vids: x-men first class

[seperis]

Love the Way You Lie Part 2 (Rihanna) by Brevanna03, X-Men First Class, Charles/Erik - and winner of most gutting chorus ever, lyrical literalism, and I think I might cry if I watch it--more than I have already, which is a lot.

Til the End of the World (Brittany Spears) by talitha78, X-Men First Class, Charles/Erik - and the other winner, fantastic build to the yes, still gutting ending. Just. Hell yes.

Black Star by TheDyingPain, X-Men First Class (also, X-Men the Movie, X-Men the Last Stand), Charles/Erik - shorter and not sweet, but let's face it, the movie didn't give us a lot of sweet. It did, however, give us this, which makes me happy. You know, when there is not wincing.

*curls up in a ball* Yeah. Of course I'd fall for this fandom. I wrote Clex. It's not like I couldn't see this coming. Send help. Or hey, fic.

Comments

[greenet]

Ugh, all these vids break my heart so well. Stupid Charles and Erik and their stupid epic romance.

*needs cake now, or a fluffy bunny*

[seperis]

I keep like, willing it to be different, like thsi time Erik will not deflect bullets but get the gun.

[nianeyna]

OH GOD THAT FIRST ONE. Crying uncontrollably. And I don't cry. D:

[greenet]

Oh I know, right? And I know it makes no sense that he doesn't - there are times to show off, Erik, that's not one of them - but on an emotional level, it really works for me.

They love each other and respect each other and they can't be and they're going to keep loving each other and hurting each other and it's going to be/is heartbreaking (and fantastic).

...and now I think I've watched Love the Way You Lie six times since yesterday.

[seperis]

I keep just--the chorus just kills me every time. I want to crawl under something and yell OKAY STOP NOW REWIND WHERE IS DR. WHO TO FIX THIS.

[seperis]

I'm so there. I keep flinching every time I watch it. And I have been watching it a lot.

[domarzione]

I'd seen the middle one before and liked it a lot; the other two are gut-grabbers in different, darker ways. Good ways, mind.

It's funny how these vids manage to... concentrate, I guess, the power of the Charles-Erik relationship. Not that it wasn't pretty $^@$% obvious in the full movie, but there was a whole lot else going on and here there isn't and it makes the inevitable schism that much sharper. What Charles wanted to give (slash reading and not), but Erik couldn't let himself accept and yet, especially in that third video, doesn't truly appreciate until it's far too late.

[seperis]

The third one hits in a completely different way when adding Xavier's canon death in X-Men III, and interesting at that. I'd like to see someone take apart all the X-Men movie and Erik and Xavier's relationship; watching an old X-Men Movies I and II one gave me a moment when Xavier was under mind control in Cerebro and it kind of hit me with the mirroring, deliberate or not by the writers; Erik when against the wall never sees Xavier as a person when he needs him as a weapon. That started with his revenge on Shaw--which I am weirdly less forgiving of than the missiles, since the second can be explained with sheer shock and rage in the face of unexpected betrayal, but the first required a cold-blooded intimacy and a deliberate choice, reasoned choice.

Which makes me wonder if the schism continued after Erik left because of that realization; not that Erik kills for revenge, but like Stryker, he discards what divides him from monsters in using people as weapons against themselves and what they may or may not believe. Charles may have been able to work--to some extent--with militancy, but with other mutants under his care, he couldn't ever trust Erik with them, much less himself.

[domarzione]

Charles may have been able to work--to some extent--with militancy, but with other mutants under his care, he couldn't ever trust Erik with them, much less himself.

He gives Raven his blessing to go off with Erik. However much he might trust Raven to see to her own protection (and that certainly waxes and wanes depending on his own need for her), he'd never have let her go without so much as a warning if he didn't trust Erik with her care.

Erik is a weapon; I don't think he sees himself as a fully realized person and I think Charles recognizes that very early on. (He also recognizes that Erik's fundamentally unbothered by this golem-esque existence. Enjoys it, even.) Charles's efforts are less about Erik's powers than the rest of him, the human part of him. Erik has never, not once, thought about what he will do once Shaw is dead and Charles essentially spends the movie trying to present him with an option worth considering. Worth living for, since Erik has shown he will eagerly die in the pursuit of his goal. I don't think Charles quite admits failure on the beach; I think he accepts his own hubris in thinking he could fix Erik so quickly and easily. Even decades later, Charles is still offering the same thing -- because Erik, however much his dogma has calcified over the decades, is still not willing to shut him out completely.

[seperis]

Mystique though wasn't--at least in my view of how the movie came together--as much his student and he could let go gracefully. But your point is taken; I'm still working through my issues with Shaw; that upset me more than the bullet or the missiles. That drifted too close to sociopathy; the sheer disregard of not only Xavier's scruples against murder and forcing him to collaborator and conspirator, but living Shaw's unpleasant murder too. Even if I'm willing to posit he didn't know then what it would do to Charles when he killed Shaw that way.

