X2

X Man stereotypes I would start with the more obvious kind of assimilated stereotypes such as wolverine the “man.” Fighting and chewing tobacco, women on the other hand are more thoughtful, and hardly ever fight. For example Jean’s powers and behavior, she uses the power of the mind and can control things, although she is this powerful, she usually seems very fragile and out of control.

Even though the battle is not between sexes, there is still an inferential difference between these two. 

 “By inferential racism I mean those apparently neutralized representations of events and situations relating to race, whether “factual” or “fictional,” which have racist premises and propositions inscribed in them as a set of unquestioned assumptions.”

Another example of the description on inferential as Stuart Hall describe in The White of their Eyes  the example of storm and mystique. Both have some inferential heritage that depicts and shape part of their personalities. Storm looks somehow African American, her character is strong, and she is one of the biggest advocates of equality for mutants, she also depicts this African American who is been fighting against the system to have the same opportunities and not being look down only because of her race. All these values are represented in lines when talking with another stereotype the nigh crawler, “Sometimes anger can help you survive.” With this sentence she is showing the hard path she has strive to fight for her rights as a “mutant.”  Another example as I already mention, and a bit less obvious is the case of mystique, which as human is a Russian beauty, she is cold, and not afraid of killing and scheming as long as she can succeed on her goals. She is the master of disguise and what better to be an spy than being able to imitate any human she wants to.

One other interesting dialogue is when the Night crawler is talking to mystique:

Nightcrawler: Then why not stay in disguise all the time? You know, look like everyone else.

Mystique: Because we shouldn't have to.

 This is a big statement on how races and differences shouldn’t make us feel like we don’t belong. As in the speech on national culture, there should be universalize values  that  doesn’t discriminate because of race, something that create national consciousness that would be directly connected to international consciousness to live and grow. In other words, mystique is saying that no one should try to pretend and forget about his or her race, heritage or culture only to belong to the “predominant” culture.

To finalize speaking of inequality, the scene on Bobby’s house made much more sense when I knew that Bryan Singer one of the creators of the story is gay. Bobby was coming out of the “closet” in front of his family. It was interesting to see that conversation from that perspective and how metaphorical this whole mutants existence can be in the film. Especially when Bobby’s mother ask him if he has ever try not to be a mutant.

In conclusion, the film X2 signal many interesting topics that can be related to both texts, talking about how national culture matters so this can help in building a universal consciousness of the different taking it as a whole and not as something to be afraid of.  In the words of professor X to Wolverine “we are not as alone as alone as you think.”  Although, inferential racism, inequality and assimilated discrimination are all still struggles of society, the fact that there is more and more representation on the “minorities” in the world changes the collective thought in a way that the white capitalist realize that he/she has never been the majority.