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eviklehnsherrits times like these that i understand the difference between "blogging" and "microblogging". the visual flavor of dreamwidth makes me feel like each post needs to be an event in a way tumblr does not. im not sure i knew how to use livejournal, in any personal capacity at least, because when i used it during my heyday it mostly just served as a place to host links to each chapter of my tween self's deranged beatles slash fanfiction (non-derogatory....formative. it built character, as calvin's dad would say).
that's neither here nor there though. what is here is me just reposting a thread i wrote on twitter about the similarities between (616) emma frost and charles xavier's philosophies re: The Mutant Plight, as well as their similar traumas. feels long enough that i don't feel strange posting it here.
its interesting when people declare "emma is right" in response to the "magneto or xavier" thing with the intention of implying that she is a radical other
charles is often mistaken for a pacifist. the movies are in part to blame, along w/ the lie that he is an mlk analog, crucially mixed w the lie that mlk was a pacifist. creating a private paramilitary strike force to further sociopolitical interests is not what a pacifist does
that's neither here nor there though. what is here is me just reposting a thread i wrote on twitter about the similarities between (616) emma frost and charles xavier's philosophies re: The Mutant Plight, as well as their similar traumas. feels long enough that i don't feel strange posting it here.
its interesting when people declare "emma is right" in response to the "magneto or xavier" thing with the intention of implying that she is a radical other
because, if compared to (the false dichotomy of) magneto < — > xavier, emma is closer to xavier than she is magneto
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charles is often mistaken for a pacifist. the movies are in part to blame, along w/ the lie that he is an mlk analog, crucially mixed w the lie that mlk was a pacifist. creating a private paramilitary strike force to further sociopolitical interests is not what a pacifist does
xmen Do Violence. what differentiates them from the brotherhood (et al) is to whom they do violence, & to what end charles prioritizes assimilation. thru violence he controls mutant threats to good optics, & mitigates mutant collateral of his refusal to respond to human violence
charles is more realist/pessimist than ppl think. his plan wasnt to overtake society or revolutionize it, but to manipulate it, influence it: to prove to humans, through good deeds, that mutants have a right to exist. emma also plans to manipulate it...but by any means necessary
what connects emma + charles is their belief that (human) domination as an insurmountable fact of life. but emma does not see assimilation as a true goal and does not think mutant collateral damage is an acceptable sacrifice.
she'll play by the rules, but unlike charles, "the rules" are not based in some fairy tale moral code but the fact that the world actually operates on power, fear, + violence. what matters to her is the *immediate + material* safety of mutantkind above all else.
emma's plan is stacking up enough safety, power, + influence within human society to afford (in many senses of the word) to wall off society + become untouchable. theres no real safety among humans. there will be no kumbaya. so play their games, win them, damn the rest of it
i think emma, like charles, still has a pipe dream. but it's nothing like charles' perfect human-mutant coexistence, and is a sort of Separatist Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism. conceptually, krakoa was actually more true to emma's Dream™ than erik or charles'.
it makes perfect sense that emma was so angry about erik and charles lying + employing backhanded tactics within the Luxury Communist Island. they deeply endangered what is, in her eyes, even before knowing about moira's lives, truly mutantkind's last hope.
one of my favorite emma quotes perfectly distills this philosophy, even if a bit out of context.... "the games are immaterial. what matters are the stakes." (the games being lying, manipulation, violence, capitalism; the stakes being the material safety of mutantkind.)
(in the quotes context, emma is referring to the hellfire club casino — her (traumatic) experience being a member and seeing the worst of "high society" up close is central to her philosophy)
end note: a big reason for emma & charles' similarities in philosophy is their shared experience as wealthy (white) victims of abuse, as well as the differences in their experiences, particularly re: gender
[quoting myself]:
[quoting myself]:
emma + charles mirror + subvert each other so well. their parallels go all the way down to wealthy backgrounds + abusive families/resulting childhood trauma. & i think this is part of why emma has such a razor sharp understanding of charles('s BS) that very few ppl have
many of their divergences are deeply gendered — there's a reason emma had to become a "villain" to survive and charles did not emma is painfully aware that they are similar, in experience & in pathology, yet charles gets to be a saint while she must be forever "tainted"
emma has a (relatively!) more healthy relationship with her past + her trauma. watching charles continually Fail To Break The Cycle (and be forgiven to some extent) infuriates her as someone who has been forced by circumstance to trial-by-fire deal with her shit
++ their compulsions to teach &/or care for others are based in very different things. while emma's is rooted in wanting to make a difference with her life + protect children from going through what she did, charles' is more, in her eyes, "selfish" — he doesn't want to be alone
outside subjective assessments of selfishness, charles' reasons are more objectively at odds with being *a good teacher* — more clearly not in the best interests of student development long-term. hence the complex his students (particularly jean + scott) develop with the x-men
