more First Class thoughts
Soooooooooo, saw it for the fourth time yesterday. Doot doot doot. Randomly, I need a "like a boss" icon for Erik or something. Actually, I've long wanted to do a series of manpain icons with the caption "swallow sadness, like a boss." Erik is SO fitting, too.
Anyway, more random thoughts:
Erik was sadly not actually popcorn.gif at Sean during the first flying attempt scene. He was chewing gum. I wonder if it's a Fassbender thing that bled through, because Erik doesn't strike me as a gum chewer.
I didn't talk enough about the kids the first time around because I was too busy being ♥____♥ over Erik and Charles, but I really honestly do love the kids. I think that's what makes the movie still enjoyable the fourth time around. Usually by this point, I get really bored with sections of the movie, but I equally enjoy all the bits. I adored Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Shaw, and I really liked the kids learning to hone their abilities.
Bacon was clearly having a grand ol' time. I love that he just chewed into it. He's like Craig Parker's Darken Rahl. It's like he thought: I'm just going to extend all my fingers and toes into this character and have fun with it.
Since I'm paying more attention, I'm disappointed in the kid who plays Alex. Or maybe disappointed is too strong a word. Alex has a lot there, implied, but I don't think Lucas Till fulfilled that potential. He kinda falls flat for me. But I still like what Alex is, on the paper there. Or maybe I just like him more now that I'm writing him. This always happens. -_-
Nicholas Hoult was awesome as Hank though, and I ADORE Sean. I really really love the kid who plays Sean, though I wonder how old Sean is supposed to be. The actor is 21, but Sean seems younger than that. IDK IDK. And you know what pleased me a great deal? When Beast was like, "boop we don't have sonar," it was SEAN HIMSELF who goes, "no, we do." They easily could've had another character, especially Charles, be the one who points this out. Instead, it's a wonderful moment of Sean realizing himself, a coming into one's own. That's fabulous, and it's kind of something small in a way, but it made a lot of difference to me.
And speaking of small things that intrigue me, the meeting between Erik and Charles was like HMMM to me, too. I actually was HMMM about it since the first viewing. It's such a deliberate piece of dialogue for Erik to go, "I thought I was alone." Tell me, doesn't it make more dialogue sense for him to say, "I thought I was the only one." The only one with powers. The only one like me. But it's so deliberate to have him use the word "alone" so Charles could come back with "you're not alone."
Alone is a very powerful word. And it's that word that sets Erik apart and defines him. In the end, the tragedy of Erik is that he thinks he's alone and he cannot accept that he's not. The narrow focus of his pain cannot be lessened or shared. He is the epitome of manpain: my pain is the most special one in the whole world and nobody will ever understand it. Which isn't to say that I wish to downplay his experiences. He lived through the Holocaust. He was clearly tortured all throughout his youth. It is a great deal of suffering, and I'm not judging him for thinking and feeling the way he does. But that is the observation here, that the nature of pain pervades him. When you feel it, it is acute, unrelenting, and cannot be fathomed by others. And therefore no wonder that Erik suffers from a failure of compassion. Your own world is all you know when you hurt and hurt and hurt.
But conversely, as I said, I don't want to judge him. And I don't know how to feel about the seeming casting of his anger as not being a right thing. I don't think the movie moralizes it too much, but it's still underlying there, that Erik's anger is a bad thing. It makes him do bad things. Others have pointed out that it's problematic to cast anger in a negative light. After all, Erik has much to be angry about, and he is justified in feeling so. I don't know. I think the movie isn't as clear cut about it as it seems. Because the chess conversation is more nuanced than one thinks.
"Listen to me very carefully, my friend. Killing will not bring you peace." Will not bring Erik peace. For all the zingers Erik sent his way, all of which are good points btw, Charles does not actually refute any of them, and what he ends up deciding to say is completely revolved around Erik. Not that killing Shaw is necessarily a bad thing unto itself, not that mutants aren't the next stage of evolution and the "lesser" evolved should be extinct (which Charles, hello, wrote a damn thesis on), but instead, Charles conveys his worry for Erik, specifically. And when Erik replies that peace was never an option, sure he does mean the conflict between mutant and human, but he's also talking about himself and we go right back to the tragedy of Erik Lensherr and his epic pain that cannot be lessened or forgotten.
