And that’s why I take a dim view of RJ as a filmmaker, not only because he’s bad but because he’s arrogant. He doesn’t take feedback, he doesn’t even think he has room for improvement. Compare him to JJ, who is at the TOP of the industry right now yet freely admits he made mistakes with his record-smashing mega-hit TFA. RJ is like PT-era George who thinks he’s perfect and won’t listen to anyone, except with far less reason. I hate those “visionary” auteur types.
Tag: ask
The advent of Symbrock is the nail in the coffin that people will ship my (dragon) villain with his sentient pet cobra if my WIP ever gets big. Don’t get me wrong it’d be healthier than and make more sense than Reylo but I don’t want people shipping a dragon with. a literal snake? I mean it wouldn’t be as problematic as Voldegini but still
Well, I guess people might see enough of a kinship between dragons and snakes to make a cross-species ship viable
Can you explain the meme about terfs and the word queer posted from your queue?
Terfs and exclusionists dislike the inclusiveness of the word queer. Terfs hate that it includes trans and nonbinary people, and exclusionists dislike its inclusion of aces and aros. Calling queer a slur and discouraging its use has become a common rallying point for these two groups, who are just two different flavors of exclusionists (the “e” in terf stands for “exclusionary”). Even exclusionists who push back against the vile transphobia of terfs sometimes give support to terfs by, say, supporting shit like “Lesbian not Queer” which was literally the follow-up to “Get the L Out” which was the successor to “Drop the T.” There’s a clear evolutionary chain where transmisogynists started hiding their transphobia behind campaigning against “queer,” and exclusionists are eating it up. You can see it happen in real time in this discussion (link) where an exclusionist who disagrees with terfs unwittingly gives them cover.
One other thing; which interpretation of Kylo are you leaning more towards? Terrifying portrait of fanaticism, or laughable manbaby who can’t possibly keep the First Order together?
Like there’s a lot of daylight between the two? Fanatics are fundamentally ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less dangerous. It seems you’re actually exemplifying the othering concept of evil we’ve been discussing, as though a truly terrifying evil must be aloof and inhumanly effective rather than laughable and buffoonish.
The Jewishcomradebot article link is broken, so finding the original piece was tricky. But I disagree about Vader’s villainy being more over-the-top than Kylo’s. In terms of personal evil done, Vader is actually pretty downplayed in the OT; he tortures and summarily executes people, but never personally massacres innocents like Kylo has. He did do that in the PT, which interestingly is him when he’s outwardly more human and relatable and not in a suit of dark armor. I would also say that Snoke–
is a much more over-the-top figure than Palpatine in TFA, being a
giant, ghostly, alien Lincoln Memorial; he was then humanized in TLJ by
becoming a shortsighted loser in a Hefner bathrobe. And, of course, Hux
is much shoutier and hammier than Tarkin. The ultimate upshot of which
is that I’m skeptical of TFA being a better showcase of the banality of
evil than previous movies.
In case others are having difficulty, here’s the current link to the full post (link). Idk if you were able to read the whole post or not, but the point in the op wasn’t that Vader was more evil than Kylo Ren, it was that Vader was presented as more otherworldly, distant, larger-than-life as opposed to the more humanly presented Kylo Ren. Anakin began his career as a Sith while still unmasked, yes, but iirc his eyes were already starting to go Sith-gold and the culmination of his transformation was that he became a masked villain with a machine voice like the Vader we know and loathe.
The op only mentioned Snoke in passing in relation to Kylo’s bloodline, and you seem to have missed the point about Hux entirely: Hux, the overt Hitler caricature, was a secondary one-note villain and it was Kylo, the human, “relatable” villain, who was the main face of evil in TFA. The argument as I understand it was not that TFA was in all ways a better representation of the banality of evil, but that Kylo Ren is a better example of it than Vader and the villains who better suit the idea of an alien and demonic evil take the back seat to Ren.
Guilt– feeling bad for doing the bad thing. Remorse– wishing you hadn’t done the bad thing. Repentance– changing yourself so you won’t do the bad thing again. Redemption– being forgiven after you’ve repented. When Kylo Ren actively tramples his own remorse, you know the other two things aren’t going to happen. He showed that by mocking Luke, asking if he’d come to save his soul. You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. Not from making evil choices anyway.
That’s a great breakdown! If I understand it correctly redemption isn’t about human forgiveness but being right in the eyes of God, so in SW terms it would mean returning to the Light. And big as Christianity is on the “Jesus saves” thing, even there the person has to make the choice to repent.
Oh, yeah, I figured that’s what you meant. “Pride” as some would call it is just someone not disrespecting themself, which is always seen as worse for men of color by white audiences. Obviously some guilt is helpful, but only in the same way that some anger is helpful: if it motivates you to do the right thing. (Moth)
I think that might be why pride is such an important point of Black and LGBTQ+ activism. When you are told you should be ashamed of yourself for who you are, loving and taking pride in yourself become radical acts.
Kylo Ren is an excellent fake Christian, but TLJ!Rey is an excellent real one. Which makes no sense because there was nothing in TLJ to explain the sudden change. We could have had Rey learn a great lesson about forgiveness and redemption— BEFORE going to Kylo Ren, explaining her motive— and in failing learning that just because you forgive someone doesn’t mean they will change, because they have their agency. But no, Rey is suddenly an altruist for no reason.
It would have made a hell lot more sense if it were because of Finn, someone she already knows and loves. She wanted Finn to be safe, and she wanted to foist the burden of being the Jedi on Luke so she could be with Finn–and to “Ben” when Luke refused. Rey’s own psychology as someone who spent a lifetime forced to play nice with people who mistreated her also explains her actions (link). Her brief belief in Bendemption would also have been way clearer if it were shown that she was thinking about how Finn turned away from the FO (link).
The way I pronounce acronyms in my head is weird. WTF is “whh t’fffff” and NP is “nn p’.” I don’t even know what WIP is.
I just think of it like “whip” without the h sound.
I feel like Finn actually makes a better Christian-like hero than Anakin, but specifically in a way that I know a huge portion of Christians would disagree with. The Christianity I was raised in was very much opposed to feeling guilt after change, as it’s selfish and you’re best spending your efforts in helping others. I might be influenced by Boyega being Christian, but I got the vibe that his portrayal ofFinn wasn’t “proud” but rather humble. True humility which is not self-centered. (Moth)
I personally think genuine guilt could be healthy, but the way Kylo Ren does it feels wallowing, even masturbatory. Making other people’s lives about his goddamned feelings that will do no one any good at all since he won’t act on them.
To clarify I don’t think Finn was actually proud or arrogant, rather I mean racist and cultural distortions could lead people to perceive him as such. “Uppity,” to draw on a word that has been used in ugly and violent ways against Black people.
L.J.'s Obsessions 