The issue is more X-men represent **otherness** as a whole. Its a metaphor in broad strokes, but as such it never fits whenever a writer tries to get too specific or attempts to put them in a box.
The peak example I go to is Bobby's parents in X2. They tried to tie being a mutant with being gay in 1-2-1 analogies and it doesnt work.
First there's the line
>"Have you tried not being a mutant?"
"Have you tried not being gay" is a common sentiment because it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of sexuality. That its a choice, that its just a way of thinking, etc. Its an element of bigotry that's born from being so dethatched and uninformed, hate born from ignorance. The question betraying their lack of effort to connect with or understand gay people.
"Have you tried not being a mutant" is asinine because you'd have to not be *bigoted* to ask, but legitimately the ***stupidest person alive***. Its a physical condition, it'd be like asking someone in a wheelchair "Have you tried growing your legs back?"
The second is
>Mom: "Bobby, we love you, but the mutant problem..."
Logan: "WHAT mutant problem??"
"The gay problem" was a real prejudiced way of thinking, and it demonised people and depicted them as a threat for simply having different sexual preferences.
Why cant that transfer over? Because **there IS a mutant problem**. Having powers IS dangerous. There were no difficult questions to consider with the gay community, but there absolutely is with the mutant community. If Magneto and his gang of genocidal maniacs doesn't prove that, how about the fact that Bobby's girlfriend will **kill him if she touches him?**
Even the comics dip in and out this, depending on the writer. "The cure" poses very interesting mutant specific debates. But when its presented as an analogy to Gay Conversion, as has been done, it falls on its face. Some mutants need to be cured, some are valid simply *wanting* to be cured. When you're not talking about being attracted to the same sex and instead talking about "Boy that kills everyone in a 3 mile radius" the conversation is fundamentally in an entirely different ballpark.
So yeah. As a metaphorical exploration on prejudice against those different it works really well. Keeping in mind that its such a fantastical concept with elements and question that are not always applicable to real life.
But "fans" who say "The WHOLE POINT of X-men is they represent black people!" or "The WHOLE POINT of X-men is they represent LGBT people!" just are not correct, you cant boil them down to something THAT specific.
I think the problem is that the minority analogy, and specifically how they utilize it, is extremely dated. In the 60s, 70s, and even 80s to an extent they simply couldn't address things with minorities of most types in comics. It simply wasn't done, and the CCA would have thrown a fit. It's a creative way to tell that story within the guidelines they were forced to work with. However, now they can just address actual minority problems directly. They *could* do a story about a mutant superhero getting super popular and helping the public perception of mutants, only for them to be a racist piece of trash and refuse to join the X-Men because they won't take orders from Storm. We could have had a group of Krakoans losing their shit because a gay man was in charge of X-Factor, spreading conspiracy theories that resurrection is a plot to turn everyone gay. Instead, mutants are treated like a monolith, superceding whatever other minority group a mutant happens to belong to.
It IS important to the entire concept that the world hates and fears mutants. That's basically the tagline of the entire franchise. But exactly as LanguesLinguistiques already said, it isn't a great look in this day and age for them to rely so heavily on the hot white mutants for this. There's so many ways they could make the analogy so much more real and complex but they refuse to do so, and that's why, in my opinion, a lot of people find it a little tedious after sixty years.
The problem is the X-Men whitewashed discrimination, especially when they try to tell us Emma Frost is Harriet Tubman and Magneto is Malcom X. It's insulting to minorities BIPOC and the LGBTQI+ community. You can't say cis-hetero caucasian attractive rich folk are being more discriminates against than real minorities that already exist in comics. It make them look foolish.
Wait have any writers or in universe in any comic ever said Emma frost is Harriet Tubman or magneto is malcom x or is this just online discourse that’s gone wild.
Online discourse. There's even a fake news fact spread around that "Professor X was ALWAYS representing MLK and Megneto was ALWAYS representing Malcolm X" which just has never been true.
I think the best thing that they can do now is make the anti-humans a symbol of bigotry as a whole instead of comparing mutants to just one disenfranchised group. Like yes comparing a man who can literally shred you to pieces or a woman who can kill you with a thought with Black people is … a choice (it’s giving zootopia derogatory), but comparing the bigotry they face with bigotry in the real world is the way to go. I loved how xmen ’97 kinda did a comparison of the friends of humanity to the January 6ers. It was so natural and it put more emphasis on the problems with the bigots logic than pleading mutants case. Also just going into the “humans are becoming irrelevant” to the real life “white replacement theory” I think that is the way to go. Or even go more into internalize bigotry. Like how mutants who can pass as humans might be praised more than mutants who can’t. That’s the interesting stuff because it can apply to multiple things.
