I really can’t understand the people who claims IX will be Leia’s movie and still want it to be about Kylo’s redemption. Leia’s legacy is not her son, Leia’s legacy was never her bloodline.
Leia’s legacy is about freedom, about rebellion against oppressors and fighting for those who cannot defend themselves.
Leia’s legacy is everything that her son has decided to take a huge crap on, everything he has spend two movies trying his hardest to destroy while worshiping the man Leia haters most in the entire galaxy, Darth Vader.
Kylo is Leia’s son, but he is not and have never been her legacy. He has no room in her story except as the person who decided to destroy all she fought so hard for.
Leia’s legacy lives on, not in her bloodline, but in Finn, Rey, Rose and Poe. These are the ones who carries on the fight, these are the embodiment of Leia’s hope in the future. They are her legacy.
It’s even more baffling because Leia have been shown to actively give zero fucks about her bloodline. She doesn’t call herself Naberrie or Amidala though Padmé holds an important position in her life, she actively rejects Anakin as anything but the man who just happened to get Padmé pregnant with her and Luke and wants nothing to do with him, actively rejecting the name Skywalker.
The only part of the Skywalker legacy she wants anything to do with is Luke and probably because their friendly relationship predates her learning he was her brother.
Leia considers herself an Organa, she always has. To her her parents were Bail and Breha, these are the two people she seeks to emulate and who’s legacy she is protecting.
This is Leia.
This is what she stands for, who she sees herself as. Alderaanian. What she values is wisdom, imagination, hope, creativity, a galaxy where the individual is valued, where each and every one of us is important and birthright and bloodline does not determine our place.
In short, everything Kylo does not believe.
Kylo is not just the antithesis of Luke, he’s the antithesis of his mother too. In every possible way. Kylo is not, nor will ever be, Leia’s legacy.
All of this. Say it with me, people: MOTHERHOOD DOES NOT OVERRIDE IDENTITY. Leia having a son doesn’t negate everything else she is as a person. She is a freedom fighter, a believer in democracy, the daughter of Bail and Breha Organa who were murdered by the Empire, an Alderaanian who protected every Alderaanian she could with her life. She loved Han and Luke with her whole heart, and both of them are dead because of Kylo Ren. His being her son does not, cannot, mean she will give an inch on who she is and what she stands for. If some weirdo thinks Leia never accepting or forgiving Darth Vader was a flaw or sin on her part and that she needs to be taught better by letting Kylo Ren get away scot-free or accepting that he “has a point” or whatever, they can fuck all the way off with their terrifying fascist-stanning, misogynistic ass.
I have talked before about how the Resistance could still grow its forces post-TLJ (link). However, in light of Oscar Isaac’s comments about the Resistance being a smaller, underdog guerilla force, I’ve also started thinking about how the Resistance could win without being a huge military force like the Rebellion was. According te Oscar:
“[The Resistance] are guerrilla fighters, adhering closer to something like the Revolutionary War fighters or even the guerrillas in Cuba with Che and Fidel and all these guys living in the mountains, coming down to do some attacks, and going back and trying to hide from the ’empire’ of the United States. It’s that kind of ragged at this point.”
Episode IX could still show the Resistance growing, of course; Oscar could be talking about an early stage in the movie, since he says “at this point.” However, if the Resistance is a much-outnumbered guerrilla force for most of Episode IX, could they still win?
A depressing possibility under the small-Resistance scenario, of course, is that the Resistance is defeated or reaches a ceasefire with the FO so that both sides retreat to their own regions of space in preparation for farther movies and series. I’ll rule that out for the moment, though, because it would be a rehash of the TLJ ending and is not a real ending to the saga at all. Besides, this entire situation with the FO has its roots a compromise with the Empire remnants and I highly doubt it’s a good idea to let that history repeat again.
Another point is that Oscar referenced victorious guerrilla fighters, the
Continental Army and Castro’s 26th of July Movement, each of which won their wars and
successfully took power. (What they did with the power afterward is
another matter. This is not meant to be an endorsement of either the U.S.’s or Cuba’s political systems so hold off on the anons please.)
If we leave out the unsatisfactory defeat/ceasefire ending and assume the Resistance stays small, there may still be paths to victory. To that end let’s examine Oscar’s historical parallels.
