rionaleonhart | Mind Reading Trick This Way.

Entry tags:

conversational adventures,
crossovers,
derren brown,
famous!,
fanfiction,
film,
first impressions,
harry potter,
james mcavoy stares into my soul,
my lj friends are real people apparently,
real life (there's a rarity),
superheroes,
video,
x-men

Mind Reading Trick This Way.

I had a day out with

th_esaurus yesterday! We watched X-Men: First Class in the cinema and ate ice-cream and went to a private art exhibition where I pretended not to be aware of the fact that Matt Berry was standing next to me. It was a wonderful day.

So! X-Men: First Class!

I really, really enjoyed it. It's got its flaws, but I don't care, because it captured my heart and left me grinning at the screen in a way that films very rarely manage. I just really enjoyed it, all the way through. Watching it made me happy.

This is not entirely but in part attributable to the fact that, well...

Yeah, I thought you guys on my flist were exaggerating how gay this film was. You weren't. I was genuinely confused when Charles and MacTaggert kissed at the end. 'Wait, were they meant to have chemistry? Was there - oh, he's wiping her mind, that makes more sense.'

(On the one hand, I'm a bit sad that MacTaggert had her mind wiped; on the other, I love kisses that have ulterior motives in fiction. Such conflict!)

I was all for the Erik/Raven kiss, though. I didn't realise I wanted it at all until Erik walked in to find Raven in his bed, and by halfway though the scene I was going OH MY GOD GUYS KISS ALREADY I NEED YOU TO.

But I also needed Erik and Charles to kiss. I needed it quite a lot. Very early in their acquaintance we had 'YOU'RE NOT JUST WALKING AWAY FROM ME' and 'let me put my arm around you for no apparent reason in the back of this taxi', and then it built and built and built until I couldn't not 'ship them, and then it built even more.

That scene after the training montage, when Charles is trying to get Erik to move the satellite dish: Charles asks permission to tap into Erik's mind, and then he does, and it's possibly the most intimate thing I've ever seen.

(Incidentally, I found Charles's little fingers-to-temple mind-power-using pose really attractive and I'm not sure why.)

I generally find it quite difficult to get into films in a fannish way, in part because I feel it's too time-restricted a format to believably develop any sort of relationship between characters. The Charles-Erik dynamic was able to sidestep that quite neatly, because Charles's ability made it plausible for him to know Erik on a very intense level in a very short time.

AND THEN AT THE END ERIK GOES AND RECRUITS EMMA FROST BECAUSE CHARLES HAS LEFT A VOID IN HIS LIFE. This film is a love story gone wrong. That's what it is.

Here is a quote from James McAvoy about his character (source):

It is a little bit of a mini-tragedy that him and Magneto don't, you know, have sex and become married and become best friends.

Yes.

In the post-film discussion (over ice-cream, best day ever):

RD: What I want to read is Erik/Raven fanfiction where she turns into Charles.
Riona: I think I read a Lupin/Tonks fic like that once.
RD: Oh, dear.
Riona: ...where she turned into Charles Xavier.

As we went up the escalator at Liverpool Street, we noticed an advertisement, amongst all the others, saying only 'MIND READING TRICK THIS WAY', with an arrow pointing towards the top of the escalator.

There was no explanation.

We saw nothing unusual at the top.

There is nothing about this on the Internet.

I am a bit afraid that Derren Brown kidnapped us both as we stepped off the escalator and then made us forget about it. (Or maybe Charles Xavier?)

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RD: What I want to read is Erik/Raven fanfiction where she turns into Charles.
Riona: I think I read a Lupin/Tonks fic like that once.
RD: Oh, dear.
Riona: ...where she turned into Charles Xavier.

OH WELL DONE RIONA, I NEARLY SNORTED COFFEE AND LAUGHTER ALL OVER MY WORK DESK XDDDD

...I'm not sure if I want to get into First Class fandom. I mean, I see the chemistry and all that, but I'm still stuck on an infinite loop of GUH at every time Erik got his rage on *__*

I don't know whether I'm going to get seriously involved in the fandom. I 'ship it to bits, but it feels like such a contained universe that I wouldn't know what to do fanfiction-wise. BUT CHARLES/ERIK.

Derren Brown and Charles Xavier should meet. Xavier would be all "I suspect he has a mutant power! I shall use my telepathy and intelligence to find out what it is!"

...it would end with him huddled up in the corner, repetitively muttering "Is he a mutant or not?"

I would very much like to witness this encounter. Each of them would find the other so confusing!

Would it be Derren-in-a-world-where-mutants-exist, or regular Derren? Because if telepathic mutants were accepted scientific fact, Derren wouldn't be confused (also, he'd need to get a completely different career, because it would be nearly impossible to convince everyone he accomplished his tricks without using mind powers). However, if it was regular Derren, he would spend forever trying to work out the trick.

That scene after the training montage, when Charles is trying to get Erik to move the satellite dish: Charles asks permission to tap into Erik's mind, and then he does, and it's possibly the most intimate thing I've ever seen.

THIS. It was so awful and sad and overwhelming and BEAUTIFUL. That was when I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were in love forever. The end.

th_esaurus pointed out, it should have been cheesy, but somehow it wasn't. That scene surprised my heart and then whacked it with sticks from about four different angles.

So, I'm really torn about whether or not I want to see this movie, because on the one hand, two guys having a really intimate relationship? YES PLEASE.

