i'm just here for the snacks

star wars sideblog

[darth-tantrum]

Everyone praising the cast for saying Finn-Poe has so much chemistry completely ignoring that the cast has already gotten their paycheck, has nothing to lose, and is also queer baiting :) :) :)

[darth-tantrum]

no seriously. I’m mad about this. people are praising the literal queer baiting dynamic + the erasure of Rose from Finn’s story. incredible. 

They’re not like Andrew Garfield, who had something to lose. The trilogy is done. Literally done and they’ve been paid. Where was this vocal attitude during TFA or TLJ ?

[darth-tantrum]

Like what ? I’m supposed to be happy that Finn gets this weird and not even implied off screen romance ???? I’m supposed to be satisfied with the erasure of Rose and her incredible dynamic with Finn that literally helped him majorly develop in his arc ? I’m supposed to be satisfied with the bromance that wasn’t originally supposed to last past Finn arriving on Jakku ? I’m supposed to be happy with this dynamic that served to erase the fact that Finn was intended to be the successor to General Organa’s rebellion and resistance ??? Ah, just like how I’m supposed to be satisfied with that one second wlw kiss ? Is that it ?

[joons]

probably my favorite thing about the last jedi is its hyper-emphasis on people. just people. you don’t need the force to repress memories, you just need a child traumatized by her family’s neglect. these turns we expected in the story become not just plot devices but character traits. johnson chooses to make the characters’ losses, fears, strengths all a part of who they are, rather than the force manipulating them or a holdover from another generation or a shadow conspiracy that tells us the exact path snoke took from the end of the empire to where he is now. plot plot plot. johnson says it’s more interesting to give the characters responsibility, to let them fail and succeed by their own choices, rather than machinations of cosmic convenience. and it makes some of it really hard to swallow for people who like plotty things, who like to think about how everything fits together like a puzzle, a long game. but the last jedi is like, “yeah, but what if someone just messed up once and what if we just let that reverberate through the characters psychologically? what if every plot turn is about how a human being reacted to a single decision?” 

it’s just interesting how everyone thought rey having hidden memories would unlock a grand secret on how she fits in the plot, when really it’s the most brutally real response to abuse that allowed that to happen. it haunts as well as enchants. it’s a good star war.

[darth-tantrum]

Ben canonically falling to the dark side because his best friend was murdered right in front of him ????? God he really was too good for this company and these story tellers.

[benperorsolo]

What do you think of TROKR overall? I know it’s all tragic in hindsight, but did you like how it represented Ben’s fall?

I liked it a lot. It’s not Charles’ fault that Ben’s story ended the way it did, but I feel like he wrote a story that perfectly encapsulated Ben’s true heart and his capacity for turning away from the Dark and leading a life he was proud of to help people (rest in power tai). 

Early on, I actually did want Ben to have been responsible for killing the students, because one of the things that I think is powerful about redemption arcs is how they can reach out and touch even the worst people. I am usually not a fan of softening a villain’s crimes for redemption stories, because I think that capitulates to people who think there is some line you can’t cross or some deed you can’t do lest you become irredeemable, and redemption has no limits. I usually like stories where the villains really were that deep in the darkness, and yet still find their way to the light, because it’s like a giant fuck you to the purity politickers who think F/nn the child soldier had a redemption arc and Kyle is satan.

But. With Ben, I think the backstory Charles gave him was perfect. Ben’s story is not really a redemption story like Anakin’s, if you ask me. Anakin was a coded adult when he fell to the DS– a husband with a job, a wife, and children– and his fall is framed as Palpatine targeting Anakin’s fatal flaws of obsession, possession, and pride. It’s the story of a man falling, and then finding himself through his son.

Ben is the total opposite. He was targeted before he was born for the Dark Side’s designs, and his family sins and legacy made him basically a basket case of inherited trauma issues. He doesn’t even “fall” to the Dark Side; he makes no pledges to Palpatine to do anything he wants if only Palpatine will give him something he wants, he actually isn’t tempted at all. Even Ren remarks after killing his closest friend that Ben is fighting the Dark Side every step of the way and does not want to be there. Ben doesn’t come across as the man who falls due to flying too close to the sun; he comes across as the child who was chained to the rock as a sacrifice to the monsters a la Andromeda. He’s not an adult; he has no children, he is the child. He’s the Skywalker child. As someone put on twitter in a heartbreaking way, Ben didn’t fall to the Dark Side, and when he wouldn’t, Palpatine broke his legs.

