#because Rey can't have any guy friends /obviously/ and Poe /can't/ have any friends that happen to be girls

[the-force-awakens]

Yes yes yes!!!! Even in the movies, the whole “at least he’s not on fire!” “What’s left of him isn’t on fire!” scene to me felt very much like a friendly/familial bickering, they weren’t being rude or mean to each other, they were both a little shocked at the state of everything and that’s how they communicate

They!!Are!!Friends!!And!!Love!!Each!!Other!!

Yes, exactly! Even when they're bickering, they're both very visibly enjoying themselves. Poe's barely restraining the urge to smile, you can see it in his eyes, and Rey doesn't even try to stop herself from smiling when she whips out the "you're difficult". Poe's also smiling when he approaches her, even as he starts being sarcastic??? Like...they like each other, they just bicker as a love language?

Like these are not the expressions of two people who hate each other. They're exasperated by each other right now, sure, but the banter is so familiar for them by this point that they're also enjoying it underneath the frustration.

It also irks me (but just goes to show how frankly astoundingly little the fandom actually pays attention to these characters/can't read them) because we know what Poe and Rey look like when they're interacting with characters they hate/cannot stand...and that energy is not here?

by contrast, think of poe's expression uh. any time he's dealing with the first order, or his anger with holdo when he believes she's just leading them to their deaths. think of rey's absolute fury at teedo or legitimately any interaction with ren (barring the five minutes she gave him the benefit of the doubt and he instead chose to be the one true dick) - Rey does not minimize her anger or frustration with people. She sure as hell doesn't smile smugly at people she hates and can't stand, she's a feral little sand gremlin and if she doesn't like you, you're gonna fucking know it.

And altho their banter/bickering match does deteriorate into a genuine argument, let's see what else happens here shall we? Poe puts his two cents in ("you're the best fighter we have, we need you. out there, not here") and walks away before it can get any worse, allowing them to cool off. And Rey is visibly okay with this, she doesn't look worried when Poe walks off, instead she just has that "fuck my friend rightfully called me out on my shit that I don't want to unpack yet" look. Like, Rey is the queen of abandonment issues - after knowing Finn for a day, him leaving in tfa was enough to hurtle her into a traumatic flashback turned Force vision; and there's no doubt the throne room made that worse.

And look, I'm also the queen of abandonment issues, it's one reason why I relate so heavily to Rey. Which is why Rey's lack of a reaction to Poe walking away strikes me so profoundly: because Rey isn't afraid he won't come back. It takes a seriously deep level of friendship to achieve that. I experience that with my qpps 99% of the time, and that other 1% is when my anxiety is really awful but even underneath that I know they won't leave me. Rey seems as confident in Poe not leaving her as a friend, as I am my committed platonic life partners. Let that sink in for a minute.

which is just another point for me for my qpp jedistormpilot hc tyvm

What happens after that, is that when Rey decides to leave to find the wayfinder, she isn't surprised when Poe shows up to (as far as she knows, tho we know he and finn were planning on going) say goodbye, and immediately makes sure they're on good terms before she leaves, just in case.

Poe also checks in on her before they leave because he notices she's acting strangely/drinking in the scenery like she won't see it again, and promptly spends...a lot of the movie worrying about her?

He grounds her several times in the novelization(s).......but is also one of the reasons Rey snaps in the desert with Ren and the transport. In the junior novelization (iirc), she thinks about all the horrible things Ren has done to her and her friends, and one of the things she thinks before she loses control is how he tortured Poe. And then (I can't remember in which novelization) it's Poe's voice who snaps her out of her shell-shocked daze following the transport blowing up. In the regular one, he also gently tells her in the ship to go take a minute and he'll take care of the flying so she can just....have a breather and process what happened and doesn't hold what happened against her in the least (which we also see in the movie).

And BONUS points he trusts her instinctively aboard the Steadfast when she gets a Force feeling (I think the line in the novel is something like "when she got that look, a fellow knew he ought just to follow"? Or it may have been another scene I can't remember). Like.....they're friends. I don't know how much more explicit the movie could have made it, unless folks wanted them sharing a secret handshake or wanted them to briefly pause the movie to add a powerpoint presentation text above their heads going "they're friends". They bicker and they argue and they get exasperated with each other, especially over their similarities (because Rey is a lot like Poe), but they genuinely love and care for one another, and to be quite honest saying otherwise is a huge fucking disservice to how much Daisy and Oscar put into crafting their dynamic.

