10 Great Movies You Didn't Know Had A Hidden Symbolic Meaning

9. Puberty - Spider-Man

Just as, on the surface, Captain America: Winter Soldier doesn't appear to be anything other than a good old comic book action movie, so too would you be forgiven for thinking that Spider-Man is only concerned with entertaining audiences with the trials and tribulations of a youthful superhero. But there are others out there who interpret the origin story of the web-slinger in a different way.. Reading Spider-Man as a metaphor for puberty isn't too difficult when you know what symbols to look for - beyond the stick substance (no need to elaborate what that stands for, surely) there's Parker's first love with Mary Jane and the growth of mysterious hairs on his body. As he comes to terms with his new powers, Parker's confidence levels increase just as his muscles develop, and his powers - read as a metaphor for his burgeoning adulthood - allow him to overcome the new challenges faced in the adult world. Of course, if you're looking for a comic book character who embodies sexual urges of a far darker kind - and without the albeit limited subtlety of Spider-Man - you couldn't do any worse than Ichi the Killer, a character who takes the notion of sexual repression and subsequent transgression to great heights.