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Julia Cho’s Durango as a Mutant Superhero Narrative

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2017, 30(1), pp.33-55
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Jeongsub Nam 1

1영남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Julia Cho’s Durango is unique because it is a bildungsroman style travelogue of three men who suffer from homosexuality, alienation and the lack of a wife/mother. The idiosyncrasy of the play also lies in its engagement of the mutants from the X-Men series, which highlights an analogy between minority narratives and superhero narratives. The heroes and villains in the X-Men series share the same origin: X factor which caused them to lose opportunities to be normal and to be alienated from the mainstream society of homo sapiens. The theme of loss and alienation echoes in the minority characters in Durango, Boo-Seong, Isaac, and Jimmy, who feel alienated because of their ethnicity and homosexuality. The heroic mutants differentiate themselves from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants by trying to build a mutually beneficial relationship with humankind and fighting against the villainous mutants. Their strifes represent their dualistic desire to keep their mutant identity and successfully assimilate into mainstream society. This paired ambition is visible in the Asian American men in Durango and their pursuit of the ambition unavoidably coincides with pain and confusion. Flaws and the pain subsequently caused actually make mutants human as well as super. It would enable them to realize their subjectivity for them to acknowledge their flaws and to accept pain as part of their identity. The same is true for the father and sons in Durango.

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