Task 1B Reupload

1
Task 1B Unit 1 Analysis

• By Luca Munro

2
Purpose

• The storyline of X-Men Days of Future Past is
  that in 2023, robots called Sentinels run a dark
  and desolate world, killing off mutants and
  humans alike. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent
  back by Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto
  (Ian McKellen) with the help of Kitty Pryde
  (Ellen Page) to 1973 to prevent the assassination
  of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) creator of
  the sentinels by the mutant shapeshifter Raven
  Darkhölme, otherwise known as Mystique (Jennifer
  Lawrence). Wolverine is advised to seek out the
  help of young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy),
  young Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) and
  young Hank Beast McCoy (Nicholas Hoult).
• X-Men has never followed the theme that most
  comic book to film adaptations set a trend for.
  Instead of basing it all around action, the
  beauty of this franchise is that it follows the
  individuals story and struggle, with the power
  they have been given, how they view this power
  and how the rest of society reacts to their
  power. X-Men is a metaphor to our society,
  likening the mistreating of mutants to that of
  minorities, sexualities and gender equality. The
  creator of the X-Men Stan Lee even said that he
  based Charles Xavier off Martin Luther King, and
  Magneto off Malcolm X, two apposing civil rights
  leaders in the mid 20th Century.

3
Purpose (Continued)

• Peter Dinklages character in DOFP, feels that
  the far more superior branch of humanity
  homosuperiors (Mutants) will mean the
  extinction of homosepians, so proposes to the
  government to help fund his sentinel program.
  These sentinels are robots designed to recognise
  and destroy anyone with mutant DNA in their
  genetic code, so the Terminator-esc future you
  see in DOFP is similar to that of the holocaust,
  when Hitler (Who as well as Trask, sort of fitted
  into the branch of humanity he did not like),
  gathered up this group of people and wiped a vast
  majority of them out.
• In the film before Days of Future Past, X-Men
  First Class began the story for the prequels with
  Charles Xavier having taken in a runaway, Raven
  Darkhölme, after finding her looking around his
  house for food. Perhaps the main storyline after
  the central plot, Raven feels like Charles does
  not accept her in her blue and scaly form, but
  Charles wants to protect her from being feared by
  people. Charles is comfortable with his power of
  mind reading because his power is invisible,
  whereas Raven with her shape shifting and her
  blue form was insecure with her abilities and
  over the course of the film, comes to accept her
  abilities.

4
Genre

• X-Men Days Of Future Pasts main genre groups are
  Action, Adventure, Comic Book adaptation and
  Sci-Fi, so it falls under a hybrid genre film.
• The image to the bottom right of the X-Men DOFP
  Sentinel is one of the many CGI effects used in
  this film that shows its stable platform in the
  genre of Sci-Fi. The sentinel can morph its body
  into whatever it can to protect itself from being
  destroyed by the powers that mutants use on it.
• The CGI effects allow it to fall into the
  category of Sci-Fi because, along with the
  biological explanation of mutant DNA, none of
  these things we can really see in real life at
  least not that I know of and that means it is
  fictional, not able to be scientifically proven.
• The film posters have a split of the time travel
  element, with three of the main posters showing a
  character from the past and a character from the
  future. Two of which show the same character in
  both their 1973 and 2023 form, that of Charles
  Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lehsherr/Magneto.
  Following the Sci-Fi time travel logic,
  introducing both their 50-year gap forms into one
  relevant advertisement piece.
• The things we expect from Sci-Fi films are very
  much larger than life, things that you would not
  expect to find in real life. Something that has
  not been defined and that directors can take a
  lot of artistic licence with, and not be worried
  by what they know to be reality.
• The Superhero genre has many clichés that X-Men
  was famous for avoiding when the franchise began
  with the original film back in 2000, introducing
  an ensemble of characters as appose to having
  only one main character (Even though Wolverine
  has always served as the main centre point for
  most of these films), the plot not mainly about
  Saving the world, it serves as I have stated
  before, as a metaphor for equality in the world.
• In comparison to The Avengers, another major
  superhero ensemble, the major difference being
  that they are brought together by a major threat
  whereas the X-Men are brought together because of
  the fear of them by humans. They battle to
  survive as a race, rather than saving the world
  and battling for truth and justice. The X-Men are
  always together as a team, they are united by the
  fact they are feared by humanity, the Avengers
  are forced into working with each other by the
  S.H.I.E.L.D. company director Nick Fury.

