I was thinking about what type of minorities make the closest parallel for mutants, and it seems like in some ways it's closest to being disabled (sometimes it's visible, sometimes not) and in some ways closest to being LGBTQ. Both of those fit with social prejudice, and that people might have strong opinions on mutants without ever realizing that they know some or even have some in their own family.
In later X-Men comics, everyone seems to have at least heard of mutants, which fits with those models too. I think that's part of why everyone at least knowing they exist makes more sense to me. The X-Men have always really leaned into the "metaphor for being a minority" aspect, and while certainly there's ways where you can be one without society having ever heard of you (small religions, etc), in general for me that works better if people all know mutants exist and have varying opinions on them.
I really like the parallel with Nightcrawler's very different experience.
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Date: 2019-02-04 03:06 am (UTC)In later X-Men comics, everyone seems to have at least heard of mutants, which fits with those models too. I think that's part of why everyone at least knowing they exist makes more sense to me. The X-Men have always really leaned into the "metaphor for being a minority" aspect, and while certainly there's ways where you can be one without society having ever heard of you (small religions, etc), in general for me that works better if people all know mutants exist and have varying opinions on them.
I really like the parallel with Nightcrawler's very different experience.