In which the funny guy gets it again...

[lady_mercury]

Today, I went to see X-Men: First Class after being told it was a great movie, despite the fact that the movie posters left much to be desired. Much to my surprise, the movie did end up being quite entertaining for what it was worth: an obvious reboot and an obvious start to a potential movie series. My $7.50 was not wasted (unlike a certain movie

Comments

[lady_mercury]

But, with no disrespect, that's you. I am part African American as well and how many African Americans, today, can sit through this movie and think of "Jackie Robbinson" or see the parallels? I, like many others, did not even see the relevance. All I saw was a black man act like the stereotypical funny guy die in a horrific way for no other reason to be a red shirt.

If there was a message to made with his death, I could understand. But there was nothing of valued gained or lost. Angel still left with the baddies... he still died. There was not even a memorial for his death -- they moved on. It was like an " Oh well, nothing we can do about it " treatment.

He risked his life and that's it?

I was not talking about Magneto though. It's clearly obvious that Magneto and Xavier were on the same side, although with opposing opinions on the solution. But at the end of the day the story was not about, in the broader perspective, mutants vs humanity. It was mutants vs mutants, who's vision was the right vision for their species.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that whatever subliminal messages in the movie should not justify the fact that the old Hollywood system of the real world was at play, again, this time.

[neo_prodigy]

"But, with no disrespect, that's you. I am part African American as well and how many African Americans, today, can sit through this movie and think of "Jackie Robbinson" or see the parallels? I, like many others, did not even see the relevance"

Uh actually many of us have made the parallels between the Civil Rights struggles of the 60s, the dynamics that play out, as well as the plight of the X-Men. And there have been countless blog posts on it. So making a declarative statement that no person makes those connections is problematic imho. Should said point be made clearer in the film? Sure. That's fair. But many of us know our history and are aware of the dynamics at play.

"All I saw was a black man act like the stereotypical funny guy die in a horrific way for no other reason to be a red shirt. "

And that's a fair assessment which you're entitled to. Just as I'm entitled to have an equally valid but different take. Personally I think both perspectives are valid for equally different reasons.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that whatever subliminal messages in the movie should not justify the fact that the old Hollywood system of the real world was at play, again, this time."

And I'm not saying said Hollywood system shouldn't be called out, but at the same time, the POCs siding with Magneto to me was a realistic and pragmatic take on the struggle for equality.

[lady_mercury]

Its understandable that the movie has made that connection, directly or indirectly. But the issue here is not about the message or how many connections can people make to " By Any Means Necessary " with Magneto. The whole argument I've made is we have the only black man in the movie killed off within 30 minutes of coming on to screen. That is the whole argument.

I am not debating the movie or the whole message behind X-Men. That is not the issue here at all. But I do not see the purpose in POCs siding with the bad-side a sign of " power " or " hip hop hooray! stick it to the man ". I see it more as, " again, minorities are classed as weak, funny, and/or villainous ". They are still the ones going out there killing other people, they are still the ones planning on destruction, they are still ones to be painted as the main guys that need to be put to an end.

Civil rights and race, no matter how many times we want to connect the dots, was not the central focus. Yes, we can compare it to that, but does it mean that was the intended intentions? We can not make that definitive call.

[neo_prodigy]

And we'll just have to agree to disagree. ;-)

[lady_mercury]

;) And I will agree to that