On the other hand, I have been feeling really angry and upset with movies and TV shows lately that develop that really intimate, romantic-reading relationship between two guys and then shrug it off as a bromance. I JUST WANT TO SEE PEOPLE WHO ARE GAY BE ABLE TO MAKE OUT, MOVIE PRODUCERS. PLEASE.

It's not that I don't think guys can have lovely, intimate relationships and still be completely straight. It's just that I also want to be able to see the gay part, too.

Sorry about the sudden rant! It's been building for awhile, and, I mean, I sort of desperately want to see this movie, I just worry it'll make me upset at the end because they never kissed.

ALTHOUGH AT LEAST JAMES MCAVOY AGREES WITH ME, APPARENTLY.

One of the writers on the film has stated that the gay allusions/allegories in it (and indeed, in the previous X-Men movies and some of the comic storylines) are entirely purposeful. (Bryan Singer, the director of X1 and X2 and the executive producer of this film, used the first two movies to partly depict his struggle of feeling like an outsider as a gay man). Whether this makes it more or less frustrating that there is no making out, I'm unsure! But I wanted to let you know that they aren't trying to 'shrug this off' as a bromance, haha, it's very publicly acknowledged.

Thank you! I didn't know that, and it does make it better. ...I mean, I'd still like for kisses to happen, but it's very good to hear that it was purposeful and not some kind of half-assed hat tip to the GLBT and fangirl communities.

I encourage you to see this film! MAYBE WHEN YOU SEE IT THEY WILL MAKE OUT. I'M PRETTY SURE THE FACT THAT A KISS WAS PRESUMABLY NOT ORIGINALLY RECORDED CAN'T KEEP THOSE TWO APART FOR EVER. At some point, they are going to defy what is actually on the film and jump on each other.

(I should probably warn you that it's not great with its treatment of ladies, sadly. Number of named female characters who do not at some point appear wearing only their underwear or less: 0 (although Mystique's nudity, at least, is fair enough; it's an established aspect of the character and it's not sexualised). But it's still a delightful film. I hope you like it, if you do watch it.)

Haha I'm glad you found that quote because I was useless and didn't send it to you. I'll just leave this here, though.

THANKS, NOW I'M TRAPPED HERE FOR EVER.

'charles xavier will read your mind (sexily).jpg', welcome to my pictures folder.

Doop doop doop

OH MY GOD RD WHY IS THIS THE HOTTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN

Stare into my soul some more, James McAvoy.

oh my god

This feels relevant too, I'm just going to picspam this post, I hope you're cool with that.

I am so entirely cool with this. (That scene. WE'RE GOING TO MAKE OUT... no, we're not. NOW WE'RE GOING TO MAKE OUT...)

It's really hard to find telepathy pose!Charles pictures!

Apparently James McAvoy is capable of psychically distorting the background around him.

Ugh I hate those silly .gifs. Set the background free!

Also it was just pointed out to me that in my FAVOURITEST MOMENT, Charles is gripping onto Erik's wrist. Which he is.

OKAY I'M DONE NOW.

Am I strange for thinking that his Mind Reading pose looks better when he's wearing that whole slightly-scruff outfit and fingerless gloves?

NOPE, fave outfit of the movie. Scraggly cold-and-undercover-in-Russia outfit.

Ahahah meanwhile I was rolling around squawking CHARLES YOU PRIVILEGED DOUCHEBAG STOP TELLING PEOPLE YOU KNOW THEIR PAIN STOP SQUISHING YOUR SISTER YOU ARE BASTARD and yes okay you clearly want to knob the shit out of Erik but seriously you IRRITATING CONTROL FREAK naturally I am writing all the fic.

Oh, yes, he definitely does have his dickish aspects. But all he has to do is put his fingers to his temple and I forget them all in a mad rush of attraction.

I am tremendously shallow.

(Also, I've got a few elements of irritating control freak lurking in my own soul. It's probably a very good thing that I don't have any invasive mind powers, although I like to hope I'd be moral enough not to abuse them.)

You are as deep as a puddle, my love. (I am not at all taking Erik Fassbender's side just because I find him more attractive, no).

This does not surprise me. The way I'm writing them at the moment they're both control freaks, but one wants absolute control over himself and the other wants to do what he thinks is best for everyone whether they like it or not. It is proving enormously difficult to make them have sex.

OH MAN. THIS COMMENT IS THE TRUEST.

But I sort of adored him anyway, because I have an awful habit of being ridiculously attracted to incredibly intelligent and arrogant fictional characters. (WHICH DOESN'T MEAN I DIDN'T LOVE IT WHEN ERIK CALLED CHARLES ON HIS ARROGANCE, BECAUSE SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY. SOMEONE HAS TO.)

X-Men: First Class has pretty much eaten my entire brain recently. I have a deep urge to go and see it again. I may wake up one morning to find I have sleep walked to the cinema, such is the strength of my desire.

I share this urge! It's odd: I don't feel much inclination to get involved in the fanfiction side of the fandom, but I definitely want to watch the film thirty times and talk about it incessantly.

Incidentally, I found Charles's little fingers-to-temple mind-power-using pose really attractive and I'm not sure why.
YES THIS. WHAT EVEN. I think it might just be that I am attracted to folks with exceptionally powerful brains. Usually that is just smarts, but apparently brain powers add to the effect?

Anyway. GUH.

I am so glad I'm not alone. I think what you describe there is exactly what tends to attract me, actually. why is there a thread of Charles using his mind powers in this entry now, I can't stop coming back to look at it

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Mind Reading Trick This Way.

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