Not-so-subtle themes in the original X-Men films

[sdegutis]

A few months ago my wife and I started watching all the Marvel movies (and some DC ones) every few days, partially for entertainment but also to analyze the movies and think about their deeper themes.

This past few weeks we watched the original X-Men trilogy, with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

But, even though I saw these movies back when I was a (non-Christian) teenager, I was taken by surprise to realize that they contain extremely overt pro-homosexuality and pro-feminism themes!

In particular, there was one scene in the second movie where Bobby/Iceman, “comes out” to his parents in his living room. And his mother, who was visibly upset, says “have you tried not being a mutant”? Also they had a “mutant cure” that could make you “normal” and many said they don’t need to be cured, like homosexuals.

There’s also the whole Phoenix theme which is a very obvious feminist theme. The Professor was very afraid of what her raw personality could do, with its pure passion and rage and intensity and limitless power. So he wrapped her mind in barriers to keep it locked up, so that only the more docile and peaceful personality would be conscious. And in the second film, you could see she was becoming visibly agitated at being “locked up” in this “cage”, having fits of kinetic energy for no other apparent reason. But when she finally “died”, she then “rose again” as the darker side (which presumably kept her alive and protected her). And this new personality was indignant at the idea of being calm, peaceful, restrained, having self-control, or anything we would even remotely consider a virtue. She was visibly upset at the mention of her being “controlled” by men like Professor X or Magneto.

Honestly, I’m quite offended at these movies. I’m really not sure I would want to show them to my children when they’re older and more mature. Having been an impressionable youth myself, I’m pretty sure these films were instrumental in my going from being indifferent to issues like homosexuality and feminism, to becoming a supporter of them (before I was Christian).

And, of course, there’s all the violence and constant killing of people (even by good-guys!) without even blinking an eye. That’s awful too, but not surprising in a comic book movie.

 

[jc4751]

Comics have long been a source of morally problematic material. The problem with this sort of thing is that it enshrines the mockery of God’s plan, that is through sin, in what is a popular and easily accessible form of media. If someone wanted to sit down and write a lengthy treatise on why homosexual activity is equivalent to heterosexual activity, it would not gain much exposure or readership. On the other hand, if the same message is encoded within a movie or comic book, then it’s going to reach a wide audience.

Truthfully, I don’t think the people who write these things really understand the gravity of what they’re doing, both for themselves, and others. Most of them fall prey to the facile argument of “everyone’s the same, deep down” or “love is love,” and other things which don’t stand up to a rigorous examination. The problem, of course, is that rigorous examination is sorely lacking in most peoples’ lives these days, even many Catholics.

As for what you choose to show your kids, I think we really are reaching a point where the secular society is becoming so debased and depraved that there is increasingly less and less that we can choose to “consume.” We shouldn’t ignore these completely, as we want to be able to connect with people in terms of evangelization, but that we also don’t feel comfortable in letting our children watch them. I tend to look at it this way – are they out anything for not watching films like this? Is there a single facet of their lives which will be enriched by this? Do I want to spend any of their eighteen or so formative years at home watching morally problematic material?

 

[Joe_5859]

I refuse to read X-Men as somehow being some prop-homosexuality parable. Sure, one could read those themes into it. But it is far from necessary to do so.

Not everything has to be viewed through that lens.

 

[sdegutis]

I refuse to read X-Men as somehow being some prop-homosexuality parable. Sure, one could read those themes into it. But it is far from necessary to do so.

Not everything has to be viewed through that lens.

It’s one thing to try to look for a theme in a movie just for its own sake, which I think you’re suggesting we did. But I’m almost certain these themes were intended by the screenplay writers and directors.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

I don’t see anything wrong with equality between the sexes. That’s kinda the definition of feminism: the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Equality is much better than chauvinism which is the excessive or prejudiced loyalty or support for one’s own cause, group, or gender.

 

[phil19034]

I do not believe the X-Men movies are pushing a pro-homosexual or pro-extreme feminist platform.

The arc storylines from the comics have been around long before either of these movements became extreme.

ANY story where a child is hiding something from his/her parents that is against the parent’s wishes will follow the “coming out” theme.

