Why X-Men Might Be The Best Decryption Of Today’s Society
කසුන් කමලදාස
My inspiration to write this article arose when I came across a YouTube interview that asked the question “Is the world ready for a black superman?” from its followers. There were a lot of opinions but the most surprising one for me was when a guy furious at the mere suggestion, claimed that Superman is a symbol of America and cannot ever be black. Another man calmly replied. The legend of Superman is a story of an immigrant: he came to this country as an outsider/alien had weird customs like wearing an underwear on top of his pants and went on to become a national symbol of truth, justice and the American Way (While personally I am skeptical about whether America as a whole is actually about truth and justice specially after Trump was chosen as a leader it was a very appealing thought that these fantasy superheroes embodied our perfect selves or what we strive to be).
Introduction to X-men
I’m not quite sure if this is appropriate for a Sri Lankan audience since most us don’t really have time to enjoy these fantasy universes with our busy schedules and engagements with fantasy universes of our own but if you dare to read further have no fear, I will try to make it understandable for non-comic fans as well. (I will use minimal references of comics/names)
So if you are not familiar with the X-men universe, it is an alternate reality (For physics geeks – this is not the same as alternate reality in physics). This reality is similar to our current world but has its own history, present and future, much like our own. Its timeline and narrative changes with according to what society(fans) deems acceptable again much like our own.
The story of X-men begins by dividing its characters into two groups. Humans and Mutants (who are also human but look different or have different abilities) Mutants being weird as they are, living in a human majority struggle to have normal lives. Bullied, misunderstood, isolated and unable to make friends with humans, they form their own groups. This leads humans to misunderstand them even more. Suddenly a crime committed by a mutant is seen as acts against humanity rather than crimes of different humans.
As the story unfolds the humans try to fight back this imaginary threat. First they form protests and throw mutants out of their communities. Naturally mutants form their own communities, some inside sewers while others buy islands and large areas of land. Then the humans form fearmongering political parties that promise to purge the land from mutants driving mutants to form militant groups and refuges. Now claiming mutants have their own land and militant groups, fear increases more and anti-mutant taskforces and unregulated prisons that abduct mutants are formed. Eventually this leads to formation of mutant terrorists and renegade anti-mutant task force.
Introduction to our world(Earth).
I am hoping that everyone who read-up this far already knows a little bit about evolution and how mutations occur in every human and how these mutations in turn define to an extent, who we are. Our color, our gender, our sexuality, our natural body types, our immunity, behaviors and many more qualities are dependent on our genes.
You might have also realized that we too have identified sorts of “mutants” or “unnatural humans” due to our lack of understanding what mutations really are and have formed societies including and excluding mutations as natural, unnatural and abnormal. (just to make it clear there is nothing abnormal with most mutations, it is simply how nature works)
For example, not long ago some people believed being white meant that they are superior than other races and other races were not capable of any intellectual endeavor. Most religions believe that being a man is superior to being a woman. Some communities treat transgender people as abominations while other communities treat them as gods preferred.
Of course, the world has never been simple so genes aren’t the only things that differentiate who we are, the books, Selfish Gene, Darwinizing Culture and The Art of Memetics, all talk about a different type evolution, evolution of culture and religion. These books explain how thoughts/ideas(memes) are also like genes randomly mutating and spreading; defining what culture and religion is, that in turn defines who we are to an extent.
