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All links for view / download of Reylo: We Ship it Too #1

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For two years, countless people online have received all sorts of harassment and downright cruel accusations for seeing a potential romance between Rey and Kylo Ren. And now, after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I think it’s safe to say that sweet, sweet victory is theirs: the Reylos’.

It may come as a shock to see the violent reaction to this ship, but it has been a sad reality. Ridiculous accusations ranging from “abusive” to “misogynist” or “racist” have been lightly thrown around on the internet, with no regard for the very much real people on the other side of the screens.

For many of us, that’s water under the bridge now. Even the filmmakers are shamelessly validating the ship. Reylos can finally stop calling themselves trash. But I started thinking about all this people who are new to the ship and haven’t grown callous and impervious to that violence, as many old-timers have. All those shy fans hungry for information but too afraid to ask.

That’s what enrages me the most. That so many people have to be afraid for enjoying something in an innocent, creative way that harms no one. That they have to be harassed for doing something as innocuous as shipping. That they may even believe the awful things spat at them by faceless trolls. That they feel downhearted.

And many people online, us included, feel that not only this needs to stop, but that the ship is actually endorsed by canonical evidence. We have it in heaps.

This is just a small taste of the myriad of theories and analyses that have been developed in this two years about the sequel trilogy, otherwise known as Pride and Prejudice in Space. You can click on all the links provided to sate your thirst, if you are so inclined.

Luckily there are loads of meta and articles written by people who saw the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren as romantic as soon as The Force Awakens came out. I mean, they even predicted the Force Bonds. As a side note: many people didn’t see the potential for romance in the first film, and that’s fine. Sometimes fandoms tend towards elitism and that is something we would like to avoid: whether you started shipping Reylo before TLJ or after, or if you have no interest in metas or theories at all, or if you used to be an anti and now see things differently: you’re here now and we love to have you. Be our guest.

So why do we ship Reylo? Well, for the same reason anyone ships anything, really. In the words of the lovely and amazing @myflairway (who helped me write this and I can’t thank enough): Rey and Kylo Ren are fictional characters that represent the deeper aspects of the human psyche, therefore the audience is intended to recognise aspects of them in ourselves. If we see that there is sexual subtext between them, it is completely normal to be curious about their connection on a romantic level.

As consumers, we love to find, consciously or not, archetypes, tropes and parallels in fiction. Star Wars has been defined tirelessly as a fairy tale, and there is much to be analyzed in that aspect. We are instinctively drawn to these characters and situations because something about them resonates with us; we feel connected to them in some level. Mythology exists for a reason, and the Star Wars universe constitutes a mythology in itself, while borrowing elements from others.

There is, for example, an exorbitant amount of parallels with the Beauty and the Beast story, which has been told and retold countless times in history, in different shapes and forms, each in its own unique way. This is closely related to the Death and the Maiden archetype, about which @ohtze (one of the most prolific, accurate and all around awe-inspiring meta writers in the fandom) has written extensively.  An example of this is the Hades and Persephone story, for those of you interested in greek mythology. Another is The Phantom of the Opera. Or Dracula. Even Little Red Riding Hood. I could go on, but a single article wouldn’t suffice. Trust me, the parallels abound; it’s a freaking minefield. A tale as old as time, indeed.

A concept all these stories have in common is the weight of sexuality and its treatment. Yes, even Little Red Riding Hood. As a society, we are pushed to believe that this is a taboo subject, and encouraged to ignore or actively despise its representation, particularly of female sexuality. The Reylo fandom has received a lot of backlash for this: it is believed that any form of exploration of sexuality has no place in a franchise aimed at children as if they haven’t seen any of the previous Star Wars films, or other Disney films for that matter. By simply acknowledging or showing interest in it, we are seen as perverts.

Sidenote: I’m not even going to begin and try to address the “Reylo is abusive” discourse, as many people have done it better than I could ever hope to. Spoiler alert: it really, really isn’t. To even suggest that is a blatant disrespect and lack of consideration to actual abuse survivors. You know who IS abusive and disgusting? That’s right, Snoke. But I digress.

What we’ve seen in the movies, and in this particular ship, is a healthy depiction of discovering one’s own sexuality, especially in Rey’s arc. Yes, you read that right. I’ll say it louder for those on the back. Rey is discovering her sexuality. And taking control of it, as a woman. The symbolism is strong in this one. Cue the gasping and clutching of pearls: how DARE we go with this interpretation, how DARE we sexualize a female character and give her a love interest. What’s worse, a VILLAIN love interest. SHE’S A STRONG CHARACTER WHO DON’T NEED NO MAN. How DARE we reduce her journey to a love story, or subjugating it to Kylo Ren’s arc. Well, newsflash: we are not.

What we do is analyze Rey’s independent character and her journey time and time again, just as we do with Ben Solo’s. He also receives a lot of criticism for being *gasp* a MALE character who shows EMOTIONS. The AUDACITY. Evidently many people just can’t handle that they are complex, many-layered characters that don’t exactly fit gendered stereotypes, or the way their stories intertwine.

A vital point in both their arcs is the way they connect, and the way they clash. They are essential to each other's stories, without interdependence or loss of agency. Two halves of the protagonist, remember? Sure, this interaction could be aromantic, but look at all this proof that it very much isn’t. Besides, love and sexuality are important forces in a character’s development, just as in a real, flesh-and-blood person’s life. We are sexual beings who need love. And when we put Rey and Ben’s backstories under the magnifying glass, it becomes obvious that the most difficult thing these characters can do is learn to love, and to forgive.

Love is not a weakness of character. It is a strength. By shipping these two sweet, lonely idiots we are not taking their agency away. We are empowering them.

And people can disagree; that’s completely fine. What is certainly not fine is choosing to be belligerent about it, bullying and abusing other fans or the filmmakers and actors themselves. I’m sorry for the violence made against all of them, and this is a small attempt to fix that, to protect you and make you feel validated. What I’m trying to say, all in all, is this: don’t be afraid. You’re not alone.