![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Saw X-Men First Class today. That was a good movie. Not perfect, but definitely good. Especially their handling of Charles and Erik. (Though I expect the usual sites are already flooded with slash.) The best bit was, of course, that one cameo... but everyone loved that.
It was cool, too, that they brought in some good characters who hadn't made it to the previous films. (I'm still confused about whether this is starting a new continuity or is an introduction to the existing one. I'd heard the latter, but the movie seems to have indications pointing to both alternatives.)
I have mixed feelings, though, about their handling of history - real and fictional.
Fictional first, since that's easier. I don't expect them to adhere 100% to the comics canon (and, at this point, given all the twisted continuity, I'm not even sure that's physically possible). I'm more or less okay with them doing things like revamping Moira McTaggert from Irish scientist to US CIA agent. And I have no problem with them tossing out the original lineup or rewriting the history/backstory of several characters. But what the heck was that with Angel? Couldn't they have used Dazzler or something? Frankly, I'd have been happier with them giving Dazzler flight powers (for the sake of the aerial battle) than completely revamping one of the original five just for the sake of... what? Having another girl on the team? Who happens to be a stripper?
(ETA: Huh. There's another Angel. Still an odd choice, but at least more explicable.)
And what was that with the Black guy? Brought in so they could have a tight shot of him when Erik mentioned slavery? And then, after that... Well, you know if you've seen it.
As for the real history... like I said, I still don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of cool that they weaved the fictional story into the real-world Cuban Missile Crisis. I think they did a good job of that, and, really, the choices made by the military leadership make more sense this way. And Marvel Comics has long made a point of tying their stories and their world to the real world. At the same time, though, they're playing rather lightly with serious events. A comic book movie. Entertainment. Focused on these fictional characters with fantastic powers, leaving the history to be a mere backdrop. I think it deserves better than that.
Which brings me to the part I'm far less comfortable with. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Most of their families... weren't. Their parents. Their grandparents. Brothers. Sisters. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins. Friends. Neighbors. The two year old boy who would have been my great uncle. All killed. My grandmother sent on the run, hiding with false papers until she was betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. She was unable, for the rest of her days, to even speak of what happened there. But it was always with her.
That Magneto grew up in a concentration camp has long been a part of his history. It's what drives him. They did a good job showing that. And it's important that the history and the story of those camps be told. Especially with so many of the survivors having since died of old age. And so many who try to deny or forget what happened.
But, again... this is a comic book movie. Action and entertainment and effects. It's the story of people with super powers fighting other people with super powers. In the first X-Men movie, they showed Magneto's origin, but then they moved on. In this one, it's an integral part of his story. And I'm honestly not sure which way is better.
It's a story that needs to be told and retold and never forgotten, but I don't know about telling it in this way. Does it help, showing it to people in this way? People who might not otherwise be exposed to even that degree, to be shown that point of view? Or does it hurt, fictionalizing it and putting it into the background? And what of the inescapable fact that Magneto becomes a villain and a terrorist?
In other news: Before the movie, there were, naturally, trailers. Most of them confusing. I now have even less of an idea of what Super 8 or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are about than I did before. But then I saw this trailer for Reel Steel and I had exactly the same thought as apparently several other people: Holy crap, they actually went and made a movie out of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. I could have sworn that was a Robot Chicken parody idea. But hey, if they can make a movie out of Battleship (yes, the board game), I guess they can make a movie out of anything.
In other other news: On the drive home from the movie theater, U2's Mysterious Ways was playing on the radio... on the classic rock station. There is something very wrong with reality.
In other U2 news: Did you hear about the song they dedicated to Gabby Giffords? I just love her husband's response.
In other space news: You can send your name to Mars (digitally encoded on NASA's upcoming Curiosity rover).
It was cool, too, that they brought in some good characters who hadn't made it to the previous films. (I'm still confused about whether this is starting a new continuity or is an introduction to the existing one. I'd heard the latter, but the movie seems to have indications pointing to both alternatives.)
I have mixed feelings, though, about their handling of history - real and fictional.
Fictional first, since that's easier. I don't expect them to adhere 100% to the comics canon (and, at this point, given all the twisted continuity, I'm not even sure that's physically possible). I'm more or less okay with them doing things like revamping Moira McTaggert from Irish scientist to US CIA agent. And I have no problem with them tossing out the original lineup or rewriting the history/backstory of several characters. But what the heck was that with Angel? Couldn't they have used Dazzler or something? Frankly, I'd have been happier with them giving Dazzler flight powers (for the sake of the aerial battle) than completely revamping one of the original five just for the sake of... what? Having another girl on the team? Who happens to be a stripper?
(ETA: Huh. There's another Angel. Still an odd choice, but at least more explicable.)
