Violet Dreams

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Ben had no dialogue for the last third of the movie. Lots of editing was choppy and had irregularities. They were either too pressed for time to bring back the actors, or it may be the actors flat refused. I can imagine a situation where Adam was asked to come back in and do voice work for the revised ending. He sees the script. He realizes how fucked up this is. He carefully rereads his contract with Disney, including the provisions his agent has built in that previously accepted film work for other studios can’t be interrupted by Disney’s requests and that Disney must provide a ‘reasonable’ amount of time for him to accommodate them into his shooting schedule.

‘Oh, oops, I had other stuff already scheduled. I can’t do it.’ and they’re like, ‘We can record you over the phone! This morning!’ and he’s like, ‘No. My contract says I need a reasonable warning. I might have some time next week. I need to protect my voice for the shots I’ll have Thursday. Bye!’

me, ten seconds later: but Ben Solo was so full of light and goodness that it took him twenty-three years of constant manipulation to fall and he hated it the entire time, he was always Ben, and he went running armed with only a blaster to save his beloved and rose from an abyss with no help from his ancestors purely to help her, and he didn’t even hesitate before he gave her his life, and he used his last seconds to just look at her, content with the knowledge that she’ll live on, and when she kissed him, it set him free; he finally grinned for what must have been the first time in years–

The downfall of Star Wars rests with producers at Disney who somehow convinced themselves (and us) that a blockbuster trilogy didn’t need the presence of any kind of overarching narrative architect to ensure at least a modicum of tonal or philosophical consistency. It was an act of pure hubris—a supremely corporate, unearned sense of confidence that IP and branding mattered far more than a carefully planned story. In the end, “trilogy” isn’t even the right word, because it implies the existence of three films that fit together in a planned, form-fitting way, as three chapters of a single story. These films? They aren’t a trilogy. They’re more like direct rebukes of each other.

Well, and they take away Rey’s chance to be angry at what was done to her in favor of casting her as the pure heroine. She’s not mad at her parents for failing her — they tried their best and she’s happy that they “protected” her! She’s not struggling with rage and abandonment issues; it’s just the Palpatine influence in her, and that’s easily overcome because she’s so good and pure of heart. 

Ben is much messier, so we’re just going to put him over there and not really deal with that. Shame that he was too far gone, or something. 

In my rawest moments of grief over this, I told my boyfriend that this ending scared me because even though I don’t come from an abusive background, I’ve always felt that there is something “wrong” with me, like I was born with guilt of just being. I’m still trying to understand the why of that, but one part of me saw myself in Ben, and maybe so many of us feel rotten inside, guilty, and we can’t really grasp why. Then we see Ben, who has these same feelings, and he fought them, winning at the end! What a great message!! This means that we can beat this shit too! No wait, he’s dead. And nobody cared. The broken child died and nobody will ever know that he did all that he could to preserve the light within himself.

I think anyone can relate to Ben Solo from all walks of life. In Adam’s first interviews after getting cast as Kylo I remember him saying how much he related with the character and why. He talked about his own relationship with his family and I immediately understood what he was talking about.

So many men and young boys seem themselves in a vulnerable and emotional man who has been abused and manipulated to suck it up and repressed his enotions. To live up to the legacy of his manhood represented by Vader. It breaks my heart that they are being effected negatively by Ben’s death.

Canon TLJ Leia fights TRoS Leia.