5
Genre (Continued)

• X-Men are owned by Fox, and The Avengers are a
  part of the Marvel Cinematic Scope that started
  off in Iron Man in 2008 owned by Disney and
  Marvel Studios. In the comics, it would not be
  too difficult for the characters to cross over
  but since Marvel sold the film rights to X-Men
  and other major franchises to other companies,
  the difficulty is that the character of
  Quicksilver is a shared character in the comic
  book realities.
• The difficulty here is that Fox and Marvel own
  the right to use the character, so Fox uses their
  version of Quicksilver in their established canon
  for X-Men Days of Future Past played by Evan
  Peters in 1973, and Marvels version in their MCU
  for Avengers Age Of Ultron for what I believe
  will be a modern day established timeframe, and
  teased in Captain America The Winter Soldier.
• The differences between both versions of
  Quicksilver is that Fox are not allowed to hint
  at the past of Peter Maximoff, whereas the
  Marvel version is not to be referred to in the
  film as a mutant or reference the father of
  Pietro Maximoff, Magneto.
• "We are very much playing up two things that
  Days of Future Past doesn't play with one is
  his relationship with his twin sister, Wanda the
  other is his backstory as an Eastern European
  child of a war-torn country. And we follow him
  throughout the whole movie him and Wanda as
  it relates to their feelings about the Avengers
  and how that shifts and changes over the course
  of the movie," Feige said. "So it's a very
  different thing than coming out from one
  unbelievably awesome showcase sequence of the
  movie, and much more interwoven throughout the
  entire movie. Kevin Fiege, Marvel exec. Taken
  from http//www.stack.com/2014/07/29/quicksilver
  -avengers-2/

6
Form

• X-Men is part of a series of films, which goes
  from X-Men (2000), X2 X-Men United (2003),
  X-Men The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins
  Wolverine (2009), X-Men First Class (2011), The
  Wolverine (2013), X-Men Days of Future Past
  (2014) and upcoming films Deadpool, X-Men
  Apocalypse, Gambit (2016) and the third Wolverine
  standalone (2017).
• Days of Future Past was a time-altering film, so
  it wiped the events of many of the original films
  leaving First Class as the only canon X-Men film,
  but originally the chronological timeline is
  this First Class took place in 1962, the past
  sequence of Days of Future Past is 1973,Wolveirne
  Origins is 1986, X-Men, X2 and The Last Stand are
  all expected to have been set a few set months
  apart from each other in seemingly 2005. The
  Wolverine takes place in around 2013, then the
  future sequence of Days of Future Past is 2023.
• The themes of X-Men are always about majority and
  survival, the treating of a person who has an
  aspect of them that makes them stand out and
  vulnerable in society. This theme has been
  consistent with all X-Men films, setting them
  apart from most superhero genre films.
• The story has been mainly at the POV of Hugh
  Jackmans Wolverine, though the prequels have
  took that major aspect of being from his POV and
  now given that to the three major characters for
  the three prequel films. In X-Men First Class,
  Michael Fassbenders Magneto was the main POV for
  the films flow, which was then gifted to James
  McAvoys Charles Xavier for Days of Future Past,
  and for X-Men Apocalypse that role will go to
  Jennifer Lawrences Mystique. This being a test
  run for possible future X-Men films as Hugh
  Jackmans Wolverine is expected to be retired
  with him, and since First Class happened before
  Jennifer Lawrences rise to global phenomenon as
  Katniss Everdeen in 2012s The Hunger Games, the
  role of main character will be transferred either
  over to Lawrences Mystique or previous fan
  favourite Gambit, who is set to be reintroduced
  in X-Men Apocalypse played by Channing Tatum.

