Have you seen this mutant?

Rogue

There’s nothing quite like a metaphor-laden story about mutants with superpowers to strike a chord with disenfranchised-feeling geeks. Which is why the X-Men films are so damn cool, at least to those of us who feel like ostracized mutants ourselves. So how to parse, then, the very arty, very how-like-a-fashion-spread feel of these beautiful teaser posters for the third installment in the franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand? They’re extraordinarily eye-catching, yet they’re also very conservative in the same way that fashion photography is: it would like to think it’s daring, but it’s really just selling you overpriced clothing.

I’ve approached this X-Men image from a different angle over at FlickFilosopher.com, but it’s worth exploring here, too: Does the fact that these ads are not particularly geeky signal a sort of acceptance of geeky things, like, oh, genetic comic-book mutants who fight for truth, justice, and the American way? And is there some nugget of cultural awakening to be found in the “Take a Stand” tagline? Are we ready, as a society, to start taking a stand? Or are we content merely to gaze at pretty people?

6 Comments

by karim on March 7, 2006 7:30 PM

so it's now officially "hip to be square"?

by RogerBW on March 8, 2006 5:02 AM

In cynical mode, I say: they know that the geeks will go to see the film already, but if only the geeks see it it'll be a box office disaster. So they need to try to haul in a mainstream audience, which they do by not mentioning mutants or comic books or anything else that could be perceived as non-mainstream. It doesn't matter what the punters think of the film as long as they've paid to see it.

by Tonio Kruger on March 8, 2006 12:34 PM

Actually the whole X-Men movie series has been kinda conservative compared to the comic book. How conservative? Well, to begin with, Storm in the original source material is actually a major character. Her relationship with Kitty, one of the team's Jewish characters (another rarely used character, btw), is a major part of several plot lines. Yet in the movies, she's at best a glorified extra. Yeah, Halle Berry doesn't exactly give the world's greatest performance, but that still doesn't change the fact that the movie's makers obviously expect the audience to identify with some mutants--preferably those whose skin turns pink in the noonday sun--more than other mutants. Which doesn't exactly strike me as writer Chris (creator of the post-Stan Lee X-Men) Clairmont's original intention.

by Mark on March 8, 2006 12:48 PM

Well, you have to pick and choose for a comic-to-movie adaptation, especially one with an ensemble like this. There just isn't time to tell all of Storm's story, and have the Kitty and Peter's romance, and have all of Rouge's tangled history while still having Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, etc. I don't know if you can single out Storm being sidelined ... and there are plenty of sunburn-prone characters who also got short shrift. I'm mostly just worried about Ratner screwing this one up.

by MaryAnn on March 8, 2006 3:17 PM

"In cynical mode, I say: they know that the geeks will go to see the film already, but if only the geeks see it it'll be a box office disaster." That's true of absolutely everything that has potential geek appeal: there just aren't enough really serious and dedicated fans to comic books, science fiction, fantasy, whatever to make it worthwhile to cater to our tastes. Stuff *has* to be watered down, *has* to appeal to mainstream audiences, if it's to have any hope of mainstream success. Sometimes, incidentally, these things also manage to retain whatever it was that attracted us deep-down geeks in the first place. But that happens only accidentally.

by Laurie Mann on March 9, 2006 4:24 PM

I've just seen the trailer, and it looks like Storm may have a slightly meatier role this time around. While I'm not much of a comic fan, I've adored the casting of the X-Men movies from the beginning. As a movie fan, the X-Men movies have really worked for me. X-Men 3 also looks promising.

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