"x-men first class" (MASSIVE MASSIVE SPOILERS)
so i did go see "x-men first class", and i quite liked it.
one thing struck me as noteworthy from an inclusivist standpoint -- in the end, all the people who sided with prof x were the mutants who looked like white men (and the one visually-obvious mutant who really, really wanted to pass). everyone else went with magneto, who given his history can't really be counted as a "white" in terms of the dominant paradigms of his life.
i'm the daughter of a ww2 refugee myself, and i found it refreshing to see a depiction of the harms of racism in a different context than the current usa-american one. magneto could easily pass as a white man in this culture, same as professor x. but given his history and his choices of character, he doesn't, and these choices are represented (imho) as valid and valuable.
i did think the movie suffered a bit from its internal racism, though i also secretly hope that darwin will somehow manage to re-collect himself and survive after all :)
while i'm idly ranting, i at least appreciated the attempt to show constant alcohol consumption in a way congruent with social mores of the film's period, but was a bit surprised at the complete lack of the period's ubiquitous cigarette smoking.
other thoughts, comments, random discussion solicited!
...and MANY MANY THANKS to people who commented in response to my earlier inquiries about the film! it definitely helped me to make an informed decision about it :)