7
Style

• X-Men have not followed the main idea of
  superhero films, but have never failed to keep
  the style the same. We still have immensely
  impressive CGI effects, choreographed fight
  sequences, and the sets look so big and every
  special effect looked very well planned out. The
  main style seems very emotional and motivated by
  characters feelings on screen along with the
  action.
• A scene between the older and younger versions of
  Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart and James
  McAvoy), is a good example to use for a
  mis-en-scene. Body language, younger Xavier leans
  down to older Xavier having looked through the
  mind of Wolverine in 1973 all the way to
  Wolverines unconscious body in 2023, extremely
  hesitant and overwhelmed like he had been earlier
  using cerebro. In pain, telling his older self
  hes scared that so many mutants are in pain, and
  older Xavier emphasises with him (For obvious
  reasons), but tells him to have hope and that he
  will become more powerful than ever before if he
  embraces their pain without breaking.
• The lighting in this scene works amazingly well
  in this scene. The future looks extremely gloomy
  and dull anyway, an extremely dark both in terms
  of mood so the lightings contrast effect is very
  strong, which would perhaps show smog in the
  environment. Watching the scene, the lighting and
  future setting sums it up as an extremely bleak
  and awful place, which matches young Xaviers
  mood and feeling of scared and loneliness. This
  also reflects on all the mutants in the world
  both in the future.
• This film is set in a world that whilst grounded
  in reality, is definitely set in a world that
  would not be ours. You see the powers that these
  individuals can use, and the sets in the future
  look like a holocaust setting with braces on the
  back of peoples necks, bodies piled up in the
  millions, but it never looks out of reach in the
  future. Since we dont have any buffers of what
  we know to be of this time, we cant say if the
  setting we see is out of reach or not. However
  1973, very much like what anyone who lived in
  1973 experienced.
• There isnt much humour, but the humour comes in
  comic relief with the character Quicksilver.
• The film is loosely based on the X-Men comic Days
  Of Future Past where Kitty Pryde goes back to
  prevent the assassination of Senator Robert
  Kelly, but in the film to bring together the cast
  of the original X-Men films and the First Class
  cast, so to accommodate them both being in the
  same film, Wolverine would be the one sent back
  in time because Kitty Pryde was not born during
  the time the First Class cast would have been
  set. Plus the Sentinels were in the comics
  created by Bolivar Trask, so for this all to
  flow, Trasks assassination would be the one to
  have happened since Robert Kelly did not have a
  major role in the creation of the Sentinels.

