j

imagine being mean to me. ok now imagine being nice to me. please

personally i think that the star wars sequels had the potential to be a MASSIVE deconstruction of several tropes that the previous trilogies rested on, especially the importance/saving value of family. like--armitage hux is canonically a survivor of severe child abuse at the hands of his father, rey being the granddaugher of palpatine gets her targeted and provides her with NO support, and a major part of kylo's (implied) character is that he's had the reputation of various family members/the 'skywalker legacy' used against him by snoke/palpatine (not to mention the very real possibility that leia's control issues and involvement in politics could have ended up with him being neglected/abused as well as having his privacy violated repeatedly and consistently even outside of snoke being in his head)! these people do NOT need their family! BECAUSE FAMILY IS THE PROBLEM! which is a fascinating idea in the saga of star wars because family has always been a solution before, but 'family' existed for the skywalkers as an ideal, not as a reality--vader didn't know luke was his son, luke didn't know leia was his sister, anakin was separated from his mother for years (and didn't really get to know owen and beru) and fell to the dark side before his kids were even born. and of course striving for an ideal can be a good thing! but kylo and rey and hux had to deal with family as reality. as a network of relationships with people that may not have been as kind or attentive or loving or caring as the ideal. a set of power dynamics at which all three of them were at a severe disadvantage. children are treated as both property and extensions of their parents: kylo (probably) had his behavior carefully controlled for leia's political work, hux was used as a punching bag at the slightest whim, rey was literally sold to some asshole on jakku!!! family was the fucking problem!!!!!!