The Mutant Metaphor - A Social Debate Thread

[Lip]

The X-Men are the heroes that swore to protect the world that hates and fears them. That's the essence of the X-Men. And throughout the decade we've seen them being used as a metaphor to reflect the struggle of minority groups.

I decided to create this thread to reflect on these issues and debate their meanings, their (potential) need to be updated. What topics/debates would to like to see being brought up in the movies? What do you think Marvel/Disney will avoid? Is there any moment would you like to see adapted? Anything you think aged poorly?

Anyway, I'll start with this one:

It's probably one of the most iconic ones, but also one that hits close to home. Stryker's speech is the type of speech the LGBTQIA+ community hears a lot. "It's not normal", "It's not natural", "It's an aberration". "God created humans, not mutants" type of thing. And seeing Kurt being the target for that humiliation was particularly heartbreaking.


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I remember Damon Lindelof's approach while adapting Watchmen for HBO, saying it wouldn't feel right to adapt that story referencing world leaders of the 80s. That's the approach I hope for the X-Men. It should be reflecting the world now, and topics people want to avoid now.

With that said, I think about how the Legacy Virus could grow beyond the AIDS allegory (very important by the way), to also reflect issues that came with Covid, like anti-asian hate or necropolitics. But also, how that plot can be use to potentially further explore anti-mutant hate within the MCU.

Anyway, how do you think the X-Men and their allegories will be approached in the MCU?

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I think immigrants are the biggest scapegoat who get treated like animals.

The rise of neofascism in the Western world can be directly attributed to blaming immigrants for every problem.

Xenophobia also is far reaching impacting all kinds of people with different backgrounds throughout history.

As far being gifted, Albert Einstein was an immigrant.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Or you can do the classic MLK vs Malcolm X but that was already explored in Black Panther.

 

[Marvel united]

I said it before, and I'll say it again, it's gonna have to be a modernization, through and through; a contemporary vision.

I have to imagine, that the X-Men will, in time, once again become Marvel's bastion for social justice commentary, to say the things other projects won't, and to go to the darker thematic places that other projects are unwilling to (*Cough Cap 4)-- through the use of a metaphor.

Now, obviously, the first step is the cast. This ain't 2000, or 2010 anymore. This:


(No disrespect to any of these amazingly talented actors)

-- ain't gon work, as an encompassing representation of marginalized people fighting for a world filled with hatred and fear. Not today, not tomorrow, and not in the near future.

We need to step away from the borderline appropriative aspect of these themes, and reimagine this team as something that hits a lil closer to home, to the subject matter at a hand-- so the writers aren't just mapping the struggles of marginalized communities (particularly BIPOC & LGBTQIA), onto a group of straight white characters, as the comics have done for decades.

The time for that, is over. The meat, the juice, of any modernization of the X-Men, is gonna be found within the intersections, of where text & subtext meet, and overlap. In other words, we need more Magnetos.

That's the first step, not even getting everything else, like the importance of creative team (who's *telling the story), and the presentation of certain themes and ideas. We need to move past the 1960s visage of civil rights, as the fight for equality, and social justice literature has changed.

Images like this:


-- Are important snapshots of history. But we need writers who understand how social phenomena e.g racism), has evolved since then.

'Watchmen' (2019) is a great example of how to modernize a franchise heavy on social themes. Feige needs to be taking notes.

 

[Zant]

The MCU just isnt that image above ...Its a hopeful and optimistic world with a very casual and laidback attitude to super powered beings...They have seen and experienced things so nothing seems to faze them much....

 

[Lip]

I think immigrants are the biggest scapegoat who get treated like animals.

The final season of Orange Is The New Black is focused on immigration detention center and the dehumanizing treatment of immigrants. And they handled that pretty well. The tragedy of characters like Maritza and Carla are utterly devastating. As unlikely as it is, I hope the X-Men bring some serious dramatic stakes as well. This show is an example of how to balance comedy, fun and drama.

OITNB also explored the treatment of immigrant kids, which is horrifying and heartbreaking. And although I've only seen the first few seasons of Grey's Anatomy, I've seen this scene online and it's also heartbreaking:



So, showing how kids from oppressed groups are affected is another thing I'd love to see.

Edit:

Found it. I'm well aware of the odds of Marvel taking a dark route like this. But still, showing how kids are affected would be very important.