shooting stars

The Lords of the Sith podcast just posted a video about superhero movies’ influence on how Rey turned out in TROS.  I say pop feminism’s simplistic idea that women find fulfillment only in high-octane careerism, male power fantasies, and Hollywood’s obsession with power/money/status informed those films as well as Rey’s story arc.  What happened was certain fans–especially those who ship Reylo–connected with that part of Rey who was lonely and sought companionship and understanding while the filmmakers thought what audiences wanted was a woman who was first and foremost powerful in the most basic, materialistic sense.  For JJerio, power in the Star Wars universe consists of the Force and the Skywalker family name.  From their perspective, Rey attains the apex of power when she becomes “every Jedi” and seizes the Skywalker name for herself at the end of the movie.  For them, this is a happy ending because Rey is now the GFFA’s definition of the ultimate badass and the appropriate heiress of everything the heroes of the OT stood for.  They think this is her apotheosis.

Here’s the problem:  we never once saw any indication that this is what she wanted.  Rey spent the better part of the ST wondering to herself “what is this weird thing I have” and “what should I do with it” and “where are my parents?”  She craved belonging.  What was remarkable about her was how she didn’t crave power at all.  

Last weekend while suffering from a headache ‘n nausea fest, I watched on Bravo a bit of the 50 Shades movies.  They are totally ridiculous but they are also a panoply of female fantasies, which explains why these movies and the fanfic-turned-hit novels that spawned those movies were successful.  E.L. James is no Jane Austen but both James and Austen understood something fundamental about their stories:  what matters most is the heroine gets what she wants or needs (and has to understand it’s what she needs, so of course she will want it).  For that matter, Stephenie Meyer gets it too which is why those Twilight books and movies were so successful.  

TROS instead gave the heroine what a couple of Hollywood guys think she should want:  power, friends who are there whenever they’re needed and not around bugging her when they are not, and a famous name without any of the messy entanglements.  It rang hollow to a lot of us because her emotional longings weren’t fulfilled and the person who understood her on the most intimate level was taken away from her.  (It’s also super weird to claim a family as your own when they are all dead, while still hiding from your actual family.)

And will be saved by his Rey and Friends

When you work with the worst and tell yourself what the hell I sign up myself for! Adam Vibes are "This sucks, JJ you suck" 😒😔