Benji’s Life as a Narrative Stake in Rogue Nation - How Benji’s Character Becomes the Heart of the Film, and his connection to Ethan Hunt.
Dedicated to @ineverhadadoubt
Rogue Nation, or I as I often call it “The Benthan Movie”, is one of my favorite films of all time. If you have followed my blog for any particular length of time you can tell that it’s my favorite film out of the Mission: Impossible franchise.
I love this film to pieces, and yet many people see Benji as merely comic relief.
While he is a funny character, he isn’t just some punchline. His character is how the stakes of the narrative stakes are quantified. The film itself is structured around Benji being the emotional center of the film. So due to my lack of cooperation from my fiction writing brain, have this Analytical essay for day 2 of Bethan week!
(I know, I was surprised I haven’t actually talked about this aspect of the Film in-depth.)
(also this is not quite discussing the Inherent gayness of the Franchise, however, I know @ineverhadadoubt will still appreciate where this essay will go. :fingerhearts:)
The concept of whether Benji lives or dies is introduced about a quarter into the film at the Vienna Opera house sequence. The moment Ethan tells Benji: “For your sake, we shouldn't be seen together.” Right there the story establishes 2 things for the audience:
1) Ethan will prioritize Benji’s life over the mission.
2) Benji is already being put in a considerable amount of danger.
So, when the Boat Scene happens, those two facts are cemented firmly into the minds of the audience, there is an understanding of what the narrative is asking: What’s going to happen to Benji and what will Ethan do about It?
This scene shows two instances of Ethan prioritizing Benji’s life: Near the beginning when he wants to send Benji back home and at the end after he explains how dangerous the Syndicate actually is.
Ethan has a backup plan to get Benji to Washington D.C. after the mission ends badly. He sets everything up so that Benji can get home safely, and he tells him to lie so that Benji can stay safe.
“Your life depends on them believing you Benji, it’ll go easier if you tell them what they want to hear.”
And then of course: “I can’t protect you. That’s why I need you to leave.”
Often this phrase is analyzed without the full context behind it, so let’s rewind a little and show the full line that Ethan says
“That’s why I brought you here in the first place and look what happened. I can’t protect you, that’s why I need you to leave.”
Ethan brought Benji in so that they could find Lane, but now the Chancellor’s dead despite Ethan’s best efforts to put him out of harm’s way. He can’t guarantee to Benji’s safety and he’s afraid of losing more people. Even if it makes the mission more demanding for himself, he’d rather continue while knowing that Benji is safe.
But Benji refuses to accept this. He takes the gamble and demands to stay with Ethan. To him, he’s been out of the game standing on the sideline. He has all this pressure being put upon him back home because he has to lie about his connection to Ethan. The decision is being taken out of his hands and he can’t stand that. He wants to help Ethan, and even if his life is being put in danger. It is a better option.
“I know the risks, more than that I am your friend. No matter what I tell the polygraph every week.”
The next time the narrative hints at Benji’s life being put into danger is after Ethan drowns in the torus. Benji says this: “I appreciate everything you do for me, but one of these days, you are going to take it too far.”
Firstly, Benji recognizes that Ethan risking his life in the torus was to ensure Benji stays safe. The dialogue choice foreshadows what will happen in the third act of the film: Ethan doing something reckless to keep Benji safe. Benji even mentions it again at that particular point.
“You remember how told you one day you were going to take things too far?”
After Benji gets kidnapped, Ethan’s main priority is to get Benji back safe and sound. Almost every time someone objects to his plan he brings up Benji:
Ethan: We have to take the prime minister.
Brandt: Let’s just think about that for a minute
Ethan: It’s the only way to get Benji back.
As well as this Exchange:
Luther: Ethan, wait.
Ethan: If I'm not there in 15 minutes, he'll kill Benji.
Luther: Your mission is to bring down the Syndicate. If Lane gets his hands on that money, we're unleashing a terrorist superpower.
And what does Ethan do? He takes things too far again for Benji. This time by holding the PM hostage and giving lane 50 million dollars in exchange for Benji’s life.
Also, Ethan technically fails the mission. Because as Luther said, the mission was to bring down the syndicate.
But Ethan gives them some of the money anyway, and It can be inferred that because of that money, the apostles were able to form. Ethan gave money to know terrorist, against the advice of his closest friend, all to save Benji’s life.
That’s how much Benji’s outcome influences Both Rogue Nation and Fallout.
I can’t believe Benthan Week is over! 😢 There were so many amazing fics and beautiful art and wonderful headcanons. I manged to write for 6 of the 7 days so here’s a list of my Benthan Week posts.
Benthan Week has concluded but everybody’s wonderful contributions live on!
Make sure to check out the AO3 collection (with a whopping 27 works!!! y’all! we collectively increased the # of Benthan fics by like 10% in a single week, that is bonkers) to see all the wonderful fic, and scroll back through this blog and the #benthanweek2019 tag to catch up on any Benthan content you missed or want to revisit!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Benji Dunn/Ethan Hunt
Characters: Benji Dunn, Ethan Hunt, Luther Stickell
Additional Tags: Tailor AU, shy!Ethan, benji is the IMF's tailor and ethan is a nervous disaster, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, New Year's Kiss, Benthan Week Day 7
Summary:
Benji is the IMF's specialized tailor, and he's never met a clothing emergency he couldn't deal with. This Ethan Hunt character, however, is another story...
