Do you think the mutants in X-Men are a parallel to LGBT people ?

ewan whose army

I read an article with Sir Ian McKellen who plays Magnetto (probably the most famous LGBT celeb in the UK) and his close friend Patrick Stewart (aka Xavier) comment that the story of the mutants on the sidelines trying to win acceptance from society (who have elements that want them exterminated, or in the 3rd one trying to force a cure onto this mutant kid, and that dude with the angel wings he tries to hack off) ..

What do you think about it?

J_E

I suppose there are some parallels. I know some gay guys that could practically rip you apart with their stares!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I quote Ice-man's Mom:

"Bobby, have you ever tired... not being a mutant?"!

DazMarz

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

I quote Ice-man's Mom:

"Bobby, have you ever tired... not being a mutant?"!

Apparently, for that scene, Sir Ian McKellan gave the actors pointers on how to make it more like a "coming-out" scene.

The parallels between mutants and other persecuted groups could be made with any, however. Not just specifically gay people

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Oh, absolutely.

But it's more about being in an ostrasized group and not fitting into the "accepted norm", whatever the hell that may be. A similar parallel could be made to Magneto being Jewish in Nazi Germany.

baby and crumble

It's a theory that has been going around for a long time. Like Princess said, it can really be a parallel for many groups, not just LGBTQ.

The various reactions to mutants in the series, ranging from simply not 'getting' it, to working with eugenics to 'breed out' the mutations to mass genocide... it parallels the reactions to most minority groups within history. All fiction comes from place of fact, even if it seems ridiculous.

The struggle for acceptance is definitely something that resonates but the analogy falls down in one important area; we don't have superpowers.

If I was a mutant in the X-Men universe I would definitely align with Magneto rather than Prof. X. If people wanna hold backward homophobic views in their personal lives then that's their business but if you're in a position of power and responsible for propagating institutional homophobia then we would have a problem. I mean, I'm a pacifist and don't believe in violence.....but if I had the power to help eliminate Vladimir Putin or the leaders of Uganda.....well I wouldn't say no.

Bazinga_N

I had like a huge X-Men marathon last weekend and I swear I just noticed the parallelism to the LGBT community, the entire way through the movies. Like the above poster said, when Bobby told his parent's he was a mutant, that was a huge resemblance to coming out.

Or in X-Men: The Last Stand, with the young boy with wings. He desperately tried to change himself for his father's approval. When his father discovered he was a mutant he said something like 'Oh not you too' - to be fair this is ridiculously similar as to coming out to a homophobic father. His father then spent the next few years attempting to create a 'cure' for mutation - which we all know is something many anti-homosexual patrons believe is possible for homosexuality. And at the end of the film Magneto (who was 'cured' of his mutation) was shown to be able to slightly move the chess piece which sort of indicated that his powers were coming back, meaning the cure didn't 'cure' anything, only temporally paralysed his mutation - is this almost saying that any 'cure' for homosexuality might make it seem like it may be cured, but deep down it's always there and will come back inevitably as it's part of you.

Daith

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

I quote Ice-man's Mom:

"Bobby, have you ever tired... not being a mutant?"!

Buffy

Joyce: I-I mean, have you tried *not* being a Slayer?

Joyce: I have tried to march in the "Slayer Pride" parade

floggg

This was a fairly well known analogy. The writers of the comics were pretty clear that it was about racial and LGBT discrimination from the get go.

The director of the films, Bryan Singer, is also on record as saying that the similarity between mutants and gay people is what attracted him to the story in the first place.

Ash885

I remember basing my secondary school project on this very thing; nice to know I wasn't just spouting out of my arse! I think there's similarities of course. It would be pretty hard not to have some connection to what Cyclops and the gang had to put up with!

Comics in general try their best to reflect aspects of the human condition - human politics - human failings - and much more. Usually with an undercurrent of the hero of any particular comic succumbing to and then exceeding that condition or limitation.

So - that you can find parallels to any human issue - most especially that of discrimination to a minority group - in comic books is no surprise at all.

Reading too much - or even too little - into that overlap however would likely be to both miss the point of - and over indulge in - the comic book fantasy you are currently watching/reading.

McKrab

For me, the biggest parallel with gay rights/acceptance is that most of the mutants are basically driven out of their families.

It's a horrible fact of homophobia compared to other forms of discrimination that a lot of the time it's the people you love most that are your strongest persecutors.