I caught the boat very late on the X-Men film series, only watching them for the first time in the summer of last year. I’ve no doubt irritated many people (“how good are the X-Men films?” “We know, we watched them 15 years ago…”), but apart from being great films they also offer some great themes and concepts. If we discovered mutants in our society today, how would we (and they) react? Would there still be hostilities?
All of this is, of course, hypothetical. It’s difficult in some respects to gauge the potential level of hostility, but at best I think the human race would still be suspicious. Donald Trump wants to build a wall in Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants: imagine what he’d think of mutants? Given the abilities of many mutants in the X-Men franchise, you can imagine politicians of all stripes being suspicious.
In the UK, I can imagine Nigel Farage and UKIP getting straight on it. “These mutants are coming over here, taking our jobs...I mean abilities...and thirty million of them are coming from Romania. The EU is clearly doing a cover up operation, and Jean-Claude Juncker is clearly a mutant…”. The Conservatives would want to limit mutants to the “tens of thousands”, whilst Boris Johnson would have a field day trying to remember the names of Erik Lehnsherr, Ororo Monroe and Raven Darkholme.
The above paragraph was satirical fun. However, there would be some serious soul searching in the event of mutants existing. Given the abilities of the likes of Charles Xavier, Magneto and Mystique, there would be legitimate concerns over civil liberties. We would recoil at the thought of someone being able to read minds or influence people. Imagine trying to lock up someone who can manipulate magnetic fields, or someone who can shapeshift into the likeness of anyone?
The effect could be a never-ending cycle: mutants lash out because they feel threatened by humans, and vice versa. It would need the integrity and intelligence of someone like Charles Xavier to build bridges on both sides, but in that context it could be the humans turn to harm civil liberties; I can’t imagine authoritarian regimes in the world being happy with Professor X having freedom. Positives would have to be stressed on both sides. Imagine (humanely) harnessing Wolverine’s regenerative abilities to ease the strain on the NHS? Perhaps Storm could create weather patterns to provide water for drought-stricken countries? I can imagine leading authorities wanting to use Professor X for infiltrating the intelligence of terrorists by using Cerebro. The potential is clear.
Nevertheless, there’s no guarantee that mutants would be on board for being ‘used’ in this way. Magneto was based on Malcolm X, and there’s little doubt that there would be a real world equivalent of both. Depending on mutant numbers, there could even be political insurgencies in certain countries (the ‘Brotherhood of Mutants’ certainly sounds like a political party). Perhaps there could even be a mutant independence movement?
Human nature can certainly be cruel. I’m sure we’d all love to think that we wouldn’t act like a Senator Kelly or William Stryker if mutants did exist, but in practice I’m sure we’d at the very least be cautious. I’d like to hope that we wouldn’t choose divide and rule, but rather would accept one another as equals (I’m sorry that sounds cheesy). However, even everyday life could be altered drastically; imagine a mutant with Charles Xavier’s abilities sitting a GCSE exam, or a Magneto-like figure who is frustrated with a traffic jam on the way to work?
I don’t think I’ve done enough justice to this hypothetical topic. There are so many variables that come into play, and so much is dependent on how each side would react. The X-Men films are probably pretty accurate depictions of what would happen if mutants existed: human suspicions of mutants would lead to mutants lashing out, whilst peaceful mutants acting for the greater good would help to convince some humans that they can coexist with mutants. What is clear is that the X-Men series has clear allegories about human behavior and the treatment of minorities: you would hope that humans would ultimately be compassionate and reasonable in the event of mutants reaching out.
