Honestly? It’s not that serious. He’s in an uncommon -- not unheard of -- position for a Black actor, being in two major sci-fi/fantasy franchises almost right out the gate, and that’s just how fans are acknowledging it. It isn’t like he was given an Lifetime Achievement Award for scifi at 26. 

That said, Attack the Block is totally scifi horror, so he has done that.

Ah yes, the Mary Sue post that is enraging reylo shippers and bringing a big anti-Poe narrative to the surface (ie: Poe should have died, therefore any cut Finn scenes are Poe’s fault).

Here is the article link:

https://www.themarysue.com/the-last-jedi-deleted-finn-scenes/

Personally, I relate to this article a lot. I looked for the good in TLJ when it came out and defended it to a point (mainly defending Finn’s value to the ST). I too was a fan of John’s going back to Attack the Block (and the Being Human web spinoff). As far as the new generation goes, I’m here for Finn. 

And, like Princess Weekes, author of the article, I get that Rey is the heroine and her relationships will be forefronted. Luke’s story became very much about Vader from EST on. But the minute one makes that parallel, it highlights why Luke’s story with Vader worked so much better than Rey’s story with Kylo. When Luke left Yoda, it was for his friends. RJ thought it would be cool if Rey left Luke, not to try and help her friends (who were in at least as much trouble as Leia and Han were) directly, but to try and turn Kylo.

She could have still made that choice without endless skype sessions, like Weekes said. She’s strong in the force and vulnerable to manipulation. Her believing he could be turned didn’t have to be so basic in its delivery. Snoke or Kylo could have lured her there without devoting all that time on finger touching and having Rey ask about Finn one minute and act like she doesn’t have a friend in the world other than Kylo the next (I guess that can be written off as manipulation, but the fact that these scenes took up so much space allows certain majority voices to claim ownership over the narrative). 

The fact is, it’s not just Rey’s story. Finn wouldn’t have had his own independent arc if it was. And RJ hurt both of their stories by spending so much time trying to make Kylo look sympathetic and sexy. Cutting Finn’s character down to keep as many scenes making Kylo look like a poor baby, even when they were redundant and added nothing to the actual story, makes TLJ look the a calculatedly more white-focused movie. They had more Finn scenes that would have strengthened his story. They chose a gratuitous shirtless Kylo scene.

And because of that gratuitous shirtless Kylo scene and other unnecessary scenes where Rey’s discomfort is interpreted as sexual interest, when Rey does leave Luke to try and turn Kylo, the real reason has been lost. Her reason was the same as Luke’s in ESB – to help her friends. Her real friends, Finn and Leia (she didn’t know Poe at that point). But no, they touched fingers, so it wasn’t about that at all, it was about Rey being in love with Kylo. And I think Rian knew damn well that would happen if it was cut that way, with less Finn and more Kylo. 

I think Finn’s arc far is from pointless in TLJ, even knowing that Rose was apparently written as an anti-Finnrey self-insert. But knowing the choices that were made when they looked at all of these scenes they had to fit into a certain amount of time, he was definitely sidelined, and he was sidelined to make room for less necessary Kylo scenes. 

-Mod HQ

OK, we’re in agreement that Finn doesn’t have to be the “love interest” to be a whole character. The person who said that was wrong. Both Finn and Rey are developed characters in their own right. Which makes a potential romance between them even better, because neither are merely “love interests.”

So we’re on the same page with that. 

Reylo DOES erase the relationship between Finn and Rey, though, which is part of each of their heroes journeys. It’s so uncommon to have two protagonists on heroes journeys where there are no love interests whose sole purpose is to be the love interest.That’s something Tumblr should celebrate, but instead they push it aside to focus on Kylo Ren being Rey’s soul mate. 

Reylo doesn’t erase Finn as a character because he’s nothing without Rey. It erases him because it makes Kylo, the white villain, the heroic center of the universe, not just for Rey, but for the story itself. There’s no room for Finn if Kylo gets his journey, his abusive backstory, his moral center, and his relationships. Kylo has his own journey. He doesn’t need Finn’s.

Just to clarify why saying “reylo doesn’t erase Finn” triggered the reaction it did. I get where you’re coming from when you put it into context, though.

Twelve. Twelve decades, counting from 1895, the year of The Execution of Mary Stuart. That’s just talking about film media. 

-Mod HQ

Submission by @kirkmaynardart