And what was that with the Black guy? Brought in so they could have a tight shot of him when Erik mentioned slavery? And then, after that... Well, you know if you've seen it.
As for the real history... like I said, I still don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of cool that they weaved the fictional story into the real-world Cuban Missile Crisis. I think they did a good job of that, and, really, the choices made by the military leadership make more sense this way. And Marvel Comics has long made a point of tying their stories and their world to the real world. At the same time, though, they're playing rather lightly with serious events. A comic book movie. Entertainment. Focused on these fictional characters with fantastic powers, leaving the history to be a mere backdrop. I think it deserves better than that.
Which brings me to the part I'm far less comfortable with. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Most of their families... weren't. Their parents. Their grandparents. Brothers. Sisters. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins. Friends. Neighbors. The two year old boy who would have been my great uncle. All killed. My grandmother sent on the run, hiding with false papers until she was betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. She was unable, for the rest of her days, to even speak of what happened there. But it was always with her.
That Magneto grew up in a concentration camp has long been a part of his history. It's what drives him. They did a good job showing that. And it's important that the history and the story of those camps be told. Especially with so many of the survivors having since died of old age. And so many who try to deny or forget what happened.
But, again... this is a comic book movie. Action and entertainment and effects. It's the story of people with super powers fighting other people with super powers. In the first X-Men movie, they showed Magneto's origin, but then they moved on. In this one, it's an integral part of his story. And I'm honestly not sure which way is better.
It's a story that needs to be told and retold and never forgotten, but I don't know about telling it in this way. Does it help, showing it to people in this way? People who might not otherwise be exposed to even that degree, to be shown that point of view? Or does it hurt, fictionalizing it and putting it into the background? And what of the inescapable fact that Magneto becomes a villain and a terrorist?
In other news: Before the movie, there were, naturally, trailers. Most of them confusing. I now have even less of an idea of what Super 8 or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are about than I did before. But then I saw this trailer for Reel Steel and I had exactly the same thought as apparently several other people: Holy crap, they actually went and made a movie out of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. I could have sworn that was a Robot Chicken parody idea. But hey, if they can make a movie out of Battleship (yes, the board game), I guess they can make a movie out of anything.
In other other news: On the drive home from the movie theater, U2's Mysterious Ways was playing on the radio... on the classic rock station. There is something very wrong with reality.
In other U2 news: Did you hear about the song they dedicated to Gabby Giffords? I just love her husband's response.
In other space news: You can send your name to Mars (digitally encoded on NASA's upcoming Curiosity rover).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
as for magneto. i dont think they could really have left that part out. it was already discussed in the previous movie, so everybody already knows. now i havent seen the movie so i'm not clear whether they showed it actually happening or if it was more of a flashback thing. but either way, this is what made him what he is. and at a young age, even assuming it's all over, it's still (as you said) with him every moment. you dont forget something like that, not even after 50 years, and certainly not after, say, two. you either become extremely damaged (like magneto) or you learn to rise above and let it give you strength. magneto let it fill him with hate, and i think that's an unavoidable point in his story. it's also what makes him more than a 2-d villain. we may not like everything he does in his later years, but we kind of understand and sympathize because he has that depth and that tragedy.
as i said, i havent actually seen the movie yet, so i'm just talking off the top of my head here. but that's my two cents.
From:
no subject
You're right that they couldn't have left Magneto's motivations out. And it does give depth to the character. I still have mixed feelings about it, though. Very dicey mixing real history with fictional, especially given how many people want to deny or play down this particular bit of history. Still, like I said, it's good, too, that people are being exposed to that history in a way they might not otherwise be. People who wouldn't go to a museum or a documentary can see, in a stark and relateble fashion, at least a piece of what happened and what effect that sort of trauma can have. ... If they accept it as realistic rather than the over-the-top work of a cartoonish villain from a comic book movie. I think it helps and hurts at the same time.
Meanwhile, I saw an article pointing out that the movie completely ignored the Civil Rights movement and anything to do with Black history (other than the one overdone mention of slavery). And the only minorities in the film were minor characters who did not fare well. Like I said, when you mix real history with fictional, it gets dicey. What you put in can be just as bad as what you leave out.
In any case... it was a good movie. I do hope you get to see it. I think you'd like it.
From:
Long version, if you're interested
Cyclops could fire his blasts, but the damage they could do was limited and he had to press a button on the side of his visor to use them.
Beast had human skin, but an otherwise ape-like body, giving him great agility, very fine balance, the ability to cling to things with his feet, and slightly greater than human strength. (And a very fun-loving and outgoing personality.)
Iceman looked like a walking snowman and basically threw snowballs. He could also make some basic ice constructs. (He was first seen sliding down a fire pole of sorts, which he'd made out of ice.)
Angel could fly. A little faster than the others could run. Very nimble in the air.
