“The most tender way he could think to phrase it” is receipt #573838847739 of why Reylo is a disaster of a “romance”.
Last tweet is interesting though. This may be why there’s a hidden obsession with some fans on wanting Kylo to be considered as the “real” protagonist, as “Ben Solo”. 🤔
The faceless black mook Stormtrooper who became one of the saviors of the galaxy, who is a kind hearted man, resourceful strategist and a potential Jedi.
The Scavenger girl from a backwater planet who turned out to be a a fierce warrior, the Legacy of the Skywalkers and a Jedi with a gentle heart.
The dashing Latino rogue, turned out to be a caring rebel pilot and soldier who is willing to look past a uniform and at the character of someone.
The son of 2 war heroes who turns out to be the villain of the movie and rejects the redemption of family love and accepts darkness within himself.
The big bad of the series is an actually not a sadist or even a Sith, but a cool, calm, and collected chess master. Not even losing his super weapon will force his composure to slip.
A badass female Asian fighter pilot who isn’t shoved into a forced romance or dies, but instead contributes to blowing up the super weapon.
A dangerous and calculating young general who stands on even ground with the dark forces in the film and outrught definitely asserts his authority.
The princess turned badass General who now leads an entire army against the big bad of the series.
The non believer who is willing to die for his family, yet still puts the mission of saving thousands first.
An interracial romance between two overlooked and damaged people. A Stormtrooper and a scavenger, who became the hope of the New Republic and the galaxy.
The Force Awakens was diverse, empowering, and full of more subversion than that white bread, tasteless Reddit fanfic that was TLJ
Disclaimer: intense and excise language, so you’ve been warned
When they first met
Finn might of been the dehydrated one, but Rey is fucking THIRSTY! Eyes fluttering, timidly smiling, and holy fuck she even gulps. Rey is ogling Finn like a drink! First man she’s met that isn’t demanding anything from her or trying TJ take something.
Rey might be sweating, but Finn is shook! 20 years of First Order Woman and the First Woman runs into after abandoning them is a badass who kicked 3 Different asses! One of those asses beat his ass. He’s scared and turned on at the same time.
When they were impressed with the other
You thought these two motherfucking peanuts only had a fucking physical attraction? Shut the fuck up! They actually get along too! After impressing the other with their shooting and pilot skills, both of them cannot do anything but smile and laugh at how cool the other is. It doesn’t feel forced either because we are equally as impressed with them and we are getting to know them.
When they argued
The two characters are very different as well. Rey is more naïve of the political and dangerous aspects of the galaxy. Not knowing that Luke Skywalker was real, not understanding how dangerous the first order is, while Finn has become disillusioned and cynical to the galaxy that I had already abandoned him once.
When they separated
The two are not perfect either. At the end of the day, Finn started his relationship off with Rey with a lie, even if there was an understandable reason why. He is a stormtrooper, the enemy of the galaxy that no one thinks twice about shooting. Rey was also beating the hell out of anyone she thought was an enemy at the time. It turns out none of that matters now though. She doesn’t care about that now. She wants him here with her, to stay with her…he’s all she has, but Finn can’t. He doesn’t want to fight. This isn’t his war, he was just a victim of this war. Finn wants her to leave with him, runaway from the war before it can hurt her too, but she can’t either. She needs to go home, to her family.
When they found each other
Finn came back for her. Risked his life, risked being captured, all because of her. She’s awestruck and it’s one of the sweetest moments of their entire relationship just because of the sheer effort and meaning behind this moment.
When Finn was pissed
Finn is willing to die for Rey. Point blank. She’s the only person he has left. His fellow Stormtroopers think he’s a traitor and that’s the only home he ever had. Now Rey has become that home. He knows how dangerous Kylo Ren is. He just killed his own father. The chances of his survival is non existent. It doesn’t matter though. He’s willing to die if it means giving her a chance to live.
