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Only One Mic Podcast
Carl Jerard, Brooklyn Dre, and JRob welcome you to The Only One Mic Podcast. We are joined each week by authors, activists, advocates, community leaders, and professionals from several walks of life who would like to offer their experience, expertise, or commentary on the various topics you will be interested in learning.
Only One Mic Podcast
Why The X-Men Have Always Been About Black People
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What if the X-Men saga isn’t just about superheroes, but a powerful lens on race in America? In this discussion, two passionate fans peel back the layers of X-Men: First Class, uncovering striking parallels between the mutants’ fight for acceptance and the lived experiences of Black Americans.
Discovering X-Men's Racial Commentary
Speaker 1This brother gave a very detailed breakdown after re-watching some of these X-Men movies. I'm telling y'all, man In, correlation to what's going on today in terms of racism and everything. Would you care to break this down, sir, for our general audience.
Speaker 3I'm telling y'all man.
Speaker 1What's that it actually had me. If I didn't waste my time with this movie this morning, I definitely would have went back and watched First Class again, man.
Speaker 2Hilarious, but yeah, watch first class man, you got to listen to this.
Speaker 1You're going to jump in this.
Speaker 3Go ahead, I'm already on it, I'm already. I'm already there. I'm just glad you, finally, you finally hopped on board the train.
Speaker 1So Dre for the general audience.
Speaker 2No, no, no, it wasn't that deep. It was deep to me, but go ahead, but if you watch I mean all the X-Men movies now if you go back and watch more I was watching First Class man All this is about Black people, man. It's all about Black people. No-transcript know?
Mystique and Self-Acceptance Allegory
Speaker 3well, let me. Historically, that's the reason why they use that lady's jeans because black people are superhuman.
Speaker 2So go ahead yeah, I mean when you break it, when you when you break down, when you break down the uh, the whole movie man and look at it, you'd be like man, like wow, beast was like a politician. You know what I mean. And you know you got Professor X and Magneto. That's like Malcolm and Martin man. You know they both got the same mindset.
Speaker 3but Magneto One is revolutionary and one is Beast. Magneto One wants to integrate, the other one wants to separate.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's mad deep man, when you go through the whole process and even when you even see, like, the whole situation with Magneto and what's the chick name? Storm, Not Storm. The other one, Gene the villain, bro man. No, the blue, the chick that turned blue Myst one, the villain brought it.
Speaker 3No, the blue, the chick that turned blue. Oh, mystique, mystique. The shapeshifter, yeah.
Speaker 2Remember what's the whole thing about Mystique? She don't like herself because of her blue skin. She had a blue skin and everything like that. She hates that dark, deep blue skin Right.
Speaker 3Right right right, right right right.
Beast, Politics, and Community Loyalty
Speaker 2So the whole point, remember when she was laying in his bed and she had made herself into a beautiful white woman or whatever like that. And he was like I don't even want you like that, I want you like how you are. So I think she changed it to another chick and he was like nah, I want you like how you are. And she turned back into her being blue and he was like nah, I want you like how you are. And she turned back into her being uh, blue and he was like yo, you're beautiful just the way you are, something like that. He just left in the bedroom. I was like, yo, this it's.
Speaker 2The whole thing is hard, even if you're going to the joint where, as um, what's the chick? Uh rogue, she couldn't touch her boyfriend, you know, I mean because he was, he was gonna her. So she wanted to change herself, she wanted to go get the vaccine you know what I mean to lose her power so she could be with him, or whatever the case may be. But the other white broad, she was able to. She saw them having a good time together. Whatever the case may be, I think it had, you know, like, had little undertones of black women and all kind of other stuff like that man. I was like yo. Man, when you watch that joint over again, you're going to be like yo. This joint is crazy man.
Speaker 3I take it a little deeper with Mystique. Mystique, she has the ability to, so basically she can. It's her mindset. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2She can be anything she want.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, yeah, but she thinks that her natural self is not good enough.
Speaker 2Right right, right, right right. I'm telling you, man, I was sitting there watching and the joint with Beast is a politician right and he's thinking he's a part of the government and all this other stuff like that. And when they came up with this so-called vaccine to cure the mutants or whatever like that, he walks up in the joint.
Speaker 1He was like yo, I wasn't even in this meeting to even discuss it.
Speaker 2You know what I mean. And there's a portion where they, when they put the vaccine together, he kind of left the government. He was like yo listen, I need to go be with my people.
Speaker 3You know what I?
Hidden Meanings in Popular Films
Speaker 2mean. You know what I mean. They all trying to piece it up. I'm telling you, man, so it kind of reminds you know what I'm saying. But you know, a lot of these movies is like that. They got undertones of stuff pertaining to us. What's the name?
Speaker 1Planet of the Apes was like that, the original one you know what I mean yeah, the original, yeah, the original Planet of the Apes.
Speaker 2So when you watch, when you