In
the X-Men, “passing as human” is analogous to “passing as white” in the real
world.
This
paper explores the articulation of virtues and vices in the far-right
discursive tactics through a consideration of the X-Men ‘97 The Animated Series
(2024). The analytical framework relies on the overarching researching pillar
of Orientalism. In the context of this paper, Orientalism (Said, 1978; 1985)
entails a Western disciplinary dispositif
that perpetuates a particular political project based on dualities and
hierarchies within modernity. It operationalizes power by the restructuring of
knowledge systems that claim authority over the “Orient” and its people (Exotic
Other). This claim to authority has to do with moral supremacy and the
articulation of virtues and vices. The core concepts used in this paper are global white supremacy, exotic insiders, racial triangulation and gray spaces.
Through
an analysis of the X-Men ‘97, The Animated Series (TAS) (2024) episodes 1, I
examine the far-right rhetoric in the fictional militia group known as Friends
of Humanity (FOH), using the mutant allegory to unveil anthropological themes.
These pertain to dualities maintained by global white supremacy (Beliso-De
Jesús & Jemima, 2019; Meer, 2019). The dualities are manifested through
racialized hierarchies. It also pertains to alternative ways of being and the
potentialities of coexisting in the margins as I suggest through selected
scenes of the X-Men TAS (1992-1997), and X-Men ‘97 TAS (2024). I do so using
the X-Men vernacular to demonstrate how the X-Men may address issues of
racialized subjectivities (Pierce, 2009, p. 193). To this end, I will point
towards how fiction mirrors reality with comparisons to real-life political
struggles.
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