In a collector’s edition of the respected U.S. movie magazine Premiere, I have read that the X-Men movies (and cartoons and comics,
for that matter) are a representation of people’s prejudice, discrimination,
and intolerance against other people who are “different”. In the real, actual
world we live in (a world outside of movies), those who may be considered
different are the nerds and geeks, people of color (blacks, mulattos), people
with disabilities, and people with different gender orientation (gays,
lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders).
The
above premise (X-Men as some sort of
representation) is much more apparent in the third (said to be the last) X-Men installation, X-Men III: The Last Stand. Although this movie deals with powerful
mutants fighting for harmonious co-existence with humans in the latter’s world,
and fighting against other mutants (arch villain Magneto and his ilk) who want
to lord it over the human world, the movie could as well be the movie of real
people who are prejudiced, marginalized, and discriminated against in our
society.
The
actors themselves who played the mutant characters could not be more apropos! Halle Berry,
Hugh Jackman, Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin (among others),
although superstars in their own right, could not be beyond the cares of
ordinary mortals like me (and the average moviegoer).
For
sure they could empathize with the mutant characters they played: the
aforementioned big-name stars had, at one point or another, experienced what it
was like to be different.
Halle Berry, like the
black actresses before her, had to slug it out in the “predominantly white-male
world” of Hollywood.
In fact, in her lachrymose, heart-tugging, and emotional Oscar acceptance
speech, her emotions overcame her when she became the first black actress
awarded the Oscar statuette, which eluded other black actresses in the past
seventy-plus years in the American Film Academy’s history. Hugh Jackman is an
English-born Australian immigrant turned American immigrant and Hollywood wannabe who, most likely, had experienced the
hardships of being an immigrant on foreign soil. Anna Paquin (probably the
youngest to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) had to deal with the big,
highly competitive world of showbiz even at an early age. Sir Ian McKellen is
an openly gay actor while Patrick Stewart confessed of his different gender
orientation (to be more PC about it) in the magazine Genre.
I feel an
affinity towards the X-Men movies
because I have been dealing with prejudice almost all my life. Among other
idiosyncracies, I have always loved the company of books more than people.
Ensuingly, I have had difficulty dealing with others, not totally unlike the
mutants in the movie.
Throughout
the years, I have realized that my self-perceived weaknesses could very well be
my strengths. My source of “inferiority” could actually be, to some extent, my
wellspring of superiority. Because of my being nerdy, I am much more well-read
than most people I know. As a result, I have always excelled academically. My different-ness spurred me to strive
harder and excel (which almost always happen) in areas of endeavor I feel
passionate about.
The
above epiphany, however, has presented me a dilemma: what to do with my (now)
self-perceived strengths.
This
is also more or less the underlying dilemma-cum-conflict faced by the two
groups of mutants in The Last Stand.
The
philosophy of the mutants under Prof. Charles “X” Xavier is to use mutant
powers to rule it over humans rather than become like the latter. (Also in this
movie, a scientist has discovered a “cure” which the mutants could voluntarily
have themselves injected with to make them “normal”, that is, without mutant
powers.)
X-Men III: The Last Stand (more than the
first two X-Men movies) gave me the
impetus to choose between the groups of Professor X and Magneto, a point which
I was honestly ambivalent about in the first place.
Never
did it occur to me that choosing one group over another (and fictional ones at
that!) could be quite agonizing. To put and end to my ambivalence and
indecision, I’ll have to force myself to
choose. So I will put it this way: My favorite mutant is Storm (Nature rules!
If you could control Nature like Storm, you are supreme.), Wolverine is incomparable
(played by Hugh Jackman at that. Who could argue with Hugh Jackman?!); but I am
attracted to Magneto’s philosophy.
Undeniably,
there could be strength in being different.
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