There is no such thing as a collective identity. Discuss with reference to the groups you have been studying.
Fashion today is towards the individual. Audiences, it would seem, want troubled protagonists to sympathize with, individuals with individual struggles and conflicts: struggles with identity, society, and ambition. But the truth of the matter is that the media industry caters to groups, rather than the individual (what money is there in appealing solely to one person?). The industry must condense the audience into tropes, groups, and so they must think of being able to appeal to masses, while keeping in mind the concept of the individual. After all, audience statistics are made up of hundreds upon thousands of individuals, each hoping to find themselves through the media. So what is needed is a character that is open to many different interpretations, that any and all individuals can project themselves through. I, of course, am talking about the superhero.
Masked and mighty, the superhero is a beacon of justice throughout the world, and most recently, Cinema and Television have been dominated by them. Super is the word on everyone's lips, with the incredible success of Marvel's Avengers movie franchise, taking the impressive title of the second highest grossing film franchise of all time. Film studios have been churning out more superhero films than ever before, to cater to the hero-hype started by 2008's Iron Man. But the superhero has long existed, with the first superhero created by Jewish boys Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel in 1938, DC's iconic Superman.
Superman, originally from planet Krypton, is an alien among men. Adopting a new, gentile persona, Clark Kent, he attempts to merge into American society. Superman's experience in fitting into Earth's society can be seen as a parallel of the Jewish-immigrant experience, something Superman's creators, Siegel and Shuster were more than familiar with. Superman, becoming the savior of the city, is accepted into society and praised as a hero: An outcast's fantasy. DC's Superman is not only a symbol of justice, peace, and the American way, but has become a form of wish-fulfillment. A vessel to tell the story of an outcast, who strives to be accepted into society. This symbolic character reflects the struggles of acceptance, and a vast amount of audiences sympathize with him. Social outcasts, immigrants, people forced to hide their true identity for fear of scandal or hostility are able to see themselves within Superman, whose tale has been told time and time again.
Superman, being the first ever superhero, has been template for countless more supers, retelling the story of the outsider, adapting with the times to bring newer, more relatable heroes. Marvel comics, rival to DC comics, introduced more rounded, human heroes, to rival DC's more god-like heroes. The X-men retell the story of the social outsider; mutants who deviate from society's perception of normality. X-men has very potent underlying themes of discrimination. The discrimination the mutants face is parallel to everyday struggles regarding racism and homophobia. Director Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2, X-men: Days of Future Past), mentions in interview that it was the themes of discrimination and identity that led him to take the project on, and it is something he has placed great emphasis on in the films. The characters of Magneto and Charles Xavier, presented as the leading forces of the mutants, have been compared to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King in their differing approaches to humanity. Both X-Men and X2 mention the Mutant Rights Movement, a clear parallel to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Along with bearing similarities with racial conflicts of the past, the X-men films draw similarities to the current issue of homophobia. X-Men(2000) establishes at the very beginning that a mutant's powers do not manifest themselves until adolescence, similar to how teenagers do not fully discover themselves until they come of age, (especially regarding sexual identity). X2(2003) plays upon the idea of homophobia in the memorable scene where teenage mutant, Iceman, comes out as a mutant to his parents. The conversation that follows mimics a conversation a teenager might have with his parents regarding their sexuality, his parents asking uncomfortable, misled questions like: "Have you tried... not being a mutant?"
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