Tag: rian johnson

I have a racist sexist creep for an older brother (FML) and he said at breakfast today, “I change my mind, the last jedi isn’t actually a feminazi movie. It’s got a secret message. What happens when you let women be in charge and let blacks and mexicans do what they want? They lose and they lose and they lose. And the white girl goes to beg the white men to come back and save them. And the white man whom they call the bad guy isn’t even bad, he’s the true victim of today’s society. Smart.” FML.

thelastjedicritical:

lj-writes:

thelastjedicritical:

lj-writes:

Oh, he seems to have Johnson’s authorial intent down pat. “Racist, sexist creep” is an exact description of RJ anyway.

Well, it’s actually absolutely easy to interpret TLJ this way, which is why it is utter trash. And IMO it is very possible this is in fact the message RJ wanted to send.

Yeah, I don’t give a shit if he had good intentions, intentions do not sanitize impact and he deserves to be pilloried for what his work is, not excused for whatever he says he wanted it to be. I mean I’m guessing he intended TLJ to be a good movie, for starters.

This! If you deliver a movie that can be interpreted like this so easily it truly doesn’t matter what your intention actually was … you’ve fucked up and you should be confronted with it! Same with his ridiculous plot decisions and characterisations .. it doesn’t matter what he wanted to say, it doesn’t work! It’s bad! So I don’t want anymore interviews justifying things…

As someone told Rainy: good writers don’t need to justify themselves on Twitter. Forget “good,” any creator with the minimal fucking level of shame doesn’t go around saying “To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand my work…” Creators speak through their work. If it didn’t work for some part of the audience then it didn’t work for them, and the creator failed or there was a style clash. You accept it and move on, you don’t go full-on fragile manchild and try to argue fans out of their reactions. This guy is so pathetic and whiny, no matter he wanks it full-time to Kylo Ren.

I have a racist sexist creep for an older brother (FML) and he said at breakfast today, “I change my mind, the last jedi isn’t actually a feminazi movie. It’s got a secret message. What happens when you let women be in charge and let blacks and mexicans do what they want? They lose and they lose and they lose. And the white girl goes to beg the white men to come back and save them. And the white man whom they call the bad guy isn’t even bad, he’s the true victim of today’s society. Smart.” FML.

thelastjedicritical:

lj-writes:

Oh, he seems to have Johnson’s authorial intent down pat. “Racist, sexist creep” is an exact description of RJ anyway.

Well, it’s actually absolutely easy to interpret TLJ this way, which is why it is utter trash. And IMO it is very possible this is in fact the message RJ wanted to send.

Yeah, I don’t give a shit if he had good intentions, intentions do not sanitize impact and he deserves to be pilloried for what his work is, not excused for whatever he says he wanted it to be. I mean I’m guessing he intended TLJ to be a good movie, for starters.

I’m really bothered by people saying Rose’s tasing Finn was justified because she was grieving her sister. It’s so ugly that they’re using an Asian woman as a shield for their antiblackness.

diversehighfantasy:

And it’s fucked up, because Rose’s grief was real. I empathized with her. And it’s used to excuses a completely unnecessary assault. When he told her about the tracking tech, she listened. He could have explained it when she was like, “wait, you’re escaping?” What would we lose, the “humor” of Finn being tased the same day he woke up?

And it sucks because I hate seeing Rose disliked so much. It bums me out. But I get it.

It’s all the more disturbing because they could say Rose was wrong to tase Finn out of grief, but instead they frame it in terms of justification and him needing it to learn his lesson which is FUCKED UP on so many levels. First of all Finn does not need to be brutalized and humiliated to learn to do the right thing, and second of all Rose is not there to be Finn’s teacher or guide. Ugh, why are prople so disgusting.

Rose could have been such an amazing character if she’d had her own arc of trauma and growth instead of being used for Finn’s growth. Imagine if, instead of attacking Finn, she showed her grief by shouting at him about how her sister had died and now he was deserting. Imagine if Finn had comforted her, maybe telling her about Slip and almost losing Poe, and they started figuring things out and strategizing based on that shared emotional bond of mutual trust. Or at the very least the tasing could have been addressed in a serious way and treated as wrongful assault, showing how Rose has to process her trauma in a way that doesn’t hurt people.

This is a consistent problem with the writing in TLJ, by the way–Johnson keeps making women’s narratives subservient to men’s. Rey follows Luke and then Ren around trying to get them to shape up. Rose is made into Finn’s morality pet. Holdo’s story purpose is for Poe to grow. None of these women’s very apparent flaws/traumas are explored because the story isn’t about them.

