A Study in Contrast

A few new mutations, the same old concerns and some exquisite visuals prop up this passable series reboot.

Children, especially when in a caustic clique, can be the cruelest dispensers of vocabulary. Far from the well-meaning barbs or jests that strengthen bonds, these acidic aspersions are cast with divisive intentions – to establish hegemony. If the kids at the receiving end of these barbs have little or no support of their own, from within or from external sources, the tumult of this marginalization becomes that much more unbearable. Therein lies the popularity of the X-Men series: the mutants, be it in the comics, animated series or the Bryan Singer film adaptations, are stand ins for the kids who are marginalized, often tormented, for their non-conformities. Only, these mutants have the abilities, if they choose to find and channel them, to retaliate against their oppressors. Despite being lower in the established social strata, they have the powers to shuffle the existing order in their favor. The question that remains, then, is how they choose to effect this change – through dialog or damage infliction.

Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men First class is concerned with the same id issues that made the first three Bryan Singer films (edited for accuracy:) two Bryan Singer films in the series entertaining. Its defining motif is its exercise of contrasts. Set in a time when communism was still perceived a threat and Professor X and Magneto were still Charles Xavier (James McAvoy looking as dapper as he did in Starter for Ten) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael “I can make every facial muscle tic” Fassbender), the film consistently employs this needle of contrast to weave the various threads in its yarn. Compare, for instance, the adolescence of our two protagonists. Charles Xavier, raised a mansion in Westchester that will eventually become his school for the gifted, is a child of luxury. He goes on to a degree in Cambridge and, when not pursuing his interest in genetics, pursuing a youth well spent. Lehnsherr, on the other hand, is a product of oppression. Prodded into his powers by the Nazi torturer Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon hamming it up and providing a whole new generation material for six degrees games), Lehnsherr grows up to become a one-man Mossad – hunting remnants of the darkness that swallowed his youth. Xavier’s telepathic abilities developed due to the lack of other challenges. Lehnsherr’s were the product of immense duress and anger.

Another luxury that Xavier is afforded, by virtue of his purely cerebral powers, is the lack of physical deformity. This is again contrasted with a young Raven, the shape shifter Mystique played by a nubile young Jennifer Lawrence, who is constantly conflicted about having to assume a more presentable form. Unless one is from the Indian subcontinent, male and living in the Dwapara Yuga, blue skin can be a dating deterrent and this, above all others, is of concern to a teenager. Xavier, despite having taken Raven under his wing when she was very young, is obviously uncomfortable with her physical appearance. The same questions that afflict Lehnsherr’s relationship with Xavier confront her relationship with the Professor as well. How will one who has never felt, either the searing tattoo that reduces you to a number or the staring gaze that reduces you to an animal, understand? Each of Xavier’s friendships, forged with his good intentions, is doomed by the disparity between the haves and have-nots. Professor X may have the love and respect of his fellow mutants but their allegiance is an altogether different matter.

Despite its purported concerns with internal strife, the film sacrifices a large portion of its time to dealing with external nemeses. Sebastian Shaw, a mutant himself, returns with his cabal of villains Emma Frost (January Jones’ single note playing perfectly for the ice princess she is cast as), Riptide and Azazel to bring the United States and the USSR to the brink of nuclear war. Shaw operates from a submarine, as if to indicate that despite what our history texts tell us there is always something more that lies beneath. It is up to an ad-hoc team assembled by Xavier, Lehnsherr and CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne in an often-goes-missing role) to foil his plans and save the world. There is, of course, no surprise that they do – what we are really there to see is how the crown of evil is passed down from Shaw to Lehnsherr and how the rivalry between the friends is cemented. Set in a time when internal political strife in the United States was reaching a fever pitch, it is symptomatic that this film chooses to focus on external threats rather than focus on the emotional breakthroughs of each character. As a result every epiphany or realization, from Lehnsherr to the younger mutants, appears to happen far too easily. However, this is to be expected, I guess, from a summer flick whose only reference to the civil rights struggles of the time is a brief cut to its only black character after the word enslaved is uttered. This contrast, the one between what the film chooses to exploit and what it leaves unexplored, is its defining characteristic.

P.S: An edited version appears in today's City Express supplement of the New Indian Express. Link here.