For example: let’s say that Bobby was a “closet” Catholic while is parents were Protestant, Jewish or Muslim. Bobby attends Mass in secret and then one day, with the help of his friends confronts his parents and they disown him.

This was actually a subplot in the movie “God’s Not Dead.” I Muslim girl would be dropped off at college by her Father each day, wearing her head covering. When her dad would drive off, she would remove it and go to class. In between classes, she would often visit the campus Episcopal Church and she would also listen to an audio Bible on her smart phone.

Her brother caught her listening to the Bible and told their father. He confronted her, she proclaimed that Jesus was her Lord and Savior… the dad slap her and tossed her out of the house.

Does that coming out story line sound like it’s pro-homosexual?

When Hollywood want a pro-homosexual, they will usually come out and say it. For example, when people thought Dumbledore might be gay in the Harry Potter series, the author publicly admitted that the character was gay. On the flipside, in the cartoon “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” people have tried to say that the character “Rainbow Dash” who is a female, tomboyish, athletic pony with rainbow colored hair is gay; the creators have publicly declared that the character is NOT gay. Some people tried to say the same thing about Frozen, that it was pushing a gay theme. It was/is not.

Hollywood is usually not shy when they want to promote gay rights or anti-Church ideas. Usually plots are pretty one dimensional, especially in mainstream blockbuster movies.

Now: if you want to say the XMen series is filled with serious anti-heroes and want to avoid showing your kids due to the violence and killing; by all means do so. But to claim that they are pro-gay or pro-extreme feminism is a huge stretch. The Phoenix story isn’t about feminism. The Phoenix character is just simply insane.

 

[Joe_5859]

I do not believe the X-Men movies are pushing a pro-homosexual or pro-extreme feminist platform.

The arc storylines from the comics have been around long before either of these movements became extreme.

ANY story where a child is hiding something from his/her parents that is against the parent’s wishes will follow the “coming out” theme.

For example: let’s say that Bobby was a “closet” Catholic while is parents were Protestant, Jewish or Muslim. Bobby attends Mass in secret and then one day, with the help of his friends confronts his parents and they disown him.

This was actually a subplot in the movie “God’s Not Dead.” I Muslim girl would be dropped off at college by her Father each day, wearing her head covering. When her dad would drive off, she would remove it and go to class. In between classes, she would often visit the campus Episcopal Church and she would also listen to an audio Bible on her smart phone.

Her brother caught her listening to the Bible and told their father. He confronted her, she proclaimed that Jesus was her Lord and Savior… the dad slap her and tossed her out of the house.

Does that coming out story line sound like it’s pro-homosexual?

When Hollywood want a pro-homosexual, they will usually come out and say it. For example, when people thought Dumbledore might be gay in the Harry Potter series, the author publicly admitted that the character was gay. On the flipside, in the cartoon “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” people have tried to say that the character “Rainbow Dash” who is a female, tomboyish, athletic pony with rainbow colored hair is gay; the creators have publicly declared that the character is NOT gay. Some people tried to say the same thing about Frozen, that it was pushing a gay theme. It was/is not.

Hollywood is usually not shy when they want to promote gay rights or anti-Church ideas. Usually plots are pretty one dimensional, especially in mainstream blockbuster movies.

Now: if you want to say the XMen series is filled with serious anti-heroes and want to avoid showing your kids due to the violence and killing; by all means do so. But to claim that they are pro-gay or pro-extreme feminism is a huge stretch. The Phoenix story isn’t about feminism. The Phoenix character is just simply insane.

 

[MrZoom]

To the OP; I think you may be reading more into the X-Men films than is actually there. Granted, the director of the first two movies (and the most recent one, “Days of Future Past”), Bryan Singer, is openly gay; so the “could you try not being a mutant” line in X2 may well have been intentional. But Catholic critic Steven D. Greydanus, in his review of that film back in 2003, noted that line was an “isolated” incident in the movie. On the whole, he gave it a positive review: decentfilms.com/reviews/xmen2

Oddly, the most explicit “gay” theme in the X-Men films is probably the “cure” storyline in the third film, “X-Men: The Last Stand”, directed by Brett Ratner, who as far as I know is not gay. (In fact, he got in hot water a few years later for using the word “fag”.) “The Last Stand” is also generally regarded, by fans, as one of the weakest films in the X-Men series.

