Unlike previous Spider-man shows, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” isn’t restricted to the episodic style of writing required for TV. Instead of each episode having a self-contained plot, battle and inciting incident for the bigger story, Disney+ streaming lets the series function as a narrative spanning the whole season. The show’s plot doesn’t start until episode three. 

What was lost in the Saturday-morning cartoon model of animation applies to the show’s tone and style of writing. While the writing is excellent, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” has some not-so-friendly language, violence and subject matter. Episodes no longer have to be watched independently of each other, so there are plenty of slower episodes to flesh out the many characters. The show doesn’t have to constantly appeal to young attention spans with perpetual quips or fast action. Instead, it slows the plot to delve deeper into character development, leaving more time for ruthless villains and thoughtful world-building.

The art style and designs of the show are based on the old-school comic style with bold black outlines and comic panel frames. The character designs are memorable and unique, but the models suffer in motion. Unlike the animators for “Into the Spider-Verse,” who included the animation frame rate and movement in their consideration of the story and style, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” feels stilted. 

Character movement is stiff and has a low frame rate, with no smear frames to smooth out the motions. The stiff motion combined with the minimal shading on models adds up to a cheap-looking show. 

Where the 3-D animation pays off is in the camera movement. Reminiscent of the 80s’ Spider-man TV series, this show relies on 3-D models to show Spider-man swinging through the skyscrapers of New York City. The camera has free movement to follow Spider-man at any angle during battles, making for some dynamic long shots.

A topic on everyone’s minds on the release of this show was whether it would be ‘woke’ or if it would be a good story, as suggested by Spider-man’s voice actor, Hudson Thames. 

The answer is yes. The writers definitely decided to highlight or switch the race, gender and sexualities of popular characters. The show doesn’t hide this in its marketing, and I came in with the expectation of a poorly written story, pandering representation and cliche lessons. 

I was pleasantly surprised that the story effectively uses its slow approach to character building to tell a good story. Representation doesn’t feel pandering because the characters have depth and motivation, regardless of or directly impacted by their identities. The story is about Peter Parker finding his way as Spider-man, how his friends are affected by his double life and the damage of villains wreaking havoc. 

Yes, unnecessary changes to characters’ identities are made. Some characters are outspoken about their beliefs (looking at you, Nico), but these features are woven into their core beliefs and challenged on their journeys. We’ll see if the writers can continue retaining the quality of writing in the already greenlit season two. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of storytelling and character building of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man.” While it isn’t perfect and borders on preachy, the show doesn’t play the victim of politics; instead, it embraces the opportunities that identity changes provide. The biggest hurdle the show faces is its animation style. Disney would never approve of such a dramatic change, but a mid-series increase in the animation’s frame rate might draw in viewers who were put off by the show’s poor quality of movement.

I would recommend “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” to fans of superheroes, teen animated shows and Spider-man. 

“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man” is available streaming on Disney +

Katlynn Rossignol is a junior Strategic Communications Major and A&E assistant editor for Cedars. She loves arts and crafts, spending time with friends and watching superhero movies.  

Images courtesy of Marvel Entertainment