XM:FC personal primer
On sequels
- Vaughn told Superhero Hype that he’s game for a sequel if Fox are: "But we will only be bringing one more new character in. Because, I think, as Professor X is in a wheelchair, Magneto needs to have a nemesis he can fight with. Someone that will be his equal. I know who it is. It would be nice if I could say something, but I can’t, mate!"
- Talks of Cable + video of Singer and Vaughn discussing the movie: According to The Coventry Telegraph's Geek Files (via Comic Book Movie), writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz told the crowd at this past weekend's MCM Expo London Comic Con that they have one Marvel Mutant in mind for a sequel. "We would like to introduce Cable. He's such a cool character and we haven't seen him in any of the films yet."
Said by the actors
- McAvoy on Xavier's future: "Not only has he lost his best friend, but he has also been paralyzed for the rest of his life. Those are two huge things to deal with in the second film. I think the psychological aspects of that are quite interesting, and I'd really like to explore that. He was really fun in this movie and I'd like to make him really f****d up in the second film."
- McAvoy on Xavier/Magneto: For the record, McAvoy would have preferred it if Xavier and Magneto stayed together. Like, really together. "It is a little bit of a mini-tragedy that him and Magneto don't, you know, have sex and become married and become best friends."
- James on Xavier/Magneto again: "This is the first time in their lives they've met someone who is an equal of sorts, someone who understands them." James and Michael screen-tested for the roles together and James hoped from their first auditions that they would be cast together.
- Even more from James on Xavier/Magneto: "[...] his relationship with Erik [a.k.a. Magneto] is probably the closest relationship he's ever had."
- Fassbender on mutant sex: "I think that Charles is just horny, and just trying to get laid. Throughout the film. He’s like ‘human beings are cool, give them a chance’ because he just wants to have human being sex. He doesn’t want to have mutant sex. Whereas Eric really gets off on mutant sex."
- Fassbender on Magneto's background and other things: "Obviously, what was happening in the concentration camps and then he escaped from there with Magda, fell in love with her, then their child got burned and he ended up killing the whole town and she's like 'Whoa, this is too heavy for me, I gotta leave.' So the love of his life left him. (...) We see the stuff that's happening in the concentration camp, you see that, but you don't see that relationship (with Magda). I've just held that for my own personal use (in developing) the character, so when we meet him at the beginning of this film, he's definitely a lone wolf. He's on a mission and he's uncompromising and then he bumps into Charles, literally collides into him, and then it's the development of their relationship and really exploring that during the '60s and the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King an Malcolm X." (+ fun radio interview where he also talk about Magda among other things)
Said by the writers
- Video for Collider.com: Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz talk about Jennifer Lawrence taking on Mystique and the rushed production schedule. They also say Rose Byrne’s character was originally much bigger in the script than in the finished film. (Mention of how the Moira and Charles romance was supposed to be more relevant to the story comes from here.)
- Zack Stentz attends a SDCC panel: Stentz basically confirmed Erik/Charles (he called First Class, “the tragic romance of Charles and Erik”) and went on to describe how if certain events/personal ideologies/chosen paths hadn’t forced them apart, Erik and Charles would most certainly be together. According to him, it’s one of those “they’re meant for each other, but fate refuses to let them stay together” situations. (Screencap)
From the same panel: Zack Stentz lurks on tumblr, hide yo kids, hide yo wife
(About the last two links: above are the original sources, but since tumblr users often change their handles, the links become invalid. Right now (October 13) the content of the first link can be found here and Stentz specifically referencing tumblr macros here.)
Fandom Meta
Race and Women in XM:FC: The transgressions of male characters against the women around them are played mostly for laughs: Moira’s gender is routinely mocked by her superiors in front of her as if she was not present, Shaw snidely asks Emma Frost to freshen up his drink, and while we are certainly not invited to side with the jerks at the CIA or Sebastian Shaw, neither are we invited to see Moira and Emma’s struggle for equality as being in any way a parallel or similar struggle as that of the mutant race.
