Hudlin Entertainment Forum

You are right they don't have all the time in the world, but a few lines here or there would maybe elevate bit characters to characters that you actually care about, especially since Angel and Darwin had some of the biggest transformations in the film. Angel turning and Darwin dying. More time was spent on showing Banshee how to fly or Havok how to control his powers. And as I said before Beast and Mystique got to talk about more about the issues at the heart of it. I wish that Angel and Darwin could've done that, with a reference or two thrown in there.

Quote from: D- Ruck on June 20, 2011, 09:37:55 am

Quote from: Emperorjones on June 20, 2011, 08:42:50 am

I'm not saying that what you described won't happen, though I doubt it. I can see them expanding more on the mutant v. human conflict and if you close your eyes and imagine, you can read race/Civil Rights in those discussions.  I don't think they have as much incentive to address the issue as they did in this film.

For one, who knew if they would get another film, two, who knows if the second film will take place in the 60s? It could take place in the 70s, 80s, or 90s for all we know. Granted, many of us might consider Civil Rights an ongoing issue, but I doubt that is a widespread feeling among whites, plus the hightide of Civil Rights activism was the 50s-60s. I think XFC just missed a nice opportunity.

I'm saying that the opportunity is bigger because the Civil Rights angle will fit into the story now.  As I said before the Holocaust and Missile Crisis were only there and only mentioned as to advance the plot.  Hell besides those two events and a JFK speech the film came off as a timeless setting with very little lingo, clothes, technology from the 60s.

The main point of the film was about the development of Erik and Charles and how they met/parted company to pursue their own goals.  There was no real reason to just throw a bone at the CRM and no real reason to raise an eyebrow about it, the only historical things mentioned were for the advancement of the plot.  Now with the success of the first film there's bound to be sequel.  Bryan Singer mentioned that in a sequel touching on the Civil Rights movement is possible.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/06/x-men-first-class-james-mcavoy-magneto-xavier-sequel-singer-vaughn.html

Now while I think the way they handled Darwin and Angel was tacky I don't find fault with the Civil Rights angle yet because I think they streamlined everything to tell their story

BTW you make great conversation, thanks

I disagree. The whole rift between Charles and Erik is centered around the ideas of prejudice and how do you address it: resistance or accomodation/assimilation. These issues were even given quite a bit of screentime with the conversations between Beast and Mystique. And these are some of the key issues of the Civil Rights Movement. I don't see how a reference to Civil Rights, like in X1 or X3, affected those stories in a negative way or threw them off their game. It just gave just acknowledgement.

I think some people opposed to the inclusion of civil rights in XFC believe that supporters are calling for another plot or sidestory to be added. I, for one, am not. I think it could've added some color so to speak to what was already there and juxtaposed the mutant and black situations, not to mention perhaps giving Angel and Darwin something to talk about, or the others in relation to them.

By your reasoning there was no real reason to include the Cuban Missile Crisis or Cold War politics in the film. That's not how the story went in the comics anyway. They chose to center the film around that. With the Holocaust it is understood that that's a big part of Magneto's backstory, so I got that. But they could've gone in any direction they wanted to to fill out the rest. The director seemed to want to make a Bond type film and added a fictional account of the Cuban Missile Crisis by choice. The idea that he ignored the Civil Rights Movement, perhaps the biggest domestic issue facing the US at that time, irks me. Well a sequel 'touching' on that is possible, I'm not holding my breath, and if they do it, it will be the lightest touch they probably can devise.

Quote from: BmoreAkuma on June 18, 2011, 06:19:57 pm

Quote from: D- Ruck on June 18, 2011, 03:15:13 pm

The Holocaust and the Cuban Missile Crisis were touched on because they were essential points to the plot of the movie.  The movie isn't about all the major issues of the sixties, it's a fantasy story about the rift between Xavier and Magneto, that's what they were trying to do.  Take it easy guys

Honestly those 2 are the most drawn out parts of the 60s that will always and always been addressed.

Furthermore, I don't buy that 'let's wait and see' stuff. They had two black characters on the team in this movie. As it stands they have no black characters on the team at the end of the movie, so you really think they are going to address racial issues in a second film? XFC gave them the perfect opportunity to juxtapose the fight for mutant and civil rights, their similarities and their differences. What incentive is there to do it now?

I wasn't asking for a Civil Rights subplot, but it would've been nice if it had factored into the characters of Angel and Darwin. All I wanted was a mention, a shout out like in X1 and X3.  

Quote from: BmoreAkuma on June 18, 2011, 06:15:35 pm

All I care is if the actor has the character down. That is it. Of course they wont use a "plus sized woman" but honestly all it is complaining about "how she looks".

...but don't you understand?   Hollywood and Hollywood movies is all about appearances or "how you look".

Quote

Quote from: D- Ruck on Today at 05:15:13 PM
The Holocaust and the Cuban Missile Crisis were touched on because they were essential points to the plot of the movie.  The movie isn't about all the major issues of the sixties, it's a fantasy story about the rift between Xavier and Magneto, that's what they were trying to do.  Take it easy guys

I tend to agree w/ a lot of other folk's opinion that X-Men: First Class deliberately misses what the original intent of the 1960s comicbook was all about which was commentary about teen agnst,  being misunderstood and racial predjudice; these were all very vivid issues of that era. You don't have to beat the viewers over the head with the concept in the movie but you also cannot pretend the civil rights movement never happened in that timeline  either, y'know.

Quote from: Reginald Hudlin on June 11, 2011, 02:55:21 pm

Quote from: BmoreAkuma on June 11, 2011, 01:32:54 pm

come to think of it they missed on a golden opportunity to sneak in the civil rights movement

That's the biggest failure of the film.  They touched on the Holocaust and the Cuban Missle Crisis but didn't use the "Malcolm/Martin" debate which made the X Men relevant in the first place.

That's the thing. If they want to talk about "equal rights" and "civil rights" they could have at least have video footage of their speeches discussing this same topic.

Quote from: TripleX on June 12, 2011, 10:37:27 pm

They could have easily slipped it in during the montage, I think they ignored it on purpose.

But hey everybody lets just pretend none of this sh*t happened so it'll all go away unless it is about the holocaust and how evil the nazis were again. 

Quote from: True Father 7 on March 20, 2011, 03:50:59 am

dang man your picks been off lately fam, lol. What's going on? Didn't you learn from Wesley, always bet on BLACK! Jones is the truth! No, seriously, check out what he was doing hours before he became the youngest UFC champion ever
http://www.mmamania.com/2011/3/19/2060696/jon-jones-twitter-details-his-subduing-a-thief-after-robbery-attempt

Hey, even Jordan missed a shot every now and then.

I never imagined Jones was that good and that Shogun could be that bad. While I praise Jones on a historic victory I can't help but think that Rua wasn't 100%.

Lets see how long the young man can rumble at the top of the mountain.