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eldabeSo, I was really excited to see X-Men: Days of Future Past because I was going to finally be able to go back online and maybe read everything ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pocky_slash has written and IDK, maybe some fic, but then I realized that I have a MILLION THINGS I WANT TO SAY and I want to get at least some of them straight in my head (and recorded on LJ) before I start reading what OTHER PEOPLE have to say.
BUT THERE IS SO MUCH TO SAY. SO MUCH.
Naturally, I’ll start with the hardest bit! I don’t think I’ll ever be more than a quiet lurker in this fandom community, partly because I’m baffled when I see the fandom either attempt to justify Erik’s actions or treat them like valid choices.
ERIK IS WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Don’t misunderstand – this isn’t to say that humans won’t hate mutants (this is the Marvel universe after all) or kill mutants (the Marvel universe is nominally grounded in reality) or even systemically round them up and kill them (OH YEAH.) Erik has reasons to be paranoid. His paranoia simply can’t justify his actions.
The world has always been more complicated than the worst of us. And Erik wasn’t the only Jews to hunt down Nazis after the Holocaust. Most people can agree that is was a problematic repsonse post-war, although more understandable in light of how the rest of the world certainly wasn’t stepping up the the plate.
But Erik started going farther than that almost immediately. Instead of seeking some sort of justice, his entire mission is about killing a single man. He just also has no problems killing Nazis in the process. Once that mission is completed, he basically dedicates himself to the eradication of humanity, straight up. He’s a terrorist, a mutant-supremacist, a pretty awful person who frankly has far to go if he were to every change his mind and seek redemption.
Erik SHOULD be in jail. He SHOULD be off the streets. He SHOULD be getting massive amounts of therapy and possibly a diagnosis as a psychopath. (His face while killing people is terrifying.) .) Erik, frankly, is the ACTUAL manifestation of the irrational paranoia of humans who worry they are going to be replaced by mutants. ERIK WANTS TO DO THAT ASAP.
Now, fandom can do what it wants, certainly. And Charles’s defining trait is apparently hope, so in-fic he can be an irrational ididot about this. (But do note that Charles punches Erik in the face for killing the president, and only agrees to break him out to save Raven. In X2 Charles LEAVES ERIK IN JAIL.) What drives me nuts is the way the fandom can’t seem to self-examine on this one. I see tumblr posts and fic that are all “let’s discuss if Erik was right!” where I think the real question is “Why do we feel the need to make Erik into a good guy?” Erik has done everything to make HIMSELF into the bad guy of this story.
Yes, he’s played by staggeringly good actors and given a tragic backstory and if we had no sympathy for him whatsoever, the films wouldn’t be nearly as good. But HE IS A BAD GUY. He’s the Voldemort of the mutant cause. I just want to take this gif from Mean Girls and sub it with YOU ARE A BAD PERSON. And then flash to Erik’s face.
That could probably be articulated better, but I wanted to get it off the table before I embark on Charles and Raven. COMPLICATED FAMILIES. ANGST. HAIR! MOVIE I AM SO PLEASED YOU DID NOT DISSAPOINT.
pocky_slash has written and IDK, maybe some fic, but then I realized that I have a MILLION THINGS I WANT TO SAY and I want to get at least some of them straight in my head (and recorded on LJ) before I start reading what OTHER PEOPLE have to say. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH TO SAY. SO MUCH.
Naturally, I’ll start with the hardest bit! I don’t think I’ll ever be more than a quiet lurker in this fandom community, partly because I’m baffled when I see the fandom either attempt to justify Erik’s actions or treat them like valid choices.
ERIK IS WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Don’t misunderstand – this isn’t to say that humans won’t hate mutants (this is the Marvel universe after all) or kill mutants (the Marvel universe is nominally grounded in reality) or even systemically round them up and kill them (OH YEAH.) Erik has reasons to be paranoid. His paranoia simply can’t justify his actions.
The world has always been more complicated than the worst of us. And Erik wasn’t the only Jews to hunt down Nazis after the Holocaust. Most people can agree that is was a problematic repsonse post-war, although more understandable in light of how the rest of the world certainly wasn’t stepping up the the plate.
