X-Men small-scale movie idea — parallel with bullying and school shootings
Mutant movie : 13 year old kid coming to terms with being a mutant while in a normal small town school with similar vibe to IT, Stephen King’s horror movie adaptation. At first he doesn’t know he is a mutant. First act he realises that during a positive emotional scene and little by little experiments with his powers on his own, without anyone else knowing. 2nd act he is being bullied by older kids (18 years old) like IT and even though he is trying to hide it, the power manifests itself (in correlation with his growing positive/negative emotion) during violent bullying but as he is able to suppress the power it does not seem dangerous to others. Just makes him look like a ‘freak’, similarly to mutants in other X-men movies. The rest of the school learns of the 2nd act incident it as well, through mouth to mouth, forcing him to become separated from any social life until this one kid…
There is this really essential curious kid (9 years old), younger than him, who we introduce from the beginning but who has been sort of in the background in every other scene taking place in school. He has always felt bad for the protagonist, but as he doesn’t wanna differentiate himself from his friends but offering some support he hasn’t so far shows support that’d be super explicit. Just picked up the protagonist’s books from the ground or paid for his sandwich in a buffet when the credit card machine isn’t working. Thus, he helps but is not ready to compromise his own relationships by opposing anyone and visibly defending him. Not communicating with him, in any way. That is, before the 2nd act. The sympathetic kid turns out after the ‘freak’ incident and says that he lives in the neighbourhood so a couple times they have walked home together. The kid just got more interested in him after the 2nd act incident when he was seen as this ‘weird’ being…as he thinks mutant powers are cool having read the comics etc. It is one of films points, that when we are young we accept more weird shit but eventually we’re put into a box where we learn “to fear that which is different” — line from Days of Future Past.
As the older kids bully him, the little one becomes increasingly interested between 2nd and 3rd act. Also, that educating oneself e.g. comics in the movie (when younger)and maintaining curiosity enables to understand that which is different and perhaps even accept it. Which is something people need to understand as we move toward globalising world and technologies which we don’t understand, like AI, because we don’t know their cornerstones/motives. At some point he also shows some of the power and they experiment, exploring some cool ways the power could be used — in a non-violent way.
So in the 3rd act to which the movie has been building towards the question of is he eventually gonna kill someone by letting his emotions control him and the powers loose. He is bullied even more and his anger grows, drawing a parallel with school shootings which seems to be a relevant topic in the US and therefore be addressed more in fictional media. The curious kid comes there just when he is about to kill and calms him down. Message here is that one should try to talk to a person before making judgments on anyone on the basis on what one might have heard. The kid is younger and bullies are older not just because that is the status quo when this behaviour is depicted. But also in order to have the older people recognise inferiority in that sort of behaviour and saying that if that young kid can express empathy then why can’t I? Now, the twist…
Eventually everyone publicly learn that he is a mutant (not just word of mouth) and charges are being pressed from bullies as he hurt them e.g. with 3rd degree burns. In the end the charges are dropped as he is 13, but on a that he does something requiring his presence — community work, for example. As he walks out of the court room, he is alerted by something we on the stairs. He doesn’t understand what it is, but some gut feeling tells him to stop. He then turns around and sees Prof X rolling down the wheelchair path on the side of a staircase. It was actually Charles telling him subconsciously to stop. Something that always bugs me is those voices in people’s heads when he talks to them telepathically — people find them normal while in reality everyone would instantly freak the f**k out. Charles tells him that he reads/controls minds and has been . He asks why didn’t he just make them drop all charges without punishment with his mind. Or why didn’t he contact him earlier, to absolve him from all the bullying. To which Charles explains that unlike some who think mutants should receive special treatment as a superior race (referencing Magneto)…he believes that if we were to live among people we must learn to be humans first and foremost. Which is why Charles wanted him to feel and know the consequences of his violent actions being accused in that court room, according to laws applied to humans. And also feel the bullying, the same way many humans do — showing that although his goals are benevolent, his methods are far from ethical. Making Charles an antihero, the same as Magneto, which is always more interesting. At first, the beginning of the mutant school should be small scale. Meaning that as the school maintains a low profile and has maybe five mutant teachers…the amount of students is also small. That can only be the case if Charles lets the mutants proceed in normal society whose lives are fine in the human community. Only taking under his care those who are being tormented. For that he checks in with the mind set of hundreds each day. Which is why, Charles thinks that in order to offer him a better study environment for the next 10 years he is to join him to his school for mutants. He says that he would still have to come back to serve his punishment, doing community work. To which Charles replies with assurance that he has already taken care of that, pointing to his head. Before they leave he notices the curious kid watching them from afar. He goes to him to thank him and says goodbye. As he walks back to Charles, he nods to the kid as if he knew who the kid was and also being thankful for what his help.
Everyone, also the school students who are there to see what happens, sees the X-men plane take off and disappear with a sonic boom. Small kid in a calm, reminiscent way watches the plane fly way. In actuality, as he looks up seeing it fly away and just before cutting to black his eyes go yellow for a second meaning that it is Mystique being all rogue, helping mutants — they have a history with Charles who recognised her in disguise. Which is the way she should behave in the movies. Not being part of the team but pursuing her own agenda in order to feel fulfilled by putting her powers to the best use.
The main message of the film could be that even if your life isn’t in good shape, keep doing your own thing by developing either you physical or mental powers. And then wait…until you are being noticed like Prof X noticed him in the end and flew him away towards a better future — he personifies hope in people who have no reason to have it. Which could be the only thing keeping people in despair from committing terrible acts, driven by emotion. According to Fight Club at least : “It’s only when you have lost everything when you can do anything.” Having nothing also indicates having no hope for a better future.
