Where My Ships Come Home...

I mean look at this:

No way they didn’t shoot this scene to make Kylo look beautiful. There’s a reason that under the mask, he doesn’t look like, idk, Snoke or Voldemort. 

To quote from this meta:

Kylo’s age bracket is perfectly calculated to appeal to a wide audience: it’s what I call the ’Mr Darcy age’, young enough to appeal to a younger woman audience, and old enough to appeal to older women without making them feel icky about it. He has a manly, imposing physique, contrasted with a much younger-looking face (I suspect some CGI wizardry there, btw) but without any ’cutesy’ features that would make him look too boyish. He looks every inch the Hades archetype. His costume, movement, and carefully coiffed Byronic hairstyle are all designed to maximize his dark-themed physical appeal. This is in no way intended to be a repulsive villain. They knew he would come across as sexy to a significant portion of the audience.  

And I think this is what aggravates some fanboys. He’s a villain appealing to the female audience, not the male audience.

Stephen Colbert NAILED it when he called Adam a millennial sex symbol. Because he is. 

And coding Kylo/Ben that way through the female gaze is something so revolutionary in film. Usually we get men coded through the male gaze with super thick rippling muscles and boyish charm (The Rock, the Chrises, etc.). 

And here we get this, flowing haired, dark prince who has a tortured and pained air to how he speaks and acts without it feeling trite like some media has portrayed the tortured Byronic hero (Sorry Edward Cullen, but true all the same). 

I love that the fanboys are butthurt over it. While though I do know several guys who were shocked when they heard me gush about my love for Adam Driver. Because they are used to me gushing over Evans or Pine because that’s what media has shoved down my throat as classically attractive for so long. Finding Adam’s beauty in his uniqueness is so fucking refreshing.

Like he takes the best of the well-muscled male heroes that Evans, Hemsworth, Pine, and co embody and adds a depth to it in complexity and resonance. My favorite things about TLJ are the scenes where we get to really focus in on Adam’s face. I know right? He’s so hyper expressive and there’s such beauty in the way he emotes.

We joke about fanfic and how eyes always tell emotions so blatantly in fic. But Adam’s eyes can do that very thing we have all written about and read trillions of times. And it’s unsettling and mesmerizing to see it. 

^^ You know what, I never would’ve thought too much of that in terms of fandom responses to Reylo - bc personally I don’t have to find the male characters (as I’m straight) in my ships attractive to ship them with someone - but I think you hit a nail on the head with this one. Because some of the misinterpretations of Ben, especially concerning his dynamic with Rey, are so egregiously wrong in the face of what’s actually been presented on screen, and sometimes flat-out explained by the directors and the cast. 

My husband just doesn’t understand why I’m obsessed with the acting and character development and how the actors portray the characters in general - he’s adamant that they aren’t that great and that Kylo isn’t designed to be attractive. We have to agree to disagree on the sequel movies (he still watches them with me, because Star Wars), but he doesn’t SEE it the way it’s been designed, how they used flattering angles and specific lighting and let Adam act with microexpressions and emotion conveyed with his eyes.

Look at this lighting, angle, hair styling and tell me that we’re not supposed to view him attractive?

He looks like a prince for Christ’s sake.

Even the dialogue supports our view of Kylo’s attractiveness ; Rey’s comment about how she’s being hunted by a “creature in a mask” and then the wam-bam-thank-you-mam reveal of his human face.

And then, THIS happened….

THAT WAS THE DEATH OF ME. FUCK.

FLUFFY HAIR?

SPONGY REGAL LIPS?

FUCKING PUPPY EYES?

DARK BYRONIC LOOK?

SOLD TO THE DARK SIDE.

^^ Yeah, that’s what J.J. and everyone else were going for. As @unexpectedreylo somewhat alluded to, we’re following this dynamic through Rey’s eyes, remember?

The contents that the reylos create: