Tag: prequel trilogy

jewishcomeradebot:

I don’t understand the people who say that Kylo would have worked better if he had been a random, I really don’t. Kylo’s connection to the Skywalker bloodline, along with the lack of clear motive for his actions, is the entire point.

See, he’s a Nazi.

Okay, so technically he’s an allegory for a neo-Nazi in a space fantasy setting, but given that this hellsite has a distinct difficulty with complex concepts I’ll keep it simple. He’s a Nazi.

Why did Nazis do what they did? Why do neo-Nazis do what they do?

If you peel away all the embellishments and propaganda it comes right down to this: they see themselves as having a special legacy, a special bloodline to protect and they have a right to do so because they feel they’ve been chosen.

JJ has said that the early concept of Jedikiller only started working when they made him connected to the Skywalker bloodline, to the chosen family in Star Wars.

Kylo’s motivation, like that of all Nazis, is that he’s doing this because he belongs to the chosen people and thus have a right to rule. Not because he’s qualified, but because he belongs to the destined people.

No it’s not deep or complex, but it was never meant to be. Kylo is an antagonist and one JJ always meant to emulate a neo-Nazi. Giving him complex motivation would have detracted from this and, like with the real life equivalent, made it possible to justify what he’s doing because he has X, Y, Z motivation. Instead JJ gave him the most basic motivation of Nazis, he’s right because he’s chosen and because he has the strength to do what he does.

It’s not glorious. It’s pathetic, sad and ultimately someone who’s irredeemable. Not because he couldn’t choose differently than he does but because it’s not a motivation that makes anyone want to see him redeemed.

Of course, even people who sees Kylo as a villain and antagonist have a really hard time accepting him being a Nazi, so maybe this view isn’t really that surprising.

I mean the actor himself told us that Kylo Ren is an elitist (link), it’s not that deep people.

[Adam Driver] refuses to see his character as bratty. “There is a little bit of an
elitist, royalty thing going on,” he says, reminding us that the
character’s estranged mom is “the princess. I think he’s aware of maybe
the privilege.”

Cass Sunstein has criticized TLJ in part because Kylo didn’t fall due to losing a loved one (link), but maybe that’s because… Kylo is no Anakin… and is not nearly as sympathetic?

Mr. Dark Side, Kylo Ren, does have a bit of a struggle, and in that
sense, Johnson maintains continuity with Lucas’s vision. But in this
movie, at least, the struggle turns out to be a head fake. Because
Kylo’s descent doesn’t have the precipitating cause of Anakin’s – the
loss of loved ones – and because we don’t see Kylo suppressing the
better angels of his nature, the film doesn’t come anywhere close to the
depths of Lucas’s films.

If anyone is positioned as the new Anakin–but with a happy ending–it’s Rey, in struggling with the loss of loved ones, or at least her idea of them, and also in resisting manipulation by her would-be abusive mentor Kylo where Anakin fell to Palpatine’s manipulation. It’s interesting that Sunstein couldn’t recognize this story when it manifested in a female character, though to be sure it’s a common enough blind spot and RJ didn’t make it easy for anyone.

jewishcomeradebot:

Finn and Rey are Padmé and Anakin, only with a happy ending.

Their story so far has many of the same beats as Anakin’s and Padmé’s had in TPM and AotC. 

In the first installment of the story Rey (Anakin) is trapped in a life of servitude on a desert planet. While she might not be a slave exactly, she comes across as a form of indentured servant. 

Finn is the rebel against the status quo, the way Padmé rebelled at the stagnation and indifference of the Senate and at the end of the day will take matters into their own hands and resort to armed might to set things right, when the large galaxy appears to don’t give a fuck about their issues.

In part two, they’re kept apart. Where what kept Padmé and Anakin apart was social strictures and rules, Finn and Rey are kept apart physically. But in both cases both of them are yearning to be with each other against all the odds.

