Frankly, using the current story arc title isn't sufficient to justify it's use. Plus I wasn't upset about Magneto reading it, I was concerned about Prof. X, cuz i couldn't see the relevance. But then I wrote this, and you can see my mind changing as I work through it:
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I wasn't bothered by the lack of Cyclops. He kind of annoys me. The biggest hole I see is that I can't figure out why they felt it necessary for Prof X (a physics teacher, if I remember from the first film) to bring up a discussion of Once and Future King with his students. I found it powerfully ironic and very well done to have Magneto read it, after all, in his own twisted way, he thinks he IS King Arthur and dreams of returning to power, making both the title and subject obviously relevant. The further irony of White being anti-war and Magneto starting one was also delicious.
But everything ISN'T all right at the end of OaFK. Everyone dies except one supporting character and page who introduced on the final page for the simple purpose of surviving (and also give a nod to previous Arthurian author Thomas Mallory). And on top of that, Arthur spends the entire book struggling with how his subjects don't agree with his dream and is forced to destroy everything he's built to retain a semblence of justice. Perhaps I can see how Xavier can identify with the ending of the novel, since he doesn't know if he'll ever achieve the idyllic "Camelot" where everyone lives in harmony, but he believes that what they're doing will eventually impact the world in the same way that the stories of Arthur do: ie, our memories of them inspire us to hope for it and live by it. Perhaps he even sees the fractiousness among the Mutants (which could be considered his "subjects") and he IS betrayed by a close friend (as opposed to Arthurs son, but we can't be too literal in our parallels, can we).
So I take it back, writing this email has convinced me that the parallel and sympathy Xavier has for the book is stronger than I previously gave it credit for.Ok, I feel better about being nearly as ecstatic as you for the film. Although this discussion now puts in disagreement with you about Xavier knowing "everything will be all right."
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