X2: X-Men united: Disability Pride and Identity through Four Distinct Interpretations

Goldstein Student Center

As part of my Fundamentals of Written English Course, I use the film X2:X-Men United for the purpose of teaching critical analysis. This semester, three women, all freshmen, chose to analyze the film with respect to how the characters in the film, specifically those called mutants, were treated and drew analogies to that treatment with how individuals with disabilities in modern society were treated. All three women look at the film with a different disability lens: First, Maria Liotta looks at the film through a pedagogical lens with respect to teaching elementary students about disabilities and tolerance in her paper entitled: Equality Among All; Second, Stephanie Bellotti, in her paper entitled Mutations, chose to analyze the film through the lens of disability identity as in the mutations of the X-Men no more identify them as do a person’s disability; Third, in her paper entitled: Art Imitates Life: Children with Disabilities, Katie Zibro chose to analyze the film through a personal lens in which she drew analogies to herself, who has multiple disabilities, and her struggles throughout school. She also addresses the struggles of parents who are not willing to accept their child’s disability and how that affects the family dynamic similar to the Drake family’s failure to accept their son Bobby’s mutation. The panel will begin with my presentation of the assignment: Art imitates Life: X-men and Critical Analysis.

https://surface.syr.edu/bts_conf/2013/Presentations/16