X-MEN 2

X-MEN 2 (vt X2, X-2: X-MEN UNITED; X-Men 2 [2002; USA: working title]). Bryan Singer, dir., co-story, exec. prod. Daniel P. Harris, script; David Hayter, Zak Penn, Singer, story. (See for source X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills [1982], by Chris Claremont [Brent Eric Anderson, illus.]. See IMDb or other sources for additional information on complex writing credits, but note crediting of Stan Lee [also exec. prod.]) USA: Ames Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, XM2 Productions, Donner/Schuler-Donner Productions, Marvel Entertainment (prod.) / 20th Century Fox (US and non-Russian dist.), 2003. Guy Dyas, prod. design. Louise Mingenbach, costume design. Filmographic information from IMDb.[1]

Of interest for Modernist vs. postmodernist/Industrial esthetics. Note Magneto's hyper-Modernist plastic prison (from the first X-MEN Film (2000). More importantly, note Professor Charles Xavier's telepathic-contact chamber, both in its original form and in the reproduction ordered up by the villainous General William Stryker. Parallel to the telepathic-contact chambers, note the very funky cyborg Jason 143 and the seductive illusion of him as Little Girl 143. Telepathic and empathic contact is done in an appropriately surreal mode, but the physical chambers are respectively Modernist in a mostly modern (underground?) setting in their legitimate form and postmodernist/Industrial in a highly Industrial underground setting in the reproduction. In the reproduction the illusion of the chamber is Modernist, while the reality is not. Similarly, the illusionist constructed and controlled by Stryker, Jason 143 (Stryker's mutant son), is horrific and Industrial, while the illusion of Little Girl 143 is smooth and cute: someone more appropriate in a 19th-c. sentimental drama perhaps, but who can pass as a Modern child. Cf. and contrast Star-Child in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (film) and the Pod-infant in THE MATRIX (both listed in this Category).

(RDE/JoeK, 14 May 2003)