And yet you get white feminists celebrating the movie as a “feminist victory” because these characters get the last word in highly contrived scenarios. This is fake feminist writing, where cheap narrative “victories” by women over men are considered progressive, covering up the way these women are pushed out of their own narratives to serve men’s stories.

kyberfox:

thrawn:

Ah yes, next generation. She means the little white Force boy with the broom. 

How could I forget, characters of color are only important when they’re supporting or inspiring white characters. So fuck if they get to achieve nothing for themselves, that’s after all not their “purpose”.

This is the racist trashfire who added (or reblogged the addition) to a fan art of Finn and Rose in FO officer uniforms, “We’re here to unclog your toilets!” Because that’s what officers do in the FO and they’re both janitors right? Hahahahaha.

Honestly fuck this fandom that sees Finn and Rose as incompetent but well-meaning morality pets and FUCK Rian Johnson for validating them.

Interestingly, all of the casual fans I’ve spoken to after the movie believed that Kylo was lying to Rey about her parents (whether knowingly or unknowingly). Also, and this is my own speculation, if Rian had input into Rey’s vision in TFA, why not have Kylo say “They sold you for a ship to get off Jakku”, which is what we actually saw, not “They sold you for drinking money.” Either the story group collectively made a huge mistake, or something’s not adding up.

thelastjedicritical:

lj-writes:

thelastjedicritical:

kingofjakku:

thelastjedicritical:

swshadowcouncil:

TBH, the fan analysis surrounding The Last Jedi has been painfully shallow. People only seem to think everything made complete sense and there’s nothing wrong or LucasFilm screwed up everything.
We’re pretty much the only one’s taking the view the movie makes no sense as presented based on what we know and that it’s completely intentional.
Ironically, the GA actually gets it.

Look, maybe this has a lot to do with people being overall so disappointed that even though they notice these things, they aren’t ready to believe it means anything? And most people disliked the movie to the point that they don’t want to watch it again to make any kind of analysis… like me for instance…

I know the feeling. My mother and her husband went back to believing that Rey is Kylo’s younger sister. They simply refuse to believe that the revelation is the truth. I’m 50/50 about all of this because it really killed my desire to speculate about her lineage. I just want Rey to accept that she’s the hero the galaxy needs.

This is what this has always been about to me… self acceptance and growth… 

In terms of whether the reveal is being swallowed by the GA: I’ve said shortly after the release that people I know walked out of the cinema saying that Rey is Kylo’s sister. So in the end if the origin story is true, it’s so lame the GA doesn’t believe it…

One of the things that surprised me about the fan theorizing after TLJ is that Rey Solo is actually having a resurgence. I’m fine with Rey Random personally, just dislike the unnecessary mystery that preceded it, but clearly some of the audience interpreted the Rey-Kylo dynamic as that of siblings such as the hand-touching through the Force Bond as a parallel to Luke and Leia.

And it’s not like when fans were saying Vader was lying in TESB, either, since there are actually concrete things that don’t match up. With even Rian Effing Johnson saying this isn’t the final word on the parentage issue and the revelation was just what made sense at the time as part of Kylo trying to make her insecure, it looks like we’re stuck in uncertainty for yet another two years.

Oh we are indeed. It just isn’t satisfying bc of all the things that don’t match. I have no issue with Rey not being related to known characters but I have a problem with there being nothing to her abandonment or parentage that they couldn’t simply have told us in TFA…

And I rest my case, no matter what happens, IF Rey Solo were true, TLJ would’ve made a lot more sense than it did… so I get why people suddenly came to this conclusion…

However… to pick up on one of your tags… I want this door in fact to be smashed shut… bc to me it stops the entire story, her character development… it’s so tiring and I wish we could just move past this, bc what matters is WHO she is and which decisions SHE makes… this is what I want to see, not this stupid parentage mystery

Rey’s story was mangled from the start by the excessive focus on the mystery of her origins, especially if she truly is a Random. What should have been a story of an abandoned girl who is alone in the universe but finds friends, new family, and a great destiny became eaten up by a bullshit mystery.

Her arc, already not that stellar in TFA, went to new lows in TLJ when it started revolving around two male characters instead of being her own, and even the mystery was a colossal waste of time and attention.

Rian Johnson is definitely the worst of two evils here, but both he and JJ mishandled Rey. It’s just our luck that the first female protagonist of the Star Wars saga met two successive writers/directors who shortcharge female characters so badly. JJ needs to step his game the hell up in Episode IX and stop making Rey’s story about everyone but her.

