X-Men: Some Charles & Erik Meta
I made some previous reference to upcoming meta on the relationship between Charles and Erik in X-Men: First Class (with some reference to the chronologically later X-Men movies and a few broader, cross-media statements). Here 'tis.
Stories are like points on the compass: their basic courses are limited, and new cardinal directions are unlikely. But the stories that catch the heart are the ones that point their arrow at a precise degree no other story has touched. Stories in which friends become enemies or enemies friends are common. But only in The X-Men have I encountered a story in which friends become enemies while (more or less) remaining friends and continue simultaneously enemies and friends for forty years. The psychological gymnastics involved are so prodigious Charles and Erik surely deserve an Olympic medal.
This bizarre negotiation is enabled by Charles's telepathy. Without this dimension, I doubt such a relationship could be sustained. But Charles is in the highly unusual position of being able to fully comprehend other people with the immediacy with which they experience themselves (but perhaps with more objective insight). In X-Men: FC, we are given an origin story in which Charles absorbs, in broad strokes, Erik's entire motivational system within the first few moments they meet. From that point on, thought Erik can certainly disappoint him, he cannot disillusion him.[1] Charles knows from the first what he's getting.
Erik is not in the same position, yet their weird, initial closeness is a two-way street insofar as you can tell a great deal about someone based on what they do with intensely personal knowledge about you. Charles shows himself worthy of Erik's confidence. Charles, of course, is a person who inspires confidence easily in most: he is unusually open and affirming. Erik assesses Charles early on as a trustworthy person, and he's right. He does not, I think, understand Charles's value system quite as well as Charles understands his, yet he understands it reasonably well.
This background of genuine understanding and acceptance is what sustains their friendship. They may have almost diametrically opposed world views; they may have irreconcilable philosophical differences; they may both be dedicated enough to their perspectives to be willing even to harm each other--and each other's loved ones--in the name of defending what they believe to be the higher good. But they never betray each other.
They always know what to expect from each other--and why. They know they both sincerely act in the name of what they believe is right. They know, on a level that far transcends the truism, that "it's nothing personal." Indeed, the personal is much the reverse: they both wish they could be on the same the side. They would like to be united. But they are both strong-willed, morally driven men, and neither can compromise his own cause, not even for friendship. And so the friendship persists in parallel to the antagonism: battered as the years go by but still, by mutual understanding, fed and sheltered enough to survive.
[1] I'm now going to take it all away by saying that in X2 and X3, I think Erik's behavior is somewhat disillusioning. X3 is just a bad movie; X2, I don't know. It would be fascinating to see the ramifications of Erik's choices dealt with seriously in an actually good X3.
Stories are like points on the compass: their basic courses are limited, and new cardinal directions are unlikely. But the stories that catch the heart are the ones that point their arrow at a precise degree no other story has touched. Stories in which friends become enemies or enemies friends are common. But only in The X-Men have I encountered a story in which friends become enemies while (more or less) remaining friends and continue simultaneously enemies and friends for forty years. The psychological gymnastics involved are so prodigious Charles and Erik surely deserve an Olympic medal.
This bizarre negotiation is enabled by Charles's telepathy. Without this dimension, I doubt such a relationship could be sustained. But Charles is in the highly unusual position of being able to fully comprehend other people with the immediacy with which they experience themselves (but perhaps with more objective insight). In X-Men: FC, we are given an origin story in which Charles absorbs, in broad strokes, Erik's entire motivational system within the first few moments they meet. From that point on, thought Erik can certainly disappoint him, he cannot disillusion him.[1] Charles knows from the first what he's getting.
Erik is not in the same position, yet their weird, initial closeness is a two-way street insofar as you can tell a great deal about someone based on what they do with intensely personal knowledge about you. Charles shows himself worthy of Erik's confidence. Charles, of course, is a person who inspires confidence easily in most: he is unusually open and affirming. Erik assesses Charles early on as a trustworthy person, and he's right. He does not, I think, understand Charles's value system quite as well as Charles understands his, yet he understands it reasonably well.
This background of genuine understanding and acceptance is what sustains their friendship. They may have almost diametrically opposed world views; they may have irreconcilable philosophical differences; they may both be dedicated enough to their perspectives to be willing even to harm each other--and each other's loved ones--in the name of defending what they believe to be the higher good. But they never betray each other.
They always know what to expect from each other--and why. They know they both sincerely act in the name of what they believe is right. They know, on a level that far transcends the truism, that "it's nothing personal." Indeed, the personal is much the reverse: they both wish they could be on the same the side. They would like to be united. But they are both strong-willed, morally driven men, and neither can compromise his own cause, not even for friendship. And so the friendship persists in parallel to the antagonism: battered as the years go by but still, by mutual understanding, fed and sheltered enough to survive.
[1] I'm now going to take it all away by saying that in X2 and X3, I think Erik's behavior is somewhat disillusioning. X3 is just a bad movie; X2, I don't know. It would be fascinating to see the ramifications of Erik's choices dealt with seriously in an actually good X3.