X-Men: Days of Future Past shows us the limitations and dangers of power

The newly released X-Men: Days of Future Past delves into the fear produced by the rise of the mutants, and the reactionary attempts of the humans to retain control - not just of mutants but, ultimately, of everyone. A movie adaptation of a famous comic story-arc, it sees a surviving mutant resistance looking for a way to rewrite events in the past, to prevent the horrors of the future.

In its origin, the X-Men comics reflected important civil rights campaigns and the struggles of outsiders, outcasts and minorities for acceptance, usually in the face of hostility. The problems that the mutants face in the dystopian future of Days of Future Past, stem from the methods of their own leaders used in response to those struggles.

On the one side, Professor Xavier was a scheming, pacifist idealist, who wanted to save humanity in order to win their trust. The aim being to use that trust to carve out a place for mutants within human society, and from there to improve things through a policy of gradualism - change by increments - through education. However, by attempting to buy a peaceful place within the established order through the valour of mutants, Xavier's path comes with the risk of sacrificing much and still not changing the world at all.

Magneto, on the other side, is an angry, vengeful supremacist. He sees humanity as a violent lost cause to be swept aside to make way for the safety of his own people. His experience at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust has convinced him that humanity will never accept mutants, and that they will seek instead to destroy them as a threat. Magneto's response is to wage a war against them, to defend his people and gain power for them. That path does very much threaten the world with definite change, but only of rulers and not of methods.

It is ultimately Magneto's path that has the greatest impact. His war of liberation and supremacism creates fear and anger, and breeds only further conflict. His war on humanity only escalates the feelings of weakness and insecurity created by the innate powers of mutants, and it forces a reaction.

Rather than understand or educate their foe, or find a way to integrate them, the humans take a more 'efficient' path, one that would protect and extend their power, rather than require concession. They seek instead to place their trust in tried and proven tactics, escalating the conflict further by creating power to overmatch their enemy's power. However, meeting power with power only produces more fear, and more violence.

In the X-Men: Days of Future Past, through the novelty of the rather literal approach of time-travel, we see exposed the circularity of violence, and limitations of the short term methods, of the means justified by the ends. Fear breeds fear; violence breeds violence; these methods only ever lead you in circles.

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References:
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+ Bryan Singer & Brett Ratner's 'X-Men Trilogy'; 20th Century Fox; 2000. [Buy Now]

+ Gavin Hood's 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'; 20th Century Fox; 2009. [Buy Now]

+ Matthew Vaughn's 'X-Men: First Class'; 20th Century Fox; 2011. [Buy Now]

+ James Mangold's 'The Wolverine'; 20th Century Fox; 2013. [Buy Now]

+ Chris Claremont, John Byrne & Terry Austin's 'The Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past'; issues #141-142; Marvel; 1981. [Buy Now]