Why the X-Men Will Survive the Coming Superhero Movie Apocalypse; Inverse, 6/6/16

Ryan Britt, Inverse; Why the X-Men Will Survive the Coming Superhero Movie Apocalypse:

"In X-Men and Philosophy, editors Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski argue that X-Men asked the “big questions” right when the comic book debuted back in 1963; “What are our obligations to one another? What does it mean to be human?”

Further, it’s fairly common knowledge that the X-Men were conceived by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee as a kind of allegory for all sorts of civil rights battles, or as Lee put it in 2013; “an anti-bigotry story.” Part of that anti-bigotry story manifests itself by showing the mutants living in a perpetual fear of persecution, afraid to be themselves...

It could be argued that all superhero stories are outsider narratives, but the X-Men feel like the outsiders among outsiders. Which, paradoxically brings them closer to normal at least for the reader, or moviegoer. And that’s partially because there aren’t a lot of scenes in X-Men movies or comics where the public heaps them with praise. Superman has statues erected to him. Batman has the bat signal. The Avengers are so famous, that in their world, they’re required to get jobs as federal employees. The X-Men aren’t like that. Everything about their nature is a little bit behind-the-scenes, meaning the people who care about them the most, the only people rooting for them, are the fans. This feeling of intimacy might be the key to why these characters—and the films specifically—consistently connect."