I've been screaming at people for the past year that this is not what happened in the beach scene, but they all disagree. I may be wrong. But as I see it, 'mutants are an inherently superior master race' is not the essence of that declaration, though he certainly believes mutants are at war with humanity.
I'm not sure exactly what Erik's understanding is- either he has rejected his Judaism in favor of his Mutant identity, with the former teaching him about the latter but no longer being an operant part of his identity, or he has found a way to be both a Jew and a mutant, and embrace the common ground between both. Judaism brings to Erik two principal things that he has internalized deeply, either way. The first is the sense of persecution. He learned both as a Jew and later as a mutant that They, the amorphous majority, will always hate Us, the persecuted minority. The second is a sense of chosenness. Jews have always believed they had a special calling to perform God's work in the world, and I think Erik feels that his mutant gifts similarly mark him out as specially chosen for greatness. I think this second point is his common ground with Charles, while the first point is his distinction from Charles.
Erik believes he has learned, first from the Holocaust and then in his travels since the Holocaust, that humanity will always persecute him, and along with him, his family. The First Class represents a second attempt at family for him, and he's willing to do anything, hurt anyone, to protect them. Think what happened to his first family, while he was unable to stop it. Think of what family means to a Jewish boy from the shtetl in 1930s Europe. He believes they will never stop hating him because he has thirty+ years of experience telling him that.
And the movie proves him right. Charles insists it won't happen, but the US government turns on them as soon as they're done saving the world. This moment is Erik's told you so moment, and despite Charles's insincere moralization, Erik would be well within his rights to have killed everyone on those navy ships who targeted him with intent to kill. Who is the innocent there? Who among Erik's targets is not an enemy combatant at that moment?
And Erik's been telling Charles all movie, "You don't get a choice. You're a mutant, and they will persecute you for it, just as they persecute Jews," because this is a movie that is not about metaphor. Mutants in this movie are not crypto-Jews or crypto-gays as in the past three X-Movies. Being Jewish is something that is clearly different than being a mutant, but one identity can teach you about the other. "You are a mutant, and that is not something you can give up and assimilate out of. You are a mutant, and that is something you should be proud of, and something you should fight for, and fight for the right to stand up in public and proclaim that you are a mutant."
And that is a lot of stuff, but that is only a few of the layers I got out of the beach scene that nobody else did.
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Date: 2012-05-31 08:50 pm (UTC)I'm not sure exactly what Erik's understanding is- either he has rejected his Judaism in favor of his Mutant identity, with the former teaching him about the latter but no longer being an operant part of his identity, or he has found a way to be both a Jew and a mutant, and embrace the common ground between both. Judaism brings to Erik two principal things that he has internalized deeply, either way. The first is the sense of persecution. He learned both as a Jew and later as a mutant that They, the amorphous majority, will always hate Us, the persecuted minority. The second is a sense of chosenness. Jews have always believed they had a special calling to perform God's work in the world, and I think Erik feels that his mutant gifts similarly mark him out as specially chosen for greatness. I think this second point is his common ground with Charles, while the first point is his distinction from Charles.
Erik believes he has learned, first from the Holocaust and then in his travels since the Holocaust, that humanity will always persecute him, and along with him, his family. The First Class represents a second attempt at family for him, and he's willing to do anything, hurt anyone, to protect them. Think what happened to his first family, while he was unable to stop it. Think of what family means to a Jewish boy from the shtetl in 1930s Europe. He believes they will never stop hating him because he has thirty+ years of experience telling him that.
And the movie proves him right. Charles insists it won't happen, but the US government turns on them as soon as they're done saving the world. This moment is Erik's told you so moment, and despite Charles's insincere moralization, Erik would be well within his rights to have killed everyone on those navy ships who targeted him with intent to kill. Who is the innocent there? Who among Erik's targets is not an enemy combatant at that moment?
And Erik's been telling Charles all movie, "You don't get a choice. You're a mutant, and they will persecute you for it, just as they persecute Jews," because this is a movie that is not about metaphor. Mutants in this movie are not crypto-Jews or crypto-gays as in the past three X-Movies. Being Jewish is something that is clearly different than being a mutant, but one identity can teach you about the other. "You are a mutant, and that is not something you can give up and assimilate out of. You are a mutant, and that is something you should be proud of, and something you should fight for, and fight for the right to stand up in public and proclaim that you are a mutant."
And that is a lot of stuff, but that is only a few of the layers I got out of the beach scene that nobody else did.