The Salt Lake City Fan Xperience convention began yesterday to a hell of a strong start. The convention center is awesome and it’s packed wall to wall with all things geek. Even after walking all day, I didn’t even get close to seeing everything.
The very first panel I attended was X-Men: Future Days of Film and Comics. The panel consisted of Blake Casselman, McCord Larsen, Andrew Malin, Kade Herbert, and Elias Pate and discussed the nature of the series and how it relates to real life, as well as their favorite stories and suggestions for the future of the characters both on the screen and on the page.
A comparison was made between the Mutants and any real world disenfranchised minority. The beauty of the characters and the universe they live in, is the ability it provides us to discuss instances of inequality. By putting morality questions into a fictional world, it allows us to view them more honestly and objectively, and then hopefully we can apply what we learn in real life. Specifically a parallel was made between Mutants and the LGBT community. While that comparison may not have been intentional at the characters genesis, it is certainly relevant today. The comparison between the two groups was perhaps best crystallized in “X-Men: 2” (2003) when Bobby tells his parents he’s a mutant.
Watch this scene again…
Replace the word ‘Mutant’ with the word ‘gay’ and it’s every uncomfortable coming out story you’ve ever heard (except for when Bobby shows his family what he can do, which in the real world scenario would presumably involve Pyro, and fellatio).
Look at that face…
The kicker is his mother looking him straight in the face and asking “Bobby, have you tried… not being a mutant?” There’s some pretty clear social commentary here to anyone who is even remotely paying attention, and for good reason. Bryan Singer, the film’s director is openly gay, as is Ian McKellen, so it makes sense they would want to use the platform to say something about their personal experiences and to try and move social justice forward. They also have the added credentials of being human beings, all of whom ought to work toward equality and higher standard of living for everyone. Which is ultimately what the “X-Men” is about, it’s a story of the struggle for equality, and how in the end, we’d all be better off if we could just get along.
Couple that with a talented and well known cast, and what you get are the movies we know and enjoy today. Regardless of where you stand on any particular “X-Men” film, they paved the way for the comic book movies we’re getting now. They showed that you could take these types of stories and put them on the screen successfully, they showed that it was possible. For that, I am eternally grateful. The “X-Men” franchise is still going strong, “Days of Future Past” hits theaters May 23, and looks nothing short of spectacular. While longevity isn’t the full measure of value or worth, it certainly doesn’t hurt and it doesn’t look like the “X-Men” are going away any time soon.