When Rey gave up
Rey is ready to die WITH Finn. He’s the only person who ever came back for her and now he’s dying because he got back involved in a life wanted nothing to do with for the greater good, for her. She’s come to adore this man and now he’s dying in her arms as the planet is about to kill them both. Maybe she could run, find a tie fighter, but that would mean having to leave Finn and she just can’t do that. Shed rather die.
When they found each other again
This is the first time they’ve seen the other way in so long. They’ve been through so much apart and holy fuck they miss the other. I originally hated that they said no words, but really, what can you say when you’re meeting someone you love again for the first time again.
I know a lot of people want some big love declarations in Ep 9, but I think I’d be happy with the two already just being a fucking couple and it just working like normal.
Just a simple I love you and a kiss before leaving to kick some First Order ass.
I love them because
I love these two together because it’s simple yet original. They’re 2 people that no one would ever think much of. A simple Stormtroopers and a scavenger, yet together they are so much more. They love each other, but they accept the other’s individuality. They’re not just a great couple, they’re best friends.
All this, and even when they’re apart they’re always thinking about each other and yearning for each other. It’s so sweet to watch and I’m pumped that they’re together for Episode IX again.
Visual
similarities
really
like
this
or
this?
Notice how I don’t have to dishonestly erase and ignore the actual context of Finn and Rey’s interactions in order to make these? That’s because these are the beats of an actual meet-cute and not disingenuous distortions of canon. I am critical of how violently Finn was struck in the face and how it was played comedically, but it is part of a common pattern with these stories.
Yes, the Rey and Kyle visuals could look similar if you took their scenes out of all context while disregarding the characters and stories–and that’s the point. These shitty “parallel” posts are attempts to sanitize the context of the originals, as though kidnap, torture, and manipulation constitute a normal meet-cute.
Also isn’t it interesting how these posts disregard an actual “Reylow” parallel where the Light Fury is trapped and terrified, then appears to be borne away against her will? For all that shippers insist the abduction was romantic as hell, it seems they don’t like actually acknowledging Rey’s pain and fear…
…or the fact that this means Kyle’s actual parallel in HTTYD 3 is this wavy-haired douche dressed in black.
Also saying “they’re kid’s movies” to discourage critique is an ass move. Do you think children are immune to issues like abuse and violence in real life? You don’t think children, like the rest of us, use stories to understand and cope with their lives? I know I relied on fiction as a child to deal with things I couldn’t tell people and didn’t even have the vocabulary to express. If anything children’s media need to be scrutinized more, not less, for the ways they’re framing these and other issues.
You’re also a raging hypocrite if you’re fine with kidnap, torture, and manipulation being disguised as a cute and harmless romance and being deliberately put in the tags for a children’s movie (especially when many of the shippers openly admit the ship is a kink for them), but think the people who criticize that practice need to “chill a little.” Fuck. Off.
Can we just talk about how little fucks Finn gives in TLJ? Seriously I fucking hate this movie, but holy fuck I love Finn and how much he does not give a shit in this movie. Seriously I think after Canto Bight and DJ’s betrayal, Finn just got just as fucking tired of this plot as I did and said fuck it! I’m sprinting to the credits!
On some real shit lool at this shit:
Outside the base is a 6 ft 2, Hot Topic mother fucking with daddy issues as big as Jabba the fucking Hutt, holding a burning fucking cross and screaming that he’s gonna kill everyone.
This is the mother fucker that sucker punched Finn and put him in a coma. It’s this fucker’s fault that Finn didn’t go with Rey and help her dad kick his green titty milk addiction.
What is Finn’s first reaction?
Finn’s first reaction is to run out bare fucking handed, no lightsaber, no blaster, not even a fucking Mac daddy pimp jacket. Finn just gets ready to stomp out of the bat cave and throw some hands at this My Chemical Romance, black parade singing, Ginger choking, fucker.
