One Hundred Fantasy Clichés That Really Need To Rest In Peace

#66: The Mutant Minority

Note: I would like to give a special thanks to Smudge357 , who helped me come up with this idea from their comment in the last part. Please check out their content after reading this, as the creativity they have in their writing is really fantastic. If you would like a potential shoutout yourself, comment about any fantasy-related cliché you would like covered on this editorial. There is a really great chance I will cover it almost right away. Now, on to the cliché that is going to be covered today.

If you were born sometime during the Age of Comics, you might know about a little superhero group known as The X-Men. The X-Men, in both the original comics and the movies made by 20th Century Fox, are a group of super humans with extraordinary abilities that fight all kinds of evil to protect the world they live in. All of the members of The X-Men are known as mutants; a minority in the human population who have at least one superhero ability. These abilities include fast healing, laser beam eyes, mind control, and the complete control of the weather. Basically, anything you could imagine at least one member of the team can do. However, this superhuman minority is persecuted by regular humans due to the unknown scope of their abilities.  This correlation was made by the creators of the comic book series to persecution in real life, especially during the early 1960's before the Civil Rights Movement really took hold.  As a result, the X-Men do not only have to fight the superhuman villains that threaten the world on a daily basis but society's judgement of them as well.  On the side of mutants that wants to live peacefully with humans are followers of Charles Xavier, who was created to represent the ideologies of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.  On the side of those who believe they should punish the human race for their needless persecution are on the side of Magneto, who was created to represent the ideologies of Malcolm X.  They are the ying and yang of the mutant world.

  When this idea of social commentary first came to light with the X-Men comic book series, it was an example of pure genius.  No one before that time had thought to combine the issues of the real world with the usual escape from reality we get when reading about our favorite comic book heroes.  For years, this idea was something to strive towards as a writer.  The message being spread was an inspirational one that even today can teach us a lot about ourselves as people.  That unfortunately ended in the early 2000's though when the first X-Men movies came out.  With the release of the films came copycats who used the basic ideas of the franchise to try making a quick buck.  As a result, the idea of some type of superhuman group minority being persecuted by the regular human race became repetitive.  It eventually leaked out into novels about dystopian futures and became a glaring cliché that by now many have become sick of. 

  If you even try creating some type of persecuted minority in a novel of some kind, you are not going to get the attention you hoped for.  People will see the novel as either a copycat of some type of dystopian future book series such as The Hunger Games or Maze Runner, or be bored with the social commentary you are trying so hard to preach.  It is like trying to get someone to like another story preaching us to save the environment for the hundredth time.  Not a lot of people are going to be interested in what you have to say, unless you have a great ability to mix the message well along with a strong imaginative setting.

  I recommend trying to avoid this cliché as much as possible.  Adding a dash of social commentary to your cake of the novel being crafted can be a really great, selfless thing.  Pushing an ideal that has already been talked about hundreds of times in the past is not going to work out well.  You can't just lead an ordinary horse to water and expect it to drink.  You need to earn this horse's trust first, such as the case is with your audience.  You need to show this horse, like the audience, that you should be given a chance to be listened to.  Only then can the horse truly drink from the lake of wisdom.