The British Empire lost to the Continentials because of lack of political will (many in Britain did not believe war was a solution at all), lack of command skill and command line coherence, lack of supplies in hostile territory, the failure of expected Loyalist support to materialize, and the Continentals gaining useful allies like France and Spain. The Cuban government under Batista lost because his commanders made crucial mistakes, he couldn’t get necessary arms and parts for his military due to a U.S. embargo, and he lost both United States and domestic support.
These factors can be boiled down to four things: Unity, supplies, support, and allies. If the FO is disunited and its command are at each other’s throats or simply failing to coordinate; if it loses crucial sources of supplies and has its supply lines disrupted; and if the populations of the occupied territories rise up against it while the Resistance gains allies, there is a chance for even a small Resistance to prevail.
For one it gives an alternative type of conflict, or at least how the conflict plays out, to the last two trilogies.
Another is that this gives Rose a place and time to shine as a mechanic. Who better in the Resistance to know where they should strike and how? She never got to show off her abilities in TLJ with this she has a great chance.
Finally there’s the possibility that the end game battle will be fairly small. As in, not a whole lot people involved. And I know there are people who hate that idea, but to me the battles in the Star Wars movies that kept me engrossed had nothing to do with how much pew pew was going on.
Think about the climatic battle in RotS? It’s basically two one on one duels: Anakin vs Obi-Wan and Sidious vs Yoda.
Or for that matter the action climax in ESB. Vader vs Luke and Leia, Lando and Chewie’s desperate attempt to first rescue Han and the escape the Empire all the while picking Luke up.
Or TPM. The battle with the Gungans on the plain and all the shenanigans up in space are really distraction from the main plot, Padmé capturing the viceroys. And a lot of emotional payoff is invested in Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs Maul.
Last, but certainly not least, TFA. Yes we have pew pew up in atmosphere above SKB and yes we want Poe and Red and Blue squadron to blow it up. But where is our attention and emotional investment? Down on the ground, with Finn, Han, Chewie and Rey. In the end all the pew pew up there feels like a distraction from the “actual” battle.
So small scale final conflict does not to me mean lack of payoff for the trilogy or IX on its own. Maybe the final battle is an attempt to capture or kill key First Order officers in an attempt to cut off the head of the snake so to speak. If the First Order is already pressed and internal conflict rampant, removing key figures one way or the other could be a method how a fairly small group of people, or number of small groups, could bring down a behemoth like the First Order.
You’re right, supply attacks would be a PERFECT way for Rose to shine! She’s built a crucial new technology herself and has experience with supply runs. I really hate how she was reduced to searching for a dude hacker in TLJ and then ending up with a different dude hacker. From TLJ you would never know that she was a brilliant mechanic and inventor who had supervised a whole team of bomber flight engineers to implement the technology she built. Having her cause chaos in the FO by cutting off its supply lines with maximum effect would go a long way toward doing her character more justice. Put your fist through the FO the right way, girl.
Yes, the climactic last battles in the SW movies have always been personal, even intimate. Even the destruction of the Death Star in ANH came down to Luke, his connection to the Force through Obi-Wan’s ghost, Vader trying to shoot Luke down, and Han coming through for a last-minute assist. One hero, the hero’s mentor, the hero’s implacable shadow, and the triumphant culmination of the friend’s character arc.
In fact, the operations to ultimately take down the FO as I outlined in the op are so vast they’d be a better subject of a between-movies TV series along the lines of The Clone Wars. (I wonder what this war against the FO would be called? The Shadow War? The Force War? The Star War?) Episode IX can show the final results, with a little exposition on how they got there, and then have our core group of heroes finish things off. It’s the Star Wars way.
I mean they did decide that a white girl with a careful, aesthetically pleasing tan and a few cute freckles–but not, like, scarred and splotched from the sun–is better than a brown or Black woman. And even the tan and freckles had to go at the first opportunity because being pale is way more important than being consistent! Maybe there’s a better term than brownface, but it’s really racist at any rate.
It’s not brownface. I get it – they could have cast a brown or Black actress instead of a white actress with a tan (which fits the narrative) in TLJ, but it’s not like they gave her a tan and said she’s the daughter of Luke and Nikari or she’s the bio daughter of Bale and Breha (I know those wouldn’t add up, just as examples). That would be brownface. There has to be an ethnic element, and Rey isn’t coded as any particular race. Which means she doesn’t have to be white, and I agree with questioning why a race-neutral character was cast as yet another white brunette. The term would be white prioritization, as in they couldn’t imagine not having a white lead even with an inclusive cast.