On Charles and Raven: People are quick to point out just how entrenched in privileged society Charles is, but sometimes they're still surprised when he holds the same values as that society. To put it bluntly: Charles is a prude. He's comfortable with sexuality approved of by his society and class, which does not include talking to your naked sister in the kitchen, even if your sister has no nipples (wtf with that?)
slash as welcome side effect of sloppy writing - some paragraphs: Like, what was the pitch here? "They have an instant intense connection, within a couple of days they develop a rapport and soon they're working together seamlessly, a few months later Charles cares about him A LOT, a week after that they share manly tears and vulnerability and passionate praise and Erik smiles and laughs in a non-creepy way (and is suddenly without his months-ago opposition to having his mind read), then they part ways forever for no apparent concrete and immediate reason really and spend the next several decades fighting and longing for each other. IT'S SO HETEROSEXUAL."
What kind of Jew is Erik Lehnsherr, anyway? And what does it mean for fic writers?: What about religious observance? In the film we are granted a glimpse of Erik's Judaism through a childhood memory plucked from his head by Charles: Erik lighting Chanukah candles with his mother. I've already detailed why I feel this particular scene was problematic in another post, but leaving that aside, it's a good clue for us to determine what kind of religious observance Erik and his family might have had. Chanukah is not a particularly important holiday in Judaism; it's granted the degree of cultural importance it has as a result of its proximity to Christmas (that, and Festivals of Light like Chanukah and Diwali are easy and pretty for filmmakers to portray and the general culture to understand).
Why Is Charles Good: There's a Twilight Zone episode in which a little boy has the power to make people disappear at will. Understandably, everyone who knows him is terrified of him and, thus, caters to his every whim, lest he get testy and zap them. As a result, the boy is a petulant brat with a sense of entitlement the size of Texas. Why was Charles Xavier not this boy?
Magneto - a confounding contradiction: And Erik hated who Shaw was, but also... I guess, it's possible that he needed his time with Shaw to mean something. To be more than a tragic accident of circumstances, that he ended up with this lunatic torturing him and telling him it was for his own good. He had to believe it really was, on some level, for his own good. Had to believe he was as special and resilient and monstrous as Shaw told him he was. Because otherwise, what was the point? It was all a terrible mistake. And he's left again with the idea that people are capable of terrible evil and the world is a dark place and life not worth living for any reason other than vengeance and rage. Life-denying. Nihilism.
On Charles and Erik: Emotionally, they fairly crash into each other in a way that is natural and makes sense. Both are primed to be open to each other by significant lacks in their prior relationships. Erik lacks relationship almost entirely. He has cut himself off from other people in pursuit of his revenge. He believes he's condemned to be cut off--like Frankenstein's monster--as the only one of his kind, the only person he's ever been aware of who has freakish powers.
Charles's isolation is subtler. He's aware of other mutants and has a close relationship with one of them (Raven). He is also more normally enmeshed in a community and social life. But he is the only telepath he's ever known, and this isolates him, probably all the more so because he can read others' minds and know exactly how their experience differs from his.
X-Men: First Class (on mutants): Both Raven and Charles hurt each other in the movie by denying to embrace the other one is and what they need - Charles wants Raven to be safe, so he encourages her to hide under fair skin and blonde hair; while Raven wants Charles to reassure her, but she made him promise long ago not to read her thoughts, so when he's dealing with her, he's trying to navigate a relationship without casual telepathy to ease the way and he doesn't realize what she's really asking him (and, of course, Charles has no right to be in Raven's head - that where it ties back into his power, indeed, his very self being inherently unethical and that being part of what forms Charles as a character; he can choose to do what comes naturally or he can choose to maintain normal human ethics of privacy).
Additional: (1) Movie Recap by seperis with analysis, (2) comment mini-meta ("I think at this point in the story, mutation is all that really matters about a person to Erik, with the probable exception of Charles. That's why Charles has to part from him at the end of the movie and there really isn't a possibility of compromising and finding common ground on a regular basis. Their differences aren't in the degree of violence they're willing to apply, it's that Erik really feels non-mutated ordinary human are inherently of lesser worth and Charles doesn't."), (3) Magneto and Professor X Had Sex at the Movies This Summer-Did You See It? (E! Online article)
Extras
Deleted scenes | "Children Of The Atom" Behind The Scene videos
- Vaughn told Superhero Hype that he’s game for a sequel if Fox are: "But we will only be bringing one more new character in. Because, I think, as Professor X is in a wheelchair, Magneto needs to have a nemesis he can fight with. Someone that will be his equal. I know who it is. It would be nice if I could say something, but I can’t, mate!"