Even decades later, Charles is still offering the same thing -- because Erik, however much his dogma has calcified over the decades, is still not willing to shut him out completely.

This, very much. I wondered in the first movies--specifically the second one, though, and especially the third--if Erik would even find it as much a victory to win when he still couldn't bring Xavier around, not just for the ideological value, but the personal. When your former BFF would literally die in agony before joining you, that's got to cut, and I wonder how much Erik resented that.

[scy]

*glomps you*

Why are we not online at the same time lately, I wanna hear your THOUGHTS. *flails*

FANDOM.

[domarzione]

I don't think Erik displays any signs of sociopathy. You can have a full and complete understanding that murder is wrong and still believe killing someone is the only acceptable option. Erik is motivated by revenge for a murder, after all. Erik doesn't ever try to kill anyone without provocation (whether you share that appreciation of his standards of such is something else). He doesn't kill because he's bored or he's annoyed or because he doesn't appreciate that this is not how normal people behave.

The death of Shaw was interesting to me not for Erik's actions, which I get and frankly share, but for Charles's. He held Shaw in place even when it was completely obvious what was going to happen, followed it through to the end despite the personal cost (physical/psychic, philosophical). And I'm still puzzling through why he did that. He didn't have to drop control of Shaw to save his life, even if it ended up being only temporarily. He didn't have to keep Shaw frozen to keep Shaw from killing Erik. He could have had Azazel grab Shaw, he could have made Shaw run, he could have done a million other things that would have disrupted that confrontation and given him another chance to talk Erik down (because Erik clearly has plans for this scenario; he won't just shoot Shaw in the back without a goodbye). But he didn't do any of these things. He held Shaw in place so that Erik could fulfill his chosen purpose. And that's a real interesting choice as far as I'm concerned.

[seperis]

No, murder isn't sociopathic--forcing Charles into the process as participant and victim, however, is a real problem and not just in boundary lines but in the means versus ends and where you draw the line. I kill someone for killing a family member is one thing, but requiring my BFF to hold them still while I do and experience it is something else entirely.

He held Shaw in place even when it was completely obvious what was going to happen, followed it through to the end despite the personal cost (physical/psychic, philosophical). And I'm still puzzling through why he did that. He didn't have to drop control of Shaw to save his life, even if it ended up being only temporarily.

Before Erik went whee-helmet, Charles, under obvious strain, said he couldn't hold a man like Shaw long; they were on a timeline to do whatever they were doing (I will argue what in the name of God was supposed to be the plan there, though). I'm thinking from what they showed--and from the fact Charles was under obvious strain and no one really wants to live through being lobotomized before death--he couldn't risk dividing his attention from Shaw and risking Erik dies by nuke. Once the execution started literally, he couldn't let go and was trapped in Shaw's death.

I will admit, there's a fair to good chance that purely by observation of Charles using other people's senses and controlling their bodies, there's no way he could have predicted Charles would live that death.

That part was a choice; he valued Erik's life over Shaw's--but I dont' think, from the way the movie set it, that there were many more options than hold or let go entirely.

[domarzione]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree here; I don't think Charles was that restricted in his choices (except by a director who wanted a pretty effective visual, the same way Erik deflected bullets instead of ripping the gun out of Moira's hands). I don't think Erik was thinking much about Charles at all, let alone that he was forcing his friend to experience Shaw's death so intimately. If he spared Charles a thought, it might have even been that Charles was helping Erik because he'd realized that Erik was right. But I suspect Erik's entire universe at that moment was him and Shaw in that room and that coin and everyone else ceased to exist.

You might be able to ring him up on callous disregard as a side effect of pure obsession reaching satisfaction, but I can't really say he was willfully cruel.

Also, you're probably right that even if Erik had thought of Charles, there's very little reason for Erik to understand that Charles had to be there so completely, to hold on so tightly, and not let go even then. He's never really seen Charles struggle with his telepathy, hit a limit beyond which he couldn't do what he wanted. Certainly not when Emma's out of the picture.

[seperis]

*grins* I always think of the gun with Moira bit as Erik seriously wanting to scare the shit out of her; grabbing her gun is one thing, but nothing says "PUNY HUMAN" quite like deflecting bullets.

He's never really seen Charles struggle with his telepathy, hit a limit beyond which he couldn't do what he wanted. Certainly not when Emma's out of the picture.

I am curious how he'll handle the difference between Emma and Charles.

[domarzione]

Except that every other time Erik's had a gun pointed at him, he's never let anyone get a shot off. ;)

I think Erik will exchange Emma's lack of brute strength for the ability to take the helmet off when he sleeps. He doesn't trust her, so he doesn't mind that she's less powerful than Charles. She's less scrupled, which makes up for it in a lot of ways.

