X-Men Evolution vs. X-Men: School bullying instead of genocide
It seems to me that the creators of the series made a wise choice in removing Kurt's past as a circus attraction: they brought the protagonists' questions back to something very concrete, something that children and teenagers unfortunately experience every day: the issue of discrimination in children's and teenagers' societies.
Kurt is terrified that someone will discover his true appearance, Toad copes as best he can, Kitty is locked in her own locker by a pair of mean girls, Fred has no self-confidence, Pietro hides his inferiority complex, Evan is ready to fight the moment someone gives him a dirty look, Rogue dresses goth and isolates herself, Scott tries to hide his glasses by driving a sports car, Jean is betrayed by her best friend before falling abruptly from her queen bee pedestal, Tabitha lost it a long time ago, David belongs in a mental institution, Wanda gets out, and Lance makes do with what life throws his way, dishing out slaps or sweet nothings as the situation arises.
A roster of kids fairly representative of today's society who compensate for their unease with youthful optimism—these are the heroes of the series.
X-Men Evolution has the merit of highlighting the fact that, from elementary school to high school, kids are subject to brutal segregation. Their criteria for ostracism, however absurd, cause as much damage in their playground micro-society as in the darkest totalitarian regimes in history. No need to be sold as a freak to a circus, or burned at the stake: children have their own pillories, verbal or virtual, which many adults, for their own reasons, systematically downplay: "It's childish, it's not serious!" When a kid ends up committing suicide, we look away, we search for causes other than social ostracism and school bullying. X-Men fans often despise X-Men: Evolution, perhaps because the ordinary problems highlighted in the series aren't enough for them—I'm tempted to say, paraphrasing Jean Anouilh—they need a confrontation with fate and death. So, school bullying or social ostracism? No, that's not enough. They absolutely must have their genocide and apartheid, a cascade of tragedies, a wedding, and four funerals. And when everyone dies, they're resurrected, they're cloned…yeah, right.
In X-Men: Evolution, the plots are domestic tragedies of parents who die, divorce, and abandon their children. Stories of children bullied for not conforming to physical standards, of homeless people living in sewers, of kids living in slums, of school dropouts, of girls who are abused, manipulated, exploited…
Yes, evil is infuriatingly commonplace. We need to be aware of it. We also need to be able to take a step back from certain situations, and that's what makes X-Men: Evolution an educational series, because it addresses both the parents' and children's perspectives, inviting everyone to take the time to ask themselves: how did we get here, exactly? What can I do to prevent this situation from happening again with the next generation?
In this sitcom, scorned by purists, everything can be interpreted metaphorically: a group of lost and battered kids are taken in by a disabled man who has managed to find within himself the resources necessary to overcome the deluge of daily violence. Logan teaches them martial arts, Ororo provides mental coaching to boost their self-confidence, Charles teaches them self-control, and Hank pampers them every day.
This is the desperately banal story told by X-Men: Evolution. It's educational and comforting, so it's categorized as a cartoon for children who are still learning to read and write. Yet, it's a distillation of the most tragic situations that modern society is capable of categorizing.
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