X-Men's X-relevance

Hey guys,

Some new things:

1. Saturday mornings were the most important part of my childhood specifically from 1992-1997, and that’s because of X-Men: the Animated Series.
   
   I’d sing the theme song incessantly. Here it is, looped for you too.
   
   I started getting the X-Men action figures - here’s one that would change color in the freezer.
   
   I started collecting the Marvel trading cards. (Mom kept me a bit insulated from the comic books themselves — they were too scandalous.)
   
   I got the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, and learned from it, and practiced, and then for the first time, I had the power to create my own visual stories. I made my own superhero team. I made an epic saga spanning several issues. I did my best to follow the steps of sketching, penning, coloring… and I’d sell them to my parents for $5 an issue.

   
   My close friends knew I liked the show. But no one knew how deeply I felt it.
   
   See, I was Wolverine. I saw myself in his attitude. And in his soft side. That unrequited love thing and nebulous triangle involving Jean Grey and Cyclops was so real to me. With my action figures, I wouldn’t just act out fight scenes. I constantly staged my own scenarios of Wolverine getting the short end romantically, for being misunderstood, and the most misfit of all the X-Men outsiders. He (and I) would be somehow saving the girl I had a crush on. Or maybe it wasn’t someone specific. Maybe it was some imagined idea of perfection that as a lonely child I felt was so unattainable. He’d get the secretive kiss from the girl, only to have the moment suddenly ripped away. My other action figures (including other — in my mind — inferior Wolverine versions) would then join together to beat him down. And did the girl feel bad? Was that a twinkle of affection in her eye? It was always vague. That was the bittersweet longing of it, so exquisite…
   
   X-Men was a soap opera. It was also social commentary. (The movies never captured the same mix of these). Even at that age, I knew that no other cartoon compared. Batman came close, but X-Men uniquely echoed the things I’d vaguely hear about in the news, or things we learned in school about history.
   
   It was only after the series ended that I became more conscious of how mutants were an allegory for minorities, discrimination, and civil rights. This actually wasn’t creator Stan Lee’s original intention, but he embraced that meaning, because sure, there are similarities. Themes echo across space and time.

   
   But it’s not what made it resonate for me. And though I can’t speak for all fans, I have a hunch many felt the same. We didn’t watch X-Men and say, “I feel bad for mutants. They deserve tolerance, not persecution.” No no, we identified with X-Men, regardless of our “identity group,” because everyone in some way has felt left out and dreamt of a support system that gets us. Everyone. Irrespective of race, religion, sex. Especially going into our teen years. That’s what X-Men really understood.
   
   Fast-forward to today, and X-Men’s back… but picking up where it left off, in 1997! And while some cosmetic updates have been made, and some scripting is even more mature, it really does feel like a direct continuation.
   
   It’s not the woke fest that early commentators feared it’d be. Though you can see where it’s nudging: Ep 2 incorporates a protest that turns into storming a building and is referred to as an “insurrection.”
   
   But let’s be honest: X-Men was always a precursor to modern woke. That’s not really the issue here. It’s just that at the time of the original series, it meant something. And today, it’s stale. Sentinels are back to round up and enslave mutants. Mm-hm. The world it’s hoping to reference has unfortunately become much more complex. In trying to push this narrative regardless, it’s either short-sighted, or it reeks of agenda.
   
   The show kinda frames mutants, despite personality differences, as a monolithic group — but please, is such identity politics really cause to celebrate right now? I’ve been especially wary of it over the last four years… groups taking “group ideology” to the extreme.
   

2. ***REMINDER***

   THE FINAL EPISODES of my audio drama SAFE SOCIETY — starring a wonderfully expressive and nuanced cast — Zack Segel, Marlain Angelides, Eric Marq, Langston Fishburne, Jasmine Ashanti, and many more — HAVE JUST DROPPED ON ALL AUDIO PLATFORMS — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.

   
   And coincidentally, there’s a prescient sequence:
   
   Young programmed middle-schoolers shouting their rally cry, “A BETTER WORLD,” thanks to the machinations of the shadowy elite. Over this, the Narrator explains — in her celebratory tone (which is not my tone) —
   
   holding signs with slogans and wearing agenda-specific t-shirts and activist pins of their choosing… the New Humans condemned their systemically-troubled country and called for more progress, more, more… (click to hear this bit)
   
   Sure enough, look around now and you’ll see the Return of the Big Protests (just in time for election year eh?). Listen, you do you. But in general, it’s wise to put your own house in order first.
   
   I’d say to the X-Men series creators, such collectivism is no longer something to push for. X-Men’s core conflict has reached the point that X no longer marks the spot. Maybe I’m just growing up, and growing past the grown-up cartoon show. But this ties to the problem I’m having with film in general: there are bigger perspectives going on in the world. Part of the reason film just doesn’t feel important anymore is because it’s not evolving its messaging to keep up.
   

3. It’s not enough to make it.
   I talk to many people who feel, “I’m happy enough to just make something.” Fair. I get it. And I think everyone moves through different stages. Many years ago I said the same thing. And maybe in some years, I’ll say it again.
   
   But right now, I believe that if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to hear it, it doesn’t make a sound.
   
   Maybe that’s the showman in me. But creativity is a language of communication. It needs to be directed toward others.
   
   So if you’re making yet another short film for the kicks of it, I have to ask, “Why?” Outside of “to practice,” you better have a great reason. Otherwise, don’t you want to try something different? Most of the time, shorts do not satisfy viewers. They are, by their nature, less of an event.
   