Their reunification after the battle is as tender and passionate as Anakin’s and Padmé’s after the Battle of Geonosis. They rush to each other and hold on tight, finally in the arms of the person they love.

But unlike Padmé and Anakin, Finn and Rey don’t have to hide. There are no strict Jedi masters spouting a dogma against romance to tell Rey she can’t show the love she feels for Finn. And Finn’s position in the Resistance as a leader and hero is not at odds with him loving and showing love, for Rey.

So though we lack an actual wedding scene I wonder if in Episode IX we’ll be presented with Finn’s and Rey’s romantic relationship as a already given entity, they’re simply presented as a couple from the beginning. Or if the confession of their love will happen very early instead.

Either way, it would make the most sense if the two of them spend most if not all of the movie as a couple and we see them navigate the obstacles of an ongoing war alongside the obstacle they face as a couple, the same way we see it with Anakin and Padmé in RotS. Only in this case Finn and Rey will have the happy ending Anakin’s obsession denied him and Padmé.

YES I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOREVER. Finn and Rey are genderflipped Anidala with a happy ending and better lines.

Other similarities, if you go back to TPM:

– Padmé/Finn originally met Anakin/Rey under an identity they assumed for safety reasons

– Both eventual couples became friends under Padmé/Finn’s assumed identity, and Padmé/Finn willingly revealed their true identity much to Anakin/Rey’s shock

– Both couples were good friends first. This stage was much longer for Padmé and Anakin since they were children when they first met and there were 10 years between their meeting in TPM and realizing their feelings in AotC. It’s pretty clear Rey and Finn were attracted to each other almost from the moment they first met, but they still started out as friends first and foremost.

Additional similarities with AotC:

– Rey and Finn  meet at almost exactly the same ages Anakin and Padmé
were in AotC, 19/23 to Anakin and Padmé’s 19/24. Incidentally 19 is the traditional age for Skywalkers to begin their adventures as adults including meeting prospective love interests, and 23 is the traditional age for Skywalker men to choose a side

– Padmé/Finn was marked for death due to their principled actions, and Anakin/Rey became involved in the situation by order or circumstance

– Padmé/Finn went to rescue a friend (Obi-Wan/Rey) despite the threat to their lives

– The rescue did not go as envisioned and it turned out the rescuee was more than capable of handling themselves

– Padmé/Finn is slashed across the back by a monster

– There’s a heartfelt declaration by both Padmé/Finn and Anakin/Rey, though the guy made the first move in both cases (”You are in my very soul, tormenting me”/”Rey, come with me”) and the girl initially refused (”It’s impossible”/”Don’t go”) before she reciprocated in the face of almost losing him (”I’ve been dying a little bit each day”/”Thank you, my friend.” I’m not kidding about the better lines here…)

In TLJ, arguably there was a form of social stricture that kept Finn and Rey apart physically–Rose and her demand that Finn give his full allegiance to the Resistance. As I discussed in The Temptations of Finn and Rey (link), this was a callback to Finn’s being coerced to give everything to a “higher cause” his whole life. This in turn ties back to the similarities between the FO’s Stormtrooper program and the Old Republic Jedi, taking children from their families at a young age and transferring their attachment to a larger cause. I like to think Rose grew as a character and realized that she had been wrong about Finn, but RJ’s execution is so muddled it’s hard to tell ¯_(ツ)_/¯

For this reason I think there’s a chance that “will they or won’t they” will still be a thing in Episode IX. Finn and Rey ended TLJ on essentially a misunderstanding and on opposite ends from their last real talk on Takodana. For all they love each other they are still essentially strangers who spent maybe a grand total of one day together in the midst of a galactical crisis. (That’s another parallel to AotC Anidala, incidentally.) The crisis is worse than ever at the end of TLJ, providing plenty of excuse for two uncertain and traumatized people to bury themselves in work and avoid talking about things too close to their hearts.

