Honestly can’t tell what is and isn’t a joke on this site anymore. But if you aren’t kidding, the only reason nonstraight people try to straight pass is so they don’t end up being a victim of homophobia or get hate crimed. Why would a straight person need to come off as nonstraight? It’s the same reason POC have to code switch when working or talking to those in positions of power.
I think with Illyana it may be more complicated than a queer person trying to pass as straight; in the most literal terms that’s just one component of a powerful sorceress who barely sees herself as human at all (or is at least convinced that everyone who loves her is severely overestimating her humanity), performatively trying to pass as a ‘normal girl’. This is another example of how everyone brings something of themselves to the stories, but it reminds me of myself, in that, I’ve had cerebral palsy all my life and I remember so much of my childhood/teenhood being consumed with self consciously trying to project to my peers how ‘normal’ I was, which I never thought of in terms of being closeted, but it wasn’t until much later that I began to grasp the insidious extent to which heteronormativity was wrapped up in my concept of being a real human at all. (*I should say that this awful standard applied only to myself. I had queer friends and of course they were real, I just knew that secretly I wasn't.)
I’m not at all suggesting Illyana’s story is a 1:1 parallel to that, but the fact that she has this side of herself that she’s trying to hold back for fear of damaging the more comfortable concept her friends and family have of her, it’s easy to understand how she resonates so strongly with notions of queerness or being closeted, or plenty of other things individual readers bring with them. That’s the beauty of these stories — since mutants aren’t real and growing up in a literal hell dimension isn’t possible, the emotional framework comes from our own human experiences. Now, I’m not arguing that these characters shouldn’t ever also be made explicitly queer, because that is powerful in its own way, and I don’t think that specificity sacrifices any of the universality of the fantasy’s metaphorical potential.
I also see an (arguably) lighter side to those earlier depictions of Illyana. All of the romantic feelings or attractions that every other New Mutant spends so much time handwringing about (especially Rahne), mortified that everyone will be able to tell that they’re doing it wrong, are just so far from anything Illyana could imagine worrying about, I think she has some fun showing the others how easy it is. It’s the contrast present in my avatar, even! (They’re reacting to Warlock and Impossible Man taking the form of speedo-clad bodybuilders flexing on the beach.)
Last edited by TOTALITY; 09-30-2019 at 12:54 PM.
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New Mutants Annual #3, 1987.
ETA: What he said! XD