Sort of makes weird sense

I could be cherry-picking when it comes to X-Men media in how and why they portray female characters but upon watching the video clip ‘What is the Goth Rebel Pixie Dream Girl’ it does help shed some light into the way they’re portrayed. Whilst not always, entirely or consistently the case it still explains a lot of things. Something that not too many make the connection even if it does show up.

Wearing black doesn’t make you Gothic but when the X-Men are almost always depicted as outsiders who do wear black from time to time (most of the time in the X-Men films) with Emma Frost and sometimes Mystique (and rarely Storm) being big outliers the connection between them and the Goth subculture feels subliminal enough to portray some as such. Strangely enough, Kitty seems exempt.

Even though of all the X-Women, she and a few others (including her friend Illyana) wear black the most or more often. That Kitty herself’s a tomboy (even if she wore pink at some point) sort of plays into the points the commentator’s making. Naturally her enemy Emma Frost wears white. The one X-Woman that’s got the short end of the stick the most is the pink-clad Psylocke whose racebending was recently undone.

Whilst not always the case as there are some heroic girly girls or blonds like Psylocke, Dazzler, Emma Frost and Mystique at times. But considering Mystique’s initial introduction as someone who wore a white dress, Psylocke a blatant girly girl and Dazzler being a pop star it’s not hard to see that they seem somewhat warier of them to a degree.

Not necessarily or overtly antagonistic but more in the sense of being too feminine for nerd men to appreciate (yet they themselves don’t want butch women for fear of being emasculated). It makes sense when you realise Kitty gets paraded as the Goth tomboy next door (that too’s imprecise as Rogue’s the one who’s made Goth even though Kitty wears black more often).

It also unconsciously makes sense that Jubilee receives a polarising response. Not necessarily any less sexualised or entirely hated (she’s got fans) but when the character they’re more attached to’s moody and dresses in black (almost a stereotypical Goth) that Jubilee’s unconsciously hated also because…she’s a Valley Girl.

Maybe not necessarily always the case and some X-Men fans aren’t into Goths at all but still makes sense given the context as to feel subliminal enough to make the connection between X-Men and Goth with Emma being an outlier when you think about it.

She’s got to be a punching bag

The more I remember the video clip ‘Goth Rebel Dream Girl*’, the more I realise the real reason why Emma and Kitty (or Jean) are portrayed the way they are in the X-Men comics. It’s not always or consistently exactly the case in-canon (which also extends to other adaptations) and wearing black doesn’t make you Gothic.

But considering that the traditional X-Men uniform’s often black and Kitty Pryde’s almost always seen in it (not that she wore any other colour, especially as a civilian but when it comes to superhero outfits, she tends to dress in black), it’s unsurprising that her nemesis Emma Frost’s often seen in white. (The same can be said of Mystique when bad.)

On one hand, it seems neat that the stereotypes of colour white being good and colour black being bad’s reversed in here. On the other hand, it risks turning Emma and Mystique into massive punching bags especially whenever they’re often portrayed in contrast to the others. The biggest punching bag’s got to be Psylocke who for a long time got forcibly transferred to another person’s body until recently.

(Of all the X-Women, she’s arguably the girliest because she wears pink and the butterfly motif thing going on for her.)

The fact that Psylocke longed to be her real self again going so far to wear one of her former outfits and be willing to remake somebody else into her image’s enough to say she really wants it back. It’s been accomplished but in the context of the ‘Goth Rebel Dream Girl’ fetish many Western animation and cape comics fans have (maybe not necessarily all but still), it’s Psylocke who ends up as a whipping girl.

Meanwhile the more tomboyish Kitty Pryde gets pedestalised as the ideal girlfriend for X-Men fans, where it’s not hard to assume a girly girl like Psylocke gets the short end of the stick with Emma Frost being the punching bag. (If because she’s dangerously close to the Valley Girl stereotype in the same sense Kitty’s almost a Goth.)

Again not always the case but it makes you wonder how misogynistic X-Men writers could be. Not that X-writers necessarily hate blondes (Illyana seems beloved enough) and girly girls but it’s not hard that they get the short end of the stick in contrast to the rest.

*terribletimetraveler
3 weeks ago
This was truly a well put together video. I honestly felt like you really found something, the reason why these sexual harassments happen. A fine job mister.