[out_there]

Somehow, I never thought Charles + Erik + Brittany Spears would = happy Annie. Yet, it does.

I wrote Clex. It's not like I couldn't see this coming

[ender24]

clex!!! cries!!
I did not see it coming!! not until it was too late, and eric and charles had me totally driven nuts!

the person sitting across from me is probably wondering why i look like i'm watching puppies die

[elaran]

jesus fuck just break my heart

[slightweasel]

I didn't care for that first video too much the first time I watched it - but it got completely under my skin somehow and I've had to take it off my playlist because it makes me tear up every time I hear it...

On a side note, I wish someone would do an XMFC + X1/2/3 vid to Handlebars (Flobot) - that one has been knocking around in my head for days as being so perfect for the overall Erik/Charles, Magneto/Xavier story arch.

[seperis]

Okay, seriously, I was thinking that too. Even with just First Class footage, it would totally work, and now someone else thought that was awesome too!

It's perfect.

[slightweasel]

Okay so if we both have thought of it independently, hopefully it'll be very obvious to someone who makes videos at some time in the near future too. XD

I wish I knew someone who makes videos so I could bribe them...lol

[aubergineautumn.livejournal.com]

So far, there is very little X-Men First Class fic...*eyes you* AU where mutants rule the world, and how one mutant grows up in it? Bonus if the mutant remains anti-human.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*whistles*

[feanna.livejournal.com]

Are there download versions of these vids? Because Germany hates youtube (new massage pops up on youtube that informs me that it is not the opposite way around, though it's not exactly Germany, but the way music gets regulated around here, tl;dr anyways) and I can't access any of them.

[feanna.livejournal.com]

I mean, I would totally take "downloaded from youtube" versions. (Which, I can totally do that, but not if I can't access them in the first place.)

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the recs! You should check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStEt_5gvwI&feature=related. It's a Erik/Xavier self-described PWP. Think you'd like it.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZH49P3W1 They're in a zip file here.

[ender24]

thanks! I take this too, coz damn Germany is going serious on the copyright stuff. its not every second vid anymore that I no longer cannot see.
its up to 90% of all vids i rund across fandom, that is not available.
sighs.
at any rate,the first vid!! wahhh, will carry me crying into my sleep!

workarounds :)

[ender24]

https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/stealthy/
thanks to frogspace:
http://frogspace.livejournal.com/412191.html

or this :
http://stadt-bremerhaven.de/firefox-hide-my-ass-web-proxy-fuer-gesperrte-youtube-videos-oder-anonymes-kommentieren

Re: workarounds :)

[feanna.livejournal.com]

I had actually heard of these. I haven't tried the first one (yet), but the second one leads to videos loading slowly, in bad quality and often crashing in the middle, plus no downloadability in case I want to, so it's sadly not ideal. Thanks for linking me though anyways!

[feanna.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! (I hate the GEMA so much right now, because, as the person above me said, it seems like ANY vid using non-selfmade music gets blocked at this point...)

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

OW. OW.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

DID I NOT WARN FOR GUTTING? THERE IS MUCH GUTTINGNESS.

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

OW GOD DAMN IT.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I THINK I AM SCARRINGMYSELF EMOTIONALLY IN REPEATS. I EVEN DOWNLOADED THE SONG IN CASE OF EMERGENCY NEED-PAIN-NOW AND VIDEO WAS INCONVENIENT.

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

SOMETIMES IT'S IMPORTANT.

i might do this one too, j. i mean. just look at it.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

...whatever you want if you join X-Men. WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Re: workarounds :)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I use the first one; it's fantastic, but I don't know if it works on blocked vids. If you want a vid that's not available, email me; I can download them and send them. It only takes a few minutes.

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

i'm in the middle of a manifesto right now. just Things Which Are Important To Know. i don't even know which of the several unwritten stories i plan to tackle first.

[lexstar29.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I have gone from not watching any X-Men vids at all to watching I Love the Way You Lie Part 2 at *least* once per hour that I am awake.

I blame you for this. Yet I cannot find it in my heart to be anything other than joyously grateful. The others were good too, but that one, is perfection.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

fic: Any Measure of Peace (http://archiveofourown.org/works/213248) by manic_intent

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

I had this tab open for when I finally got around to watching X-Men: First Class, and - guh. It's positively unhealthy how emotionally invested I am in this pairing. It's really Clark and Lex all over again, doomed from the beginning and yet.

Thanks for the recs! (I have to say, vidders are getting a lot of mileage out of the Love the Way You Lie songs.)

[wynddancer.livejournal.com]

Have you seen this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjkuw1WFxz0&feature=related It's Erik/Charles aka Moira is yaoifangirl. LOLing.