But why should he? Atrocities should be remembered and one must always remain angry about it. Passion is what inspires change. It is what keeps us vigilant. And thus we get to the tragedy of Charles Xavier, which is his arrogance in thinking that he understands Erik when he really really doesn't. It's not the bullet that wrecks him in the end (though, well, yeah, it does), but the understanding of his failure where Erik is concerned. Buuuuut, I don't think he really really does. He just knows that the breach between them cannot be bridged. I don't think he's learned anything anymore than Erik has.
So it just comes back to the fact that they have not found the place between rage and serenity, and that is both their tragedies beyond their own personal hamartia. And yes, I am patting myself on the back for breaking out that term. *dusts it off*
Ahem.
I don't know if any of that makes sense. I guess I just don't like the idea that Erik is clearly wrong because he's angry or that Charles is a privileged dickweed who doesn't know anything about anything. It's both and neither and all of that.
And okay, these are supposed to be RANDOM THOUGHTS, not paragraphs of meta. -_-
I love Jennifer Lawrence more and more with each progressive viewing, and I feel for Raven more and more, too. She has some amazing facial expressions, and she conveys hurt that resounds. Still angry though that her and Moira and Emma were not properly explored where women and femininity were concerned though. They had all the dots and didn't connect them at all. Rabble rabble.
Erik saying that it'd be his pleasure to kill you in French is WAY HOTTER THAN IT OUGHT TO BE. The way he enunciates "plaisir" and "tuer" omg. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH. Imagine him telling you, "il serait mon plaisir de vous baiser." XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD (though I guess it'd be "tu baiser" idk, shouldn't be on formal terms if we're about to fuck, right? Hahahahaha. Ahem.)
You know, I probably had more thoughts, but I totally just lost them after thinking about Fassbender speaking 8 million different languages in this movie. (okay, it's just three, but it's still a lot, and it's still ridiculously hot)
Anyway, more random thoughts:
Erik was sadly not actually popcorn.gif at Sean during the first flying attempt scene. He was chewing gum. I wonder if it's a Fassbender thing that bled through, because Erik doesn't strike me as a gum chewer.
I didn't talk enough about the kids the first time around because I was too busy being ♥____♥ over Erik and Charles, but I really honestly do love the kids. I think that's what makes the movie still enjoyable the fourth time around. Usually by this point, I get really bored with sections of the movie, but I equally enjoy all the bits. I adored Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Shaw, and I really liked the kids learning to hone their abilities.
Bacon was clearly having a grand ol' time. I love that he just chewed into it. He's like Craig Parker's Darken Rahl. It's like he thought: I'm just going to extend all my fingers and toes into this character and have fun with it.
Since I'm paying more attention, I'm disappointed in the kid who plays Alex. Or maybe disappointed is too strong a word. Alex has a lot there, implied, but I don't think Lucas Till fulfilled that potential. He kinda falls flat for me. But I still like what Alex is, on the paper there. Or maybe I just like him more now that I'm writing him. This always happens. -_-
Nicholas Hoult was awesome as Hank though, and I ADORE Sean. I really really love the kid who plays Sean, though I wonder how old Sean is supposed to be. The actor is 21, but Sean seems younger than that. IDK IDK. And you know what pleased me a great deal? When Beast was like, "boop we don't have sonar," it was SEAN HIMSELF who goes, "no, we do." They easily could've had another character, especially Charles, be the one who points this out. Instead, it's a wonderful moment of Sean realizing himself, a coming into one's own. That's fabulous, and it's kind of something small in a way, but it made a lot of difference to me.
