So it's been almost a year, and with the release of X-Men: First Class in theaters and now on Blu-Ray this is a choice opportunity to resurrect this thread.
A lot has been said (in the post-release thread at least) about the heightened sexuality of First Class. Whereas the earlier movies chose to deal with the subject more in metaphor, it was shocking to see the subject dealt with so explicitly.
By setting the movie in the '60s, the groundwork is laid for James Bond-ian escapades and precedent for Mod experimentation and free love. A sequel dealing with hippies and Vietnam would be a rife backdrop, but that's for the future. So let's document the blatant text of First Class's sexual mutant world:
Moira MacTaggert sneaks into the swinging Hellfire Club, something akin to the Playboy Club that opened in Chicago in 1960. She strips to her underwear to blend in with a pack of corseted ladies.
Emma Frost herself is a walking Victoria Secret advertisement, and uses her telepathy to play upon the fantasies of men. She also amounts to being Sebastian Shaw's Barbie doll.
Xavier himself, whom I declared impotent earlier in the thread, is presented as a womanizing young man. He does this not through blatant masculinity, however, but through wit and charm.
Magneto, by contrast, is a much more imposing male figure. I wouldn't hesitate, however, to declare that both McAvoy and Fassbender have soft features and aren't traditionally masculine. The former's short stature, compounded with British accent and intellectual nature, lends him a leadership role that is more respected than feared. Fassbender, meanwhile, has the lips and cheek bones of a drag queen, as highlighted by the deleted scene during the introduction of Angel (more on her in a minute).
So the relationship between Magneto and Xavier...is not as nuanced here, it doesn't have the weight of generations, but it's obvious that Xavier breaks down boundaries with Magneto. He only chastely kisses Mystique, a woman that throws herself at him, but he shares a cry with Xavier. This is fascinating if not from a queer theory perspective then from a homosocial perspective. Being raised as a Polish Jew, I like pondering what sort of models for maleness Erik had growing up.
Speaking of Mystique, not much has changed here. She's a provocative character, because her sense of identity early on in the movie is entirely fictional. Her appearance as Jennifer Lawrence, and by extension as Rebecca Romijn, must be entirely based on society's expectations of what an attractive female must look like. When she finally sheds that skin halfway through the movie she becomes something far more nebulous but still evocative of the female form.
While the traditionally female form, with a bit of added kink, in the form of Angel Salvadore. What I love about the implications of her recruitment scene (outside of Erik and Charles being in bed together) is that she's not just a prostitute, but a mutant prostitute that men come to specifically because she is a mutant. They want to get off fucking a giant insect girl. This is great, because it totally abides by Rule 34 and that's how it would be in reality.
Finally, there's the needle sharing scene between Hank and Mystique. Very intimate, somewhat uncomfortable, and perhaps condemning on the movie's part as Hank is ultimately turned into a monster...due to his drug habit. The only monkey wrench is Mystique swearing, and Hank seeming to acquiesce to, Hank's blue form being his true form.
So, any thoughts on the heightened sexuality of this new X-Men film, and where the series could take this escalation of perversion and mischief?
