Damnit, did I miss the active part of this conversation?
It seemed like Highroller was saying "There are a handful of mutants that are dangerous...so all of them are."
Sure Apocalypse was dangerous, but since being enrolled in school he's really calmed down. But what about a mutant who's mutation is having 6 feet of extra skin? How is he a threat to humanity?
The main value of the X-men universe was the catalyst of these discussions via storytelling. Mundanes (non-mutants) could have a mutant child. Not all expressions of the X factor were "desirable", "controllable" or "powerful". In the lore of the series, certain implications were made about mutant powers influencing major events in human history. Some mutants do have world breaking power, and those mutants in the story lines are always the ones the morally responsible agents have to stop otherwise everyone loses.
Mutant segregation (Genosha) and the overtones of exclusion. The obvious fear of new and unknown is an easy jump when you throw mutant in there like X-men does.
Well, I agree with the OP to a point: the "mutants as a metaphor" has gotten a little out of hand (have you tried NOT being a mutant?!?) but, the metaphor still stands.
If I may quote Cool Runnings: "We're different. they are afraid of what's different."
That concept has been part of Human story telling for generations (obligatory muscular pose and hair curl), and is one of the best facets we have to tell stories, because it is part of the human condition.
The issue comes in when the metaphor gets too heavy-handed. (I'm looking at you, X-2.) If you try to shove the metaphor down people's throats, your less likely to get an "oh, wow, that is so deep!" and more of an "ALRIGHT! WE GET IT!"
It seemed like Highroller was saying "There are a handful of mutants that are dangerous...so all of them are."
The point was that real minorities aren't dangerous - no more than straight white folks, anyway. There may be only a handful of mutants who can blow up the world with their minds, but that's still a hell of a lot more than the zero gay guys who can do that. Which makes the metaphor extremely dubious.
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candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
The story setups about the overreactions about people who are actually dangerous can help to show that overreactions to people that are not dangerous are ridiculous. In a way, the Mutants are an example of a "what if" where all of that fear mongering about the dangers of gay people was, in some way, true. If in these stories it doesn't make sense to the reader that this paranoia is valid even when the danger is true, then what sense would it make sense to the reader in the real world where gay people cannot, in fact, bring down the house with their eye lazers and must merely bring down the house with sweet dance moves.
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It seemed like Highroller was saying "There are a handful of mutants that are dangerous...so all of them are."
Sure Apocalypse was dangerous, but since being enrolled in school he's really calmed down. But what about a mutant who's mutation is having 6 feet of extra skin? How is he a threat to humanity?
Control is the ultimate expression of power.
Mutant segregation (Genosha) and the overtones of exclusion. The obvious fear of new and unknown is an easy jump when you throw mutant in there like X-men does.
Big Thanks to Xeno for sig art <3.
If I may quote Cool Runnings: "We're different. they are afraid of what's different."
That concept has been part of Human story telling for generations (obligatory muscular pose and hair curl), and is one of the best facets we have to tell stories, because it is part of the human condition.
The issue comes in when the metaphor gets too heavy-handed. (I'm looking at you, X-2.) If you try to shove the metaphor down people's throats, your less likely to get an "oh, wow, that is so deep!" and more of an "ALRIGHT! WE GET IT!"
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
The story setups about the overreactions about people who are actually dangerous can help to show that overreactions to people that are not dangerous are ridiculous. In a way, the Mutants are an example of a "what if" where all of that fear mongering about the dangers of gay people was, in some way, true. If in these stories it doesn't make sense to the reader that this paranoia is valid even when the danger is true, then what sense would it make sense to the reader in the real world where gay people cannot, in fact, bring down the house with their eye lazers and must merely bring down the house with sweet dance moves.