Mutant, and Proud

X-Men: First Class is a must-watch for 2011.

I loved it for #1: its themes.

It explored issues close to our hearts; it drew attention to acceptance and belonging. These issues are faced every day by everybody. Who doesn't want to belong? Who doesn't want to be part of a community, a place, or even a small group who would just accept him or her as who he or she is?

This came across as very biblical. God called us to "love your neighbour as yourself." As a body of Christ, we are thus called to love, to accept and to embrace anybody, because we are first loved, accepted and embraced by God. By His grace, we are forgiven. Shall we not forgive others as well?

I loved it for #2: its plot and characters.

Director Matthew Vaughn has managed to balance character development and plot development. He downplayed the action commonly found in big blockbusters, and yet he could captivate his audience with an evenly-paced movie, interjected with subtle but significant dialogue sufficient to bring out the emotions of the movie's characters.

Historical bits involving the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis definitely made the movie more realistic. However, one must have some sort of background knowledge to better immerse in the events unfolding in the movie; otherwise, you can be quite lost.

I love Mystique's character the most in the movie. Though I was expecting more from Jennifer Lawrence, I greatly sympathise with her character. Mystique was the one who struggled the most with her own identity (being wholly blue isn't the most pleasant and acceptable among humans). Subsequently, she accepted her own uniqueness, and eventually embraced what it meant to be "mutant, and proud."

That's what we all need. We need to first accept ourselves for who we are, no matter how weird, how crazy or how awkward we may be. Thereafter, we need a community who are willing to accept us for who we are. It doesn't have to agree with us. More importantly, the community has to overlook the differences and be willing to accept us.

More often than not, rejection or the fear of rejection pushes us away from community. We become isolated, stigmatised or discriminated against. This lack of support and love then turns us toward depression and self-pity. Worse, self-rejection, unworthiness, and suicide.

So, do we have the courage to say that we are "different, and proud"?