Why Do We Like X-Men?, Part 3

Reason #3: The Choice

At the heart of the X-Men mythology, is a deep conflict: We are different, so what do we do about that?

There are several options: embrace it as you would any part of your being, hide the secret, try to change, etc. These are the same options we have.

The storyline of X-Men, for better or for worse, tends to favor that first option. Mutants go to Professor X’s institute to learn to manage and control that part of their life rather than forsaking it, and each of them handles it in the way he or she feels best, at times reverting to the other options.

One thing that made the X-Men stand out from other heroes like Spiderman or Batman (and leave it to a gay man to make this observation) has to do with their costumes. The majority of the X-Men don’t conceal their identities with masks.

This detail suggests that the X-Men don’t divide their lives quite like other superheroes. Since their powers are part of their identity down to their very genetics, a mask becomes a symbol of fear and shame for one’s identity—the very antithesis of what the X-Men stand for.

That brings us back to the other options, to hide and to cure. Hiding is an option that almost becomes second nature the nature of difference, from our youth, often dictates that if we stand out in any way, we will become an object of ridicule, especially in the case of differing sexualities.

This sense of shame can easily escalate into a desire to be cured and become ‘normal,’ conforming to the ideals of society. In the case of our LDS culture, it is to marry in the temple, have children, etc. As sexual difference directly conflicts with this ideal, the obvious solution to this conflict is a cure.

In the comics as well as the third film, a cure for the mutant gene becomes a reality (within the fiction), and some of them do indeed choose a ‘normal’ non-mutant life while others have it forced upon them.

A cure to homosexuality is a complicated and touchy subject—one which raises many questions. Mister Curie posed several in his latest comment:

…How many gay mormons would try to be cured if it were possible (how many try to be cured now even though there isn't much evidence for Evergreen and other approaches being very effective)?... Is there a cure in Christ through the atonement, or does there even need to be a cure?...

Personally, the idea of taking a piece of my life that suddenly made everything else make sense upon realization and purposefully changing it, by nature, seems destructive. I don’t think that everyone should hold the same views that I do, but I would be hiding if I didn’t say that I am thankful for my friends, my experiences, my growth, my identity as a Gay Mormon Boy.

For these reasons, I tend to identify with Angel who lets his wings grow back and, rejecting the cure his father provides, flies away embracing his wings.

End of series.

Why Do We Like X-Men?, Part 2

Reason #2: The Films’ expansion of These Themes

As Mister Curie and boskers pointed out in their comments on the last post, the homosexual overtones in the movie are much more apparent than in the comic books or the cartoons.  This might make more sense taking into consideration the fact that Bryan Singer (below), director and writer of the first two movies, is gay and Jewish. 

 

In a BBC interview he stated that, as a member of minorities,  he connected with the stories of X-Men and X2 because of “everything from the [coming out] scene with Bobby Drake and his family, to Wolverine's journey to uncover his past.”  These connections led the director to focus on minority issues in the films.

MSNBC Film Critic John Hartl’s article “The ‘X-Men’ come out” shows just how these parallels and those presented in Part 1 are especially evident in the film series.  Hartl provides us a very similar arc to one which we are familiar with, focusing on 3 particular characters (Iceman, Jean Grey, and Angel).  Coming out, if you will, is a process, a story, a narrative.  It is a conflict and resolution of identity within a social sphere.  For the mutants in the X-Men Trilogy, a lot of the situations and questions mimic those that many of us encounter as homosexuals.

“Have you tried not being a mutant?” Iceman’s mother asks like a mother might ask her gay son, “Have you ever tried liking girls?”  Both seem preposterous in their own spheres because neither is really a lifestyle choice.

A more intense scene along the same lines passes in the The Last Stand between Angel and his father.   Upset with his own  identity as a mutant, he attempts to hack off his own wings as his disapproving father finds out he is one of the mutants his father despises so much.

So, tied up in these identities are the negative connotations of homosexuality and mutantdom, and we face psychological turmoil as a result.  For example, mutants and homosexuals have a bad reputation for damage caused by their powers and promiscuity, respectively.  So what are we to do?  Avoid and hide from a negatively-defined identity or reinvent it in a manner we deem fit?  

That’s an issue the X-Men films and comics focus on specifically. 

End, Part 2

Why Do We Like X-Men?

So far, I’ve received two suggestions to take on this subject.  I am always open to suggestions (or answering questions for that matter). 

Personally, I hadn’t made the connection between the gay community and the mutant characters of X-Men’s, but it became apparent pretty quickly as I thought it through that there is a reason this particular storyline (as opposed to other muscle-laden mythologies) has garnered such adoration in the gay community. 

But why?  Why Do We Like X-Men?

Reason #1: The X-Gene

Michael in Queer as Folk expresses a deep affinity for comic superheroes.  He makes the following connection with these super-powered heroes: “...in ways that maybe no one intended, those superheroes were a lot like me. At work they're meek, underappreciated... they're the guys that never get laid. And when they're around other people, they can never let anyone get too close for fear that their true identities will be discovered.”

At the heart of this comparison is the idea of difference.  Superheroes are different because of their powers and because of the good that they do with their powers while homosexuals are different from the norm because we don’t fall within the boundaries defined as ‘normal.’ 

What comics manage to do is glorify difference.  As superheroes use said differences for good, they justify their existence.  We assert our strength by embracing these differences and using them to the best of our abilities. 

What draws this link between us and superheroes closer is the genetic aspect of the X-Men mythology.  The X-gene holds in it the key to their difference, much as the fabled ‘gay-gene’ does for us.  This research counters the homosexuality-as-choice idea, defining one’s identity, in part, genetically.

Perhaps the most staggering similarity between homosexuality and the X-men mythology is the developmental parallel.  Super powers and other characteristics remain latent or unexpressed for years until puberty of some intense event. 

That really does parallel the experience of coming out.  Most of us have similar experiences.  Slowly our Obviously Gay Traits (OGTs) began to appear or some guy started to flirt with us and in that moment we knew just as characters began to notice little changes or major events in their own stories. 

For example, at the age of ten, Jean Grey’s powers first manifested themselves as her best friend was hit by a car.  The timing of these experiences is uncanny.  Enough so for us to connect our experiences with identifying and coping with our different sexualities with their experiences identifying differences in abilities.