The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
X-Man Mutant as Metaphor
oilgun:
--- Quote from: milomorris on August 21, 2013, 06:52:27 pm ---But there is no content in any of the films to suggest that the all of the mutants are sexual minorities. As a matter of fact, in at least one of the movies (I cannot remember which) there is a bit of a romance between Wolverine and on of the female mutants at the Institute.
There are some X-men mutants who are written as sexual minorities, but not all of them are.
--- End quote ---
met•a•phor (ˈmɛt əˌfɔr, -fər)
n.
1. the application of a word or phrase to an object or concept it does not literally denote, suggesting comparison to that object or concept, as in "A mighty fortress is our God."
2. something used or regarded as being used to represent something else; symbol:
x-man:
Thank you, Oilcan for posting the dictionary definition of "metaphor." It made my point exactly. I am not suggesting that individual x-characters are gay, but that the phenomenon of being a mutant is like/analogous to/a metaphor for, the phenomenon of being gay.
Like the various <x-man gay> sites you find on the web, I am further suggesting that this is quite deliberate on the part of the screenwriters, the director, and probably everyone else connected to the project. No, Serious Crayons, I don't think someone tried to slip it in without anyone noticing. The director of the first two films is Brian Singer, openly gay. He would stay on in the series as producer and in other roles, and again to direct in a later X-Man film.
Would I have seen this if I had not been forewarned by QasF? I think so. In the first film, X-Men, I could not have put the opening scenes of the Nazi concentration camp into context until later, but it is in the very language of the screenplay besides the plot line and bits of cinematic business that show off the mutant-as-gay theme. This has to be seen in the context of the films--quoting them here would take them out of context and it would not be as obvious as in the films themselves. I will give one example, however. In a later X-Men film a mutant is coming out to his friends. Someone says, "Why didn't you tell us before?" He replies, "You didn't ask; I didn't tell."
Lastly, straight reviews of the films (google <x-men> without "gay") recognize the films as being about minority groups in general under pressure, but then conclude that the metaphor doesn't really work. Gay-site reviews conclude that the metaphor works very well--only if you make it mutant as gay.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: x-man on August 22, 2013, 07:32:01 am ---Thank you, Oilcan for posting the dictionary definition of "metaphor." It made my point exactly. I am not suggesting that individual x-characters are gay, but that the phenomenon of being a mutant is like/analogous to/a metaphor for, the phenomenon of being gay.
Like the various <x-man gay> sites you find on the web, I am further suggesting that this is quite deliberate on the part of the screenwriters, the director, and probably everyone else connected to the project. No, Serious Crayons, I don't think someone tried to slip it in without anyone noticing. The director of the first two films is Brian Singer, openly gay. He would stay on in the series as producer and in other roles, and again to direct in a later X-Man film.
Would I have seen this if I had not been forewarned by QasF? I think so. In the first film, X-Men, I could not have put the opening scenes of the Nazi concentration camp into context until later, but it is in the very language of the screenplay besides the plot line and bits of cinematic business that show off the mutant-as-gay theme. This has to be seen in the context of the films--quoting them here would take them out of context and it would not be as obvious as in the films themselves. I will give one example, however. In a later X-Men film a mutant is coming out to his friends. Someone says, "Why didn't you tell us before?" He replies, "You didn't ask; I didn't tell."
Lastly, straight reviews of the films (google <x-men> without "gay") recognize the films as being about minority groups in general under pressure, but then conclude that the metaphor doesn't really work. Gay-site reviews conclude that the metaphor works very well--only if you make it mutant as gay.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for that explanation, x-man. That's interesting, and, given that background information, convincing.
As a straight person watching the one film (though obviously far from an X-Men X-pert), I thought it was a metaphor for any outsiderish person. But it's true that it doesn't really work with other major outsiderish groups. Members of ethnic minority groups are generally not different from their family members, so they don't feel as isolated (I do know adoptees of different races from their parents who have reported feeling that way, but that's a rarer situation). People with disabilities are different from their families but are, by definition, usually less powerful than the population in general, not more so. (I saw the one where the kid tried to cut off his wings and thought, Why would you do that? Wings would be awesome!) So that leaves gay people who, though they don't have superpowers, are at least not inherently disadvantaged relative to the rest of the population (just disadvantaged by homophobic social structures and attitudes).
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on August 22, 2013, 10:00:22 am ---So that leaves gay people who, though they don't have superpowers,
--- End quote ---
We don't need them. We're f-a-a-a-a-bulous!
;D ;)
Luvlylittlewing:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on August 22, 2013, 01:30:01 pm ---We don't need them. We're f-a-a-a-a-bulous!
;D ;)
--- End quote ---
:D
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