X-Men: Embodiment and Identity - Assignment Example

X-Men: Embodiment and Identity In Cultural Studies, the concept of identity is dynamic and is constantly evolving. This is because identity is relational and therefore constructed through one’s conception of others vis-à-vis one’s self. The conception of one’s self always involves a comparison of similarities or dissimilarities with people one is exposed to. Moreover, the concept of identity is also contextual which means that it is influenced by the circumstances under which an individual is in. Finally, because identity is influenced by other persons and circumstances, it is always “in process” which means that it is never a fixed idea but is always changing as an individual gets exposed to more people and different settings (Lecture 11, CLT110). On the other hand, embodiment in Cultural Studies simply refers to the fact that all beings possess bodies and that such bodies are not only a physical fact but are constructed from different points of view – politically, socially, and culturally. Thus, bodies are referred to as “male bodies, female bodies, white bodies, non-white bodies, pierced bodies, [...]” and “pertain not only to physical conditions but a repertoire of representations and codes that place the body in culture” (Rojek 2007 pp 76-77). In other words, the body is an embodiment of the social, cultural, political and economic subjective construct of people. The film X-Men illustrates how the concepts of identity and embodiment can be constructed through representation. The science fiction film X-Men is a classic tale of good versus evil. It depicts a future world where humans are forced to deal with the idea of sharing their world with mutants that possessed powers they do not have and where mutants are compelled to survive where they are unwanted and feared. The movie represents themes like good and evil, tolerance and bigotry, justice and injustice, forgiveness and revenge, control and abuse of power, and humanity and inhumanity. The film which was released in 2000 and directed by Bryan Singer starred big names in Hollywood like Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin and many more. The plot of the story revolves around the struggle of mutants, humans who have somehow mutated into creatures with superpowers, to survive in a world which fears them and therefore wanted to eliminate them. The conflict in the story is two-pronged: humans versus mutants, and; good mutants versus evil mutants. In the film, the identity of being human was represented and reinforced by the character of Senator Robert Kelley of the United States who identified himself and others like him as members of the human race. In identifying himself as human, viz., characterized by normal bodily and mental abilities, he placed a wedge between him and others like him from those who were not, labeling the latter therefore as non-humans or “mutants.” In other words, because the mutants were different from Kelley and others like him, the mutants were seen as non-humans and therefore outcast. The quality of being human here can be constructed from the reflective or mimetic representation of the different characters in the movie. The humans exhibited the characteristics of what people have always associated with humans: normal physical and mental functions and appearances. This quality was embodied by Kelley and the others who were present in the Senate hearing in the beginning of the story. On the other hand, the mutants exhibited extraordinary powers and unusual appearances. They were represented as having features resembling beasts like that of Wolverine, Toad and Sabretooth, or with unusual blue coloring like Mystique, or with eyes that can spit out flame, or eyes with no pupil like Storm. These characters therefore embodied what we, the human race, see as non-humans. Another conflicting identity in the story was that of good and evil. The distinction between the two was identified the moment the mutants Toad and Sabretooth attacked and ambushed Wolverine and Rogue while the latter were aboard a vehicle heading for some place. That Toad and Sabretooth were identifiable at this part of the movie as evil was because they exhibited behavior, viz., offensive, aggressive posture, more commonly associated with ‘badness’ or ‘evil.’ On the other hand, Wolverine and Rogue not only were the victims but they survived the ambush, with the help of two characters, viz., Storm and Cyclops. It is evident that from this scene, the viewers can already identify the good guys from the bad guys. This is because one often associates violent aggressiveness towards others as evil, and constructs acts of saving others from harm as representative of goodness. This good and evil construct is aided by the physical appearances of the mutants. Toad and Sabretooth were unkempt, crass and ugly mutants, easily embodying evil as opposed to the uniform pleasing appearances and comparative genteel behavior of Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine and Rogue which embodied goodness rather than evil. This initial incident of clash between good and evil was just however a sampling of the bigger evil versus good conflict in the movie. There were two factions who perpetuated this conflict: Professor Charles Xavier played by Patrick Stewart and; Magneto played by the able Ian McKellen. With Professor Xavier were Wolverine who had strength and senses similar to a wolf, Storm who can manipulate the weather, Jean Gray who had telekinetic power, Rogue who had the power to drain life energy from people, Cyclops whose eyes can spit out flames, and Iceman who can turn water vapor to ice. On the other side of the fence is the group of Magneto which included Mystique who chameleonic-like ability, Sabretooth who had the agility and strength of a beast, and Toad who had leaping abilities.. In the center of all these is the United States government and