How effective is X-Men at presenting the flawed hero and the sympathetic villain through the characters Wolverine and Magneto?

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KATHERINE SMITH

English Media Coursework

How effective is ‘X-Men’ at presenting the flawed hero and the sympathetic villain through the characters Wolverine and Magneto?

Traditionally in the comic book genre, the characteristics of a hero and villain follow certain conventions, signifying their roles of good and evil. Bryan Singers ‘X-Men’ undertakes an alternative approach on this, his adaptation of the famous comic book story, shows us how unique X-men is to the typical comic book genre, especially in the way its heroes and villains are presented. Heroes are usually portrayed as strong, attractive characters full of goodness, whilst villains are the complete opposite and are ugly, evil, uncaring characters, who will stop at nothing to wreak havoc or get revenge. Hugh Jackman’s take on Wolverine is an excellent example of representing a character with many flaws and Ian Mckellen’s act as Magneto is a perfect view on a villain with a past and feelings.

The scene where we first see Wolverine is set in an old, dirty looking bar, the lighting is dismal and the general mood of the surroundings is chaotic. There is a commotion and people are booing and cheering, the camera then views a cage and we notice a fight taking place, it looks like a contest. Focusing on the cage, we see a man being thrown against the cage wall, he is un-conscious and looks badly hurt, the man is then dragged away. At this point the camera turns to give us our first glimpse of Wolverine with his back towards the camera. Wolverine is the one responsible for hurting the man in the contest. His actions are not those usually adopted by a hero character and could be perceived as crawl and vicious. Would a hero fight purely for sport or payment? Is this a hero like thing to do?

With the camera angled on Wolverine’s back there is a shimmer of orange light shining over him, the camera then moves around to show a medium-shot view of the front of Wolverine, his face is half hidden in the shadow, we still can’t see him clearly. This makes him even more mysterious to the viewers, his identity is still unknown, and this secrecy really captures the audience attention keeping them engrossed in the film.  

The fighting continues and a new opponent enters the cage, he attacks Wolverine who falls to the floor giving the impression that he has weakened since the last fight. Suddenly his fist appears and he strikes the attackers hand. At the point of contact we hear a non-diagetic sound of metal bashing, showing Wolverine’s power and strength and also shows the audience that he is far from normal.

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In the following scene in the bar Wolverine represented is shown wearing old, worn out clothing. It is not colourful like a traditional heroes costume, his facial features have been made to look rather wolf-like, which gives him a rugged, mystifying appearance, unlike the handsome and dazzling look of a usual hero, say like, Superman or Spiderman. Through the use of props (‘cigar’) and Hugh Jackmans facial expressions you get the feeling that Wolverine is a loner, who isolates himself from other people, living a boring and meaningless life. As he does not remember anything about his past, he ...

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