And so I think this backstory is appropriate to what Ben’s story really is, which is a reclamation story. Ben’s redemption is about him finding his way as his own man for the first time. Vader’s redemption wasn’t a coming of age, but Ben’s was. And I think TROKR set this up beautifully by portraying Ben as a child, and an innocent.

tl;dr Ben is a good boy and Charles understood that and it’s canon forever now that he is the goodest boy

[bensaidbutido]

“Ben is someone who has hope. There’s no more ambiguity about what it is he has to do. There’s no more seesaw that’s happening. For the first time, someone who has never had the answer, now finally knows his purpose or destiny. He has to let her (Rey) know that they’re together. But I don’t know that he entirely is sure of what’s going to happen from there, nor do I think he cares. I think, it’s so long as he is with her, he is on the right path.”

— Adam Driver

[benperorsolo]

Ben's fall: "An abuse/grooming victim is gaslit over and over and deceived into thinking he has nowhere to turn until he eventually snaps"

“And then in the end his passively suicidal and depressive behavior culminated after a lifetime of abuse, gaslighting, and lack of treatment is validated as being for the greater good. Because hope :)”

[lorsanbitch]

the explanation for “kylo ren” is fucking hysterical.. like we don’t know the precise context of why Ben came up with a stupid emo nickname when he was a child, but the confirmation that kylo is, in canon, a stupid emo nickname he came up with when he was a child is making me LOSE IT. 

and the way we learn this is essentially Snoke going “oh didnt u make up a weird alter ego a while ago just name urself that” and Ben being like “no dude I was a kid and its stupid” and snokes just like “do it pussy” and he DOES

that’s the space fantasy equivalent of joining the mafia but being forced to make your codename the stupid warrior cats oc you invented when you were 12

Kylo Ren is essentially like “hi im enoby dark’ness dementia raven way and you’re going to tell me the location of luke skywalker” what the fuck

[driverdelight]

“The physicality of Kylo I am very protective over, I wanted to do all of the things.“ - Adam Driver, the Ben champion we needed, but the Ben champion we did not deserve. [x]

[kyloren]

BEN SOLO | KYLO REN searches the Millennium Falcon in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens deleted scene

[emeraldspiral]

Gawd you know… People were out there wanting Kylo to just be a villain so they could have a story about how “sometimes people are beyond help and you should let go of any hope you have for them” but like… Rey’s parents were right there in TLJ. That was the lesson she learned. That she wasted her life waiting for them when they were assholes who didn’t love her and were dead anyway so they were never coming back.

But then TROS went back on that and nobody’s talking about how “they sold you to protect you” is abuse apologism and dangerous for women and children, even though people are much more likely to be abused by their parents/guardians and think it’s normal/fail to recognize it for what it is for a long time than they would a stranger who never presented themselves as a friend to win their trust at the beginning of their relationship.

[benperorsolo]

I think part of what makes Ben Solo such a popular character is that he possesses a more realistic psychological makeup compared to most characters in the Star Wars universe. His behavior is generally very believable and lifelike (a large part of this is due to Adam Driver’s acting talent) and his motivations and fears are surprisingly grounded. It’s almost a little jarring how realistically he reacts to his trauma when compared to Rey or Finn. Rey’s trauma is addressed very well in TLJ though.

Yeah, exactly. Ben is the only character in the ST (and arguably all of the films) who has a “real world” reaction to trauma (and this is a component to why people both hate him –we are not fans of things that reflect back our flaws– and demand such “realistic” punishment for him). Nobody else’s psychology is taken as seriously as Ben’s (except yes TLJ Rey is v good) and that’s why his treatment in TROS is extra jarring, because you created this portrait of a very realistic antihero and abuse victim and then shoved him into a cartoon ending. It doesn’t match and it doesn’t heal the wound.

