New X-Men movie...Doesn't Pass the Bechdel Test.

[alfreda89]

I'm sure it's fun, but now that I know that they gutted Chris Claremont's original story, I'm not in a hurry to see it.  This is KITTY'S story, isn't it?

Not anymore.

I'll go see the new Captain America instead.

Comments

[ladypoetess.livejournal.com]

I have seen both, and loved both, but I started clapping at the end of Xmen (I didn't at the end of Captain America).

It does bug me that there are fewer female characters here, but I'm inclined to give this a line of credit until the next movie. I find that I do this with reboots - when they are rebooting a franchise that has focused on a few specific male characters, I am inclined to let it slide at first if the reboot focuses on those characters, while they get the new story up and running. Star Trek did this, and I was fine with the first reboot Star Trek movie. That line of credit runs out, however, if they don't start fixing the imbalance by the 2nd installment. You've got the story up and running, you've got your bridge & connection with the male central characters, now it's a new ballgame and you can fix things properly. (Star Trek did not fix things properly and that line of credit most assuredly ran out - I was supremely disappointed by the 2nd reboot movie.)

I enjoyed DoFP far more than I expected, there were some really awesome female characters (though not developed in the same way as the male characters), and I've got high hopes for the next installment. They get my line of credit for now, and I'm hoping hard that they do well with the next movie.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean by giving some slack, but as the author of this story did the reboot back in forever, and comics fans both male and female loved it as it was, making the original co-protagonists hangers-on disappoints me.

If it turns out the studio demanded it, I might give them a pass. But Kitty Pryde fans are very disappointed.

I expect that I will enjoy it. But I am so tired of spending money on films where I can't even imagine myself as the hero. So I will go--but I won't buy a copy of the movie.

[ladypoetess.livejournal.com]

I can understand being disappointed that the story is diverging from the comic, but to me - a non-comic reading fan of the movies - Kitty had no bigger a cut in her importance than any other character that wasn't one of the 4 focus characters. I've only ever watched the movies (and the 90's cartoon), so Kitty Pryde is a minor character in the continuity I know. She was certainly important in the original comic, but she's never been a main protagonist in the movie continuity, so this didn't seem all that bad to me.

imitarate commented on this that, with comics, you've got years to build up everyone to some extent, with the ability to make them all the central character of their own arcs. With movies, you've got 2 hours every couple of years (if you're lucky) and if you branch out too much, or too quickly, you lose people. It's just not possible to do the same justice to all the characters in a movie as it is in the comics. The movies are appealing to comics fans, but also to people who have never read a comic book (like me). I don't have the background to understand how/why most of the characters do whatever it is that they do - I had to have Imit explain what Bishop was doing in DoFP, and what exactly Warpath's deal was - so switching to someone else as a central protagonist would be jarring, at best for me. Since I don't know them, having Mutant 563 be the one I'm supposed to care about and empathize with is a harder leap if I'm used to the Professor and Wolverine, and I don't see Mutant 563 in some sort of context with them, first. Introduce me, then send the story off in the wake of Mutant 563, and we're good. :)

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I understand your point.

I just fear that Hollywood is not interested in telling stories about half the human race. And that saddens me.