X-Men And The Exploration Of LGBT And Racial Minority Struggles
The creation of the X-Men is grounded in metaphors relating to the oppression and hatred that racial and LGBT minorities have faced in society throughout history. The âmutantâ metaphor has stood in for both and is the key element that all the characters share and is what defines them as âdifferentâ. The comics have always explored the struggles these groups have faced on both a personal and societal level, whether it be mutants coming out and accepting who they are and trying to fit in within society, or the pure hatred that they face on a daily basis for something that is out of their control from a much larger ânormalâ part of society. Many have drawn the parallels between these struggles and the struggles of real life groups such as gays and lesbians âcoming outâ and the oppression and segregation of blacks in America. Many also draw parallels between the two main characters, Professor X and magneto, and the two prominent civil rights advocates during the 1960s, Martin Luther King and Malcom X. There is a link between the characters and the real life figures in the sense that they both have similar goals but have completely polar opposite ways of achieving them, however, the X-Men characters were never intended to be directly compared in such a way. Some who have researched the topic, such as Lyubanksy a psychologist, also state that to compare a character such as Magneto to a real life figure like Malcom X is absurd and insulting as one is an extreme terrorist that advocates only violence to solve their problems, while the other is a more nuanced and complex political figure. Whatever your opinion on the parallels between the comics and real life issues, it is undeniable that the X-Men is a metaphor for the struggles of real life minorities as well as there being a link and at least a strong influence on the characters from the events of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Â Â
ReferencesÂ
Clark, P (2015) âOn Malcolm, Martin and that X-Men Analogy Thingâ, Phenderson DjèlĂ Clark, 21 February. Available at: https://pdjeliclark.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/on-malcolm-martin-and-that-x-men-analogy-thing/
Wheeler, A (2014) âFreak Like Me: Understanding The Queerness Of The X-Men [Mutant & Proud Part III]â. Available at: http://comicsalliance.com/mutant-proud-xmen-lgbt-rights-identity-queerness-transformation/