Poe had to grab Finn by the fucking nipple just to stop this crazy fucker from running out of the base and beating the shit out of Kylo for having to make him go to that boring ass casino planet.
What does Finn say?
He’s literally still got no fucking chill and wants to still run outside and fuck Kylo up. I swear Ruin Johnson was afraid of having Kylo and Finn meet again because he was too shook on a way of making sure Luke and Finn didn’t end this trilogy right then and there.
Seriously it takes Poe to remind Finn that the Resistance needs Finn to and Luke and his Gucci Robes can handle Kylie Ron.
Seriously can we appreciate how ballsy Finn is?
Surrounded by his fellow troopers and ordered to kill civilians? Nah fuck that.
Handsome ass pilot is a war prisoner? Nah fuck that Finn’s saving his ass.
Sees a random girl getting attacked then kicking ass? Fuck yeah Finn’s into that.
Fighting against an entire invasion of Stormtroopers? Finn uses an ancient fucking lightsaber that belonged to Extra Anakin and his son dramatic Luke!
Girlfriend gets kidnapped by Goth cultist? Invade a fucking super death weapon to rescue her with an old pirate and a grenade throwing carpet!
Girlfriend gets knocked out by a raging psychopath holding a fucking burning cross? Pick up her dad’s fucking rave stick and go samurai Jack on his ass!
I have no fucking idea what some people are smoking by sleeping on Finn, but this ex stormtrooper ain’t just brave, he’s a motherfucking Boss! I think the only reason he isn’t confirmed to be force sensitive is that JJ didn’t think that Ruin could pull that shit off! Seriously when Finn picks up a lightsaber the knights of Ren are going to be shitting in their Darth Vader Cosplaying pants.
It’s fucking disturbing, that’s what it is, the way they jump down everyone’s throats screaming that a neo-Nazi analogue is a) no such thing, b) a poor dear who isn’t responsible for any of his atrocities uwu and, scariest of all, c) justified in everything he does because it’s war, baby. The new SW fandom is like a mirror turned darkly on the state of the world.
And they obscure (often vehemently deny) that the point of Rey’s story arc is that the hero of the ST is not a white guy. She doesn’t believe it herself, she’s hinging her value to the the Resistance by her ability to bring them a white guy with Skywalker blood to save the day.
Though it can be argued that the final standoff of Crait undercuts it, Rey comes to see that she is the hero of her own story. Not Luke, and certainly not Kylo. She actually is the real protagonist (along with Finn and his butchered but parallel arc). There won’t be a bait and switch where the white guy is the real protagonist after all.
And yet, so much fan commentary says otherwise, desperately insisting that the ST is all about Kylo and Rey and Finn are supporting players in his story. It’s hard enough to see good in TLJ, but the TLJ “version” that many fans are pushing is so bad it makes Disney look incompetent, sexist, and racist. All because all half the fandom cares about is an over-dramatic white guy with flowy hair.
I don’t think the standoff on Crait undercuts that theme, since after all it was about Luke sacrificing himself–or simply disappearing, who knows–for the remnants of the Resistance, and for the new generation of heroes. The framing might have been all off but whole of TLJ was about undermining the idea that the Skywalkers are the heroes, or at least heavily questioning what the Skywalker legacy is actually about. The Skywalker men’s legacy is tarnished; to the extent anything positive exists about the legacy, like Padmé’s conviction in democracy, Leia Organa’s armed resistance, and Luke’s commitment to the Force, the inheritors to that legacy are Rey, Finn, and Poe, together with the Resistance members like Rose and Connix while Luke has failed and Kylo has fallen.
I mean am I all sorts of furious about the way it was handled, YES. It did not have to be done in a way that villified and destroyed one of the most iconic heroes of all time, and Leia’s sidelining is especially egregious. The mishandling of Finn, Rey, Rose, and Poe has been hashed out so exensively, I don’t need to repeat it here.