And getting back to “X2” for a moment, there is also a Catholic character in that film – the mutant Nightcrawler. Granted, he attacks the president in the opening; but he’s being mind-controlled then. Later, the X-Men find him hiding in an old church; and even later on, after joining the X-Men, he’s seen praying the Rosary in German.

 

[Joe_5859]

When we take a step back, themes about “coming out” and being who we are can be good things. If we get all offended by it, we are admitting that homosexual activists have a monopoly on that theme. I don’t think we should do that. There’s no reason to.

Otherwise, what? We should only uphold as good stories in which characters successfully hide who they really are? Or perhaps stories where a character completely changes their personality to fit in with expectations that others have of them?

 

[MrZoom]

When we take a step back, themes about “coming out” and being who we are can be good things. If we get all offended by it, we are admitting that homosexual activists have a monopoly on that theme. I don’t think we should do that. There’s no reason to.

Otherwise, what? We should only uphold as good stories in which characters successfully hide who they really are? Or perhaps stories where a character completely changes their personality to fit in with expectations that others have of them?

I think you make a good point, Joe. How many of us Catholics live our life of faith “in the closet”? I know I’m guilty of that sometimes myself.

 

[ToeInTheWater]

When we take a step back, themes about “coming out” and being who we are can be good things. If we get all offended by it, we are admitting that homosexual activists have a monopoly on that theme. I don’t think we should do that. There’s no reason to.

Otherwise, what? We should only uphold as good stories in which characters successfully hide who they really are? Or perhaps stories where a character completely changes their personality to fit in with expectations that others have of them?

I agree with Joe 100%. Now, one COULD take a very extremely conservative view that children should see parents as absolute authorities to be obeyed without question, and any stories where children are seen as justified for keeping secrets from, or rebelling against parents at all, are suspect, but if that’s the case, a lot of movies aimed at kids should be taken off the menu, too. Including the Little Mermaid, which Michael Medved actually DID critique for showing Ariel’s rebellion as justified by having her father, Triton, eventually granting her wish to become human. Gee, I could even claim that since Ariel also gets her wish to marry the Prince who is a different species from her, that the story is helping to normalize homosexuality in some way.

That being said, I do suspect the dialogue between Bobby and his mother in X2 WAS meant to ridicule people who are ignorant enough to ask “Have you ever tried not being gay”. (And I do think such a mentality IS ridiculous; I am NOT speaking of being sexually active, and I have not been convinced that homosexuality is genetic or inborn, but it does not appear to be a consciously chosen orientation.) I suppose some of the excesses of General Stryker, who tries so hard to “cure” his son from his mutant powers that he turns him into a respirator-dependent, mentally impaired shell of himself, could have been meant to represent parents who pursue “reparative” therapy.

However, although such themes in X2 may have been intentional, as is the X3 “cure” storyline, it seems the later works really stepped away from it. I don’t think the mutants are meant to represent homosexuals specifically, though they are certainly meant to represent “oppressed minorities” in general. They also really highlight the fact that Magneto is a Holocaust survivor. (And yes, Kurt/Nightwalker’s devotion to Christianity is treated fairly respectfully, also in the larger universe, I think it’s important that he is shown as a decent man despite being the son of two of the “evil” mutants.)

I also doubt the Phoenix storyline was meant to be a “feminist” one, this is a classic story arc from the comics and I also saw the Saturday morning cartoon version of it. At least in that version, the Phoenix Entity is essentially an alien who possesses Jean Grey’s body, but is completely separate from Jean herself. I saw the Phoenix as outraged that puny humans were trying to control “her” (don’t even know if the Phoenix HAS a gender the way corporal beings would), not that these humans happened to be male.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

When we take a step back, themes about “coming out” and being who we are can be good things. If we get all offended by it, we are admitting that homosexual activists have a monopoly on that theme. I don’t think we should do that. There’s no reason to.