diversity-instarwars:

shiny-shock:

every clone trooper was genetically human, copied and edited but still a sapient being and still an individual, in the same way that identical twins are each their own fully realized individuals. they all had their own unique set of experiences and their own distinct mental presence in the force. any force sensitive could tell you that.

defective clones were culled, executed for no fault other than a chemical flaw that made their bodies less than perfect. their souls were deemed not worth the effort, and what happened to the bodies? on kamino, almost definitely not a respectful burial. most likely recycling. composting maybe, like so many kitchen scraps. usable organic matter is a precious resource on a planet that can’t import or grow much.

and the republic gave them no citizenship, declaring them not to be people, making them as expendable as a battleship or ammunition. the general public thought they were nothing more than droids, and no one ever bothered to teach otherwise. even the jedi, who should know better than anyone, didn’t speak out, at least not loud enough. they violated their own ideals by their silence. considered non-persons by the government and by society, the clones were expected to give their lives for a jedi or a civvie without hesitation. a clone’s life was worth nothing, not when compared to that of a real person.

the planets of the republic were soaked in the blood of nameless, faceless thousands. it started with the grand army of the republic and when the galactic empire rose, the same facelessness inflicted upon the clones was taken a step further, to civilian children, taken from their homes, stripped of individuality, given a mask in exchange for personhood. the imperial stormtroopers weren’t people originally created for war, like the clones, but they were still pushed into it, treated as anonymous cannon fodder by empire and rebels alike.

the sith came to power in high places, but at the ground level, not much changed. the name of the ruling power changes over the centuries but the underlying evil is always the same: sacrificing another’s life to your own. dehumanization of those being sacrificed is just an anaesthetic for guilt.

the story of the clone troopers is an allegory that we should all struggle with, especially in a world where slavery is unthinkable yet abortion is widely legalized and celebrated.

it’s a story that wrestles with personhood and humanity, intrinsic worth of living beings, government authority, sacrifice and self-sacrifice.

the clones are my favorite thing about star wars. they should make us all THINK. and if you’re horrified by the fictional story but okay with the true ones, then please, rethink your position.

Okay–can you not compare slavery to abortion? You were making sense up until that point.

As someone who is a descent of slaves and can relate to the clone troopers on that aspect–I find your comparison disturbing and extremely racist. One is horrible and strips the life of sentient, living human beings, while the other is to protect the rights and bodies of women (and trans men and non-binary folks, etc..). They are not to be compared.

This is even more racist because various slaves who were raped by their slave masters had any form of birth control (i.e abortion) taken from them because they were slaves. Because they didn’t have rights because of slavery. There are many women of color, living in areas where they or their ancestors were treated like slaves or worse. They were and still are denied their basic human rights and that includes, and still includes the right to abortion and birth control.

To compare slavery–something that takes someone’s rights and dignity away, to abortion–something that supports the rights of marginalized people, and has worked to protect the rights of marginalized people like slaves specifically people of color who are slaves (like the clones), is extremely racist and ignorant.

And looking at your selfies–i can tell you are not black and you do not look like a person of color–if you are, correct me. But you are not black, and to use slavery to prove your racist and sexist point is incredibly disrespectful to me and other slave descendants. Keep the clones out of your mouth if you’re gonna spout some racist rhetoric to get your harmful point across.

Mace Windu Appreciation

gothicjedi:

Hello darlings,
both authors and readers!

Ao3’s Fair Warning
has collected together a group of fictions, both short and long, that
include a “wholesome” Mace Windu. The collection is called the
Mace Windu Fandom Safe Space, and it’s meant to be a haven for those
of us who love the character of Mace, and are tired of stumbling into
Mace-negative fan fiction. Let’s be real: that stuff is everywhere.

We now have our
very own safe space where our love for Mace Windu can be valued and
shared. Love Mace and have written something? Why not consider
joining in? Simply want to read? Head over there too.

http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Windu_Safe_Space/profile