1. Running head: X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 1
X-Men: A Struggle for Power, An Acceptance for Equality
Karen Bastidas
Montclair State University

2. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 2
Abstract
This paper explores three X-Men movies: “X-Men”, “X-Men 2”, and “X-Men: The Last Stand”.
With these movies, I will discuss the themes of power struggle in their society by using the
following theories to prove it: Karl Marx’s Perspective of Power Struggle, Karl Marx’s
Superstructure/Base Theory as well as Antonio Gramsci’s perspective on the
Superstructure/Base Theory, and Gramsci’s Hegemony and Dominant Ideology. The X-men
have their own differences that set them apart from everyone else in their society and are hunted
by the people in charge: the government. The Marxist Perspective and the Superstructure/Base
Theory are well presented in the theme of these movie series. Aside from both of these theories, I
will be using Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model to discuss the Production of the film
series.
Keywords: X-Men, Power, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Hegemony, Ideology, Encoding,
Decoding

3. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 3
X-Men: A Struggle for Power, An Acceptance for Equality
Growing up, the X-Men were always my favorite team of super heroes; they still are.
Watching and reading about X-Men showed me that people were different and that meant I was
just like them, without the super powers of course. The X-Men movies opened my eyes to a
different side of society; a society that showed darkness and cruelty to people that were not
“mutants,” like the X-Men. In the X-Men movies, the Marxist Perspective of power struggle and
Superstructure/Base is themed throughout these movies and shows us that if a social class does
not fall category to certain standards, then we are not a part of such society.
Karl Marx introduces to us to his standpoint of power struggle in a capitalistic society, in
charge by one person or group. Marx argued: “The class which has the means of material
production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so
that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are
subject to it,” (as cited in Storey, 2009, p. 58). What Marx means is that, whoever is ruling or
part of the ruling class, has the advantage over society, or the working class; the ruling class has
the power over the means of production in a society, politically and culturally. Basically, if you
had money and were part of the "high class" like the government, then you had power. The
power struggle to fit into society is displayed in all the X-Men movies. For example, in the
second movie, “X-Men 2,” Nightcrawler attempts to assassinate the president in his home, the
White House. He makes it pass the guarding staff and to the president’s office. Before he can
even attack the president, he is shot by a guard who was able to get enough strength to fit him
back. Nightcrawler, using his teleportation power, vanishes, but leaves a knife on the president’s
desk with a note attached, stating: “Mutant Freedom Now.” The power struggle to fit into the
outside world for the X-Men is built off of frustration and in a way, discrimination; frustration of

4. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 4
the fact that they are not accepted or considered to become part of the society they were born into
and discrimination because they are different from everyone else that makes up the outside world
they are battling with.
Ideology exists all around us; it is what helps to define and shape the world and make
strong choices about the world. Karl Marx helped us to understand this type of ideology by
introducing us to his Superstructure/Base theory. The Base is the way in which a society is
organized to produce the necessities of life such as factories, resources, materials, relationships,
etc. The Superstructure involves other aspects of society like culture, media, government, etc.
Marx summed it up as follows: “In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter
into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely the relations of
production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production.
The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real
foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure, and to which correspond definite
forms of consciousness,” (as cited in Storey, 2009, p. 60).
This Superstructure/Base ideology is part of the ruling class and is enforced by the
government. For example, in the first movie, “X-Men,” Senator Kelly attempts to pass a “Mutant
Registration Act,” forcing the mutants to reveal their identities and abilities to the public,
therefore, eliminating the opportunity for mutants and humans to coexist in a peaceful way is
denied by the ruling class. Senator Kelly, who is the person in charge, plays the role of the
Superstructure. The Base is the society, the people he is sending the message to about the act he
is trying to pass.

