Superheroes aren't just for kids
Jay Brown - Contributing Writer
Homecoming weekend’s Great Lecture Series featured Chris Goble, instructor and department chair of Monmouth College’s communication studies department. In his lecture, Goble discussed Marvel Comics’ X-Men and their relation to the real world. He connected X-Men to real world problems, showing the message the heroes produce is quite interesting.
Goble compared the X-Men's struggles to people’s experiences during the Civil Rights Movement. For example, Goble compares Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X to Professor X and Magneto. Professor X tries to fight this gigantic conflict with peace and patience, while Magneto fights fire with fire, knowing the mutants will win.
The theme of the lecture was “What is normal when most everybody is abnormal? Humans have a weird need to fit in but at the same time, want to stand out and feel distinct. Thus, is normality something that needs to be valued?”
“I tend to go back to my favorite hero being Superman, because probably he doesn’t have to do this, and he can just be himself, but he continues to choose to do this,” said Goble. “And, also, because he is at such a high-power level, he can fix everything, but he chooses not to because it’s not the right thing to do, so he uses power in the correct way.”
The audience thought deeply about the question and discussed amongst themselves. Groups shared their abnormal traits that made them feel separated from others. Goble bounced off these experiences to explain the relation between X-Men and the LGBTQ community.
“I think it has to do with power. What you learn when you look at this is the way that power can be used for the betterment of people and not the detriment. So, like the villains tend to be powerful, but tend to use for their own means, but the heroes are doing the right thing. They’re using their powers for other people,” said Goble. “I think that’s the big, huge lesson; we all have power, and if we use that power to better other people, it makes the world better.”