- Talks of Cable + video of Singer and Vaughn discussing the movie: According to The Coventry Telegraph's Geek Files (via Comic Book Movie), writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz told the crowd at this past weekend's MCM Expo London Comic Con that they have one Marvel Mutant in mind for a sequel. "We would like to introduce Cable. He's such a cool character and we haven't seen him in any of the films yet."
Said by the actors
- McAvoy on Xavier's future: "Not only has he lost his best friend, but he has also been paralyzed for the rest of his life. Those are two huge things to deal with in the second film. I think the psychological aspects of that are quite interesting, and I'd really like to explore that. He was really fun in this movie and I'd like to make him really f****d up in the second film."
- McAvoy on Xavier/Magneto: For the record, McAvoy would have preferred it if Xavier and Magneto stayed together. Like, really together. "It is a little bit of a mini-tragedy that him and Magneto don't, you know, have sex and become married and become best friends."
- James on Xavier/Magneto again: "This is the first time in their lives they've met someone who is an equal of sorts, someone who understands them." James and Michael screen-tested for the roles together and James hoped from their first auditions that they would be cast together.
- Even more from James on Xavier/Magneto: "[...] his relationship with Erik [a.k.a. Magneto] is probably the closest relationship he's ever had."
- Fassbender on mutant sex: "I think that Charles is just horny, and just trying to get laid. Throughout the film. He’s like ‘human beings are cool, give them a chance’ because he just wants to have human being sex. He doesn’t want to have mutant sex. Whereas Eric really gets off on mutant sex."
- Fassbender on Magneto's background and other things: "Obviously, what was happening in the concentration camps and then he escaped from there with Magda, fell in love with her, then their child got burned and he ended up killing the whole town and she's like 'Whoa, this is too heavy for me, I gotta leave.' So the love of his life left him. (...) We see the stuff that's happening in the concentration camp, you see that, but you don't see that relationship (with Magda). I've just held that for my own personal use (in developing) the character, so when we meet him at the beginning of this film, he's definitely a lone wolf. He's on a mission and he's uncompromising and then he bumps into Charles, literally collides into him, and then it's the development of their relationship and really exploring that during the '60s and the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King an Malcolm X." (+ fun radio interview where he also talk about Magda among other things)
Said by the writers
- Video for Collider.com: Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz talk about Jennifer Lawrence taking on Mystique and the rushed production schedule. They also say Rose Byrne’s character was originally much bigger in the script than in the finished film. (Mention of how the Moira and Charles romance was supposed to be more relevant to the story comes from here.)
- Zack Stentz attends a SDCC panel: Stentz basically confirmed Erik/Charles (he called First Class, “the tragic romance of Charles and Erik”) and went on to describe how if certain events/personal ideologies/chosen paths hadn’t forced them apart, Erik and Charles would most certainly be together. According to him, it’s one of those “they’re meant for each other, but fate refuses to let them stay together” situations. (Screencap)
From the same panel: Zack Stentz lurks on tumblr, hide yo kids, hide yo wife
(About the last two links: above are the original sources, but since tumblr users often change their handles, the links become invalid. Right now (October 13) the content of the first link can be found here and Stentz specifically referencing tumblr macros here.)
Fandom Meta
Race and Women in XM:FC: The transgressions of male characters against the women around them are played mostly for laughs: Moira’s gender is routinely mocked by her superiors in front of her as if she was not present, Shaw snidely asks Emma Frost to freshen up his drink, and while we are certainly not invited to side with the jerks at the CIA or Sebastian Shaw, neither are we invited to see Moira and Emma’s struggle for equality as being in any way a parallel or similar struggle as that of the mutant race.