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Marx tells us that the Superstructure successfully grows out of the Base and is geared
more towards the interests of the ruling class that has power of the Base. An example of this is
when Colonel William Stryker, a retired military scientist in “X-Men 2,” persuades the president
to get the approval to attack the X-Men school because he too hates them and wants to get rid of
them. The president approves and Stryker attacks the school. This is a perfect example of the
Superstructure working on its own and not needing the Base because the president realizes he
can’t do it on his own, especially if he is now a victim of the power struggle of the mutants.
Karl Marx has influenced many Marxists philosophers with his theories relating to
economy, politics, and culture. One Marxist that stood out was Antonio Gramsci and his theory
on the Hegemony Ideology. Gramsci states: “The methodological criterion on which our own
study must be based is the following: that the supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two
ways, as ‘domination’ and as ‘intellectual and moral leadership.’ A social group dominates
antagonistic groups, which it tends to ‘liquidate’, or to subjugate perhaps even by armed force; it
leads kindred and allied groups. A social group can, and indeed must, already exercise
‘leadership’ before winning governmental power (this indeed is one of the principal conditions
for the winning of such power); it subsequently becomes dominant when it exercises power, but
even if it holds it firmly in its grasp, it must continue to ‘lead’ as well,” (as cited in Storey, 2009,
p. 75). This particular theory is very well present in the movie, “X-Men: The Last Stand.”
In “X-Men: The Last Stand”, Magneto is enraged to hear about the “cure” the humans
have come up with to turn the mutants into normal beings. Magneto decides to round up a whole
army of mutants, calling it the Brotherhood. In this Brotherhood, there are mutants who don’t
fight for what is good like the X-Men do. However, in this moment in the movie, the
Brotherhood’s target is the army of soldiers the President has gathered to attack the Brotherhood

6. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 6
on Alcatraz Island with armed weapons containing the mutant cure, not the X-Men. All the X-
Men want to do is save themselves and the humans from the wrath of Magneto’s army, even
though the Brotherhood is fighting for a good cause.
The plan becomes unsuccessful when Jean Grey, or the Phoenix, takes over; not being
able to control the strength of her powers, she uses them to defeat the President’s army. The
entire army and its weapons have disintegrated along with parts of Alcatraz Island. Magneto’s
Brotherhood and the X-Men from Professor Xavier’s school showed the power of domination
over the armed forces of the President. With this theory, there are two antagonistic groups: the
President’s army of soldiers and Magneto’s Brotherhood army. The X-Men from Professor
Xavier’s school is considered the social group and has total domination of the President’s army
and Magneto’s Brotherhood army. Although the Brotherhood was an antagonistic group in the
movie, they had the same purpose as the X-Men to fulfill: get rid of the cure. Even though the
Brotherhood and the X-Men sought the same goal, both teams were up against each other when
it came down to protecting the humans. Instead, they wound up fighting each other but overcame
Magneto and his goons. The X-Men were able to dominate the Brotherhood and carried the
qualities of morality, leadership, and domination when they bought down their own enemies.
Antonio Gramsci’s teachings were not just influenced by Karl Marx, but they were also
derived from Stuart Hall’s teachings, too. Stuart Hall helped Gramsci to his own theory of the
Hegemony Ideology when Hall provided his own definition of what Ideology is. Stuart Hall
states the following: “The mental frameworks – the languages, the concepts, categories, imagery
of thought, and the systems of representation – which different classes and social groups deploy
in order to make sense of, define, figure out, and render intelligible the way society work.”
Meaning because of the many different classes and societies the world is made up of, along with

7. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 7
culture and politics, there are various perceptions of how the world works, thus, making it harder
to become part of a specific world or social class. In all of the X-Men movies, we see this kind of
struggle in the contrast view of their class and the social class that makes up the outside world.
The X-Men continue to become more and more out casted throughout the movies, showing how
contrast the outside world can be; trying to make sense of a society and figure out how a specific
kind of world will comes to accept the diversity of its people. The struggles the characters face in
these movies can be seen in our everyday lives in this present society of today.
Antonio Gramsci has his own interpretation of the Karl Marx perspective of the
Superstructure/Base theory; because the Superstructure holds the power and is the ruling class,
its repercussions lead us to of what Gramsci' calls False Consciousness. False Consciousness is
when the targeted society, in this case the X-Men and other mutants, becomes a constant product
of the media, thus leading the Base to believe that the Superstructure is "okay" for doing this.
This gives the mutants a harder time, and what is called a constant struggle for their ideological
dominance, another one of Gramsci’s ideas. With this kind of ideology, Gramsci tells us there is
a conflicting "prize" to be won, and for the mutants, it’s the prize of acceptance and equality
from the society they are not a part of, or their outside world. We see this happening throughout
all the X-Men movies when they get exploited by the media on television by Congress.
Gramsci's interpretation also involves the struggle for changes within social institutions
that reproduce such ideology. This kind of struggle is seen in Dr. Xavier’s school for the X-Men
and other mutants in the X-Men movies when they find themselves struggling to accept the
powers they’ve been given within the school and out of the school, too, in the first movie “X-
Men”. The struggle is also seen in the other two movies when there is talk about a “cure” for the
mutants to become normal, human beings.