people who were generally fearful and wary of the mutants. This group provided the conflicting catalyst for the two factions. One group, the good one, wanted to deal with the people gently and win them over through diplomacy. Magneto’s group however, wanted to use force to ensure the world’s acceptance of the mutants. The conflict began when Senator Robert Kelley, a US senator, wanted to pass a law called Mutants’ Registration Act which would compel mutants to register and reveal their identities so that the government could track them down and know their activities. Kelley here represented the average human thinking which fears the unknown and the inexplicable and resolves this fear by subjugating, if not totally eliminating, the object of his fear. This is classic human reaction. Kelley represented every human – his instincts compelled him to be extremely territorial. Kelly’s reaction and hatred for the mutants represented the common reaction of man to things that are alien and unknown to him – intolerance. Thus, fear is usually the underpinning of intolerance. Man cannot tolerate another because he fears that the other will jeopardize his place in the sun. In the movie, Kelley’s proposal became the catalyst that brought on the conflict between Xavier and Magneto’s groups and between good and evil. Professor Charles Xavier is, of course, the ultimate representative of good. He was a powerful mutant with vast telekinetic powers who can just sit in his wheelchair inside his chamber and exercise those powers like a demigod. Yet, he was not abusive of these powers. Like the person he shared his surname with, he created and headed the school of mutants to enable these mutants to control their powers and use them for the good of humanity. Xavier reacted to Kelly’s proposal and the public’s prejudice against mutants coolly and was not diverted from his agenda of teaching mutants the proper use of their power. His ultimate objective was for mutants to be able to live side by side with normal people in peace and harmony which can be accomplished if the mutants can properly control and harness their powers and for the humans to understand that the mutants, despite their odd looks and extraordinary powers, were not their enemies but their friends. Professor Xavier represented the good in all of us, the cool-headed, peace-loving part in all of us who want the world to be a better place for everybody in perfect harmony. He represented the hope in all of us that man will one day learn to tolerate each other despite their differences. On the other hand, Magneto embodied characteristics that Professor Xavier did not. Magneto had the power to control magnetic fields, hence the name. Magneto however, did not necessarily represent evil initially but human weakness. A survivor of the Nazi concentration camp in Poland during the Second World War, Magneto became bitter and vengeful because of his past experiences and this underpinned his vengeful character. Unlike Professor Xavier, he did not plan to make the humans understand through diplomatic means that the mutants needed the understanding and the tolerance of the world. Rather, he planned to use force to ensure that the mutants were not displaced from earth. This he would do by placing all human leaders during a United Nations Summit under the power of a machine called Cerebro and turn them all to mutants. Magneto’s reaction to the prejudice against mutants is neither surprising nor uncommon but is reflective of the reactions of many men who have become victims of prejudice and bigotry. The only thing that made it different was that he had extraordinary powers to inflict revenge while the average man is relegated to standing in the corner and lick his wounds. Many terrorists feel that they are justified for their terrorism because they perceived themselves to be victims of prejudice and injustice. This is what the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Palestine Liberation Organization and even Bin Laden’s group all feel – that they were victims and therefore they all rose up to avenge themselves and took it out on everybody even on innocent people. Magneto therefore represented the human weakness for revenge. The two warring factions therefore clearly embodied what society commonly associates with good and evil, human and non-human. Heroism, by saving others from harm and injury, desire for peace and harmony, calmness, patience, diplomacy, beauty, and pleasantness are, whether rightly or wrongly, associated with goodness. Professor Xavier and his group embodied all these qualities in varying degrees and were therefore representative of the good. And because goodness had been clearly identified as attributable to Xavier and his group, the antithesis of goodness which is evil was automatically attributable to their nemesis. Aggression, evil schemes, impatience, crassness, ugliness, darkness, revenge and lust for power are all associated with evil. Magneto and his group all embodied these characteristics and were therefore representative of evil. At the other end of the spectrum was the clash of the identity between humans and non-humans. Humans have normal abilities whereas mutants have super powers. The humans in X-Men, embodied by Senator Kelley, were threatened by the fact that they can be overpowered anytime by the mutants, although no mutants have harmed them yet. Since these mutants had powers which an ordinary human did not have, Kelley wanted to compel them to reveal their identity therefore invading on their privacy, forgetting that they were also part human and had rights similar to his and the human race. Like Shelley’s Frankenstein, the film X-Men is paradigmatic of man’s irrationality towards the unknown. References Rojek, Chris 2007, “Situating Yourself in a Culture,” Cultural Studies, Polity. Lecture 11, CLT110, http://learn.mq.edu.au/webct/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct Read More