You Don’t Need a Film Degree to Analyze Film: Teaching Visual Literacy through Spider-Verse
Teach film analysis without a film degree! Use Into the Spider-Verse to build students’ visual literacy, critical thinking, and ELA writing skills.
Introduction: Film Analysis Isn’t Just for Film Majors
When I first started teaching film studies to high school students, most of them needed significant scaffolding to begin noticing the cinematic details within the films we watched. But something changed after COVID—something I think a lot of educators have noticed. After spending so much time on screens, my students came back with more developed visual instincts. They didn’t need to be taught what visual storytelling was—they were living it.
That shift reaffirmed something I’ve long believed: analyzing film is not just for those with advanced degrees. In fact, teaching students to closely read visual media is one of the most relevant and powerful ways to build analytical thinking, inference, and descriptive writing skills in an English classroom.
Why Visual Literacy Belongs in ELA
We live in a world inundated by visual information—YouTube, TikTok, streaming services, memes, even Zoom. Teaching students how to decode visual texts isn't an "extra" skill—it's literacy. And it aligns beautifully with the standards we’re already responsible for: citing evidence, interpreting tone and mood, analyzing character relationships, understanding symbolism, and writing clearly about complex ideas.
A Closer Look: Into the Spider-Verse
Let’s break down a single frame from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to show just how accessible this kind of analysis can be.
Even if you’ve never seen the film, what do you notice?
Even without seeing the movie - what do you see in the still image?
You see a young teenager sitting in the back seat of a car, and a buff, muscular man with glasses in a police officer uniform sitting in the front seat, driving.
If you keep looking and thinking about the details, you'll notice the partition, or cage, in the center of the frame. This detail is different from a cab window, where a cab driver might slide a partition shade open/closed. In a police cruiser, this isn't a window, but a cage. So, this combined with the officer's uniform suggests they're in a police car.
If you know nothing else about this moment, say I ask you, "what's Miles' relationship like with his dad?" - what can you tell me based on what you can see?
They both look concerned, or at least not at ease. Dad's got his body turned towards his son, but they're separated by the partition. There is a cage between them. Miles seems to be facing forward, not shifted towards his dad. He also looks so small in comparison to his father.
Combine these details with the subtitle illustrating that they're "not having this conversation," it sounds like a parent telling their child "end of conversation," the channels of communication are not flowing.
Then if I ask you, what do you see that VISUALIZES their DISTANCE...
You might clarify:
- They're on opposite sides of the frame.
- They're separated in the car.
- Miles seems to be in the light, while his dad seems to be in the dark.
- There's a cage dividing them.
- They are not talking freely.
That's it. You've just analyzed the shot, or at least conducted one analysis of it.
ELA Skills in Action
Even without seeing the full film, a student looking closely at this frame can:
- Practice descriptive writing
- Use evidence to support inferences
- Articulate character dynamics and mood
- Engage in compare/contrast exercises
- Analyze structure and composition like a close reading of a poem
Want to go further? Ask students to compare this frame with another from later in the film. Or have them write a short piece explaining how this moment reflects a theme of isolation or miscommunication. The possibilities are endless.
Film Analysis is for Everyone
If students can be taught to read books closely, they can be taught to read films closely too. And if you’re an ELA teacher looking for a creative and engaging way to get your students thinking critically and writing analytically, film can be your secret weapon.
Want ready-to-go materials to help students dive into Spider-Verse this summer? Check out my 🎒 Spiderverse Summer Survival Pack — designed to build real ELA skills through film.