Nevertheless, if you look past the bungled execution to what the movie was trying to do, it is ridiculous to think the Skywalkers-by-blood are still the heroes. That’s the idea TLJ subverted, to the extent it subverted anything.
Yeah. I used to be annoyed with the fact that TLJ’s big climax was a standoff between Luke and Kylo with Rey, Finn and Poe in the background, but the more I thought about it the more clear it became that the point was that it’s not about Luke and Kylo. Luke’s speech is literally about how the future doesn’t belong to Kylo (or himself), but the new trio.
And yet, that speech is widely ignored to focus on Kylo’s feelings and Luke’s Force projection skills.
I get this notion. I really do. But just as much as it is my–and the audience as a whole–fault that we’ve decided to focus on Kylo and Luke in the 4th act despite what his speech is about, it’s Rian Johnson’s and TLJ that led everyone there. Just because the intentions MAY have been to claim the Skywalkers’ story is over, the truth is that the 4th act revolved around a petulant new Supreme Leader being very emotional, and a penitent disenchanted hero reclaiming his legend status.
We shouldn’t have to squint to realize Rey had a character arc in this movie or that Finn is a still a lead. Especially in a franchise historically for children, it should have been abundantly clear that Rey rejected Kylo’s manipulation because she realized she wasn’t nothing. It wouldn’t have been hard. An “I’m not nobody,” would have sufficed. A slightly longer “Your father didn’t think I was nobody. Finn doesn’t think I’m nobody. I don’t think I’m nobody,” would have really hit the character arc home while reminding everyone of the first movie, which largely gets ignored in this one.
We shouldn’t have to squint to see Finn’s character arc. He was framed the whole movie as being ignorant and in need of morality lessons, when that’s the LAST thing he was. He initially gets tazed for trying to save someone he loves rather than fight what he hates, only to be told by the same person at the end of the movie he’s a dummy for allegedly doing the opposite (it wasn’t the opposite, btw). So, was this Rose’s character arc the whole time, disguised as Finn needing to learn two contradicting lessons instead of her growing? I genuinely liked Finn’s interaction with Del Toro, and his decision to join something bigger than him. It was the only time I saw the agency that made him my favorite character in TFA. It’s just too bad that character arc was bookended by Rose’s nonsense instead of explored and elaborated on.
So, it’s nice to look deeper and find the “real” intention of TLJ. It makes us feel better about it, sure. But the feelings we had leaving the theater weren’t fake and uninformed. And
because they don’t reflect on the film, those are the feelings that the general audience is left with. Namely, the (second) climax of this movie was all about Kylo and Luke–this was their story.
Oh, very true. The execution was extremely badly done and the framing conflicted with the intent–and when that happens, framing will win every time. I remember Oscar saying in the Mtime interview that the script was very dense and weirdly personal for SW and he wasn’t sold on it at first. Now I see how that could also work as veiled criticism. SW isn’t some arthouse film, it’s a mass-market space opera, and its blatant simplicity was what made it work. People have been finding deeper meaning in it for decades, but the bones have been plain and accessible from the start. Johnson missed the first and basic rule–”keep it simple, stupid”–and has cost LF both money and audience goodwill as a result.
oh man I just realized something that makes the finnrey hug in tfa even more emotional.
THIS LOOK. There’s so much there. And all this time I just thought it was all of Rey’s feelings about finally having someone come back for her. The relief and thankfulness. But then I thought about the context some more. The last time Rey saw Finn he was running from the first order. Telling Rey that he would never go back and showing her how terrified he was of them. And Rey didn’t get it then. But she’s just felt the full force of the first order firsthand. She was kidnapped, and tortured, and now she understands just what Finn was so terrified of going back to. But he still came back for her. All that understanding of what he was running from just made him coming back an even bigger deal. And it’s reflected so beautifully in her face, in that unspeakable thankfulness that Rey just emanates during their hug. She doesn’t have the words to respond to this kind of loyalty, this kind of love, that she’s never had before and it just kills me.