I think this whole mess is also a hallmark of Christianity’s greatest failure. I’m not gay but I can certainly relate to any mutant when it comes to being at odds with a greater society and even with my own religion. But if you think treating me like a monster or telling me to be someone I’m not is going to ‘cure’ me then you’re only going to get what you’ve given.

Given my long time on these boards, statements like the OP’s really confirm my fears about this Church. The very existence of these opinions make me wonder what kind of turmoil will rise up should some of us do manage to discover access to extraordinary abilities.

I wouldn’t be surprised if an old lady would start throwing holy water in my face just because I figured out a way to hypnotize people via mere touch/glance.

 

[Kamaduck]

I thought this was common knowledge, actually. The original X-men comics were an allegory for racism, and when the franchise was updated for the movies, the metaphor was updated, too. Mutants = LGBT people. That’s why their powers often manifest at puberty, why mutant children can be born to non-mutant parents, why they have the metaphor-laden “coming out” scenes, etc.

I haven’t even seen the movies, so it’s not like I can debate this, but I’ve seen the themes discussed enough places that I assumed it was intentional. I mean, the TV Tropes article named after that line (“Have you tried not being a mutant?”) is an article about metaphors for homosexuality in fiction. I just kind of assumed that the theme was rather transparent, since there seems to be a lot of consensus on it.

Like I said, I don’t know. I’ve just never heard anyone object to the mutants = LGBT reading until now.

 

[phil19034]

I thought this was common knowledge, actually. The original X-men comics were an allegory for racism, and when the franchise was updated for the movies, the metaphor was updated, too. Mutants = LGBT people. That’s why their powers often manifest at puberty, why mutant children can be born to non-mutant parents, why they have the metaphor-laden “coming out” scenes, etc.

I haven’t even seen the movies, so it’s not like I can debate this, but I’ve seen the themes discussed enough places that I assumed it was intentional. I mean, the TV Tropes article named after that line (“Have you tried not being a mutant?”) is an article about metaphors for homosexuality in fiction. I just kind of assumed that the theme was rather transparent, since there seems to be a lot of consensus on it.

Like I said, I don’t know. I’ve just never heard anyone object to the mutants = LGBT reading until now.

I think the allegory was updated in the movies for simply being different. An allegory for ALL prejudices. Different sexual preference, different religion, different race, different political views, different economic backgrounds, different academic abilities, etc. Bobby may have had that experience with his parents, but Magneto’s Nazi holocaust survivor background is huge though out the movies

The different political views manifests itself because, after all, the mutants spend more time physically fighting each other.

The children of the XMEN attend a “gifted” school after all. How many times are children teased because they are either smarter or less educated than the average students. They are either seen as nerds, geeks or dumb, stupid, etc.

 

[Thinking10]

I have only seen about 5 minutes of an X-Men film, when one was on TV. The pro-homosexuality themes, and the film’s use of mutants as stand ins for homosexuals that the OP mentioned were obvious.

 

[Thinking10]

I think the allegory was updated in the movies for simply being different. An allegory for ALL prejudices. Different sexual preference, different religion, different race, different political views, different economic backgrounds, different academic abilities, etc. Bobby may have had that experience with his parents, but Magneto’s Nazi holocaust survivor background is huge though out the movies

The equality movements are rooted in Communism, and were started by Communists to undermine Western Civilization. They may sound good, but with some digging and looking into matters more deeply, the dangers of all these movements to our civilization become more apparent. It is possible that the West may cease to exist within a few decades because of these movements. Promotion of these movements is an example of subversion of our culture by Hollywood.

Edit: I am not saying that people should be treated badly. What I am saying is that to a destroy a culture, a nation, a people, you don’t have to annihilate them with powerful weapons.

To destroy our civilization, our nation, our religion, our culture, our history and everything that defines us as a people, you have to do one thing.

You have to make that which you seek to destroy indistinguishable from everything around it.

Destroy a people? Mix them with other peoples and make those peoples equal.

Destroy a nation? Import many people from another nation, and say that they are no different from the natives of their new home.

Destroy a religion? Make an area that has historically been populated by members of one religion, a multi-religious area, and make all religions equal to each other.

Destroy a culture? Make a monocultural area into a multicultural area, and make all the cultures equal to each other.

