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Dark Phoenix Character Analysis: Jean Grey AKA “the Not So Believable” Phoenix

Kind of strong and believable in the beginning, but then: WHY are you acting like that, for Marvel’s sake?

By Jule JessenbergerPublished 5 years ago 20 min read
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Warning: This post contains some serious spoilers and sarcasm!

Ok, first of all I’m not the biggest X-Men Fan. BUT I enjoyed watching the movies, especially with the one and only Wolverine Hugh Jackman!

Oh Gosh, I missed him in this movie soooo much!

And also this article isn‘t about being a Fan or not. This is about the leading character Jean Grey, and her character arc in the current X-Men movie Dark Phoenix.

The newer X-Men movies with James McAvoy as Professor X and MichaelFassbender as Magneto started promising, TBH. I liked First Class and Days of the Future Past. Not so sure about Apocalypse though.

When I saw the first trailer, I thought that the new movie storyline in Dark Phoenix aka “Jean loses it” seemed interesting. I mean, if you have certain knowledge about the comics, and the older X-Men movies, you KNOW that Jean Grey is the most powerful mutant.

So seeing her losing control and everything going down?

Hell yeah, I’d be up for that!

Also the feminist in me was like:

HELL YEAH! Give me some strong and complex female character who’s the leading role!

Strong beginning with a relatable background story.

Scene from “Dark Phoenix” (© Fox Studios)

The first parts of the movie were super promising. It starts with Jean’s childhood, and we experience how she can’t control her powers and causes a horrible accident.

Young Jean drives with her parents and she doesn’t want to listen to the music her mother chooses. But her mother tells her that these songs are classic, and that she can change the music when she’s able to drive the car.

We all know that the driver picks the music. That’s common sense, I would say. Especially if you were (and still are) as obsessed as me with Supernatural. Because one of the first great lines of Dean Winchester is:

“Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.”

I guess, Jean was too young for Supernatural?

Because she doesn’t care and changes the music with her powers. Her parents are confused first, but when it keeps happening they ask Jean if she’s doing that.

Like every child at that age it’s NEVER you, and so you simply lie. Like Jean. So her parents and her have a little argument, and Jean gets so angry with her mother that she wants her to be silent and makes her fall asleep.

And of course exactly at that moment a truck drives right towards them on a lonely street where we haven’t seen one fucking car so far.

Weird odds, eh? Murphy’s Law is strong in this movie, I can tell you that.

So her mother falls asleep and drives the car directly into the truck. In this horrible accident her mother instantly dies, and her father is badly injured but Jean is unharmed because her powers protected her.

Well, that’s quite handy… isn’t it?

Jean is shocked and traumatized, of course. Because she is responsible for the death of her parents.

Although in case you didn’t get the sarcasm with the accident scene… YES, there was some sarcasm going on. Just saying.

But even though the music disagreement seemed a little bit off, and not so convincing for Jean losing her control, the beginning was still strong. By now you know that Jean had lost her control before, and was responsible for the death of her parents. So she had her burdens and pain to carry.

———————-

Such background stories always help us as viewers to understand the character and their behavior better, because these moments shape them. They make them into the person who they are.

Of course, it’s always up to the character how they let these events influence them. It can destroy them, and make them hateful and bitter, OR they can learn and grow from it, and become a better person.

So, yeah! Nice start!

Jean’s daddy-relationship with Professor X, and how this should have influenced her… or not… ? What...?

Scene from “Dark Phoenix” (© Fox Studios)

After the horrible accident Jean meets Professor X. He is the one who tells her that her parents are dead.

Jean is devastated and feels guilty as fuck. But Professor X gives her a sweet little pep talk about how special she is, and that she can choose how to use her powers. It’s ALL up to her.

When they stand in front of his school, Jean is still skeptical if she really should go with Professor X and live in his school. She’s still afraid that she'll break something, and that she’ll hurt people who she loves again.