But Erik started going farther than that almost immediately. Instead of seeking some sort of justice, his entire mission is about killing a single man. He just also has no problems killing Nazis in the process. Once that mission is completed, he basically dedicates himself to the eradication of humanity, straight up. He’s a terrorist, a mutant-supremacist, a pretty awful person who frankly has far to go if he were to every change his mind and seek redemption.
Erik SHOULD be in jail. He SHOULD be off the streets. He SHOULD be getting massive amounts of therapy and possibly a diagnosis as a psychopath. (His face while killing people is terrifying.) .) Erik, frankly, is the ACTUAL manifestation of the irrational paranoia of humans who worry they are going to be replaced by mutants. ERIK WANTS TO DO THAT ASAP.
Now, fandom can do what it wants, certainly. And Charles’s defining trait is apparently hope, so in-fic he can be an irrational ididot about this. (But do note that Charles punches Erik in the face for killing the president, and only agrees to break him out to save Raven. In X2 Charles LEAVES ERIK IN JAIL.) What drives me nuts is the way the fandom can’t seem to self-examine on this one. I see tumblr posts and fic that are all “let’s discuss if Erik was right!” where I think the real question is “Why do we feel the need to make Erik into a good guy?” Erik has done everything to make HIMSELF into the bad guy of this story.
Yes, he’s played by staggeringly good actors and given a tragic backstory and if we had no sympathy for him whatsoever, the films wouldn’t be nearly as good. But HE IS A BAD GUY. He’s the Voldemort of the mutant cause. I just want to take this gif from Mean Girls and sub it with YOU ARE A BAD PERSON. And then flash to Erik’s face.
That could probably be articulated better, but I wanted to get it off the table before I embark on Charles and Raven. COMPLICATED FAMILIES. ANGST. HAIR! MOVIE I AM SO PLEASED YOU DID NOT DISSAPOINT.
no subject
Date: Jun. 13th, 2014 17:11 (UTC)The movie rumor mill suggested that the current end to DoFP was not what was originally planned because, as is obvious, Eric does a complete 180 on how to handle Trask for no apparent reason. That last combat set piece would basically cause the very future they'd been fighting the rest of the movie - killing Trask and a bunch of other humans on world camera? Even Eric, in his nuttiest, doesn't want a mutant massacre and with no established mutant defense forces (ie: the brotherhood) it would be a massacre. The movie totally falls apart with this ending because, IMO, Eric is not stupid.
A) But, the rumor goes that the end was changed because, in the third movie Eric was/might be possessed by Apocalypse - who does want a totally destructive war, so he can take over a softened Earth. No idea if this is true or not but they damn well needed to foreshadow it better. If true it was a last minute change, imposed by producers, so I can forgive it.
B) Second, based on the comic version of some of the story. I don't know if it's in the comic DoFP or in God Loves, Man Kills but at some point, Eric realizes that in order to provide compare/contrast for humans so they don't simply fear all mutants, there needs to be a villain in the play. He decides, pretty much with no discussion (because one of Eric's consistent flaws is his need to be the one in charge), to play that role and basically stages a version of what we saw in the movie so that humans can get the idea that there are mutants and then there are bad mutants. Charles confronts him at some point about his behavior, which is when Eric reveals what he's doing, probably much to Charles' irritation.
C) From my partner who has a pretty good grasp of the character and also what it's like to be a Jew who survived the holocaust in the US (he grew up around holocaust survivors). Eric's got a whopping case of PTSD, plus a very reasonable belief that humans will, in fact, turn on mutants given the chance (his mom gave him a big diamond earring when he turned sixteen so he'd always have portable wealth on his person in case he had to start running without warning). Striking first isn't a totally unreasonable response - but only if you believe you can carry through to the end, which the movie is showing Eric he can't. Personally, Eric's ability to trust, at a most basic level, is so fractured that he cannot tolerate being vulnerable or allow others to take charge of situations. Put all this together with a bit of cold-bloodedness, and you get a guy who'll follow his own flawed logic to the end, without allowing anyone else to intervene.
None of this means Eric is a woobie who needs someone to pet him and make him feel good (nor would he tolerate such a thing), or that he's not going to go rampaging round the countryside.