X-MEN 3: THE LAST STANDReview by Queer Beacon

Very good movie. I think that X-Men 2 was the best of the three movies. This third one was easily the worst of them, but still, it was a great blow-up-super-hero movie, even if the movie-making was not as good as the first two releases.

I was hoping that this third installment would be the best in the X-Men series just because it had the greatest plot for us so far. You should know by now that the X-Men movies are based on the comic book from Marvel. This time, a pharmaceutical company develops a "cure" for the mutant gene. With a single vaccine shot a mutant can go straight, immediately. The government offers / forces the "cure" on the mutants and Ian McKellen plots an upheaval. Ian rules as Magneto!

I already said here that the plot hits even closer to home this time. The movie does compel you to think about whether being gay is something that needs to be cured and whether the gay people would or should be subject to such a "cure" were it to be available.

I guess the movie plot could also be seen as a parallel to a "cure" for other minority situations -- a "cure" for being black, a "cure" for being Jewish etc. -- and perhaps discussing a "cure" for being black could actually hit closer to home because of the three minority situations I mentioned (gay, black and Jews) the blacks are the only ones that are certain to be born that way, and consequently the ones that should be the least "blamed" for their minority situation. On the other hand, it is still not clear whether us gays are born that way. I have no doubt, from personal experience, that being gay has a very strong genetic component, a component that can certainly vary in degree from person to person, but I do concede that there seems to be no final scientific word on the matter.

Anyway, it is quite safe to say that no lucid and normal person would actually successfully apply the X-men 3 parallel to the Jewish and black situations because, fortunately, for a while now being black and being Jewish are clearly not something to be cured. But being gay is still up for grabs in that area.

Don't kid yourself, we are still one of the only minorities (if not the only one) that are still abused daily with little or no consequence to the abusers. Look no further than this very recent example involving this Richard Cohen dude. Cohen says he can "cure" homosexuality with hugs and other bullshit (in the pic he is hugging a "client"). You have got to watch the trailer at The Malcontent. It's creepy, but it's shown seriously by CNN, which is an otherwise serious news channel I guess.

Can you imagine what would be the consequences for Paula Zahn and Richard Cohen and CNN if they were involved with a segment on a "cure" for being black or being Jewish? I mean, if CNN were to ever allow that kind of material to be aired, can you just imagine what would and should happen to them?

But when it happens to the gays, all we get is blog-rage, lots of posts denouncing the awful piece of journalism. We are even seen as cry babies for that. Blog-rage is certainly a great start, but we evidently do not have the reaction we deserve from society. I suspect that all the blog-rage is seen mostly by the gays themselves and is unlikely to be heard by the general media.

Oh well. I am furious, and I needed to vent on the Cohen crap, but now let's get to our gay movie review.

Comments

[hexaballs]

I totally love colossus. more info about the character can be found here.

http://www.gayleague.com/gay/characters/display.php?id=204

check out the rest of the website too. very interesting.

[Lex]

isnt that the same mansion that Lex Luther lives in for Smallville, minus all the moss? if so I think its loctated on Vancouver Island in Vancouver,, woop woop

[Enrique Galvan]

this is a very interesant movie about all the things that u say, here in latinamerica (i'm from mexico) we feel that the movie i very close with our reality, just 4 the things that now r happenin' with usa and the latins, but well that's not the ponit (remember that the latins are the mayor minority in usa). The thing is that in marvel universe exist so much gay and lesbian characters, one of them is Mystique (she is bisexual)and her lover Destiny. Rictor (who is mexican)is another one gay character. Northstar is the 1st mutant who admit that he is gay and not only that, he is so proud of it. we need to follow the dream of xavier, to be one with the other part of the world, without think in sex preferences, religion, skin color, nationality or ideas to make the differences, we r all the same, all of us are live and all of us gonna die.

[will]

I've never thought we gay ppl could or should be cured, coz being gay is not a disease but a lifestyle we've chosen. So forget about the Richard Cohen dude's bullshit.

[Dan]

will, a lifestyle we've chosen? i don't think so. i think the point is simply, that is who we are, much the way the mutants did not choose to be mutants. it is hardwired in us.

intersting take on the movie. thanks for creating the opportunity to discuss.

[howie]

that so-called "ex-gay" therapist is the phoniest creature i have ever seen in my entire life. i feel really sorry for him. he's just a guy who's making money on people's low self-esteem and to me, that is very very bad. don't pay him and let him hug you like a daddy, it's idiotic.

i don't ever have the idea that being gay can be cured. i mean if parents are good (mine totally are), they would understand what kind of pressure their gay child is suffering and they should give him (her) a great deal of support and love, right? i mean, ex-gay therapy? those parents must be the worst in the whole universe. some parents don't truly care about their children, they care more about how people would think about them through their children.

you were right, the movie is closer to home this time. at least, it's not just a fiction with tons of effects anymore.

[Henry]

It doesn't just apply to being gay, it applies to anything the society deem as normal. So many parents are trying to design their child to fit a particular mold, babies with slight physical defects are being aborted, put up to adoption. Being different in any way is being seen as abnormal and thus needs to be "cured" or "destroyed". That's the theme to X men to me.

[tOkKa]

-->>.. Eric Dane's character :Madrox ..the Multiple man has his own comic and is noted that several of his multiples have had both bisexual and gay encounters with others..as while they all live within' Jamie and are him they also express independance from him and in many ways are not him. This leaves a very complex character. So while he is a villian in the movie ..in other Marvel media he is a somewhat out a diverse hero.

..just my take.. Wouldn't mind bein' lost in a room fulla Eric Danes anyway.. >=]

>v<

[AJ]

Hey. Love your review of Xmen. I am a big xmen comic fan and also agree with some of the comment posts about how in the marvel universe, there are quite a few gay characters and parallels to homosexuality (Xavier once gave a speech about equality including homosexuals in the speech--which of course infuriated some readers). I think the movie just tried to tell 2 different stories and wrap up a series that the original cast was contracted to do. There wasn't as much gay implications (like when bobby "came out of the closet" about being a mutant to his parents in X2), but with a change in directors ( times 3), something was gonna get lost.