Professor X smiles at her and says something like (yes, I’m paraphrasing here):

“You are not broken, Jean. You are gifted and I can show you how to use your powers for good if YOU want to.”

In that moment I knew that Professor X and Jean have a very special relationship. He practically raises her, and has been like a father to her. Also he has always been telling her that she can do anything she sets her mind to.

That SHE has control over her powers.

That SHE can choose how to use them.

He’s kind of her cheerleader and support team in one, and that’s so fucking cute and sweet! And special! I loved that.

—————————-

The relationships that the characters have are important for the viewers to understand them better, as well. You can see, HOW they are treated and how they treat others.

Relationships can make a difference of the character’s behavior, and also influence them on their journey. It all depends if they’re in a loving and accepting environment, OR if it’s toxic and destroying.

Jean, for example, causes a horrible accident and struggles with guilt, pain, and her powers, but Professor X gives her a safe environment, and a family who loves and accepts her. So this should give her more emotional stability and strength than growing up in a toxic environment.

So the theory…

The conflicts that challenge her, and give me some serious “What the fuck, Jean?”-moments.

Scene from “Dark Phoenix” (© Fox Studio)

After the sweet and loving “welcome to the X-Men family” from Professor X, we now have a feeling of how Jean grew up in his school. Loved, protected, and safe.

In the next scenes of the movie the X-Men need to save some astronauts in space. Because there’s this weird powerful universe glibber that can somehow destroy everything, and is just chilling through the universe…? Looks like a nebula that wants to kill the astronauts in their space shuttle.

I guess, because of that weird glibber nebula they lost control of their ship and contact to earth…?

Yeah, whatever. This is NOT so important for the character arc, but still confusing AF.

So, the X-Men go up there and save the day! Yeah!

Of course, there occur some problems. There always need to be problems or conflicts in stories, because that’s what makes them so damn interesting.

They are the spice in your story and for your characters.

Even though Raven knows there’s some serious danger with this space glibber nebula, (Yeah, I keep calling it that, because I don’t know what the professional term is) Jean still helps to rescue the commander who is the only one left in the space shuttle after they saved his whole crew.

There’s always this ONE guy who needs to cause some trouble because he thinks he’s special… duh!

So Jean helps to rescue the commander, but she can’t escape when the nebula-glibber hit her. She absorbs it and loses consciousness while doing that.

When she wakes up again in the X-Jet, everything seems fine. She survived and feels great. Although everyone else is a little bit freaked out, because she should have died outside the space when the nebula attacked her.

Little side note about the nebula-glibber:

Until the middle of the movie we have no idea what this nebula-glibber is. I’m still not sure if I really understood what it is. But what I know is that it is very powerful, ancient, and destroys basically everything that it touches. Except little Jean Grey.

Well yeah, whatever…

After the nebula encounter, Jean’s powers have increased big time! That may be a little bit alarming and strange, but hey, who cares, right?

Not the X-Men or Professor X, though.

But then Jean looses control at a little party, and hurts her boyfriend and other mutants. She blacks out right after that “accident.”

First conflict for Jean: She starts to hurt people who she loves and can’t help it (Sound almost like a bad pop-song, doesn’t it?).

Professor X who is NOW finally concerned tries to help her, and wants to look into her mind. And he notices that something changed. That there’s some weird rage that wasn’t there before.

What a surprise, eh? I would think that after a near-death-experience with a weird and never-before-seen nebula-glibber in space Jean would be totally fine… but I’m not one of the smartest mutants ever living so, well… yeah…

While Professor X is trying to find out what happened to her, Jean wakes up and pushes him out of her mind.

Fair enough. I wouldn’t like it either when someone messes with my mind while I’m sleeping. Even if I trust him.

Have some boundaries, Charles, please!

As Jean pushes Professor X out of her mind, she notices that he had lied to her about her father. He is still alive! Dam, dam, daaaaaam!

The tension and drama increases, my dear nerds. Do you feel it?

Jean is, of course, hurt by Professor X’s lie and frightened of her new power, which is totally understandable.