[mswyrr]

The more authentic/realistic the survivor in stories the more fandom salivates to cut their head off/violate them with various cruel implements etc and - they think it’s woke to share this graphic information with us… because simultaneously they “love” characters who are written to have little to no authentic aspects of survivor experience………………. /shakes head/

If that’s what someone wants to do to a character for daring to be more realistic, what do they want to do to real survivors and addicts and etc?

It’s so totally okay to epically show your ass in fandom re: hating survivors. For female (Willa Earp, Carmilla on Castlevania, Rey being “ungrateful” - the tiny shreds of authentic experience in her emotional state beyond TLJ) as well as male characters like Ben Solo.

[benperorsolo]

Only good survivors get to live precisely because they responded to their trauma in a basically unachievable, photoshopped fashion that is comfortable for an audience who only wants pretty wounds and pretty grief. The trauma is there for seasoning the drama. Realistically processing it is a buzzkill to the fun.

[galacticidiots]

what ben solo deserved as a child: not fucking that

[galacticidiots]

what ben solo deserved as an adult: not fucking that

[bai-xue]

I think what fully won me over to Kylo Ren was the moment when Rey calls him a monster and he looks her straight in the face and says, without any hesitation, “Yes, I am.” He fully believes it, accepts it as pure fact. The sky is blue, water is wet, I am a monster. I connected hard, because I’ve been in that exact same position.

Children, especially sensitive children, have an uncanny knack for making everything into their own fault. If conflict occurs within their family, they find a way to blame themselves for it. Consider the amount of times that Ben Solo would have had to receive the wrong messages in order to be able to say “I am a monster” without a shred of doubt. Consider the number of times he’d have interpreted the actions of the adults (and peers) around him as “you are a monster” until he fully believed it.

You’re born with a “raw strength” nobody else has ever seen. You are a monster.

Your father is perturbed by you at best, frightened of you at worst. You are a monster.

Your parents constantly fight, and your father is constantly running away. You are a monster.

Your mother can no longer deal with you and juggle her job, and she chooses the job over you and ships you off to your uncle. You are a monster.

Your uncle begins acting suspicious of you during training, showing the same dark worry in his eyes as your father once did. You are a monster.

Your uncle becomes so frightened of you that he tries to kill you in your sleep. You are a monster.

You find out that your grandfather was Darth Vader, that this is genetic, that you have a monster in your veins that you can never escape. You are a monster.

You realise that this is why every adult in your life thus far has looked at you in fear: because they were looking at you and seeing Vader. You are a monster.

That one line, “Yes, I am,” delivered so resolutely, sums up exactly what broke Ben Solo.

[skiplo-wave]

Ben: Okay one iced mocha for Finn, Dragon Fruit tea for Rose,  Spice-hot coco EXTRA whip cream for Jannah, and for Rey the cinnamon apple pie milkshake with double dip of caramel on top. Did I forget anyone?

Poe: Yeah actually I order the-

Ben: Great! So what’s mission for today?

[kenobirey]

“Rian Johnson’s “do what you want, just come home before dark” Force Awakens follow-up is not great because it’s a Star Wars film. It reasserts Star Wars as a top-tier franchise by being the best blockbuster movie, give-or-take Mad Max: Fury Road, since The Dark Knight. It’s a visually dazzling movie, one that plays with the narratives of both Empire and Jedi while subverting our expectations. It also is a rebuttal to entertainment consumption based around “solving the mystery” or “Easter Eggs.” With the best (live-action) performance of Mark Hamill’s career, dynamite action sequences and a story that confronts and critiques Star Wars’ pop culture legacy (and its older fans) while affirming its value for today’s kids, The Last Jedi is the best movie ever made in the Star Wars saga.”

— Forbes ranks The Last Jedi as the best Star Wars movie in their rating, Dec 25, 2019

[ceeisposting]

How does he keep his hair so lustrous and shiny? There’s combs inside the helmet.

Basically a TFA-hair appreciation post.

[localthorstyfictionalmensimp-de]

Anakin chillin in the force watching his grandson get manipulated and shit by Snoke for 15+ years.