Directed and produced by Mathew Vaughan and Bryan Singer respectively, X-Men First Class is a 2011 chef-d’oeuvre film drawn from the occurrences of the Second World War and the Cold War. These wars were unfortunate occurrences that could have been avoided if the perpetrators placed humanity before their undying desire to fulfil their conceitedness.
The wars were not about the common person, as the only beneficiaries were the disillusioned leaders who craved power without reflecting on the consequences of their decisions and actions. The ordinary people where caught in difficult situations after being forced to become participants in wars that would add not value to their lives.
Therefore, the ordinary citizens yearned for a redeemer to deliver them from the vagaries of useless wars. Unfortunately, the only available redeemer would be a ‘superhero’ that regrettably existed only in their imaginations. This scenario explains the birth of superhero fictional movies like X-Men First Class. The producers of such films fantasize of a situation where superheroes can redeem humanity from the inanity of power-hungry leaders.
Superhero fictional films like X-Men First Class are the effect of anxiety and confusion that engulf ordinary individuals at time of crises. The World War II and the Cold War presented such crises and humanity needed a superhero to redeem the oppressed, but such a super being only exists in movies.
Conventionally, humanity has two opposing sides, viz. evil versus good. Those perpetuating evil become the oppressor and those standing for peace become the oppressed. The director of the film, X-Men First Class, seeks to explore this idea by employing real-life occurrences in the quest to advance realism. In the film, Erick Lensherr is the oppressed, while Dr. Klaus Schmidt is the oppressor. In what comes out as symbolism, Schmidt is a German, while Erick is a Polish.
In the events heralding the Second World War, Germany invaded and occupied Poland illegally. While the characters in this scenario are fictional, the historical context of the movie is accurate, and as aforementioned, the film’s director uses this strategy to explore the theme of evil vs. good.
Similarly, the USSR masterminded the Cold War to the chagrin of the United States and the film’s director uses this war to highlight the never-ending conflict that runs deep in humanity. In 1962, Frost, an accomplice of Schmidt, who by now has changed his name to Shaw, is meeting the USSR. Lensherr, in the company of other superhero mutants, gatecrashes the meeting hoping to capture and kill Shaw.
Unfortunately, Shaw is missing, but Frost, his representative, is captured. Lensherr and his group learn that Shaw is pushing the USSR to place missiles in Cuba and deploy nuclear missiles in Turkey, and thus trigger a Third World War. As aforementioned, the film’s director uses these historically factual scenarios to underscore the nature of humankind, which is generally divided into evil and good.
Their only hope for the powerless citizens lies in fantasy where they long for a superhero to fight the evil. The film’s director uses Lensherr as the superhero fighting for the wellbeing of the common person. Lensherr becomes a victim of the evil after his innocent mother is killed mercilessly under the command of Schmidt for no apparent reason.
Lensherr presents the much-needed help for humanity and he executes his mission with near perfection. Humanity yearns for such a superhero to restore order in a chaotic society, where evil has infiltrated the pinnacle of leadership across the world. The evil and power-hungry leaders thrive on chaos and disorder. They create wars to advance their agenda and cause the disillusion that they are the victims.
Shaw is not satisfied with the Second World War and the Cold War, and thus he endeavors to start a Third World War based on mutant evolution. By starting the war, he seeks to paint Lensherr and his mutant accomplices as the aggressors. Through such lies, Shaw will rally the world against Lensherr and his accomplices, annihilate them, and thus retain the superpower that comes with the mutation, which he has already acquired.
However, the good will always triumph over the evil. Lensherr rallies CIA agents and other mutants to fight for the good of society. Shaw ultimately loses the battle and dies in the hands of Lensherr, and thus the good overcomes the evil. Similarly, Germany lost in the Second World War and order was restored across the world.
In addition, the USSR lost the battle in the Cold War and the attempts to trigger the Third World War were quashed. After killing Shaw with the aid of Xavier, Lensherr reaches out to Frost and frees him from bondage. This scenario symbolizes how the winners of the Second World War reached out to Germany and its sympathizers in the quest to have a unified society under the umbrella of the United Nations.
Therefore, the film’s director uses these events and literal stylistic devices like symbolism to underscore the theme of evil versus good. Lensherr and his team win the war against disorder and chaos in society. They eliminate Shaw, the mastermind of the war, before reaching out to his accomplices to come up with a unified society.