Second conflict for Jean: Professor X who she has been trusting all these years lied to her about her real father.

So far, so good…

What is confusing for me though, is that as soon as she wakes up, Jean is turned into this insecure girl who is afraid of her power, and pushes everyone she loves away—even her supportive boyfriend Scott, and every other friend just to run to her real father… ? In this very fragile and emotional state?

I mean, I get that it’s scary as fuck if you are all of the sudden stronger and more powerful than before.

But she KNEW that before the party incident! She knew that this universe nebula changed her and gave her more power… Of course, there might be a chance that she needs to learn to control this new power boost, right?

And okay, there’s this universal rage in her which can be very manipulative. But she’s Jean Grey who is raised by Professor X—one of the smartest mutants living—and she is friends with Hank—one of the nicest and also smartest mutants—and you tell me that she wouldn’t ask them for help?

She would rather run like a whiny girl to her real father who she hasn’t seen in years, than find out why Professor X lied to her, and try to find out the truth?

Hasn’t she learned anything in these past years? Or did I miss something during the movie that would explain her behavior?

Me neither, Wolverine!

—————————

Conflict is essential for a character arc. The character is tested and challenged, and has now the chance to either run away or face it. It’s important for their growth and change. And how they deal with it shows their character.

—————————

First of all, the two conflicts that Jean faces are good! They are believable, but the HOW it is shown in the movie isn’t convincing for me.

A stronger scenario in my opinion would have been:

Professor X and Hank check Jean together after the space mission. Professor X looks into her mind, and notices the change, and this strange power boost. He wants to know more, but forces himself too much on Jean, or he maybe triggers something in this ancient power when he wants to examine it.

Jean loses it and hurts Professor X—the only one so far who has been able to help her to control her powers.

But now she realizes in great shock that not even HE can control this power in her or can help her. And that SHE hurt him! The man who is like a father for her.

Jean can’t handle this and runs away—in desperation that when Professor X can’t help her, no one can and she’s doomed.

The lie with the father can still be a thing here. But this would have felt as a more believable conflict for me. Don’t you think?

The climax with more relationship confusions, weak character choices, and a lot more “What the fucks!?”

Scenes from “Dark Phoenix” (© Fox Studio)

Jean finds her real father and faces him to… comfort herself?

I’m actually not sure why she wants to see him right now. Does she want to prove herself that she isn’t a monster with superpowers? Does she want some comfort, and a happy reunion with her father who is surprisingly alive, but hasn’t seen her in years?

I don’t know, nerds, because for me her motivation behind this decision wasn’t clear. I get that she’s very frightened, and emotional, and hurt. And she runs away from the X-Men, because she doesn’t want to hurt them but… why then run to her father?

I thought maybe she tells her Dad why she wants to meet him when she sees him, but, well… nope. Not happening! So I’m still not convinced and in the confusion area.

Her Dad is shocked when he sees her and she finds out why Professor X lied to her. Her father didn’t want her after the accident. He accused her of the death of her mother, and he couldn’t face her anymore. So he gave her without hesitation to Professor X.

Well, that went well, Jean, eh? Yeah, good decision. Because this fucks you up even more.

Of course, she feels even more hurt now. Not only Professor X lied to her, but also her real father didn’t want her.

Don’t get me wrong these are still totally believable conflicts and hurtful experiences that make a huge impact on her as a character. BUT in this movie it felt so forced and rushed.

For instance, since the beginning of the movie, Jean never ever mentions her parents again. There are no signs of photos or memories. Nothing for us viewers to show us that she still misses her parents, and feels extremely guilty for what happened. Instead she seems confident and strong willed. She has a new family with the X-Men now and a boyfriend. She seems like someone who found their place, and not like someone who’s still suffering from a childhood trauma, and desperately wants her parents back.

Do you know, what I mean?

But let’s head back to the story.

Jean is hurt and full of raging nebula-glibber, although you are not sure so far HOW much it really influences her decisions.

