When Ned’s lola said her lines, I translated them word-for-word to my friend. And since it wasn’t subtitled, I can imagine the rest of the audience were scratching their heads. I saw the film at a media screening, and in Hong Kong, there are only a handful of journalists, reporters or writers who are Filipino so I was fairly certain that I was one of the few, if not, the only Filipino in the entire screening who understood the dialogue. The conversation felt like Ned’s lola was talking directly to me.

The use of language wasn’t the only part of the scene that resonated with me as a Filipino. The film could have portrayed Ned’s mother or father, but instead, it was his lola. That felt very close to home because I was raised by my lola. In fact, I never saw my parents until I was about six years old. I only knew them through pictures and stories that my late lola told me. I was known to my relatives as the lola’s girl so the scene reminded me of her and made me miss her more. The fact that there’s bread on the dining table which MJ later throws at Garfield’s Spider-Man is a reminder of a Filipino home. The bread looks very similar to a pandesal, a bread that’s a staple in a Filipino breakfast and one that my lola and I often eat together.

When Maguire’s Spider-Man appears, he exchanges cobwebs with Garfield’s Spider-Man, making a mess of the room. This doesn’t escape Ned’s lola’s eyes and she scolds the two for it, asking them to clean it up. She then says she wants the house to be clean. What followed, earned another cheer from me because Garfield’s Spider-Man says, “Oh, sorry, lola” mimicking what Ned calls her. Can you believe it? Andrew Garfield said lola?

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Filipinos can relate to Ned’s lola wanting the house to be kept clean. And being scolded for making a mess of it. The way Garfield’s Spider-Man and Maguire’s Spider-Man exchanged looks while being told off by lola reminds Filipinos when they’re being scolded for the same reason. Home is a sacred place, it’s where friends and family gather, and so having a tidy home is important. When I was young, my lola spoiled me––she didn’t ask me to clean the house, instead I was told to keep my things tidy. She would say that a tidy house makes you happier and feel more pleasant. When I was a little older, I’d visit her at her home and she would ask me to tidy or clean the areas that she couldn’t reach, much like Ned’s lola, asking Garfield’s Spider-Man to clean the cobwebs because she can’t reach them. At the end of the scene, when she said she’s taking off for the night, it also reminded me of my lola valuing sleep, not because she’s no fun but because rest is important. In the end, it felt like she was saying, “I’ll leave you kids alone!”

The scene is also especially important because Jacob Batalon, who plays Ned, had a hand in it. In our interview with Batalon, he recalls director Jon Watts asking him for his input, as a Filipino American actor himself, and it made him “feel seen” as much as the Filipinos watching it. “I’m so happy that people get to see a bit of themselves in this movie in particular because it’s such a huge deal. I’m very proud of Pinoy culture,” he says.

Batalon also mentioned that Watts “really [wanted to] represent Filipino culture” and so seems to have launched a casting call for lola’s role in early January 2021. Applicants weren’t required to have acting experience but should be Filipino or Filipino American, within 50–90 years old, speak fluent English and be available for filming. In short, you just have to be a lola. Mary Rivera who was eventually cast into the role certainly embodied a Filipino grandma. She even wears a duster, a typical dress lolas and sometimes, Filipino mothers wear at home—certainly not what a typical Hollywood grandmother looks like.

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As a Filipino born, raised and living in Hong Kong, I know a thing or two about the need to feel and be seen. In Hong Kong media, Filipinos or, in general, ethnic minorities are underrepresented. Many of us grew up not seeing people who looked like us on local TV or movies, so we longed for it. But things are slowly changing, for instance, Crisel Consunji starred in the movie, Still Human and earned her a Best New Performer award at the Hong Kong Film Awards—the first Filipino actress to ever receive one. There’s also Bipin Karma, the first Nepali actor to land a leading role in a Hong Kong movie for Hand Rolled Cigarette.

For so many of us, we’ve grown up watching superhero movies. Today, these superhero movies or to be more specific, Marvel movies are being watched by millions of people around the world, regardless of age and nationality. Spider-Man: No Way Home has earned US$1.5 billion worldwide, was the highest-grossing movie of 2021 and the eighth highest-grossing movie of all time––despite being released during the pandemic. This is why it matters so much to me that the movie made a leap in celebrating and representing Filipino culture. It opens the doors for many more to come and it reflects a small portion of the reality we live in. I’m smiling at the thought of my young nephews and nieces feeling a little less invisible, and instead represented and seen.

The unsubtitled dialogue might put off many but it represented the reality. They’re in Ned’s house, a character who’s Filipino, her grandmother is Filipino and the movie is set in Queens, which has the largest concentration of Filipinos within New York City. In a way, it’s a reflection of the life that Ned is living and it being unsubtitled means that it didn’t need to be explained because it just is.

While some Filipinos also commented on the slowness of Rivera’s Tagalog delivery which may have felt unnatural, for me, it was an excuse to hear the lines longer. And because it wasn’t subtitled, it’s clear who the audience is for the dialogue—it was for Filipinos to feel and be seen.

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