Uncanny X-Men's metaphorical slash subtext

[salinea]

So the recent UXM was interesting, but more importantly, it had this... parallel thingy that provides fodder for slashing. Really, it does. Kieron Gillen said it does:

Pretentious (and inaccurately) I think of the issue as the leitmotif for my whole run. In the small story, you can see the whole picture. It's certainly the tightest example of how I'm using the villains in my post-relaunch issues. As in, I'm exploring them as a compare and contrast with the current situation of mutantkind, and as dark possible futures. This is the first time I've explicitly mentioned this, but every primary antagonist they meet is the last member of another species. The Phalanx is driven mad by the loneliness. The Savage and the Immortal Man are dual custodians of a people's past, fighting over what really matters. Sinister is a new species of one person — which of course simultaneously also makes him the last. And as readers of S.W.O.R.D. will know, UNIT is a very friendly ends-justify-the-means final-artifact-of-a-long-dead-people, with an ethical calculus that justifies infinite genocides to achieve their aim. When I'm writing about the villains, I'm really using it to explore the question of mutantkind and their current position as a species on the cusp of annihilation, and where that can drive you.

They're also useful for fights. Big ol' fights. Honestly, there's punching. It's not just metaphors. There's often metaphors you can punch, which are the best kind of metaphors.

Source is a Newsarama interview

They are also metaphors that you can slash, which are the very best kind of metaphors!

So we have this capsule, accelerated time aged world from which the Savage and the Immortal Man are the dual custodians of a people's past. Let the Savage explains their story:











Okay, so one's a benevolent if very condescending guy, and his old friend, even more arrogant, is not so kind - even irrationally so. I think the parallel is clear enough. What does the Immortal Man has to say for himself?


... wait, "unwife"?









Yeaaaah, the parallel haven't gotten any less obvious, but this "unwife" business, is it really as shippy as it sounds?





Yes, yes, it is.

Comments

Not loving this, sorry.

[tessiebee]

I mean the Mags/Xav is meant to be cute but come on 'each would prefer the other to be the wife'?

God forbid a big strong genius creature should choose to become *gulp* a wife.
I cannot be the only one to see the problems here...

Plus not touching the obviously axe-crazy Magneto counterpart. 'Bad Apex' my bum.

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[salinea]

but come on 'each would prefer the other to be the wife'?
Yeah, I agree the formulation is problematic, especially thrown in like this as a joke and without anymore linguistic explanation that would make it sound less weirdly sexist & homophobic.


Plus not touching the obviously axe-crazy Magneto counterpart. 'Bad Apex' my bum.
I don't mind it too much, because it's not like it's a perfect parallel.

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[tessiebee]

Thanks, was feeling a little all on my own there :)

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[okkult3000]

I have yet to understand why some things are condemned and others are praised. If Jeph Loeb or Rob Liefeld had written that bit about neither character wanting to be the "girl" in the relationship, there would be an outcry.

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[brooms]

i assumed he was talking about procreating (he mentioned breeding), not gender roles. if the apex are viviparous and "wife" is shorthand for "the one who carries the embryo and gives birth", i can see why a species where individuals can chose their reproductive roles would swing toward "husband".

gestating is by far the most biologically demanding and riskier option.

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[tessiebee]

All very true.

I still take issue with it, as it comes across as a demeaning role as well.

Good apex defines the unwife as he (and by exention himself as they are both the same) so the choice to go from 'he' to 'she' is a step neither wants to take.

To me that gives it a feel of a bad move, a negative step that they want the other to have to deal with. I get connotations of 'no,* you * lose, I want to remain as a brilliant genius thing' and to be fair, brilliant geniuses in comics tend to default to male anyway.


I'm not well versed in feminism and patricarchy (learning a lot from this comm) but this just really rubbed me up the wrong way. I'd like to see more educated posters like yourself explain their take on it.

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[brooms]

ha, i doubt i'm more educated on feminism than anyone in this community.

I still take issue with it, as it comes across as a demeaning role as well. (...) To me that gives it a feel of a bad move, a negative step that they want the other to have to deal with.

i understand. that was not my initial impression, tbh, but maybe i'm giving gillen more credit than he deserves, and maybe the articles i've been reading about the history of the pill lately colored how i interpreted this.

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[blackruzsa]

This is what I thought too. Supposing that they were supposed to go into a reproductive pair and neither of them want to be doing the producing part of the reproducing, there's a clash of personalities.

I don't think it's sexist so much as it's two people afraid to take on the arguably larger responsibility.

Although they may have to rethink that now that the rest of their people aren't up for the job :I

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[sir_mikael]

As much as I enjoy implied Xavie/Magneto slash I agree.

Also doesn't it feel like the conflict will likely end with them actually picking genders/reproductive roles and birthin new Apex babies?

Re: Not loving this, sorry.

[pyrrhocorax]

I thought it was going to be different sort of relationship, an epic rivalry marrige (like kismesissitude in Homestuck) and every Apex has a Wife and an Unwife. Cool! Then I got to the bit when we find out that no, it's just that neither of them want to be the girl and went :/