Jean was telepathic (though not as powerful as Xavier) and could use her TK to lift light objects (capped at roughly the amount she could pick up with her physical hands).
Magneto could fly, create a large and powerful force field, and move reasonably large metal objects. Working together, the five X-men were able to punch through his force field - barely.
Over time, the characters became more powerful.
Nowadays, when Scott (who long since abandoned the nickname "Slim") takes off his glasses, this is what happens.
Beast became the team's main scientist and intellectual (though still cheerful and outgoing). Later, he tried to "cure" his mutation - an experiment which backfired, leaving him furry, blue, and much stronger and more agile than he'd been before.
Iceman learned to coat his body in ice (not snow), and eventually to turn his whole body into ice (and to heal himself when in that form). He also managed to produce a lot more ice (huge walls of it, or entire snowstorms) as well as intricate constructs (such as finely made sculptures). When he concentrates now, he can cool things down to nearly absolute zero. I don't remember whether he could make his "ice slides" at the beginning.
Jean grew stronger in both her telepathy and telekinesis. Her reach became wider. She could lift huge objects, as well as handle several at once. Build force fields. Lift herself and others into the air. And then she became Phoenix, who could do just about anything. (Even without the Phoenix Force, she retained a "residual" power boost from having been its host.) She became nearly as good as Xavier himself at using Cerebro.
(TBC. Company intruded.)
From:
Re: Long version, if you're interested
Which leaves Angel. He could fly. With giant wings. That's it. Amongst a growing number of characters (good and evil) for whom flying was a secondary power. As with the others, his backstory was expanded. There was a whole thing with his rich, mutant-hating father. A romantic relationship with Psylocke. But, power-wise, there was no room for him to grow.
That's where Apocalypse comes in. Angel's wings were cut off. His body and mind were remade. And the wings were replaced with "organic metal." He could fly much faster (in excess of Mach 1, I believe), shield himself behind his metal wings, and throw razor-sharp poison-tipped metal "feathers" with great speed and accuracy. He became (the Angel of) Death, the first of Apocalypse's Horsemen.
The X-men defeated him and deprogrammed him, but he was left scarred, full of anger and hatred. He decided that Angel was no longer an appropriate name. He was no longer the kind, benevolent one with beautiful wings. He was a powerful, vengeful... Archangel.
But, before that, he was Angel for about 20 years. And the Angel in the movie was introduced much later (sometime in the 90s, I think I read) in one of the peripheral books. She was never an X-man.
The movie here has five original X-men, as well. You've seen them in the previews. Beast is in the lineup (though they changed his personality, left his hands normal, and allowed him to hide his feet). Instead of Cyclops, we have his brother Havok. (Who, in the comics, was retconned in years later, originally as a villain, with the explanation that they'd been separated by the plane crash, and Scott had thought him dead. There was some amnesia involved, as well, I believe.)
The only other name from the original comics lineup is Angel. Except... instead of being a rich white guy with (big white feathery) wings (as seen in X3), she's a dark-skinned stripper with (colorful translucent insectoid) wings. (And I don't believe she was ever a stripper in the comics.)
It can't be a coincidence that they chose someone who went by Angel, and, in a way, it's good that they had another girl and someone dark-skinned on the team. But she's a relatively obscure character in the comics, which makes the swap somewhat confusing. And, when you get down to it... she was clearly chosen because her name is Angel and she's a dark-skinned girl.
She doesn't even really belong in that generation. Beast and Havok do. Mystique is actually supposed to be older (her shapeshifting powers slow her aging). Banshee and Moira are closer to Charles's age, even if they were introduced later. Sebastian Shaw fits in. Emma Frost is about the right age. But Angel was introduced as a teenager in the 90s, when the original lineup was at least a decade older, probably hovering around 30. Not that they have to stick to that history, but it's just one more thing that makes her stick out like a sore thumb.
From:
Re: Long version, if you're interested
here's something i just ran across, if you're interested. orson scott card seems to share your opinion on the movie's use of world war 2.
http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2011-06-09.shtml
From:
Re: Long version, if you're interested
In the morning, I can deal with text. I can take it at my own pace. And I have an easier time processing written words than sounds. It's not that I don't like them. They're longtime family friends. I just wasn't ready to deal with them, and couldn't see a way to politely extract myself.
Anyway... Glad you enjoyed reading it. That makes it all worthwhile. :)
As for OSC... that seems to be about the only point we agree on. And he's saying it with no consciousness that the Holocaust is part of Erik's backstory, both in the movies and the comics. And, really, no further thought on the matter at all. But then, much as I enjoyed the complex worldbuilding and psychological insights of the middle Ender books, OSC and I don't seem to agree on much of anything else. Ah well. Thanks for the link. :)