XMFC rewatch

[kindkit]

Yesterday I saw X-Men: First Class for the second time (it was at the cheap theater).



1) Erik has awesome, awesome hats. And one dorktastic helmet which he inexplicably paints purply-pink to match his cape. Oh, Erik, what happened to your fashion sense when you came over all Magneto?

2) You know the gun that Charles hands to Erik at the start of the big "Erik turns the satellite dish through the power of LOVE" scene? Well, during the following scene of Kennedy's speech, Erik is still holding the gun. In fact he gestures with it. A big gun = Erik's version of a comfort blanket, obviously. He clings to it when he's worried.

3) CHARLES AND ERIK LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH, OH GOD WHY DOES IT HAVE TO GO WRONG AND BE SAD?

4) Okay, this is the disturbing one. Given the way Schmidt talks and behaves towards Erik, I find it not merely plausible but likely that Schmidt was in some way sexually abusing him as part of the process of "unlocking his gift" through pain and anger. And yet I find I don't really want to explore this in a story, because poor Erik has enough trauma already, damn it. Part of my head canon for Erik has long been that sex is one of the few ways he can experience closeness and trust and happiness; somehow for me his having that safety valve makes the difference between an Erik who is functional and an Erik who is really, truly broken.

5) OH GOD WHY MUST ERIK'S LIFE BE SO SAD?

Comments

[lilacsigil]

WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SAD, KINDKIT, WHY???

I don't think Schmidt is necessarily a sexual abuser - it could be psychological and physical torture without that extra component. Erik does emulate Schmidt in some very disturbing ways (the finger waving and tutting at the Swiss banker, for instance) but I also like to think there are some small areas of his life untouched. (And, unlike Scott Summers in X1, he just doesn't read to me like someone who has been sexually abused - I mean this solely textually, without reference to how real-world survivors "should" behave. Erik is physically confident and comfortable, does not seem to be promiscuous, neither hides nor displays his body, and is not disturbed by Mystique showing up in his bed naked.)

tangential

[starlady]

Scott Summers in X1, really?

(It's been eons since I've seen the earlier movies.)

Re: tangential

[lilacsigil]

Yes - minisinoo wrote about this and I couldn't unsee it. Scott is constantly covered up in heavy clothing, dresses like a much older man, avoids having any men in his personal space unless he's actually fighting them (he even stays back from the Professor, unlike Jean), and is very closed off, physically. When he's in his uniform he's a lot more free with his movements and getting closer to people.

Re: tangential

[kindkit]

Oh, god. That adds a whole new disturbing dimension to his already quite sufficiently complicated relationship with Logan.

[kindkit]

it could be psychological and physical torture without that extra component

Oh, it could be. It's not necessary to see Erik as having been sexually abused in order to make sense of his character, for which I'm very grateful. But it's still a possibility that makes sense, and makes sense in particular with the twisted love that Schmidt shows Erik.

Maybe what I'm seeing in the text is primarily psychological abuse/abuse of love. I'm thinking particularly of the moment when, after Schmidt kills Erik's mother and Erik smashes up the office and lab, Schmidt goes and puts his arm around Erik's shoulders. And Erik lets him. Which is not to in any way imply that Erik is complicit in his own abuse, whatever form it took. But he was a little boy all alone except for Schmidt, and it's not hard to imagine some kind of Stockholm syndrome happening. The element of love makes the abuse look sexual, but it's not necessary, as you say, to read it that way.