Exactly. I still think doomerey is ridiculous, but not because of an earlier version of the script where Poe was going to die. It’s because they hadn’t even met for two movies and the third movie isn’t going to have anything near enough time to develop a believable romance. It’s also really racist tbh because the idea dismisses Finn’s two movies worth of bonding with Rey with a pat on the head. Excuse me? I have some taste, thank you, and there’s no way I’m going to accept a canon ship based on “hi” and a rushed last-minute romance when Rey crying on Finn’s chest about to die with him on a doomed planet was RIGHT THERE. Not every movie has to have a romance but if there is going to be one I demand some basic quality, not to mention respect for my intelligence as a viewer.
I will never be over the betrayal that was TLJ wrapping John Boyega in bubble wrap but forcing me to witness the Frigidaire.
I am a THIRSTY bitch who went into their movie expecting DRINKS and they had the audacity to serve me La Croix.
This must have been what Rey went through every time she expected Finn’s energy and instead got diverted to the Sauerkraut.
rey: [ok, it’s simple, just tell finn you’re in love with him and want to go out with him]
rey: [actually, maybe just take baby steps and ask him out]
rey: [he probably already knows i’m in love with him, i don’t need to tell him right away]
rey: [yeah, i’ll just ask him to go on a date with me. we’ll go to naboo or something. no, that’s too romantic! endor. we’ll go to endor. yeah. baby steps. ok. there he is. be cool, rey.]
rey: so, finn…
rey: [come on, rey, spit it out]
finn: what’s up?
rey: i was wondering…
rey: [if you knew i want to have your babies]
rey: um…
rey: [you’re wondering if he’d be interested in going on a date sometime! just say it! ask him!]
rey: i was wondering… ah…
finn: yes rey
rey: [he said yes! wait no, he just wants to know what i was going to ask him. shoot this is hard]
rey: i…
rey: [have incredibly poor communication skills, why did i have to grow up alone in the desert]
finn: what is it rey?
rey: i was wondering… about your friend poe.
rey: [what did you just say]
finn: what about him
rey: [what are you doing]
rey: yeah, um… could you like, maybe…
rey: [what is wrong with you you’re avoiding the subject you wanted to talk to him about forget poe don’t finish that sentence are you listening to yourself snap out of it and quit being nervous]
rey: could you set me up with him?
rey: [how are those words escaping your mouthhole? you came to ask out FINN! this is the exact opposite of what you wanted to do]
finn: sure i can set you up
*later*
poe: hey rey finn told me–
rey: HELP ME FINN’S FRIEND I SCREWED UP HELP ME I SCREWED UP I SCREWED UP
If there is going to be jealousy in IX, I don’t want Rose to be jealous of Rey or vice versa.
No, I want Finn to be jealous of Rose.
What if, since their escape from Crait, Rey and Rose get along famously and Rey seems to have hardly a word to say to Finn? It gets to the point where Rose, feeling awkward that her friends aren’t talking and remorseful of how she reacted to Finn’s relationship with Rey, tries to get Rey and Finn to talk to each other. Rey seems angry and agitated at the very suggestion, though, and Rose drops it. She knows someone being badly triggered when she sees one, and suggests Rey talk to an on-base counselor. They were a big help to Rose herself, after all.
There are always excuses not to talk, though. The Resistance has to knit together its shredded operations and scramble for allies. Finn and Rey are needed everywhere, separately and together, to convince potential allies, negotiate terms, to outmaneuver the First Order, to recruit, inspire, and fight. A year, even more could pass this way.
Maybe it’s on one of their missions together that the silence finally snaps. They are on one of their rare missions together, on their way back from repelling First Order forces from a planet and gaining it as a valuable supply station. The atmosphere is relaxed between everyone except Finn and Rey, and while they talk amicably with everyone else, the void of conversation between the Resistance’s two biggest heroes is getting harder to ignore.
At one point Rey hears about something amusing and giggles, “I have to try that with Rose when we get back to base.”
Finn mutters, “Of course. Rose, again. It’s not like I’m right here.”
His words happen to fall into a gap in the conversation and everyone stares while Finn looks around as if for an exit, and Rey stares stonily ahead. The room clears in under half a second as everyone dives for cover or gives them privacy, or both.
Rey turns to Finn. “What is that supposed to mean? My being friends with Rose is a problem? Why, because the two of you dated?”
“No! She’s my friend, too. The problem is…” Finn swallows. “What hurts is, you don’t want to be my friend anymore.”
“What?” Rey looks away with a sound that is both a scoff and a sob. “Did you seriously think I… of all the ridiculous!”
“Ridiculous? You avoid me. When we are in the same room you won’t look at me, and when you have to talk to me outside a mission it’s like you’re on a five-word limit. Is this all in my head?”
Rey presses her lips together and won’t look at him.