   If you compound that with the fact that longer indie films are hardly getting funded now — I hear this from so many producers — then doesn’t it seem we ought to be trying other approaches, rather than the same ol’?
   
   What I find fascinating about AI is that it’s putting more creative agenda into our own hands. I actually believe my colleagues and I can make another feature film for a fraction of the cost, by exploring some AI-live-action-animation amalgam. This model could turn budget structure on its head. Much less spending on production. Much more on marketing, and attaching name talent. (Yes, that talent is still what we want to see.)
   

4. Check out the SAFE SOCIETY visual trailer, which we made with AI imagery. Reply to me about it. Ask me anything.
   

5. Apparently this is a controversial thing??
   Last month I posted the trailer on the audio drama subreddit, because I read that’s where a devoted audio drama community is.
   
   Let’s just say, I can’t count on that community. You can read the thread for the insane reaction. They weren’t even bashing the social stances, which I would’ve somewhat expected. No. They couldn’t get past the AI. Two of them did complain about the lack of story revealed in the trailer, and the overwhelming visuals. Okay. Legitimate discussions to be had. I replied that I was much more interested in a tonal trailer, and one that focused on concept; plot’s not the selling point here. Clearly they’re not exposed to film trailers or other modern marketing in this niche; overwhelming visuals are kinda the point.
   
   Every other commenter was a hardcore purist hounding me about how evil AI was, how my kind was not wanted here, to put it nicely, and how I was refusing to change my mind… I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware I was posting there to have my mind changed…
   
   Yes, apparently that hive-mind feels audio drama is the last pure space not corrupted by the sizzle of the visual world. And that’s too backward for me.

   
   Here’s my stance. Yes, there are some questions around what copyrighted data these gen AI companies accessed in order to train their models, models which then rejigger all that info to spit out the AI imagery we request. However, to say that what we generate is then a violation of copyright is a fundamental misunderstanding of how art works.
   
   First off, have a fun time trying to prove that my specific art is infringement. You can’t, because whatever visual input data was used has been transformed into something new. No crime on the user’s part. And so long as the companies are in legal operation, we have a right to use them.
   
   Secondly, AI is basically how creatives already operate: we pull references, and we create — or have our workers create — things like those references. Or we subconsciously absorb inspirations and then subconsciously replicate.
   
   Look, end of the day, AI not going anywhere. So we best learn it now.
   
   Will it take over some jobs? Yes. As it’s been throughout history with every new invention, that’s inevitable. But reframing ourselves needs to be seen as an opportunity, considering how stale these industries have gotten over the last several years. We could be freed from the small tasks we don’t care as much for, and instead spend time on the bigger tasks, or even as decision-makers. More needs will also open up. We just have to be ready and flexible.
   
   SO CHECK OUT SAFE SOCIETY, IF ONLY FOR THE CONTROVERSY!
   Listen links are on safesociety.world
   

6. Dune Part Two
   Most epic thing ever. So much so that it wears you down after a while. But worth it. Hope you caught it on IMAX.
   
   I chose Dune for a 7th grade book report. I’m surprised how the names and terminology all came flooding back. I remember being fascinated by the strange future that was built off remnants of our own world. And fascinated by all the religious and spiritual elements.
   
   The ending was always troubling to me, because while the hero supposedly succeeds, it was cold and foreboding. I couldn't fully verbalize it then, but I knew it was something way more eerily complex that what my main squeeze Star Wars had done.
   
   Now, years later, seeing these 2 new films, I appreciate Frank Herbert even more, and I can articulate it as a Godfather tale. Sure enough, Denis Villeneuve confirmed it.
   
   Easter Egg. The Godfather logo was an inspiration for the Safe Society logo.
   
   Dream Scenario
   Like a Charlie Kaufman film, but its own thing, without getting as twisty and heady. The comedy not as incessant. Maybe more steadily pensive in tone.
   
   Civil War
   I haven’t seen this one yet, but eventually will.
   From what I hear, it’s not inherently political — though I’ve also heard otherwise. My issue is, if you’re going to give your film such a loaded title and reference something topical, you owe it to audiences to offer more motive… otherwise it’s a red herring… you’re just capitalizing on the term. Why inject it, if you just want to make a war/journalism movie that’s kinda time and place agnostic?
   
   This coming from someone who was never really into politics, someone who‘s appreciated when movies can stay out of it! But I’ve also believed that art is great when it can comment on the culture around us, and it just so happens that in the last several years, politics has been pushing its way in, and it’s very tough to avoid.
   
   I suppose A24, the studio behind Civil War, does make its stance clear by backing some documentary about some “insurrection” — as one comment says, “HOLY PROPAGANDA, BATMAN!”
   
   Shōgun
   Cinematically it’s like most “prestige” shows. Proficient, without screaming auteur.
   
   But what it does so well is it gives an immersive and detailed sense of old Japanese rituals and customs, in a way that shows genuine interest, but not outright celebration. It asks questions about the personal ramifications of this code of honor, and through the main vessel character, puts it in dialogue against Western thinking. It also captures the subtlety of trickery and political chess - the glances behind glances, expressions behind expressions. And it offers a final episode that itself tricks us, subverts our expectations, and ends up feeling more appropriately zen-like.
   
   And the romance story becomes grandiose thanks to the music — Atticus Ross part of the collaboration.
   I’m getting flavors of Shame.
   Which had flavors of Thin Red Line.
   I’ll throw my own short film in here — which we traveled to Costa Rica to make over a decade ago, shooting from the hip and improvising as we went. One of the funnest trips. We were able to squeeze in a moment of music that’s very directly inspired.

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Chris