More thoughts on Rey/Ben’s shared Force vision...
I am really interested to see what JJ Abrams does with that vision, if he decides to carry it into his story (and I hope he does).
Because it’s used in the plot as the major catalyst for the flurry of impulsive decisions that Rey and Ben both make in that second act. Like, to add gravitas to the situation so that it doesn’t seem so outlandish that they would be that reckless and overconfident in their conviction that the other would do a heel-turn. It is strange though that if it was that important to the characters’ motivations and the ensuing chain of events, it wasn’t just shown to us. I feel like that means it has to be revisited later in the narrative, and something crucial will be revealed that will change our (and their) understanding of what they saw.
Because instead of showing, Rian Johnson had them tell. It’s not as effective - and on the surface an odd choice, since film is ultimately a visual medium, obviously - but it what it does is create a situation where we (the audience) are relying on their interpretations of it for our context. And they are not reliable narrators - they are each biased in their perspective. They each saw what they wanted to see.
I think the main takeaway for now was meant to be that there are two levels of interpretation on what motivations that vision caused them both to lay bare. Superficially, they were each excited at the prospect of turning the other and adding power to their own cause. That motive is the justification that Rey gives to Luke before she goes to Ben, and it’s the appeal that Ben gives to Rey after they have overthrown Snoke. A “think of what we could accomplish” sort of thing.
But…again, film is visual. And on a deeper level, the way that conversation in the elevator was staged - very intimate, inches apart, almost whispering to each other - implied motivations that were much more personal. In addition to the emotionally raw delivery of Kylo’s proposal to Rey after the Snoke confrontation. And this is all preceded by the fact that when they HAD the vision in the first place, they were touching in what was honestly coded as a distinctly romantic, sexually charged moment (even if it was just hands - the glove came off, people).
It’s clear to me that their key takeaway from that vision wasn’t about politics or power. It was that in it, they were together. That was the real motivation. And that’s what caused them both to take what were honestly huge risks to make it happen. They wanted that outcome so, so badly. I’m not saying Rey was lying to Luke in her ‘help the Resistance’ speech, but at some level it was a justification to go after what she personally wanted, which was Ben himself. And I think he was also sincere in his dream of a golden future for them as co-orderbringers of the galaxy, but ultimately, he only wanted that future if it was going to be with her. Now he has it - but not her - and he’s more broken than ever.
And once again, I personally believe that they saw the same thing but applied different interpretations to it - it was the Force telling them (again) they were destined to bring balance together, and that they have yet to understand or achieve that future.
But they will. Eventually. The Force is getting less and less subtle, lol.
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