“Rey.” He comes to sit down a few seats away from her, getting closer while giving her space. “I’ll understand if you no longer want to be friends. But at least tell me that so I can understand and move on. If we can’t… can’t be friends anymore, at least we have to be able to work together. We’re hurting morale and jeopardizing the Resistance’s mission.”
“That’s all you care about, isn’t it.” Her voice is low and edged. “The Resistance.”
“…Huh?”
She turns on him, the look in her eyes so ferocious he leans away. “You were going to die, Finn. You were going to leave me forever.”
“That’s- is this what this was about? Rey, it’s been a year.” The beginning of a shaky laugh bursts out of him.
“Don’t laugh. Don’t you dare laugh! How could you do that?! How could you even think about… about…” Rey looks away, her shoulders shaking with earnest sobs now.
After a long silence punctuated only by her crying Finn says, staring down at his hands: “You could have told me.”
“I knew I would fall apart. Like I am now.” She wipes tears and snot off her face with a hand, and Finn slides her napkins. “Thank you.”
“It was logical in the moment. Maybe someone would come.” He glances over at her. “You were there, with the Falcon. If I bought enough time, and if there was another way out, you and Chewie could get the survivors out. I was right about that, you know. It was a sound strategic decision.”
“Logical. Strategic.” Rey looks at him, her face red and wet. “Finn, if I had lifted those rocks and not seen you… if I found out you had…” she shakes her head, overcome at the horror.
“Well Rose stopped me, didn’t she?”
“Yes, Rose did. She saved the person dearest to me in the galaxy, and you were going to take him away from me. Who do you think I’d be grateful to? Who do you think I’d be angry at?”
“Wait. Wait, I need a second to process that-”
“Was that how they trained you, to think of yourself as expendable?” She leans toward him. “I just, I need to understand.”
A long moment of silence passes. Finn looks down at his hands tearing a napkin to shreds, and Rey presses him with the intensity of her gaze.
“I didn’t want to die.”
Rey flinches, her eyes filling with fresh tears at the raw pain in his voice.
“I wanted to see tomorrow, where I could be free–with you. But if I couldn’t see that day, maybe you could, maybe Rose and Poe and the others could. I said good-bye to you in my mind.” He lets go of the shredded napkin pieces and stretches out a hand, which she holds tight. “I was thinking of you the whole time.”
She rises from her chair and then falls into him, clutching him in a hug that almost tips his chair over.
“I can’t lose you, Finn. I can’t. You’re the only one who ever came back for me.”
“And you came back for me.” His arms tighten around her.
“I wanted us to go away together, once I got Luke to join the Resistance, and when he wouldn’t–Kylo Ren.” She laughs to herself. “That didn’t go the way I thought it would.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “My nearly-severed spine could have told you that. Or Han, if he were here.”
She winces, looking away. “I was so desperate, I didn’t even know how long you would stay with the Resistance and I thought you might already be gone to the Outer Rim.”
“And when you saw me again… you realized I wasn’t leaving.”
“And I couldn’t leave, either.” She draws back to look into his face, her hands on his shoulders and a knee on the chair between his legs. “I wish there were some place for us away from this fight.”
He gives her a slow sad smile. “Are you going to ask me, ‘Come with me?’”
She snuggles against him. “You’d tell me, ‘Don’t go.’”
“Rey, stay and fight with me. Please.” His breath moves her hair. “I wanted us to go away, too, but there is no ‘away.’ The only way we can be at peace is through this fight, not running from it.”
A tear spills down her cheek. “I know, and it’s not fair.”
“It never is.”
Neither of them initiates it, or they both do. One moment their cheeks brush as they move their heads silent agreement, the next their lips meet in a long kiss. She slides down to lean against his chest and he bows his head over hers, holding her to him. Both their eyes are full of tears but they melt into each other in complete relaxation, no longer holding back from each other.
“I- I think we’re holding up the kitchen area.” Rey stands, wiping tears from her cheeks and laughing.
“Yeah.” Finn raises his voice. “I sure hope there’ll be no one listening in the corridor when we go out, that would be awkward.”
They hear hurried footfalls outside and chuckle to each other. He holds out a hand, she takes it, and they walk out smiling at each other. The Resistance no longer have reason to fear being in the same room with them, unless it is the fear of catching them in compromising positions.