Interestingly, all of the casual fans I’ve spoken to after the movie believed that Kylo was lying to Rey about her parents (whether knowingly or unknowingly). Also, and this is my own speculation, if Rian had input into Rey’s vision in TFA, why not have Kylo say “They sold you for a ship to get off Jakku”, which is what we actually saw, not “They sold you for drinking money.” Either the story group collectively made a huge mistake, or something’s not adding up.

thelastjedicritical:

kingofjakku:

thelastjedicritical:

swshadowcouncil:

TBH, the fan analysis surrounding The Last Jedi has been painfully shallow. People only seem to think everything made complete sense and there’s nothing wrong or LucasFilm screwed up everything.
We’re pretty much the only one’s taking the view the movie makes no sense as presented based on what we know and that it’s completely intentional.
Ironically, the GA actually gets it.

Look, maybe this has a lot to do with people being overall so disappointed that even though they notice these things, they aren’t ready to believe it means anything? And most people disliked the movie to the point that they don’t want to watch it again to make any kind of analysis… like me for instance…

I know the feeling. My mother and her husband went back to believing that Rey is Kylo’s younger sister. They simply refuse to believe that the revelation is the truth. I’m 50/50 about all of this because it really killed my desire to speculate about her lineage. I just want Rey to accept that she’s the hero the galaxy needs.

This is what this has always been about to me… self acceptance and growth… 

In terms of whether the reveal is being swallowed by the GA: I’ve said shortly after the release that people I know walked out of the cinema saying that Rey is Kylo’s sister. So in the end if the origin story is true, it’s so lame the GA doesn’t believe it…

One of the things that surprised me about the fan theorizing after TLJ is that Rey Solo is actually having a resurgence. I’m fine with Rey Random personally, just dislike the unnecessary mystery that preceded it, but clearly some of the audience interpreted the Rey-Kylo dynamic as that of siblings such as the hand-touching through the Force Bond as a parallel to Luke and Leia.

And it’s not like when fans were saying Vader was lying in TESB, either, since there are actually concrete things that don’t match up. With even Rian Effing Johnson saying this isn’t the final word on the parentage issue and the revelation was just what made sense at the time as part of Kylo trying to make her insecure, it looks like we’re stuck in uncertainty for yet another two years.

sauce-nikov:

lj-writes:

It is not a good move, career-wise, for JJ to come back for Star Wars: Episode IX. He broke and set so many records with The Force Awakens that there is an entire Wikipedia page devoted to the subject. At best the performance of IX will be somewhere between TLJ and TFA, maybe closer to TFA if things go well.

But let’s be real, barring a miracle JJ won’t outperform his prior record-smashing hit, and this is all the more the case after TLJ divided the fanbase so badly. If IX underperforms TLJ in accordance with the usual original-to-sequel
dropoff, RJ’s mistakes will be blamed on JJ and there is going to
be a torrent of thinkpieces about whether JJ is losing his touch. His detractors will have a field day and it will hurt his standing in the industry.

So why is he coming back? Why not sit back, rest on his TFA laurels, and leave RJ to wrap up the trilogy he had taken up, as everyone (including Daisy) was expecting? JJ is a hugely in-demand director and producer, all the more after his triumph in TFA. He has his pick of projects and must have had to clear so many things off his schedule to do IX. None of them was SW, to be sure, but he did SW. Realistically he can’t do better than he already has. So why?

In my opinion the only reason to come back that makes sense is because he’s dissatisfied with the way the trilogy went under RJ. He started this new trilogy and now he wants to end it, and he doesn’t want RJ to do it.

Some say he was executive director for TLJ and had to have approved of it, but the role of an executive director can vary a lot. For larger productions, executive producers may be involved more in financing, scheduling, and legal duties with little in the way of creative control.

I also think a big part of the reason for JJ’s return is Finn/John. JJ was so impressed by John as Moses in Attack the Block that he told John they would collaborate on a future project. Remember, this is a world famous director speaking to a very young actor in his early twenties, based on his appearance in a small British film in his late teens. That’s how impressed JJ was. He remained so impressed that he kept his promise years later and the role was a fucking lead in fucking Star Wars. JJ then went to bat for John through a seven-month audition process despite the rumored objections of LucasFilm President KK.

All of this tells me that JJ has something special in mind for Finn. Why else would he go to all that trouble to cast one of the best young actors in the world, knowing he would face racist backlash both from the studio and the fans? I respect JJ’s commitment to diversity, but you don’t become one of the biggest directors in the world by putting diversity over delivery. JJ knows talent, and John is one of the best in his age group. JJ wanted John because John was the actor who could bring his plans for Finn to fruition.

I think JJ is coming back despite the risks because he wants his vision, not RJ’s, to be the last word on the sequel trilogy. If he liked the way RJ was doing things he could have sat back and enjoyed the show, literally. I also think Finn is a huge part of JJ’s reasons, given the effort JJ took to cast the right man for the character. I certainly hope JJ treats him better than RJ did, and better than JJ himself did in TFA for that matter.