On Charles and Raven: People are quick to point out just how entrenched in privileged society Charles is, but sometimes they're still surprised when he holds the same values as that society. To put it bluntly: Charles is a prude. He's comfortable with sexuality approved of by his society and class, which does not include talking to your naked sister in the kitchen, even if your sister has no nipples (wtf with that?)
slash as welcome side effect of sloppy writing - some paragraphs: Like, what was the pitch here? "They have an instant intense connection, within a couple of days they develop a rapport and soon they're working together seamlessly, a few months later Charles cares about him A LOT, a week after that they share manly tears and vulnerability and passionate praise and Erik smiles and laughs in a non-creepy way (and is suddenly without his months-ago opposition to having his mind read), then they part ways forever for no apparent concrete and immediate reason really and spend the next several decades fighting and longing for each other. IT'S SO HETEROSEXUAL."
What kind of Jew is Erik Lehnsherr, anyway? And what does it mean for fic writers?: What about religious observance? In the film we are granted a glimpse of Erik's Judaism through a childhood memory plucked from his head by Charles: Erik lighting Chanukah candles with his mother. I've already detailed why I feel this particular scene was problematic in another post, but leaving that aside, it's a good clue for us to determine what kind of religious observance Erik and his family might have had. Chanukah is not a particularly important holiday in Judaism; it's granted the degree of cultural importance it has as a result of its proximity to Christmas (that, and Festivals of Light like Chanukah and Diwali are easy and pretty for filmmakers to portray and the general culture to understand).
Why Is Charles Good: There's a Twilight Zone episode in which a little boy has the power to make people disappear at will. Understandably, everyone who knows him is terrified of him and, thus, caters to his every whim, lest he get testy and zap them. As a result, the boy is a petulant brat with a sense of entitlement the size of Texas. Why was Charles Xavier not this boy?
Magneto - a confounding contradiction: And Erik hated who Shaw was, but also... I guess, it's possible that he needed his time with Shaw to mean something. To be more than a tragic accident of circumstances, that he ended up with this lunatic torturing him and telling him it was for his own good. He had to believe it really was, on some level, for his own good. Had to believe he was as special and resilient and monstrous as Shaw told him he was. Because otherwise, what was the point? It was all a terrible mistake. And he's left again with the idea that people are capable of terrible evil and the world is a dark place and life not worth living for any reason other than vengeance and rage. Life-denying. Nihilism.
On Charles and Erik: Emotionally, they fairly crash into each other in a way that is natural and makes sense. Both are primed to be open to each other by significant lacks in their prior relationships. Erik lacks relationship almost entirely. He has cut himself off from other people in pursuit of his revenge. He believes he's condemned to be cut off--like Frankenstein's monster--as the only one of his kind, the only person he's ever been aware of who has freakish powers.
Charles's isolation is subtler. He's aware of other mutants and has a close relationship with one of them (Raven). He is also more normally enmeshed in a community and social life. But he is the only telepath he's ever known, and this isolates him, probably all the more so because he can read others' minds and know exactly how their experience differs from his.
X-Men: First Class (on mutants): Both Raven and Charles hurt each other in the movie by denying to embrace the other one is and what they need - Charles wants Raven to be safe, so he encourages her to hide under fair skin and blonde hair; while Raven wants Charles to reassure her, but she made him promise long ago not to read her thoughts, so when he's dealing with her, he's trying to navigate a relationship without casual telepathy to ease the way and he doesn't realize what she's really asking him (and, of course, Charles has no right to be in Raven's head - that where it ties back into his power, indeed, his very self being inherently unethical and that being part of what forms Charles as a character; he can choose to do what comes naturally or he can choose to maintain normal human ethics of privacy).
Additional: (1) Movie Recap by seperis with analysis, (2) comment mini-meta ("I think at this point in the story, mutation is all that really matters about a person to Erik, with the probable exception of Charles. That's why Charles has to part from him at the end of the movie and there really isn't a possibility of compromising and finding common ground on a regular basis. Their differences aren't in the degree of violence they're willing to apply, it's that Erik really feels non-mutated ordinary human are inherently of lesser worth and Charles doesn't."), (3) Magneto and Professor X Had Sex at the Movies This Summer-Did You See It? (E! Online article)
Extras
Deleted scenes | "Children Of The Atom" Behind The Scene videos