(Trans)National X-Factor: Patrick Stewart, Britishness and the Promotion of X-Men

Abstract

Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003) had one. The Matrix (1999), Gladiator (2000) and Titanic (1997) also boasted them. Even films as diverse as Shrek (2001) and The Mummy (1999) (and their sequels) were careful to include them. As important as special effects, new technologies and exotic locales may be to the contemporary blockbuster, none of these it would seem can overwhelm the need for that special human ingredient of the blockbuster film: the star. But in all of these cases the brightest stars, like Julia Roberts or Tom Hanks, were cast aside for a relatively dwarf star cast. To push this metaphor even further, all of the films listed above boasted constellations of minor stars intended to exceed the sum of individual expectation. X-Men (2000) is perhaps the best recent example of constellated star casting: from Ian McKellen and Anna Paquin through Halle Berry to Famke Janssen, X-Men's appeals ranged from the actorly to the sexy. Former and future Bond-girls and Oscar winners aside for a moment, X-Men' s ensemble cast had more particular and general roles to play. They represented a multi-generational, multinational, multiracial stardom available for deployment across the globe during X-Men 's promotion. The terrain and identity of the blockbuster, particularly the subset represented by X-Men, are among the least mapped and consequently misunderstood of Hollywood phenomena. Though the entertainment media deploy the term blockbuster without difficulty across almost every genre of film, academically the term has been more elusive. Julian Stringer, in his edited collection Movie Blockbusters, problematises the notion declaring that 'the movie blockbuster is a multifaceted phenomenon whose meanings are contingent upon the presence of a range of discourses both internal and external to the Hollywood and indeed the non-US film industries.'1 His attempt to map the blockbuster's terrain usefully brings in the notion of nationality, which will form the focus of this analysis. However, it also begs an explanation of the blockbuster as it will be understood hereafter.