I am a very cynical person. If there is one thorn in my side that leads to most of my struggles it is my dismal lack of hope. Here’s the catch though (that anyone who is a self-aware cynic would never admit): I am always desperately looking for something to place my hope in. Personally, as you can tell, my hope is mostly placed in The Bible, and its main character Jesus. It may be different for you because at the end of the day, we are all on different journeys. However, that does not change the fact that there are specific issues on which I sometimes feel hopeless. Sometimes I feel hopeless for my family. I feel like I cannot help them, or that they refuse to take good advice from anyone. Other times I feel hopeless on the front of my own desire to appear to be someone who effectively follows Jesus, rather than just a nervous insecure actor. One very radioactive issue that I occasionally feel hopeless on is diversity. Whether it’s racial, sexual, or even a diversity of ideas, I often fear that I exist in my microcosms and end up avoiding people outside of those. I am a firm believer that groupthink is a cancer and adaptability is the biggest strength, especially for the church, that any community can have.
Now don’t misread me—the Church should be committed to preaching the Gospel above all else and be courageous in its refusal to bend to things like cultural pressure. That being said, The Bible calls the church to be the most socially acceptable place on earth, and instead what I often see is the problems of the church in Rome. It’s not that they were prejudiced towards each other, but they certainly avoided each other, which in turn, prompted Pauls greatest writing.
This leads me to The X-Men The X-Men are for my vote, far-and-away the most interesting group of superheroes. Not because they always have the best characters or stories, but because of the context in which they were written. If you are not aware, you are about to get a cliff-notes version of a story that unfolded over the last 50 years of American and Comic-book history. Basically, as the Civil Rights movement was raging, Stan Lee was very fascinated by its two biggest characters Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcom X. So, he crafted two characters who could embody their big ideas: Professor Charles Xavier, and Erik Lensherr (or Magneto). They were members of a new race of humans called Mutants. Mutants were people with gifts (superpowers). Alone, not that many of the mutants were that impressive, but as a movement, they were unstoppable. Like Dr. King, Professor X longed for mutants and humans to coexist and for humans to accept mutants as one. Magneto saw mutants as they were: physically superior in every way. The future of the human race. And he saw there hostility towards mutants as fear of them. Their stories are often stories where the two characters are competing for the same prize, but where one has idealogical limitations, the other does not. And so we have a classic good guy vs. bad guy structure. It must be acknowledged though that it is often times in the story telling, not that simple. I want to discuss how three movies in this world have helped me think in a gospel centered way about diversity.
Let’s start with the sequel to the very first X-Men film, X2: X-Men United. At the end of the first film, Wolverine teamed up with the rest of the X-Men and they used team work to defeat Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants. Yay! (I actually really like that movie, it just severely lacks nuance) Now, it’s time for some nuance. So, there is a problem that is introduced in this movie, that is briefly introduced in the first, but is only first explored in this movie. Are mutants dangerous? In the first movie there’s this really on-the-nose scene where Dr. Jean Grey is at a senate hearing and is asked the question, and basically just says, “Bro… What kind of stupid question is that?” I’m paraphrasing, but that is all that is meant to be communicated in the scene. In X2 however, the opening scene is centered around an attack on the POTUS, by a mutant. The world is shown just how dangerous mutants can be. And then we have an adventure where instead of being Magneto vs. Professor X, it is more of a race to see who can best answer the question, “Are humans worth saving?” It is very effectively established in the movie (and other stories about mutants), that if mutants ever decided to turn on humanity, they would surely crush us with ease. At the centerpiece of this dilemma is the character of Wolverine. Throughout the film, he is being told that he is an animal meant for killing and terror and that he should embrace that nature. On the other hand, his peers on the X-Men are constantly telling him how he can be the person he wants to be. This is where Magneto and Professor X’s conflict comes in. Professor X, at his core has hope. Magneto takes a more present view, confident in his belief that humans hate mutants. At the end of the film Wolverine chooses. I don’t want to give anything away, because at the end of the day, you should just watch it yourself. Next movie.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is probably my personal favorite installment in this franchise. It’s just got so much that grabs me personally: time travel, great villains, Michael Fassbender. The dilemma faced in this story is faced mainly by Professor X. In no uncertain terms, the question asked is, “Are humans capable of being redeemed?” At the beginning of the film, Wolverine is sent back in time to get Professor X and Magneto to work together to stop a mutant from killing a single guy, so that mutants in the future can be saved from humans. This proves to be difficult because it directly pits Charles, the ultimate optimist, against those he is most actively trying to save. In the immediate, he obviously loves mutants the most, but they are not the ones in danger by his estimation. He views the bigotry that humans wrestle with as the ultimate villain, and wants to save their souls from it. The problem is, when a dark future comes asking for his help, he begins to wonder about his capability, along with the inevitability of pain. In the end his greatest test is centered around putting his faith in someone everyone believes to be the accidental bringer of the apocalypse. Again, go watch the movie.
Finally we arrive at what is without a doubt the most adult film in the X-Men franchise, 2017’s Logan. In it, we meet up with decrepit broken down versions of our heroes. Charles (Professor X) and Logan (Wolverine) are simply surviving, waiting for the relief of death. For Charles, that could be soon, and Logan longs for his time. They are without hope. Until a child comes to them, bringing just a flicker. For Charles, that is more than enough for one final adventure. But for Logan, it is a facade. Another opportunity to be let down by the truth. Giving as little away, the movie ends with Logan finally choosing to hope.
At the end of the day, while Charles is the person who I wish I could be more like, Logan is probably the character with whom I relate the most. I have this dichotomy that I wrestle with where I want to hope, but then I get insecure because I know the gigantic gap between the truth and what is good.
And there it is. The full circle. The question you must ask yourself is, “What is good?” Based on virtually all of my experience, I think Hosea 3:5 has the answer. “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.”
Sawyer Huelat 