When the X-Men find her and want to talk to her, she refuses to listen.

I kind of get that. She is hurt and afraid, BUT let’s just make this clear: She refuses to listen to Scott—her loving and very supportive boyfriend—her “father” Professor X, ALL her friends who she has been known for years now, and also her beloved mentor Mystique?

Like really? No one seems to matter enough to get her to listen? Even in this emotional moment?

Is she SO hurt and angry that she doesn’t care anymore?

Although just a quick reminder that a few scenes before she left her loved ones to NOT hurt them, and now she starts to hurt innocent people instead when she casually crashes some police cars?

Or can she really NOT control her power anymore?

But why is she still able to talk and behave like Jean? She seems very consciously aware about what she’s doing with the police cars, and to her fellow X-Men friends.

Just saying… and I know, a lot of questions here. But these are confusing times, my dear nerds.

After the X-Men tried to talk with her and didn’t succeed, they attack her.

Seems reasonable… Is that a mutant thing though? Less talking, more fighting? For Magneto and Wolverine, that’s their motto for sure.

But she’s fucking Jean Grey with a nebula power boost, so they don’t have any chance at all. Mystique manages to get close to Jean, and it almost seems that Jean listens to her. Mystique tells her that she’s here for Jean, and that she’s not afraid. Together they can solve this.

Ok, guys, I seriously don’t get WHY Jean still refuses to listen, and shuts everyone else out? WHY, Jean? Tell me! Show me! Convince me, for Marvel’s sake!

Mystique doesn’t succeed and Jean pushes her away. Literally. And Mystique tragically gets impaled by some sharp branches, which I guess were the result of Jean destroying almost the whole street and the houses…?

Or maybe someone just casually stores sharp branches at his house… just in case, I guess?

Ok, but to be serious again.

The death of Mystique caused by Jean could have been a very dramatic and relevant moment in this movie!

It could have been a MAJOR CLIMAX

… but it felt soooo fucking weak, nerds.

Damn, I feel like a little frustrated kid right now who realizes that the so desperately wanted Cookie has fucking dried raisins in it! Bah, who would do that to a cookie!?

Ok, that was a little bit overdramatic, I know, but seriously why did the death of Mystique feel so weak?

Maybe because with all the questionable actions, which have been the result of her death, the death itself wasn’t believable anymore?

Maybe it’s because I haven’t watched the other movies in a while, and that’s why the relationship between Mystique and Jean didn’t seem super deep and important to me?

Yes, there were some moments between them in this movie that would have suggested a deep mentor-friendship, but for me there could have been a bigger and deeper impact in the relationship between Professor X and Jean. These two were the real deal for me, man!

At least Jean cries after she killed Mystique. Finally you get some believable emotions from her, because her mourning feels real and authentic. She seems desperate and hurt. It was a small glimpse of believable emotions.

I can’t say this about Professor X though, who didn’t seem bothered at all that Mystique is dead now… ? Like really, Professor X?

Or Hank who reacts too much out of character, and sees Professor X as the guilty one, not Jean.

What is wrong with you all?

—————————

Creatingmore conflict and testing the relationships which a character has is a great way to increase drama and tension, while building up to the climax of the story.

You need to let your character struggle and fail as your viewer is hopefully torn between doubt and hope of the success of your character in the end.

BUT the conflicts, and the relationships need to be believable. It needs to feel real and true to your character.

For example, if you want to test a relationship, you need to first show how and why this person is so important to your character. There needs to be a bond between them.

No bond and no believable connection, no real emotions.

It’s the final countdown where everything can go down or you just transform yourself in a real Phoenix…? Whaaaaaaaaat?

Poster from “Dark Phoenix” (© Fox Studios)

After Mystique’s death everything happens fast, and it increases in a big dramatic moment when Jean trusts some strange women with no eyebrows, who’s obviously an evil alien, who’s manipulating Jean.

Yeah, don’t get me started with this weird alien side story!

