Despite boasting a 50+ year history, X-Men as a series has always been defined by the conflicting political perspectives of Charles Xavier (a.k.a. Professor X) and Magneto.
Xavier created the X-Men to further his dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. He assumes that humans oppress mutants out of fear and therefore intends to build goodwill with humans by protecting both groups against violent threats to the world. To achieve mutant rights, he seeks to establish equality under the law within existing political institutions.
Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants, on the other hand, seek to overturn existing political institutions through revolutionary means. Though branded as villainous, from Magneto’s perspective they are simply acting realistically against structural violence directed at mutants. While desiring the same goal as Xavier——mutant equality——Magneto would say that Xavier’s program of equality under the law effectively maintains the existing systems of power that actively oppress mutants.
So: Is Magneto right? Use evidence from God Loves, Man Kills to support your answer.
I’ve extended the due date for the Self-reflective Essay to April 9—the Monday after Spring Break. This is so we have enough time to make up the in-class workshop we missed out on because of the snow.
These (and a few other small changes) have been updated on the syllabus. Leave a comment if you have any questions.
As such, class is cancelled tomorrow, Wednesday, March 21.
I’ll obviously have to do some syllabus rearranging. More on that soon. In the meantime, continue working on your Self-reflective Essay and finish reading X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills.
Do me a favor: leave a comment on this post to a) prove to me that you can do it and b) let me know what fandom you’re writing about for your self-reflective essay. And in a sentence or so let me know how this fandom is important to your sense of identity.
Sorry about the snow day confusion! For those of you who couldn’t make it, in class we watched and discussed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Danger of a Single Story.” If you have a chance, check this out and you’ll be fully caught up!
I also updated the syllabus here and on Blackboard. The changes are small, but here’s what they are: we’ve removed the Junot Díaz reading originally assigned for next week. Instead, we will spend the entire week discussing Derrick Austin’s “In the Name of the Femme” and getting started on your first assignment, the Self-Reflective Essay. The due date for this essay has also changed: it’s now due MONDAY, MARCH 26.
