So much in the narrative of the X-Men cinematic universe makes sense if you understand mutation not as gayness but as queerness, and Charles Xavier’s assimilationist philosophy as aiming towards the mutant form of homonormativity: the redefinition of normativity so that it encompasses certain aspects of what was previously queer, while maintaining and even redoubling a discomfort with queerness itself. This is especially fascinating if you consider that “mutation,” in this universe, is– especially if you leave out the handwave-y science– fundamentally equivalent to queerness insofar as it’s a category defined by its not-humanness, and not by any particular quality that members of it share (mutants rarely sharing the same bodies, powers, experiences, needs, problems). The danger in this is that those mutants who are assimilated into normativity– who have the privilege of being able to assimilate into normativity– can fairly claim that they do not cease to be mutants, and the goal therefore comes to be ensuring that the word “mutant” primarily denotes the “good” or “successful” mutant, while the “bad” (transgressive, resistant) mutant is left un-nameable except as this negatively qualified version. The goal of mutant-normativity therefore poses a very real threat to the mutant-queer who will never qualify for it, or who challenges the benevolence of its strictures– because they are left multiply stigmatized, excluded even from their own “community.”
File under: Why Did I Spend 10 Minutes Thinking About X-Men Tonight.