8
Meaning

• Representation
• The way humans are represented in the film are
  many of them are looking to deal with this
  mutant problem. They are uninformed on the
  matter but with the power they hold, they make
  bad judgement calls. As for people in this film
  such as Bolivar Trask and William Stryker, they
  have a vision of mutants trying to overcome
  humans the way homosapiens overcame the
  neanderthal.
• The casting of Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister,
  Game of Thrones) was a metaphorical move by
  director Bryan Singer. Dinklage said "With my
  dwarfism, I'm a bit of a mutant. I can't move
  metal or anything, but I thought of it as
  self-loathing. Deep down, Trask is quite
  sensitive about that aspect of himself. This
  also can be closely tied to Hitlers idea of
  humanity being the Aryan race, not being able to
  apply that himself.
• Events in time are twisted to tie into the X-Men
  universe, such as the assassination of John F
  Kennedy, where it is said that Magneto had killed
  him but infact had tried to save him as He was
  one of us (A mutant). Also, the Watergate
  scandal has relevance in the X-Men universe, as
  Richard Nixon had meetings with Trask and had his
  12 minutes of time with Trask wiped from the
  tapes, and in the previous film X-Men First Class
  where the mutants played a hand at the Cuban
  Missile Crisis, when Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon)
  tricked both the American government and Soviet
  powers to nearly start World War III.
• Singer was asked how the film interrogates the
  themes of the earlier X-Men films he said, It
  establishes that some villain characters may have
  been right with their fears. It confronts the
  notions of hope and second chances. It's
  characters that are lost trying to find
  themselves. In X-Men 1 and 2, the characters had
  come into their own and knew who they were. In
  this one, they're all lost and they're trying to
  keep it together.
• Connotation
• When young Xavier speaks to old Xavier, he told
  his younger self Just because someone stumbles,
  loses their way, it doesnt mean they are lost
  forever, saying that humans can be showed to
  believe that mutants are not a threat. Beast then
  says that there is a theory of time being a
  constant flow, that no matter how many rocks you
  throw into the river, the current always corrects
  itself, so hes saying that what if Mystique is
  meant to kill Trask and that is just who she is.
  Xavier then quotes his older self, saying he
  doesnt believe in the theory and that he has
  faith in Raven and that she can be reasoned into
  doing the right thing.
• The meaning of the film is trying to prove that
  everyone needs a little help into being shown a
  better path, is the future truly set and are we
  destined to destroy everyone, can we take
  advantage of a second chance? The fact that if
  someone is sent down a path that isnt right for
  them, they can always redeem themselves and
  become better if they have the correct amount of
  help.
• Context
• Like I mentioned before, Days of Future Past is
  based upon the comic of the same name, and refers
  to the Watergate scandal or at least before the
  scandal revealing in the late 70s.

9
Production Process

• Before filming began, Fox had approved the next
  X-Men film being based upon Chris Claremonts
  Days of Future Past both to start a clean slate
  in the X-Men universe by removing a few
  continuity errors and to bring together the cast
  members from the original trilogy which included
  that of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, with
  the cast from the first of the prequels First
  Class with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.
• When the cast list was revealed, it was heavy
  with big franchise stars. Patrick Stewart
  (Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek), Ian McKellen
  (Gandalf The Grey/White, Lord of the Rings The
  Hobbit), Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen, The
  Hunger Games), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister,
  Game of Thrones) and more actors who dont carry
  particular franchises on their shoulders.
• Bryan Singer directed the film, he made plenty of
  great films such as The Usual Suspects (1995),
  but he made himself widely known for directing
  the first two X-Men movies, X-Men (2000) and X2
  X-Men United (2003), before heading off to direct
  Superman Returns (2006).
• Filming primarily took place in Montréal, and set
  pieces were based upon the Great Wall of China
  for the future sequences.
• When the script was going through development,
  characters that X-Men fans come to love such as
  Nightcrawler, Juggernaut (Who originally Josh
  Helman was cast as before the character was wrote
  out and he was offered the part of William
  Stryker), Angel and other characters who were
  originally in X-Men First Class such as Tempest
  (Also called Angel), Azazel, Banshee and Emma
  Frost (Who were all killed off before the events
  of Days of Future Past) were all originally
  considered before being wrote out.
• Because there are so many special effects, I have
  chosen to narrow down to Mystiques special
  effects. When Mystique is transforming into
  someone else or back into herself, scales move
  across her body and she transforms either between
  her blue form and human-looking form, or between
  different people. Jennifer Lawrence and Rebecca
  Romijn in the original films had their make up
  department make them actually look blue in the
  films, with Romijn having body paint and scales,
  and Lawrence after having tried body paint
  develop an allergy so she used a body suit.
• Originally, Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse, True
  Blood) was supposed to reprise her role as Rogue
  but had her part written out as it was felt it
  detracted from the main plot. Writer Simon
  Kinberg and director Bryan Singer decided to
  release the directors cut in 2015 having filmed
  the story of older Xavier and Magneto going to
  break out Rogue from a mutant prison camp. Then
  have her take over from Kitty Prydes power when
  Wolverine accidentally slashes her, it is
  expected the Rogue cut will be released soon on
  DVD.