X-Talk: Jean's Repairing the Jet

Originally published March 30th, 2023

____________________________________________

Something that makes the X-Men movies stand out to me is the fact that I think the script treats the characters as people first, above all other identities.

The example I want to draw attention to is from X2 after the X-Jet has been shot down; the start of, or lead-in to, the "Jean and Wolverine Scene":

Jean comes down the ramp of the jet (with what looks like a cloth and device piece in hand)

Logan: "How're we doin'?" Jean: "Not good. It'll take four or five hours before I can get it off the ground."

My read of this is that Jean is repairing the X-Jet. I feel like in any other movie or TV show I've seen, anytime a female character has any mechanical know-how (much less for a jet), the script always feels the need to qualify it. This typically takes the form of another character in the scene (usually a male) having a surprised and/or impressed reaction, then the female character explaining their knowledge in a way that relates back to another male character i.e. "well, when you grow up with brothers" or "[male person in family] was a mechanic" ; "my father wanted to make sure his little girl knew how a car worked before he'd get me one of my own". The implication being male characters just have an interest in this stuff and pick it up, but a female character must always have been introduced to it by a male. X2 doesn't do that. They even could've, very naturally, by one of two ways: 1. As we see all the (movie) original X-Men (Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey) know how to fly the jet, it could make sense to have mechanical knowledge be an additional part of that instruction (especially if they want to remain stealth). Which would relate things back to Xavier as this would've been part of their* X-Men training. 2. Scott/Cyclops, Jean Grey's fiancé, teaches mechanics class at the Xavier Institute. In the first movie, during Logan's tour, we can even briefly see Jean seemingly just** sitting in on that class. This connection would've served to shift the conversation outside the jet towards Scott, as the X2 scene required.

*worth noting, while Storm is there as well (not in that scene but in that location), the implication is that Jean alone is repairing the jet. Given the urgency of things (Xavier and Cyclops have been kidnapped for a day by this point), you'd think if they both could, they would.

**That scene may've actually been implying Jean & Cyclops teach mechanics together. Finding that read particularly cool, that's what I'm going with for Envisionings.

But instead the scene is just allowed to be, it just is. You can even miss it. It's not made into a thing, at all.

Jean's repairing the jet. 'nuff said.***

***in the immortal words of Stan Lee.