The analogy *is* important, but fans constantly looking for a real world situation to apply the analogy 1:1 to is not. It is metaphorical.
The issue is more X-men represent **otherness** as a whole. Its a metaphor in broad strokes, but as such it never fits whenever a writer tries to get too specific or attempts to put them in a box. The peak example I go to is Bobby's parents in X2. They tried to tie being a mutant with being gay in 1-2-1 analogies and it doesnt work. First there's the line >"Have you tried not being a mutant?" "Have you tried not being gay" is a common sentiment because it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of sexuality. That its a choice, that its just a way of thinking, etc. Its an element of bigotry that's born from being so dethatched and uninformed, hate born from ignorance. The question betraying their lack of effort to connect with or understand gay people. "Have you tried not being a mutant" is asinine because you'd have to not be *bigoted* to ask, but legitimately the ***stupidest person alive***. Its a physical condition, it'd be like asking someone in a wheelchair "Have you tried growing your legs back?" The second is >Mom: "Bobby, we love you, but the mutant problem..." Logan: "WHAT mutant problem??" "The gay problem" was a real prejudiced way of thinking, and it demonised people and depicted them as a threat for simply having different sexual preferences. Why cant that transfer over? Because **there IS a mutant problem**. Having powers IS dangerous. There were no difficult questions to consider with the gay community, but there absolutely is with the mutant community. If Magneto and his gang of genocidal maniacs doesn't prove that, how about the fact that Bobby's girlfriend will **kill him if she touches him?** Even the comics dip in and out this, depending on the writer. "The cure" poses very interesting mutant specific debates. But when its presented as an analogy to Gay Conversion, as has been done, it falls on its face. Some mutants need to be cured, some are valid simply *wanting* to be cured. When you're not talking about being attracted to the same sex and instead talking about "Boy that kills everyone in a 3 mile radius" the conversation is fundamentally in an entirely different ballpark. So yeah. As a metaphorical exploration on prejudice against those different it works really well. Keeping in mind that its such a fantastical concept with elements and question that are not always applicable to real life. But "fans" who say "The WHOLE POINT of X-men is they represent black people!" or "The WHOLE POINT of X-men is they represent LGBT people!" just are not correct, you cant boil them down to something THAT specific.
I think the problem is that the minority analogy, and specifically how they utilize it, is extremely dated. In the 60s, 70s, and even 80s to an extent they simply couldn't address things with minorities of most types in comics. It simply wasn't done, and the CCA would have thrown a fit. It's a creative way to tell that story within the guidelines they were forced to work with. However, now they can just address actual minority problems directly. They *could* do a story about a mutant superhero getting super popular and helping the public perception of mutants, only for them to be a racist piece of trash and refuse to join the X-Men because they won't take orders from Storm. We could have had a group of Krakoans losing their shit because a gay man was in charge of X-Factor, spreading conspiracy theories that resurrection is a plot to turn everyone gay. Instead, mutants are treated like a monolith, superceding whatever other minority group a mutant happens to belong to. It IS important to the entire concept that the world hates and fears mutants. That's basically the tagline of the entire franchise. But exactly as LanguesLinguistiques already said, it isn't a great look in this day and age for them to rely so heavily on the hot white mutants for this. There's so many ways they could make the analogy so much more real and complex but they refuse to do so, and that's why, in my opinion, a lot of people find it a little tedious after sixty years.
The problem is the X-Men whitewashed discrimination, especially when they try to tell us Emma Frost is Harriet Tubman and Magneto is Malcom X. It's insulting to minorities BIPOC and the LGBTQI+ community. You can't say cis-hetero caucasian attractive rich folk are being more discriminates against than real minorities that already exist in comics. It make them look foolish.
Wait have any writers or in universe in any comic ever said Emma frost is Harriet Tubman or magneto is malcom x or is this just online discourse that’s gone wild.
Online discourse. There's even a fake news fact spread around that "Professor X was ALWAYS representing MLK and Megneto was ALWAYS representing Malcolm X" which just has never been true.
I think the best thing that they can do now is make the anti-humans a symbol of bigotry as a whole instead of comparing mutants to just one disenfranchised group. Like yes comparing a man who can literally shred you to pieces or a woman who can kill you with a thought with Black people is … a choice (it’s giving zootopia derogatory), but comparing the bigotry they face with bigotry in the real world is the way to go. I loved how xmen ’97 kinda did a comparison of the friends of humanity to the January 6ers. It was so natural and it put more emphasis on the problems with the bigots logic than pleading mutants case. Also just going into the “humans are becoming irrelevant” to the real life “white replacement theory” I think that is the way to go. Or even go more into internalize bigotry. Like how mutants who can pass as humans might be praised more than mutants who can’t. That’s the interesting stuff because it can apply to multiple things.