Are the X-Books still reflective of the real world?

[mbeezy561]

I read the first few pages of X-men Red and I had to wonder. Are X-books still reflective of how the real world is in this day and age? I'm speaking in terms of just the blatant discrimination that occurs against mutants. In the era where we have multiple Women's Marches , pride marches Muslim protests, and the black lives matter movement it seems more or less that the majority of America would be on the side of mutants. Like I'd think the mutant discrimination the X-men would be less blantant than an angry mob with torch and pitchforks upon which a mother comes out and tries to cap her own little girl. Like I'd think if someone used the term "Mutie or freak" in the work place they'd be immediately fired. Thoughts?

[wano]

Fantastic racism, also even with all those marches you speak of there's still racism, discrimination, and... Trump won

[Silver Fang]

Fantastic racism, also even with all those marches you speak of there's still racism, discrimination, and... Trump won

This. The world isn't too much more progressive than it was 20 years ago. The fact we're still needing to have Marches and protests shows how strong discrimination still is.

[MythicalChicken]

I read the first few pages of X-men Red and I had to wonder. Are X-books still reflective of how the real world is in this day and age? I'm speaking in terms of just the blatant discrimination that occurs against mutants. In the era where we have multiple Women's Marches , pride marches Muslim protests, and the black lives matter movement it seems more or less that the majority of America would be on the side of mutants. Like I'd think the mutant discrimination the X-men would be less blantant than an angry mob with torch and pitchforks upon which a mother comes out and tries to cap her own little girl. Like I'd think if someone used the term "Mutie or freak" in the work place they'd be immediately fired. Thoughts?

It's still comics; I think a comic purely of "micro aggressions" and overcorrections without ever addressing the root causes would be rather dull. I think every time they tried it didn't pan out well. Legacy Virus is a fine comics story but wretched as a AIDS crisis metaphor. Fraction tried this a few times and as much hate as his run got when it was printed, it reads far better now than any of us gave him credit -- except for how heavy handed his minority metaphors were.

The mutant-as-minority metaphor, IMO, works best as an allegory and logical exaggeration of current events but keeps with the context of the Marvel universe.

My favorite arc, for example, is still Claremont's original Genosha storyline, clearly pulled from Apartheid but very much in keeping with the comic universe. In that specific example, making most everyone white actually improved the story rather than detract from it to make the absurdity of South Africa's behavior at the time more blatant. Also, from a comics standpoint it was Bad. Ass. from start to finish and cemented by unconditional love for Maddy Pryor.

So X:R felt like a salve on a burn and something I've needed from my X-books for some time; inspiration to deal with all we're dealing with IRL, not necessarily a play-by-play documentation of it. Those are two different things.

Besides, I'm more than half convinced the Shadow King lives inside Twitter. Life's already imitating art to the extent I personally don't need art imitating life until the culture shifts again.

[nandes]

Like I'd think the mutant discrimination the X-men would be less blantant than an angry mob with torch and pitchforks upon which a mother comes out and tries to cap her own little girl.

Well...

[xhx23x]

There's plenty of crazy ass hate out there, so yeah. I think the whole Cassanddra Nova thng is an exageration of it, sure but it seems pretty reflective if not more nowadays.

[mbeezy561]

Well...

Point taken haha. But it's still ashame you don't see more mutant support in the country, it's framed as if just about everybody hates them.

[AcesX1X]

on the contrary, i found x-men red to be very topical and attuned to current event.

violent crime against minorities has spiked across the country since donald trump was sworn into office.

[wano]

I think extremes are bad but foes like cassandra nova or the UN tend to point racism against mutants as blind irrational hate. But if we try to be realistic let's think of how many people has magneto murdered and gotten away with it, or wolverine, or fricking namor that has a huge death count but he's free because diplomatic immunity so he's pretty much a mutant with license to blatantly kill and humans are supposed to just accept mutants when the laws let some of them do a they please consequences be dammed.

Point being that there's more than one cause for people not liking mutants, and those should be explored, not just paint detractors as strawmen. I mean, I know you shouldn't blame one for the action of many but if namor sunk my country with a tsunami in the name of the X-Men I wouldn't be fond of him or mutants, and then he gets away Scot free and blatantly asks for acceptance because we're all racists... Does anyone else see were this is going?

[Wiccan]

I think the highlight of XMR #1 when it comes to this is when the guy on TV says "I'm sick of political correctness getting in the way of our safety!". That's when I felt "Yep, that's totally still a thing today" the most.

[Cloudman]

The Mutant=Minority thing doesn't work, and hasn't ever worked really. It's always been weighed down by the fact that mutants can pose a genuine danger to those around them. As wano pointed out, mutants have caused huge amounts of damage with scant repercussions.

Taylor's new mutant paradigm in X-Men Red doesn't make a whole lot of sense, as discussed in the other thread. Affording mutants a dual nationality means giving them favourable treatment over non-mutants. Bunn is a good example of a writer who doesn't pay too much heed to the Mutant=Minority idea, and he's one of the better X-writers currently working at Marvel. Writers should take the metaphor as a loose inspiration for the stories they write, rather than getting bogged down in the logistics of it.

[Cloudman]

I think the highlight of XMR #1 when it comes to this is when the guy on TV says "I'm sick of political correctness getting in the way of our safety!". That's when I felt "Yep, that's totally still a thing today" the most.

You might be inclined to agree with him if it had been someone you cared about being killed in one of the X-Men's numerous scraps.

[924COLLECTIVE]

The X-Books are more relevant now than at any point in the last 30 years,
everything comes full circle, the times change but the undercurrent remains.

[Knives]

Within the context of comics I would say that the reaction of those who hate and want to exterminate the mutant species is easy to understand. Having someone who can literally control your mind or destroy a city is something very scary and that inevitably they could one day conquer the world or replace humanity is more than enough reason for some to decide to defend genocide.

But I admit that sometimes there is an exaggeration technically considering the world today and a comparison with the marvel universe there should be more people defending mutants or the mutant species should have more strength and political representation. We are not talking about a simple minority that shares something like religion, culture or ethnicity we are talking about people with super powers. Even considering that not all mutants have combat skills yet they should be strong enough to be able to fight back.

It should not be so simple that they were dominated and massacred so easily to the point of extinction considering their current numbers or unable to force agreement with the UN.

We have countries that openly advocate genocide of mutants and that in today's times should be something impossible to be taken seriously and without retaliation from the UN.

It is clear that minorities continue to be massacred and expelled from their lands even when this happens normally the UN takes providences so that such acts do not continue or impose sanctions.

It is normal terrorist groups who preach hatred and prejudice to blow up buses or commit carnage with civilians in disputes over territory this happens every day but I can not imagine a group being chased and killed having their bodies thrown into a hole in Europe and no one will answer for it .

[AcesX1X]

You might be inclined to agree with him if it had been someone you cared about being killed in one of the X-Men's numerous scraps.

or not, if someone he cared about had been assaulted or injured for simply existing ..