X-Men and Discrimination: Diversity Is More Than Skin Color
An interesting article was brought to my attention about the discussion of racial identity within superhero comic books. The article was inspired by an artist who engaged in an art project that recolored some famous X-Men covers to alter white characters to darker skin tones, effectively changing their races and, supposedly, the context of the covers. The article presents many topics regarding racism and inclusiveness within comic books, particularly X-Men, and references the artist who also references an academic, both seeming to criticize the X-Men for not being inclusive enough. Though, I can understand their perspective, I have some thoughts on the matter that I would like to share with them, unoriginal though they may be.
Too Many White Faces = Racism
Let me get this out of the way; I am a gay white male. I have always been a gay white male. I have read comic books my entire life through the eyes of a gay white male. I, therefore, do not know how it feels to be entrenched in a medium and a genre where very few of the characters have faces a different color from my own. To be misrepresented is terrible enough, to not be represented at all can truly make someone feel like shit.
I may not be able to relate to this in terms of skin color or ethnicity, but I can certainly relate in terms of sexuality. When I was growing up and reading comics, there was only one character with whom I shared a sexual orientation; Northstar. Fucking Northstar. One. And he has rarely been a bright and shining example of a dynamic gay character, often having been the subject of sexual tokenism.
But to claim that the X-Men in particular are “reinforcing” discrimination and not representing an inclusive ideal because there aren’t enough colored (can I say that?) or GLBTQ characters seems to rely on the argument that the only way to represent inclusiveness is to have colored (I really don’t think I should say that) or GLBTQ characters. It ignores the fact that most of these white and straight faces that seem to be at issue here are in fact multicultural.
The most popular X-Men mainstays, the ones who are on those covers that the artist is altering, are from mostly different countries and backgrounds. Wolverine is from Canada, Colossus from Russia, etc. They each have rich back stories, some have different religious affiliations (Nightcrawler is Catholic, Kitty is Jewish), they come from all walks of life, and most have different native tongues and cultural traditions that they adhere to. Yes, only one of them has dark skin, but does that really mean that these characters are poor representations of a melting pot group? Does that really mean they aren’t outsiders enough and could not, therefore, be subjected to discrimination, even if they weren’t mutants? I seem to recall Irish and German and Japanese citizens being discriminated against at one time or another in this country, and each one of those groups is represented by at least one character within the X-Men franchise. But they are mostly white and straight, so I guess that isn’t good enough.
To take these white characters and Photoshop them brown or black may be art (though it’s offensively lazy art in my opinion), and perhaps the only purpose of art is to generate discussion. If so, mission accomplished. But if the point is to critique the characters by apparently saying there is something wrong with them because they are too white…well, changing their skin color could possibly be erasing the rich and varied cultural identities the characters already possess. Is that the right way to approach the issue? Is discrimination based exclusively on skin color (or sexual identity)? Haven’t many, many groups been discriminated against other than non-whites and gays?
Give Credit Where Credit Is Due
To pick on the X-Men in particular for their lack of diversity could be interpreted as a bit…ungrateful. Let me explain; the X-Men comics were dealing with issues that were very unpopular during their time. The first X-Men appeared in the 60s and then again in the 70s and these were tumultuous times for a publication with a primarily young, white, male readership to be tackling the issues of discrimination and social justice and acceptance. But tackle them they did. And I would argue that the X-Men have been ahead of their time dealing with these issues since, at least within comic books.
Taking this into consideration, the fact that a superhero comic was presenting these issues to young readers, to retroactively imply or outright say that the comic is itself racist and discriminatory because most of the characters are white and straight seems like splitting hairs. I would even say, it comes across as whiny. The comic and its creators deserve more credit than that for spotlighting these ideas when they could have just, you know, said, “PEW! PEW! SNIKT! BAMF! Powers are cool!”
And, of course, we can’t discuss the X-Men and race without mentioning Storm. Storm, a female black character on the team. Storm, a female black character on the team when having a female black character on the team was not a popular idea. Storm, a female black character on the team who was not a walking stereotype (ala Blaxploitation). Storm, who was rarely if ever a victim of tokenism and has never (to my knowledge) been presented as the “black X-Man”. Storm, who, instead, has been portrayed as just as dynamic and with a background and ethnicity that are just as important to her identity as her white male counterparts. Storm, whose character alone deserves much credit for diversifying comic books.
Context Has to Be Considered
Setting X-Men aside for the moment, it is easy to complain about race and sexuality in comic books or anywhere in this country if the context of the work in particular is not examined. Or, in this case, the genre.
Fact: The superhero landscape is mostly white and straight. Is it wrong? Yes. Is it malevolent? Well, depends. Should we change it? Yes, but how?
Superheroes are mostly white and straight because the majority of those superheroes that are still popular are from the decades of the 30s, 40s, 60s, and 70s. These were not the most progressive eras for our country. Is it an injustice that we have horrible sins in our country’s past that are still present to this day? Of course. Should we be offended that the superheroes from this time reflect this injustice in their skin colors? It’s understandable to be offended, but perhaps we need to give thought to why these characters are still around. Perhaps these characters have been so popular with readers, even readers of various ethnicity, genders, and other traits, because there is something universally relate-able about them. Instead of bemoaning that these classic characters are all white, perhaps it’s important to recognize that most comic book readers have been focusing on what they have in common with the characters rather than the differences.
I do not personally feel that changing the race or sexuality of superheroes from a different era who are well-established is the solution, at least not when that’s the only point you’re trying to make (the change of Nick Fury’s race in various mediums didn’t come across as some kind of critique or criticism of the character, for example). And I think that some level of forgiveness and, I don’t mean this ironically, acceptance has to be given for the mostly white and mostly straight superheroes that surround us. What I mean is, the Justice League, composed mostly of characters from the 30s and 40s, should be given a pass for being mostly white. A superhero team that is created tomorrow and has mostly white faces, however, probably deserves a bit of outrage or at least a lot of scrutiny.
Superheroes may not adequately represent the diverse population of the United States or the world at all, but maybe we should focus on the universal qualities that they do represent and that we can all relate to. If you are constantly on the lookout for inequalities in the world, you will always find them.
For further reading:
Feagin, Joe. Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations. New York; Taylor & Francis, 2010.
Claremont, Chris. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. New York; Marvel, 2011.
