Teach Motifs with the Spider-Verse Score

A 20-minute activity to introduce and reinforce the meaning and purpose of motifs.

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Welcome to the Plug & Play section of Desk Notes! Every week you’ll receive an ELA/creative writing activity that I’ve had success with in my classroom.

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TLDR: Pairing a YouTube video with a micro story can help introduce students to the idea, subtlety, and efficacy of motifs.

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Playing a YouTube video about the Spider-Verse is a near-guaranteed way of capturing any teenager’s attention.

Whenever I want to introduce or reinforce the value of “motifs” this is my go-to plan.

The Plan

Overview:

1. Briefly define motifs.

2. Watch the YouTube video.

3. Debrief the video.

4. Practice with a short story.

5. Ideas for extending the activity.

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Define Motifs

Possible Scripting—

“I’m going to give you a simple definition for a motif. There are two parts. Number one: it’s something that repeats. Number two: it builds the theme. That’s it. Pretty simple. If it repeats and builds the theme, it’s a motif.”

(I usually write the two elements on the board.)

“To help you see what I mean, we’re going to watch a video about Into the Spider-Verse.”

Play YouTube Video

Before playing the video, tell your students to pay attention to the distinct emotions/ideas connected with the different motifs. (The video discusses three motifs.)

(If you don’t have time to watch the full video in your class, you could get away with watching from 1:52-7:19. This will still give enough of an explanation of the motifs.)

Debrief the Video

Write the three different motifs on the board, and have students share the emotions/ideas that each motif represents and builds.

Motifs:

1. Hip-hop = Miles just being a kid in Brooklyn. The sound of his known world/reality.

2. The Journey Motif = Miles facing struggles, fears, and obstacles while journeying to become Spider-Man.

3. The Spider Motif = Represents characters in control of their spider-powers. The world/reality that is initially unknown to Miles.

Possible Scripting—

“By playing the same melody over moments of similar emotional trajectory, the score builds the theme of the movie (i.e. destiny, identity, growth). The score then becomes more intricate by weaving together multiple motifs in places where their emotional trajectories combine. All of this subtle repetition helps the viewer experience the emotions and themes of the movie. When Miles overcomes the obstacles withholding him from harnessing his powers, when he finally is Spider-Man, we hear all three motifs playing together. We have a kid from Brooklyn (motif 1) who has journeyed and struggled (motif 2) to become Spider-Man (motif 3).”

Practice with a Short Story

I read aloud a piece of flash fiction from David Hayden called “Zero” to help students see motifs operating in a text.

(The story is sombre, so it may not be a good fit for everyone. If you find other pieces of micro fiction that make great use of motifs, let me know. I’d love to add them to my options.)

After I read the story for the class, students partner up and try to figure out what might be motifs in this story by figuring out what things repeat. They then determine if those repeating elements are developing any themes/emotions/ideas.

You could either gather their responses and evaluate them later, or have students share their thoughts for the whole class.

Explain what you notice about the motifs in the story. (Check the footnote for my observations.¹

Ideas for Extending the Activity

1. I do this mini-lesson when my students are studying a novel of their choice. This helps them as they practice noticing deeper meaning in the texts they read.

2. Give students a story prompt by only giving them a motif to write off of. (e.g. “You must write any story where you use the motif of a clock to build meaning.”)

3. Medium comparison. Have students consider how different media would allow for different motifs to be shown (video/painting/poetry/sculpture/text/sound).

4. Personal reflection writing. We tend to make meaning of our lives by crafting a narrative of who we’ve been/what we’ve done. Students could reflect on their own life narratives and consider if there are any repeating motifs they tend to tell in their story.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear from you if you use this activity or any adaptations of it in your class! If you find something that makes it better, let us know in the comments.

Cheers,

Brandon Merrill

1. “Zero” by David Hayden

My observations:

1. Motif of mathematical language—the repetition of mathematical language/ideas represents control and comprehensibility which contrasts the complexity and messiness of Jimmy’s family/home life.

2. Motif of the word “zero”—the most obvious and specific use of mathematical language, building the emotion/idea that Jimmy wants his problems to disappear.

3. Motif of sentence length/form—long sentences in the story are often describing complicated things while the short sentences/fragments describe simple/controllable things.