rian johnson’s assertions that kylo is meant to be seen as “relatable” and going through the trials of adolescence (despite being 30 years old and having become what he is around the age of 25), along with him labeling kylo and rey as “two halves of the protagonist”(not only erasing finn as the co-lead of the new trilogy, but insinuating that kylo is equally as sympathetic as rey) are incredibly disturbing to me because painting a violent, abusive, actually fascist white man well into his adulthood as someone that children can connect with is horrifying and the last thing we need right now given the state of things
When I mull over Finn’s parentage, I have two specific ideas with one
being more likely than the other. Since there are hundreds of
ways to handle Finn and his origins, I don’t really hold myself to these
theories, especially after the disaster that was the Rey parentage
reveal.
So, I’ve broken my ideas down into two theories.
1) Finn Kyrell/Ree:
This could easily be a crack theory, so I won’t be one to
say that I am convinced that this is correct. I really liked the novel Lost Stars and the love story between
Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree. If you
have not read the book, I recommend it. There is also a manga version out
now, but there are some key differences in the stories.
I like a lot of different Finn theories, including Finn Skywalker, Finn Aphra-Starros, Mandalorian Finn, you name it. For this Finn Meta Week, though, I would like to talk about Finn as space Moses and what that may mean for his parentage, especially if JJ decides to carry forward the parallels in Episode IX.
The parallels Finn’s story has had with that of Moses is well-discussed, so here is just a brief summary: A child raised in an enslaving genocidal empire with no knowledge of his heritage, he escapes into the desert when faced with its atrocities and discards the trappings of the empire along the way. He meets a young woman and her father figure in the middle of nowhere, refuses a call to go up against the empire but chooses to join the struggle anyway with the girl, her dad, and others. He is now committed to fighting his former captors and colleagues.
If Finn’s story continues with these parallels, the fact may have implications for his past and future as well. Could Finn’s family have been part of a population subjugated by the First Order, much like Moses’s family were enslaved Hebrew people? We know from Rose’s story that the FO has strip-mined and enslaved entire planets of people, probably entire systems. This is very likely to be Finn’s background as well, since in general people do not give up their children if they have a choice.
If the Finn and Moses parallels continue we may watch him play a leading role in the liberation of populations subjugated by the FO, including Stormtroopers but also civilian populations who live under de facto FO rule. If his parents or other family members are part of that number, Finn may well be reuniting with them as their liberator much as Moses did. It would be a neat tie-up of his heroic arc, and would make for an emotional reveal–that by following his heroic calling Finn was making a personal journey as well, and was fighting for his family’s future all along. It would put human faces on the struggle for galactical liberation.
One further point about the Moses parallel is that Moses’s parents were Levites, the priestly tribe as I understand it. We know at least one heavily human-populated place in the new SW canon that is known for religious significance: Jedha, the moon that was destroyed during the events of Rogue One. Since the destruction since spread to the whole moon and it became uninhabitable, the refugees who survived the initial blast must have fled elsewhere if they could. A displaced and vulnerable population, they may well have fallen under First Order rule.
Yet Finn’s family and others may have kept the ways of the Force in secret, perhaps in disguised ways, in the midst of not only impossibly hard lives but possibly active repression of Force faiths, something we saw at the massacre of Tuanul at the start of The Force Awakens. If this was the case, Finn may be reunited with this tradition as well as with his family.
I am so intrigued by the parallels between Finn’s and Moses’s stories and hope to see them borne out in his parentage. Most of all, no matter who they are or in what form, I hope that Finn will reunite with his family and reconnect to his heritage. It would mean so much not only for the character but also to millions of viewers who were themselves deprived of their heritages and homes, with director JJ Abrams himself being a member of one such group, the Jewish people. The character of Finn is coded as a member of another such group, African Americans. I hope Finn will find healing, and that people who identify with his loss can find catharsis through his story.
L.J.'s Obsessions 