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Stuart Hall introduces us to his Encoding/Decoding Model that is used to break down any
movie or television series. With this model, I will talk about the Encoding aspect of the X-Men
movies series. Looking at the Encoding side, the X-Men movies take place in what looks like a
modern day capitalistic world, like the one we live in. Their wardrobe was not the highest of
fashion, but their X-Men suits are pretty awesome. The actors chosen for their specific roles (i.e.
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier) are seen as very realistic
because of how they play the character in the movies. The director Bryan Singer bought these
movies to life and did an excellent job at it too, at least the first two movies “X-Men” and “X-
Men 2”. You can really see how Singer used his expertise to show the theme of power struggle
and everyone who saw these two movies felt it, too. He was praised for the adaptations that made
up of these films because he bought to life what the comic book series was about, which bought
influence among other comic series like "Spider-Man". Although the director Singer was praised
for his films, he was criticized for how the mutants were portrayed in the movie. Being that were
so many mutants, it was hard to keep up with them and their abilities and they weren't as
thoroughly "illustrated" in the films like they were in the comic book series and the television
series.
The director Bryan Singer left after the second film and the third X-Men film "X-Men:
The Last Stand" was directed by Brett Ratner. His interpretation of this third X-Men movie was
not up to scale with what Bryan Singer bought to the screen, but had an organized storyline and
the audience was able to keep up with it, too. The third movie was filled with dramatic scenes
that led to lots of action towards the end of the movie.
Comparing both directors and their interpretations of X-Men, they were both very
different; director Bryan Singer really bought the characters to life on the screen with his

9. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 9
dramatic techniques in the sense of feeling and emotion throughout the first two movies. For
example, in his films, we see realism happening from the struggle to understand who the mutants
really are down to romance and tension in the relationships of the characters. Whereas director
Brett Ratner showed us more action and what could happen in a movie that deals with two
different worlds in his film. I am not sure why Bryan Singer decided to step away from the third
film, but he is continuing to direct the other X-Men films that are yet to come, and one that is
already out called "X-Men: Days of Future Past" which was an excellent portrayal of how the X-
Men all came to be.
In the aspects of the Decoding part of the model, we get to see how the audience viewed
the movie series. The first two X-Men movies received anywhere from great to excellent reviews
from the audience. Again, going back to the first two movies, the audience felt everything behind
them. They were able to relate in many ways to the characters whether it was race, gender,
sexual orientation, loneliness, and more. There is not one character in the X-men films that
people cannot relate to because they all share one quality that human beings have: feelings. As
humans, we watch shows and go to the movies for experience; an experience that we want but
can't have or an experience of relation with characters and how the director portrays them.
However, in the third film, the entire X-Men audience was let down and me being part of
that audience, I was let down too. The third movie was not a good follow-up of the first two
movies and it did drag with the story plot of the X-Men and the mutants battling the outside
world, to gain acceptance and manner of equality. This theme is carried throughout the other two
movies as well, however, in this third one we see how destructive and powerful the outside world
affects the mutants so much to the point where war seems to be the only way to resolve the
problems both worlds are facing, kind of like how our society is. One thing I did not agree with

10. X-MEN: A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AN ACCEPTANCE FOR 10
what the director Brett Ratner did, and I'm sure Bryan Singer can agree with me on this one, was
killing off one of the main characters: Professor Xavier. I didn't understand why Ratner did this
since there were other X-Men movies to be made later on in the years. Knowing that Bryan
Singer will be the one directing the rest of the X-Men movies should bring relief and reassurance
to the X-Men fans around the world, it sure did to me.
This paper was really an eye opener for me because I got to see how great minds like
Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci view the world and how certain movies depict real issues going
in the world like the X-Men series. Being such a loyal and strong fan of the X-Men movies,
television, and comic book series, it never once hit me that these theories I spoke about in the
paper were illustrated elements in all of these movies, either. Learning about these theories,
especially the Marxist Perspective on Power Struggle, I see what the X-Men had to deal with
living in their world and a lot of what was portrayed in the films is still seen today like
discrimination and war; living in a diverse world and seeing how much controversy there is
because of it, is clearly displayed in these X-Men movies and many others. When watching
anything about X-Men, I never put myself into their shoes and see how the characters are feeling
because it’s fake, but when I realize that this could happen in real life, you really start to wonder
and ask yourself, “Can this really happen to me? Is it already happening?” Movies like this really
open our minds on how everyone views the world.

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