Dark Phoenix

Discussion Guide:

• • 1. How did you feel about this movie? Did you feel that Jean was dealt a fair lot?
       Caregiver Note: Youth may be affected by seeing Jean manipulated (left with literal holes in her mind) and then dying so suddenly. It’s important to remember that foster and adoptive youth have suffered losses in greater amounts and/or earlier than their peers and may be triggered by aspects of Jean’s life. This will be a good question to open the door to conversation and see where your youth is ranging emotionally in response to some pretty intense scenes.
    2. Why did Professor Charles Xavier alter Jean’s memories?
       Caregiver Note: This film portrays some intense emotional dynamics! We see Professor X taking in a young, traumatized Jean and trying to offer her a new life… but by creating holes in Jean’s memories, Professor X merely hid all the traumatic memories rather than supporting Jean by walking through the hard things with her and teaching her how to cope. As adults who love children and youth, we HATE to see them suffer and very much (like Professor X) want to take away their pain. It’s important to discuss with our youth how Professor X meant very well with his intentions, but that sometimes the best thing we can do for loved ones in pain is to be there with them.
    3. How was Jean able to regain so many of her memories after the shuttle accident and she began to change into Phoenix?
       Caregiver Note: This is a great segue into discussing how trauma is stored in the body. Explain to your youth that trauma often leaves scars unseen by their eyes. Though Jean may have left that initial car accident without a scar on her body, her mind received memories from the stress and emotions of that day. While Professor X would have loved to simply remove the painful memories, he was only able to suppress and hide them. Jean may not be able to recall the pain and agony of those memories, but her body is fully capable of experiencing the stress from the trauma without those memories. When Phoenix began to surface, that was Jean’s bodily response to trauma without the complete picture of “Why?”.
    4.  Activity: Guided Meditation
       Caregiver Note: Often we forget how our body responds to stress and how bodily responses feed back into the stress cycle. A word like “Meditation” may seem scary to a youth who often seeks stimulation to avoid a mind open to painful things, so a guided meditation may be a beneficial tool to 1) give guidance on how to meditate and 2) provide background noise for youth who appear triggered or have “too many thoughts” to meditate silently. I personally fall under that second category due to working a high stress job. There are a few free apps floating around out there, but I’ve enjoyed using the Calm app. It does cost money, but the wide variety of meditations and sleep tracks helps calm my circus-brain. Whichever route you take, I recommend looking for a meditation track that relates to “body scanning.” This is a meditation where the narrator guides the participants through breathing and bringing gentle awareness to each part of the body and what may be happening in response to stress. Not only will this help your youth connect their feelings to somatic experiences (i.e. – tense muscles, tummy aches, short breath, etc.), but it will also instill some grounding techniques they can use in private or in public spaces.
    5. If Jean was affected by the events of the Shuttle rescue, why did she tell everyone she was fine and go to the party? How could the scene have changed if Jean followed recommendations for rest and told someone what was happening?
       Caregiver Note: Whenever something is happening in my teen’s world, she often throws that she’s “fine” at me. My kiddo loves to share her experiences and stories so the short “fine” is a red flag for me as a parent that she may need some extra support and is putting on a brave face. And she’s not the only one either… How often have we heard the advice of “Put your big-girl panties on!” or “Fake it until you make it!”? While those phrases may be well intended, there are times where if a youth needs support they should be able to be heard. As foster/adoptive parents, we often have to play detective to discover the needs our youth are communicating through behavior and emotional check-ins are not exempt from this. Jean’s friends did well in this phase in the movie with checking in with Jean (especially Scott) and keeping an eye out for non-verbal cues when she continued to deny needing support. Youth may be shy, like Jean, about asking for support and need the invitation. Additionally, it’s also good for youth to consider how “faking it until you make it” for too long can cause as many consequences (if not more) as letting emotions blow up immediately.
    6. Why did Jean go back to her father’s house, even though she knew he gave her up?
       Caregiver Note: Youth will always long for their family of origin. Though they may have only spent a small amount of time with their family of origin, that was often their very first sets of relationships with others, on which each other relationship in their life is modeled. In this conversation, a youth may voice they relate to Jean trying to find her father and wishing to do the same. In this place, it’s good to validate those emotions. No matter what the family of origin did, your youth has part of their identity’s foundation in that family and culture. Be careful to speak respectfully of the family of origin for this reason.
    7. Why did Jean hurt Raven if she loved her so much?
       Caregiver Note: Jean and Raven were shown to have a close bond. Often (in this film) Raven spoke up when she felt Jean’s safety was in jeopardy and took great pains to reassure Jean she would be there for her… and then Jean impales her in a fit of rage. As we learn in trauma-informed classes, those who have been hurt often hurt others. In that moment, Jean was (literally) in survival mode due to the attacks from the X-Men following an extremely emotional reunion with her father. She was impulsive, acting upon her fight or flight instinct with cortisol and adrenaline coursing through her body and mind. Though her anger was absolutely validated, left unchecked it had dire consequences. Use this as an opportunity to discuss how emotions are absolutely valid but how acting upon those emotions without a plan may have adverse consequences.
    8. Why did Jean run to Eric (Magneto)? Isn’t he a “bad guy”?
       Caregiver Note: Jean at this point in the film has learned that the person who raised her has lied to her from the beginning and her own father rejected her, blaming her for the death of her mother. Jean responded to all of this in impulse and accidentally kills Raven, whom she loves very much. Jean is in a dark place and feels alone and as if she is herself “bad,” and therefore seeks company from a more “experienced” bad guy. It’s important for us to note as caregivers that our children will seek out support and care from someone else if we are not ready to provide care with the grace to not take their outbursts personally. While no caregiver can be the perfect caregiver, we can look to Professor X’s example to remember how ignoring a true need in favor of an “easier” out can lead to feelings of betrayal and isolation. It is important that we reinforce to our youth that mistakes do not make them “bad” and that we will be there to love them through it and sort out the pieces when the big emotions are more manageable.
    9. When was Jean strongest? As Jean Grey, Dark Phoenix, or Phoenix at the end?
       Caregiver Note: While Jean may have gained a lot of power when Dark Phoenix began to take hold, it was when she fully rose as Phoenix at the end that Jean became the most powerful being in the world. This was not just because her telekinesis got a boost either, as we saw in her time with Dark Phoenix. This was because Jean was able to move through those hard emotions, forgive those who hurt her, and regain a sense of control and empowerment over her own emotions and future. It’s important to discuss with our youth that while working through emotions can be extremely difficult (as can be forgiving those who wronged us, well intended or not), it can help us to become the superheroes we are meant to be so we can move forward and help others.
    10. Activity: Superhero Superdream
        Caregiver Note: Work with your youth to develop a superhero version of themselves. Throw in costume ideas, superpowers, weaknesses, etc. Have them write out their superhero’s backstory and how they came to be a hero. Walk through the stories of overcoming adversity and see how those stories can translate into overcoming the adversity your youth may be experiencing now. Avoid getting too bogged down in too many challenges and feel free to make resolutions fun.

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