There is a line from a cartoon, The Incredibles, that summarizes this thinking very accurately. “When everyone is super, no one will be.”

 

[Scottgun]

Comics, like Science Fiction are becoming more and more Politically Correct ghettos.

James Bowman did a good article on this: jamesbowman.net/articleDetail.asp?pubID=1915

That’s rather how I feel when I hear my fellow conservatives commending such childish drivel as Iron Man or the new Indiana Jones movie in the belief — as I perhaps unworthily suspect — that this will make them sound cool, and hip and smart, the kind of sophisticated critics (for such they now seem to us) who can spot aesthetic merit in the very places where those already blessed with the fame and the money that comes with popular success would have wished them to find it. Well, doubtless I am blind to it myself, but such people should know that their opinions ally them to one of the most favored projects of the cultural left, which is to incorporate the heroic tale of the breaking down of distinctions between “high” and merely popular culture into a larger, triumphalist narrative of liberation from the moral and aesthetic constraints imposed by the panjandrums of high culture prior to the 1960s. The reception of the comic book and rock’n’roll into the artistic pantheon is another of the victories of the revolution of the 1960s.

That is the view of David Hajdu’s The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. Mr Hajdu attempts to fasten on to cultural reactionaries like me the stigma of McCarthyism on the grounds that, in the early 1950s, Congressional hearings were being held both on the hidden Communist influence in America and on the hidden dangers of comic books — and, of course, the progressive assumption that both these dangers were ridiculously overstated. I suppose there can be hardly any point in my mentioning that, if you doubt the hidden dangers of comic books, you only have to look at the movie business today, with its merely fantastical Iron Men and Indiana Joneses, compared with what it was in the 1950s when prophets like Frederic Wertham (The Seduction of the Innocent) were warning of the moral and social breakdown that the unchecked proliferation of comic books would produce. Mr Hajdu can’t see it of course, but you’d think that the odd conservative somewhere might still be sufficiently unalarmed by the stigma of cultural snobbery to say that the old boy was right.

 

[Kamaduck]

The equality movements are rooted in Communism, and were started by Communists to undermine Western Civilization. They may sound good, but with some digging and looking into matters more deeply, the dangers of all these movements to our civilization become more apparent. It is possible that the West may cease to exist within a few decades because of these movements. Promotion of these movements is an example of subversion of our culture by Hollywood.

Wait, you’re against all equality movements? You don’t think we should stand up to racism, or call out religious intolerance, or combat the stigma on mental illness? Or, heck, stand up when people with SSA are targeted by hatred? Why not?

 

[Scottgun]

Wait, you’re against all equality movements? You don’t think we should stand up to racism, or call out religious intolerance, or combat the stigma on mental illness? Or, heck, stand up when people with SSA are targeted by hatred? Why not?

Real virtues are hard to get and cultivate. Anti-racism/sexism/homophobia by contrast are cheap, ersatz virtues. All it really takes is smugness and a big mouth. Most people, even Thinking 10 I dare say, would be appalled by an actual overt racist/sexist/homo-bashing act, but the so-called “equality movements” are not really about that.

 

[Thinking10]

Wait, you’re against all equality movements? You don’t think we should stand up to racism, or call out religious intolerance, or combat the stigma on mental illness? Or, heck, stand up when people with SSA are targeted by hatred? Why not?

I see the fight against racism to be one sided. It seems acceptable to bash and criticize white people these days, and off limits to criticize non whites. I haven’t seen an end to racial conflict cause by the civil rights movements. Only a reversal of which race is acceptable to mistreat.

Look at the example of President Obama’s comments on Trayvon Martin, Attorney General Eric Holder’s comments on Ferguson Missouri, or the political divide between races. There is no racial harmony, and I am not convinced that there will ever be. There has only been a power shift, but not an end in division.

Being a supporter of racial equality doesn’t sound like a solution to ending conflict. Even today, long after the civil rights movement, people self segregate.

Show just one example of a nation that has achieved equality and unity of all races. Even in the bible, in stories of the early Christians, there were ethnic divisions amongst those Christians, and example being the Jewish and Hellenic Christians. In Revelation, many races and people are spoken of, not “one race, the human race.”