from being stuck in comedic roles. One of my act bf teachers
knows Wesley snipes personally and said he wanted to do lighter romcom
type stuff but he was told he was too short and too dark and after Jack
City he was sort of typecast. Oscar Isaac is short but he is also
racially ambiguous in a way that white women are into. They can
fantasize about sexing an “exotic Latin hunk” without feeling shame or
guilt. MBJ is 6 foot tall and the new black it guy, the guy white women
aren’t afraid (2)
or ashamed to tell their friends they’d sleep with. John is
handsome but he’s also under 6 feet and has a wide nose and full lips,
so he’s not ambiguous. If he were taller trust me he’d be getting more
roles. If Finn and Rey do not have a romance John might find it hard to
break out of the category of “not a romantic lead.” He’s never had a
role where he was openly sexual or romantic with a woman. His one role
that was going to do that, The Circle, cut it out (3)
Which is a sign that they thought they couldn’t sell it in the
movie. If Rey is placed with Kylo or wit Poe romantically, casting
directors are not going to change their minds about John. I like him and
his acting but he is heading toward a career like Jeffrey Wright,
nothing at all to be ashamed of but never the love interest, always the
Professor/good friend/helpmate. See also Anthony Mackie, a Juilliard
grad, and a perpetual second banana/non love interest (4)
So in short it’s not that women don’t find John attractive it’s
that it’s widely believed white women won’t look at him the way they
look at men like Oscar and MBJ. I have no idea why he didn’t make
himself the love interest in PAC Rim 2, Eastwood is a flop. Anyway,
sorry for all the messages but I wanted to explain myself more fully.
Thanks, take care.
L.J.: Thank you for coming back, and for the in-depth explanation! Personally I never thought you were being racist, just describing racist preferences in a frank and straightforward way. That’s a very sobering assessment of John’s career prospects, and I lean toward thinking you’re right; if he isn’t established as the romantic lead in the biggest break of his career, the chances of it happening later are dim. I think John is aware of that, too; he’s always been unsentimental and clear-eyed about his career. He has recently been very public and clear about his support for Finnrey and has pushed back at the “friendzone” commenters, so I think he’s thinking along similar lines.
Fortunately Daisy has publicly shut both reylow and doomerey down, but in response to the doomerey question she also said she preferred no romance. It’s pretty telling in itself, though, that she was asked about Kylo and Poe and not Finn as romantic prospects, isn’t it? Not to mention the cringeworthy sexism in asking hertwo questions in a row (first Kylo, then Poe) about her character’s prospective romances. This interview was in China, too, which is obviously not a white-majority country but has many the same racist preferences and is a crucial movie market.
I mean. You don’t have to be an actor or know movie stars to know colorism is huge in Hollywood. Anon, you being Black, you know it’s a big thing in the Black community, too, and that doesn’t make it acceptable.
But look, it’s 2018. Danai Gurira is a romantic lead on The Walking Dead, a top TV show, and she doesn’t fit the mold of the romantic lead as a darkskin woman, even when you include Black niche media. Things actually are changing – way too slow, but Richonne was unheard of for a popular show even when it happened. To say John Boyega isn’t romantic lead material is like saying the standards from 20 years ago are OK. Wesley Snipes and Jeffrey Wright are in their 50s, and Will Smith is 49. A whole generation older than Boyega, why should we expect the same treatment for him in 2018?
Talking about Hollywood standards, funny how they don’t apply to white actors when it comes to romantic roles. The height thing doesn’t apply to white actors – Tom Cruise alone is proof of that. Actors with white skin can be short, overweight and/or “unconventionally” looking. Jack Black, Jonah Hill and Ben Stiller have all had romantic roles. Hell, Adam Driver is lauded as being “unconventionally” attractive. But with John his dark skin and features – which are not even “unconventional,” he has the same symmetry of features as Denzel Washington, Hollywood’s “chosen one” Black sex symbol – it’s a step too far.
Hollywood is still racist – we all know that. But to suggest that John today and Wesley in the ‘90s are the same is to suggest that change isn’t even possible. I don’t believe that. I know full well that colorism is a thing, but I also know that we’re not exactly where we were 20-30 years ago. YES, fans will have a major problem with it if Finn and Rey end up together – NO DOUBT. But at some point, they have to have the guts to make those choice and stop normalizing white supremacy. Hollywood helped to build modern white supremacy – telling us that everything before the 1960s was all white (other than slaves, of course) – they have a responsibility to dismantle it. Or at least try.
We’re living in a time when popular art matters. It is very much not the time to hold on to the racist standards of the past.
Currently reading @awakening5‘s A New Order (link), which is awesome. Finn and Rey being the best of friends with sexual and romantic tension all over the place? Check. Finn and Poe having disagreements, even heated ones, but staying good friends and consummate professionals? Check. Rey supporting the heck out of Finn? Check. Bad guys being deliciously backstabby? Check.
I haven’t been reading much fanfic or indeed much fiction at all lately, and I had almost forgotten the sheer pleasure of immersing myself in a story with characters I love. It feels healing to be doing it again, like I’m reconnecting with a part of myself.
I mean some people make much of the fact that Poe and Rey said “hi” but… what were they supposed to do, jump right into a duel for Finn’s hand? That’s awkward for a first meeting. I’m pretty sure they’re waiting to get to know each other a bit better before they pick their weapons and choose their seconds.
L.J.'s Obsessions 