awesomeswimmer21:

lj-writes:

It’s pretty troubling. Maybe the Asian-American anon doesn’t think of it as identifying with antiblackness, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around how one can disregard the way Rose treats Finn when so much of her interactions are with him.

That said, Rose is an interesting character. I think the only way to make sense of her character is as someone who is heavily traumatized and lashing out. While I absolutely hate it when people try to rationalize the tasing incident with her grief, I can understand it as a wrongful response to unimaginable loss. The same goes to a lesser extent with some of her other actions, such as the falthier rampage.

The thing is, as with so many things about this movie, the execution doesn’t live up to good ideas. The tasing is not recognized as wrong and Finn’s pain is not treated seriously by the narrative, so there’s nothing for Rose to learn or grow from. Her destructiveness is treated as some kind of victory instead of a reflection of her trauma. And her last line, which really should have been her own realization about herself, is directed for some reason at Finn, making it nonsensical.

Rose’s story, overall, would have been so much better if she’d had her own arc, from destructive and violent grief to the slow realization that she’s trying to crowd out sadness with anger, instead of being put to the service of Finn’s arc. Still, the potential is there of a female character grieving in indefensible ways, which is not a common narrative especially for female characters of color. If the anon was responding to that potential I can understand her. I just wish the potential had been brought to fruition instead of being lost in incoherent writing.

I totally agree that Rose should’ve had her own arc, and the book Cobalt Squadron apparently provides a really good way to do that.

The book describes Rose as being very intelligent as well as very anxious and dependent on her sister to calm her down and assure her that her ideas are good. 

Now, to me, it would’ve been really cool if they showed more of this in the movie and then Rose’s arc could have been with her not only dealing with her grief but also finding a way to cope with her crutch/sister being gone. More specifically, since her sister is dead Rose’s arc could’ve been her not only dealing with no longer having a family, but finding a way to calm herself down from her anxiety attacks and not rely on her sister’s validation. I think this would’ve been a really cool character arc and way better than what we got.

It sounds like Cobalt Squadron is a much better use of my money than The Last Jedi.