And speaking of small things that intrigue me, the meeting between Erik and Charles was like HMMM to me, too. I actually was HMMM about it since the first viewing. It's such a deliberate piece of dialogue for Erik to go, "I thought I was alone." Tell me, doesn't it make more dialogue sense for him to say, "I thought I was the only one." The only one with powers. The only one like me. But it's so deliberate to have him use the word "alone" so Charles could come back with "you're not alone."
Alone is a very powerful word. And it's that word that sets Erik apart and defines him. In the end, the tragedy of Erik is that he thinks he's alone and he cannot accept that he's not. The narrow focus of his pain cannot be lessened or shared. He is the epitome of manpain: my pain is the most special one in the whole world and nobody will ever understand it. Which isn't to say that I wish to downplay his experiences. He lived through the Holocaust. He was clearly tortured all throughout his youth. It is a great deal of suffering, and I'm not judging him for thinking and feeling the way he does. But that is the observation here, that the nature of pain pervades him. When you feel it, it is acute, unrelenting, and cannot be fathomed by others. And therefore no wonder that Erik suffers from a failure of compassion. Your own world is all you know when you hurt and hurt and hurt.
But conversely, as I said, I don't want to judge him. And I don't know how to feel about the seeming casting of his anger as not being a right thing. I don't think the movie moralizes it too much, but it's still underlying there, that Erik's anger is a bad thing. It makes him do bad things. Others have pointed out that it's problematic to cast anger in a negative light. After all, Erik has much to be angry about, and he is justified in feeling so. I don't know. I think the movie isn't as clear cut about it as it seems. Because the chess conversation is more nuanced than one thinks.
"Listen to me very carefully, my friend. Killing will not bring you peace." Will not bring Erik peace. For all the zingers Erik sent his way, all of which are good points btw, Charles does not actually refute any of them, and what he ends up deciding to say is completely revolved around Erik. Not that killing Shaw is necessarily a bad thing unto itself, not that mutants aren't the next stage of evolution and the "lesser" evolved should be extinct (which Charles, hello, wrote a damn thesis on), but instead, Charles conveys his worry for Erik, specifically. And when Erik replies that peace was never an option, sure he does mean the conflict between mutant and human, but he's also talking about himself and we go right back to the tragedy of Erik Lensherr and his epic pain that cannot be lessened or forgotten.
But why should he? Atrocities should be remembered and one must always remain angry about it. Passion is what inspires change. It is what keeps us vigilant. And thus we get to the tragedy of Charles Xavier, which is his arrogance in thinking that he understands Erik when he really really doesn't. It's not the bullet that wrecks him in the end (though, well, yeah, it does), but the understanding of his failure where Erik is concerned. Buuuuut, I don't think he really really does. He just knows that the breach between them cannot be bridged. I don't think he's learned anything anymore than Erik has.
So it just comes back to the fact that they have not found the place between rage and serenity, and that is both their tragedies beyond their own personal hamartia. And yes, I am patting myself on the back for breaking out that term. *dusts it off*
Ahem.
I don't know if any of that makes sense. I guess I just don't like the idea that Erik is clearly wrong because he's angry or that Charles is a privileged dickweed who doesn't know anything about anything. It's both and neither and all of that.
And okay, these are supposed to be RANDOM THOUGHTS, not paragraphs of meta. -_-
I love Jennifer Lawrence more and more with each progressive viewing, and I feel for Raven more and more, too. She has some amazing facial expressions, and she conveys hurt that resounds. Still angry though that her and Moira and Emma were not properly explored where women and femininity were concerned though. They had all the dots and didn't connect them at all. Rabble rabble.
Erik saying that it'd be his pleasure to kill you in French is WAY HOTTER THAN IT OUGHT TO BE. The way he enunciates "plaisir" and "tuer" omg. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH. Imagine him telling you, "il serait mon plaisir de vous baiser." XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD (though I guess it'd be "tu baiser" idk, shouldn't be on formal terms if we're about to fuck, right? Hahahahaha. Ahem.)
You know, I probably had more thoughts, but I totally just lost them after thinking about Fassbender speaking 8 million different languages in this movie. (okay, it's just three, but it's still a lot, and it's still ridiculously hot)