Another reason (among very, very many) that Spiderverse is so special to me is the very real relationships between parent and child.
Gonna focus on Miles + Jeff here, their relationship is so dear to me because it's so, so real. Jeff wants the absolute best for Miles, he wants to see him grow and thrive and reach his potential, because he knows he's special, smart and such a good kid. He's so desperate to have Miles grow up to be the best he can be, and as a sister with a p big age gap to my younger brother, it's just so real. That push for them to succeed, because you know, you're sure, more sure than you have been and ever will be with anything else, that they can. They have every ability to be the best.
And the pitfall of this, that Jeff, that parents, that older siblings, so often fall into is that you know that they can be anything they wanted to be, and sometimes who they want to be is not what you know they can be. And it's not disappointment, not really, not when you could never truly be disappointed, but at the same time it's impossible to let go of that desperation to give them everything they need to be the best they can. You'll do everything in your power to remove any obstacles they could face, you remember what struggles you faced and hope to God, do anything you can, to make sure they never face the same things, you guide them, support them, try hide them from the shitty ways you've been treated, hide them from the shitty side of the world. But 'best' isn't a metric anybody can live by, and the bad of the world isn't something you can wash away from sheer force of will, so you try to prepare them for this, try to give every ounce of strength you have in your body in the hopes that they'll be strong enough to not just survive, but thrive. (And deep down you have no doubt that they'll manage, but it hurts either way that there's no way to hide them from this).
This is what Jeff's character means. Means trying and trying and getting into disagreements with Miles over this. You watch in real time as he comes to understand that, for a child, this sheer defensiveness and these hopes and dreams can be stifling.
Sometimes love is in the letting go, even when every cell in your body doesn't want to, even when you only want the best, because a child needs to be free to thrive. Even if it hurts.
Jeff is so dear to me, having been a Miles, and in learning what it's like to be a Jeff.