LMAO this is hilarious because JJ is on record saying that he loved Rian’s script and wished he got to direct it. You’re all so busy with your hate on for TLJ that you completely miss the irrefutable fact that the producers, crew, and execs at Disney were all THRILLED with the film and the direction it took. It’s totally valid to dislike the movie. Your grievances are not invalid. But putting these weird fantasies of what people involved with the project thought of it is some next level projection. Remember film producers/directors/executives = / = fans. Don’t forget they were excited enough with their October/November screenings of TLJ that they gave RJ his own trilogy. You don’t just hand over 3 massive-budget films over to a director if you’re not happy with what he’s put on the table in front of you.

JJ probably came back a) because Disney was desperate and threw money at him b) because he loves his space movies, and c) because getting to build off of a script he already admired would present a lot of fun challenges for him, because creatives love to build on each other’s work. Literally everyone on set and off loves Rian, speaks highly of Rian, and just because you guys are angry at some of his creative choices (and hell, there are definitely some I disagree with) doesn’t mean that he’s public enemy #1 to the people who make the damn movies. This is getting ridiculous. I see people on this godforsaken website whining about how Adam Driver’s poor feelings must be so hurt because someone made a meme of him shirtless, meanwhile, everyone is pulling out pitchforks and acting like Rian Johnson needs to be crucified and blacklisted from Hollywood for what he did. OP, your post is speculative fantasy. RJ wasn’t even supposed to direct the third movie either, the previous director, Colin Trevorrow, got the boot/departed due to creative differences between Disney and himself, as well as difficulties working within the tight requirements that Disney as a studio established for it’s Star Wars films (granted they fucked up on Solo apparently). JJ was a very safe bet to return in Trevorrow’s absence. 

tl:dr JJ isn’t dissatisfied with anything & loved Rian’s script & just because you don’t like things doesn’t mean you can just put your feelings and emotions on other people.

You’re living in a fantasy world if you think people involved in these big hollywood projects are free to voice dissatisfaction with it. They are not only socially but often legally bound not to speak badly of a project, for obvious reasons. And still you get Mark openly talking about his disagreements with Johnson, about how the character isn’t Luke, and later apologizing for his critical comments without retracting them, saying he shouldn’t have said them in public. If that’s what’s coming out in public for the world to see, there’s a lot more going on below the surface.

What’s more, you can’t even keep your own version of events straight. Why would Disney throw money at JJ to get him to direct ix if they were happy with Johnson? And this was BEFORE Johnson’s movie turned out to be the largest sequel-to-sequel dropoff in history. (I was wrong in the op about sequel dropoff being normal, btw–in fact 57% of big studio sequels make MORE than their predecessors, which puts TLJ in an even starker light.)

I mean, I’m certainly not of the school of thought that my criticisms of TLJ need to be backed up by the people involved with the movie to be valid. Everyone could be perfectly happy with it and I’d still hate it. But that’s not what I’m seeing, and even you admit the execs thought JJ would be a better choice for IX while trying to insist everyone is happy with Johnson.

And yes, my op is highly speculative–which is why I tagged it ‘speculation.’ I am free to speculate on my blog and you are free to ignore it.

awesomeswimmer21:

chewvbacca:

So we’re told in TLJ that we should fight to save what we love, not fight what we hate, right?? That this attitude is more moral and the Right Way to Rebel?? And yet when Finn tries to leave to protect someone he loves (Rey) from arriving back to a very dangerous situation, both Rose and the narrative frame this as cowardly. So then he somehow regresses and we’re told he’s become a character who fights what he hates (even though all TFA he never really showed a sign of wanting payback against the FO, except for that relatively benign scene with Phasma and the garbage chute). And then at the end he needs Rose to show him the Right Way, which is about protecting what we love. You know, that thing she tased him for trying to do at the start of the movie.

Like even if you want to say Rose’s character arc was about realising this too (which, let’s not lie, is executed pretty poorly, with her going from wanting to destroy the whole town of Canto Bight to only wanting to do so the save the animals in like 10 minutes, whatever epiphany she has not being clearly shown on screen at all), it’s pretty poor taste never mind bad writing to tell the audience Finn trying to leave is cowardly and him getting tased for it is funny, only to turn around at the end of the movie and have Finn act a completely different way and STILL find a way to frame him as being in the wrong by saying no, he should operate under the same perspective of protecting what we love even though he was admonished for it by Rose and the narrative like an hour ago

Right, that’s what I was confused with.

He didn’t go on the FO and fight Kylo at the end of TFA because he hated them, he canonically did it to protect and save Rey.

And he was also doing that at the beginning of the movie, but all of sudden it’s a bad thing now. But then it’s not bad when Rose does it? It’s just inconsistent and contradictory. There’s so much they could’ve done with Finn that would’ve made much more external and internal sense.