Congratulations, You Played Yourself? Why We Didn’t See TROS Coming
I read a great meta by @ariainstars and it inspired me to finally address something I’d been meaning to write about since TROS came out. How were so many smart Reylo fans and Bendemptionists convinced things were going to turn out with a happy ending, Rey and Ben riding off into the sunset, when JJerio as well as fired writer Colin Trevorrow clearly had other ideas?
This isn’t a defense of TROS or its spin-out-and-crash ending. I still think Ben’s fate was totally mishandled and it leaves DLF with the choice of a) never addressing the post-ST galaxy or b) resurrecting Ben from the dead in one form or another. (When that will happen is of course a mystery. My guess is not for at least not another decade.) Returning to Rey Whateverherlastnameis without Ben is to dig their hole deeper, especially since I think the pop culture gods will determine that Ben’s departure was premature and unlike the deaths of Boba Fett or Darth Maul, materially damaging to the overall story.
This is an object lesson though in how fans and creators can end up on different pages and also how creators underestimate the power of their own work.
I thought that death was always on the table for Ben but TLJ’s compassionate treatment of the character and his relationship with Rey as well as piles of well thought-out metas convinced me he was going to survive. I was sure they were going for an unabashedly happy ending because it was the last film (not simply because it was Disney) and they would want to go out on an up note. I didn’t think a Dead Ben would end things happily (and really I was right…the air gets sucked out of the movie the second he abruptly dies). I also didn’t think they would solve the Skywalker problem by tacking the name onto Rey at the very end of the movie (sigh).
I think the fundamental problem was highlighted in @ariainstars‘s meta: many thought we were getting Pride And Prejudice or 50 Shades Of Grey while they were riffing off of Phantom Of The Opera. All of those stories are variations of La Belle Et La Bete, Beauty And The Beast. POTO though ends tragically because Erik is too much of an outcast and his crimes are too terrible. @ariainstars states that Kylo/Ben was always doomed because he’d killed his father. A happily ever after was never going to be possible for him.
Why did so many of us reject the idea that killing Han meant Ben had to die in TROS? Because a lot of sequel fans grew up with Asian and Asian-influenced media, namely anime, manga, and shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender or Dragon Ball Z. Serious crimes weren’t necessarily bars to redemption or a happily-ever-after. There were and still are lots of comparisons between Kylo/Ben and Prince Zuko, who was redeemed, survived, and marries (though not Katara). Dragon Ball Z’s former villain Vegeta sacrifices himself but is allowed to return to his body and he gets to be in love with Bulma.
JJerio and Trevorrow though didn’t grow up with that stuff. They grew up with Star Wars and everything else Hollywood produced in the ‘60s-’90s. While I’m pretty sure Rian Johnson would’ve sold it better if he’d directed and wrote IX, I am not sure if Johnson would’ve let Ben get a happily ever after either. While Star Wars always had an Eastern influence, it still is very much a product of the West and all it entails.
Maybe the trouble with Ben’s arc is Abrams and Kasdan deciding he had to kill Han Solo. When I saw TFA, my first thought was Kylo would redeem himself in the last movie but he was toast. Which is too bad, because you doom your character in the very first movie and that’s not fun. TLJ then only offered false hope that this would not be the case. I get that Johnson was making redemption credible but either he was too optimistic that whoever followed him would consider letting Ben live or he unwittingly oversold Ben to the point where you not only wanted him redeemed, you wanted him to survive so he’d have a chance to be happy and free. (And of course that Rey would have lasting companionship with an equal.)
Another reason why we thought we’d get a happily-ever-after is because Kylo/Ben was the son of Han and Leia and the only Skywalker scion, this meant he was somehow bulletproof and his importance in the story was only going to grow. Adding to this assumption is Rian Johnson referring to Ben and Rey as co-protagonists. But to Abrams and company, these movies weren’t about Ben. This was Rey’s story and in case you don’t understand that, she appears in nearly every scene in TROS. While Kylo/Ben leaves a big impression, if you pay attention you’ll notice he gets less screen time in the movies than guys like Poe or Finn. To those who made TROS, Kylo/Ben was little more than a foil, a catalyst for their heroine. He was supposed to be Darth Vader to Rey’s Luke Skywalker. (If you want to understand why some fans who clearly aren’t TFM types don’t like these movies, there’s your answer…the Skywalker family got sidelined in the last third of their own saga.)
Perhaps though there’s another simple answer and that is fans are great at being in denial. If we want a certain outcome, we’re going to bet the farm on it. Soon among a subset of fans, it’s practically a tenet of being a part of that subset. This led to what I call following “signs and wonders,” fans believing there are secret codes they were putting out to reassure us we were going to get what we wanted. I”m seeing a lot of that now with regard to Ben returning, though I don’t buy they are really giving it much thought right now.
Reylos correctly predicted that Ben would turn and there would be some acknowledgement of the attraction between Rey and Ben. We actually got most of it right. But Ben’s death wasn’t an outcome most Reylos entertained to any extent. There were fans who predicted Ben’s demise but they didn’t talk about it very much and those metas weren’t as enthusiastically shared. Why? We didn’t want it to happen and we didn’t want to think about its possibility.
Whatever JJerrio’s and Lucasfilm’s intentions, Ben Solo was a character who had escaped. I guess everyone knew Kylo Ren was going to be popular and iconic but those guys severely underestimated his power. It’s due to the mystique built up in TFA, the revelation of his humanity in TLJ, being the last Skywalker, and his relationship with Rey over the course of the films, all expertly performed by someone who always brings his A game and had plenty of charisma to spare. Some sympathetic story groupers added further pathos to his back story in various comics and novels. He, like the cinnamon roll The Onion made famous, was too pure for this world.
Moreover, they severely underestimated the power of Reylo. They unwittingly tapped into something primal and mythic with those two. Nobody could’ve foreseen their incredible chemistry and they didn’t fully understand or appreciate how epic the pairing truly was. Or at least those not named “Rian Johnson.” But many in the audience could see it. There was a lot in the media about Reylo. The two times I saw TROS in the theater people applauded when Rey and Ben kissed. It was the gas in the ST’s tank.
That’s why we bought it. It’s amazing to me how often studios, filmmakers, and show runners miss this stuff while fans keep expecting a different outcome.
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