I don’t think I could explain that without swearing the shit out of it. Let’s just say there are some super strong aliens who can change their appearances like Skulls, and are super bad and evil, but also just want their home back…?

Like I said, it’s weird. Just roll with it, alright?

The alien lady manipulates Jean to use her powers for not so good stuff, and tells her that everyone is afraid of her. But that she’s special and jadajada… she basically gives her a whole villain speech hidden in a pep talk.

But the X-Men come to the rescue! They want to stop and help Jean. Yes, we have Magneto’s mutants who want to kill her, and the Professor X’s mutants who want to save her.

So the main X-Men theme with “Magneto against Professor X” is on again!

But she shrugs them off like annoying flies until Professor X enters the scene. He gives Jean kind of the same talk he gave her years ago when she was a girl. When he notices the alien lady he instantly knows that she’s bad news… and whooooooa!!

Wait. A. Minute!

Professor X looks through her masquerade when they first met, but Jean still trusts her? I thought she’s more powerful than Professor X? And wait, didn’t the alien lady tell Jean that she can’t read her mind? How could Professor X know that she was bad news?

Yeah, there are more questions coming right at you! Don’t stop me now, don’t stop me, don’t stop me…

And at this very dramatic and badass moment when Jean almost completely loses it, she decides to look into Professor X’s mind… because that’s what you do in that particular situation.

That’s the moment when she realizes that he lied to her to protect her because he loves her. That everything he’s ever done, he did out of love…

Aaaaaw, dear little Jeany… WHY, for Marvel’s sake, didn’t you do that right in the beginning when you found out that he lied to you????!!!! By the father of Marvel!

And again, my dear nerds, this could have been an essential moment for the character. If it wouldn’t be so damn weak with some “WTF?”sprinkled on top.

After she looked into Professor X’s mind, Jean realizes that she can control the power, and that she needs to protect her family. So she kills all the aliens in an epic battle, and then flies to the sky to kill the alien lady who is almost as strong as her. They both explode and… Jean becomes a real burning fire-phoenix… wait whaaaaat?

Well, yes. This really happens in the movie. No bullshit here.

So the resolution of all the conflicts, the tension, and Jean’s struggle is that she needed one quick look in Professor X’s mind. That’s all what it takes, nerds.

One quickie with the Professor’s mind, and boom! Jean is back to her old self again… confident, strong and… a freaking phoenix in space who’s circling around the earth.

In a voice-over at the end of the movie Phoenix-Jean tells us that she became more (obviously!) and finally knows who she is.

Good for you, Jeany-Bean, but I’m still confused about your character arc, though.

——————-

At the end of your story and character arc there needs to be a resolution. Or a learning for the character.

It can be something bad, or something good. But it should change your character. And I don’t mean change in a very obvious appearance “change” like becoming an actual phoenix.

A character arcis actually all about change, and how your character copes with that or not.

There are conflicts and challenges they have to face. There are relationships and experiences which shape them, BUT everything has to be true to your character. Everything has to be believable and authentic to the character, and so to your viewer.

My last words… finally! (Gosh, this article is a long one, eh?)

Scene from “Dark Phoenix” (© Fox Studios)

These are all things I noticed from watching Dark Phoenix. Like I said there is some really good stuff in this movie. There are some moments that are convincing and promising, but sometimes you can weaken them in how you show them.

If there are too many questions and confused faces regarding how a character behaves, then the character loses their believability and authenticity. And the viewer just wants someone on screen who they can relate to and understand. If that’s not the case, they lose interest.

Keep that in mind, my dear nerds, and please tell me your opinions about Dark Phoenix in the comments. Also if you agree or not.

I’m always open for some discussions and different kind of opinions.

Stay nerdy and embrace your weird.

Julia

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About the Creator

Jule Jessenberger

When I’m not hunting demons with Dean and Sam or looking for hidden treasures with Indiana Jones, I’m writing stories or geeky articles, and sometimes (ok, most of the time) I’m fangirling about shows, comics, or movies.

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