The Great Responsibility: Being A Role Model
Amid bigotry from creatives on the upcoming fan film 'Spider-Man: Lotus', I look back on what director Matt Reeves told me about my autism.
When I visited Virginia Tech last April, it was almost two months since The Batman director Matt Reeves changed my life — no, I’m not hyperbolizing. During those two months, I was still experiencing ableism at my previous college (I will attend Tech this upcoming academic year).
I went to Tech’s Services for Students with Disabilities office for a meeting with one of their disability advisors. During the meeting, my mother told me to tell the advisor about my Matt Reeves notice. By that point, I had a script: “I wrote an article about how the director of the new Batman movie helped me with my disability, and the director himself tweeted about it.”
For the first time, I was met with a reaction that was more than, Wow, The Batman director noticed you! The advisor reacted with the vibe of Wow, you told your story and it paid off! What happened was so much more than my favorite celebrity noticing me. My inspiration, my reason for rapidly changing my life like Felicity Porter to achieve the goal of working at his production company, told me my autism was valid. There was nothing wrong with it. It’s very beautiful.
I want the film industry to be filled with compassion — the same compassion Matt showed me that very day. Yet, like Felicity Porter, that vision is idealistic.
The racism, ableism, and homophobia perpetrated by the cast and crew of the Marvel fan film Spider-Man: Lotus reflects that. Despite the project being a fan film, it generated overwhelming hype within the comic-book community. Jon Watts and Andrew Garfield knew about its existence.
A few months after Matt displayed compassion towards me and my autism, Instagram messages surfaced showing the director of this fan film — among other instances of bigotry — use the r-slur. It is only the tip of the iceberg in an upsetting saga. Marginalized people like me of all backgrounds saw firsthand the bigotry that is still rampant in the comic-book community.
I want role models to look up to during our most vulnerable times. I want people to be like Matt Reeves — someone who understands his position and the impact he can have on fans.
Whether it is the people behind big-budget superhero tentpoles or the people behind independent films, we need actors and directors who are aware of their influence. Actions and words have an impact. Words were what led me to write an article about Matt Reeves — his words.
It was only a day ago when I barely knew about this fan film’s existence. In a just world, it would have stayed that way. Maybe one day, I will find the compassion and empathy Matt gave me again. Until then, I’ll stay in my little house, waiting for another neighbor to join our cul-de-sac.