Research

Source: Making gay sense of the X-Men

By: William Earnest

 

 

 

 

Midway through X2: X-Men United, young Bobby Drake and his fellow

mutants pay a surprise visit to his conservative, upper middle-class

 

family. The scene depicts a rite of passage for many teenagers living in the

mutant-fearing America of the film, announcing to your family that you’re one

of “those” people—special, different, mutated.

 

Because mutation is a pressing

social issue in the X-Men’s world, the disclosure of one’s “mutancy” is not to be

taken lightly. After all, it’s a condition that is misunderstood and feared by the

general population.

 

Mutants who go public risk everything from being rejected

by family to political and social marginalization to physical violence.

This scene will seem familiar to many audience members, particularly those

who have been in such “guess-what?” meetings before.

 

 

These moments happen

all the time in our world and play out much like the Drake family’s drama. Our

pressing social issue isn’t mutation, of course, but sexual difference. The rhetorical

 

setting, however—the situation, the characters, and so on—is the same in

the film as it is for us; it’s the rhetorical equivalent of a gay, lesbian, or bisexual

teenager’s “coming out” ritual.

 

Like most rhetorical genres, the coming out ritual tends to follow certain

 

conventions, to look and to sound a certain way, and this one goes by the book

(Hart 121–22). Bobby kicks things off with the standard opener, “There’s

something I need to tell you,” and what follows is a volley of real-world coming

out dialogue.

 

 

In the family’s exchange, the most predictable lines go to Bobby’s

mother, Madeline, including:

 

 

 

So, when did you first know you were a . . . a . . . ?

We still love you,Bobby. It’s just . . . this mutant problem is a little . . .

complicated.

Have you tried not being a mutant?

This is all my fault.