RJ making Rey look fairer in TLJ when she’d still have a tan is sketch tho, because he clearly wanted to make her more “attractive,” including the out of place full face of makeup.
Started listening to the audiobook version of Inferno Squad and Janina Gavankar’s voice is 👍❤️😍 It saddens me a little sad that tie-in audiobooks seem to be the only SW products where these insanely talented actresses of color are front and center.
It’s fascinating to see what a loyal and elite subject of the Empire thinks of its atrocities. The book opens with Iden being excited about the destruction of Jedha, Scarif, and Alderaan, and I don’t think I’ve been so angry at a protagonist in the opening moments of a book. If I’d had a more personal relationship with the subject of genocide I can see myself ditching the book altogether.
I thought maybe Iden was kept from knowing the full details, but no, she knew Jedha was no mining accident (the derisive way Janina reads “mining accident,” just… I love this woman), and she knew millions of innocents had died on Alderaan.
Iden could justify the Empire’s actions to herself because she interpreted the same information completely differently. To her, Jedha was a successful anti-terrorist operation and a strike against a harmful superstition from a bygone age. The deaths of innocents at Alderaan were the fault of the Rebel leadership who had put them in harm’s way. And finally, with the imminent destruction of the Rebels and the advent of peace, the Empire could direct its energies to helping people instead of restoring order.
Iden’s thought process is chillingly familiar, really. She sounds like any good patriotic American who defends their country’s actions and is a believer in the enlightenment their way of life will bring. She is frightening not because she is outlandish but because she is so prosaic and familiar.
These thoughts were running through her head during the Battle of Yavin, so let’s just say I’m thoroughly enjoying this asshole’s shock and awe at the destruction of the Death Star. How do you like that taste of your own medicine, bitch? I hate her so much right now and am looking forward to her changing sides in large part so she’ll suffer horribly from what she did.
That said, despite the fact that the opening has Iden cheering at genocide and killing Rebel pilots left and right, nothing about this character comes across as irredeemably evil. These actually are the normal actions of a soldier in wartime, an excuse often bandied about for Kylo Ren but doesn’t work because he wasn’t brought up to that way of thinking. I can see how Iden might believe the things she does and why she might change, though I’m hoping it will be a difficult process.
Started listening to the audiobook version of Inferno Squad and Janina Gavankar’s voice is 👍❤️😍 It saddens me a little sad that tie-in audiobooks seem to be the only SW products where these insanely talented actresses of color are front and center.
The sad truth is as problematic as George Lucas was, and we all now he had his failings, the flannel loving bastard did indeed love Star Wars and it’s characters. Disney doesn’t care because everything is just about controlling the world. Certain fans don’t know shit about Lando, not even Kasdan knew shit about him in Solo.
Most people don’t know Lando beyond that bastardized shitty version that was in Solo. The real Lando wasn’t just a womanizer with a cape. Lando was a complicated man who used his natural charm to not only survive but to help others. And even him giving Han to the Empire was only after people had been killed and Lando had no choice but to save Bespin, but even after that he fought to save the OT heroes and he joined the rebellion to save more lives. I might like some things Disney has done with SW, but their treatment of Lando has not been one. 2 movies and not even a name mention? But we got him screwing robots and running away from a fight in Solo. Fuck that.
2/3 it’s the same reason they’re bringing Carrie back, and
trying to make both Mark and John excited. At the end of the day Star
Wars has its white base and casual fan base. What they don’t have is the
good will of black fans long time fans, or really any fans that are
diverse. It’s more profitable to have Finn center stage with a good
storyline. Just as it is for Luke with that nostalgia money. Disney
tried to go the nihilistic edgellord way and it blew up in their face
with TLJ.
3/3 I’m not giving IX too much good faith. They could fuck it up
in general. I’m saying that should look at Disney as a business and
makes money these days is diversity and nostalgia. Is it morally corrupt
to only treat people as chess pieces to be manipulated for money? Yes,
but that’s what movie studios do. If IX is smart, they’ll give Finn a
deserving story of a protagonist for the sole reason to gain black fans.
In this time of social politics, diversity done well is a blank check.
Yeah, if nothing else I hope Disney has the good business sense or, just, the ability to read and compare numbers, that leads them to capitalize on the goodwill Finn’s character generated.
L.J.'s Obsessions 