I so appreciate your level-headed approach. From the tagged posts, it seems rational thought and discussion are often glossed over in favor of fangirling (which is not a big problem; that is what this site is for, after all).
This might get long because I haven’t been able to hash my thoughts out with others yet. I’m interested in your viewpoint too! Here are my thoughts:
I didn’t ship Reylo after TFA; if anything, I leaned toward Finnrey because those two were adorable together (still are). After TLJ, however, I came away with major Reylo feels. In some ways, it reminded me of Captain Swan. The similarities between Hook/Kylo and Killian/Ben are there: lost boys abused by their childhood overseers, turned dark after the last person they respect dies/betrays them, and brought away from their self-destructive paths by love interests.
Of course, Hook didn’t kill a bunch of kids. And Kylo is more inclined to violent emotional outbursts where Hook was more collected.
And in the Emma/Rey parallels: both abandoned and always searching for “home”/parents, independent and unafraid to stick up for what is right, have powers/abilities they don’t initially understand, can sense the truth about people, and see hope where others see none.
So, I think there is enough in common between these ships that make it easy for me to fall for Reylo. I certainly have A Type, lol. Still, I have several issues with Rey/Ben, though most could be quelled with a good redemption arc for Ben in the last movie.
-- The interrogation scene does squick me. I know the intention was to show how powerful Rey is since she gets into his mind and disarms him, but the whole thing read like a rape scene to me. (I read the novelization of the movie too, and it is, perhaps, even more clearly an assault.) It may not have been a physical violation, but it was definitely a mental/emotional one.
-- The age difference. I’m very over all films that put a 19-year-old woman with a near 30-year-old man. And the underlying teacher/student dynamic also squicks me.
Those are the only two I can think of now. If you’d like to share your thoughts / squicks, I’m open to discussion! If nothing else, I love both characters as their own entities and think this new trilogy has done an excellent job creating complex characters.