[morethanonepage]

☕ + the last jedi

it's sucks.

ok but really TLJ is just. so weird to me. the thing that really gets me. like REALLY gets me. is that RJ was given the second movie of a trilogy, the eight part of a nine part series, and decided that he was -- just going to go FUCK IT to all of the themes and genre expectations and tone of the star wars.

like i'm not even saying that's BAD. Rogue One does a great job with adding more dimension to the events of the original trilogy by basically doing that. Solo wasn't GREAT but it was fun and went in for the heist film element. Most of the subsequent live action star wars shows have had their own twists and tonal differences and unique storytelling viewpoints. And all of that is great!

but MAYBE doing it IN THE MIDDLE OF A TRILOGY that you're not even making any more movies for is uh.........just very self centered of you. like there is a time for subversion! there is a time for thoughtful critiques of the heroes of our childhood!! but is that time REALLY two movies from the end of a nine part series????

it's also SCREAMINGLY annoying to me that everyone associated w star wars/disney corp keep trying to gaslight us into thinking Finn's storyline in that movie was good. like EVEN IF you like the reylo shit and whatever else is going on in TLJ, can you HONESTLY explain how Finn's character arc in that film is ANY DIFFERENT from his character arc in TFA.

In TFA: Finn deserts from the First Order and puts his safety and that of Rey over helping the Resistance bc he's already been through TOO MUCH with the FO and just wants the chance to be free of them & protect his friend, but then comes around to helping the Resistance after all because he realizes the FO needs to be stopped and he's got the ability to help do so.

In TLJ: Finn wakes up and immediately tries to leave the Resistance, putting his safety and that of Rey over helping the Resistance bc he's already been through TOO MUCH with the FO and just wants the chance to be free of them & protect his friend, but then comes around to helping the Resistance after all because he realizes the FO needs to be stopped and he's got the ability to help do so.

RJ gave SO FEW FUCKS about Finn that he didn't even give him a new storyline!!

Like obviously I also find the Poe stuff bad for personal reasons -- Poe's INITIAL, right from the start characterization in TFA is, Leia sends on crucial mission that requires him to gain the trust of a reclusive old man, which he does. The second part of his characterization is, he opts to defend innocent villagers from a FO attack DESPITE that mission, but still thinking ahead to give the map to BB-8 in case he DID get captured. He's kind to Finn and makes a POINT to both object to how he was dehumanized by the FO AND immediately recognize Finn's humanity, despite Finn being a storm trooper LITERALLY five minutes ago. Poe is also shown to be a good leader that his squad mates trust and listen to, and is calm and competent in that planning meeting for the attack on Starkiller. Like he's a normal, competent, fundamentally decent guy. And then TLJ rolls around and it's like, "if I can't blow it up from my x-wing I don't give a fuck about it," with a helping of "The Galaxy's Greatest Misogynist, Poe Dameron, Doesn't Like Feminine Women". To see the cultural conversation change from, Poe Dameron Is The Internet's New Boyfriend after TFA to, Poe Dameron Is The Real Villain of TLJ was certainly uhhhhh something.

Like in general it's just so fucking convenient that the heroes of Star Wars get deconstructed and torn down and demoted compared to the main character White Girl only once those other heroes are cast as non-white. Non-white male characters just can't be competent and good people in a Space Fairy Tale, OBVIOUSLY.

Like in the OT, neither Han nor Leia (nor later, Lando) are not treated with the level of disrespect Finn and Poe are, because no matter what they CANNOT be as good as Rey at ANYTHING. They CANNOT understand her, and they CANNOT be her equal, which is all a function of, isolating Rey so the Reylo shit could happen.

Also I know this is actually more of a TROS complaint but honestly: the co-generals thing bugs me. I know everyone thinks it's cute, I know it was probably meant well but. Leia, Han, and Lando are all generals by the end of the OT. They're never called co-generals. It's never implied that they need to be co-generals because they're not capable of whatever it is their duties are ON THEIR OWN, which is the vibe I get from Finn and Poe in TROS. Like, Finn and Poe both being generals, together, in the same military group makes a lot of sense and would be great. And obviously I love teamwork and I love the idea of them working together. The "I can't do this without you" though is like -- both Poe and Finn are experienced military commanders??? Poe more than Finn TBH but Finn probably makes up for it given the intensity of his FO training. I think they very literally could do the job on their own. BUT THEY'RE NOT WHITE SO NO THEY COULDN'T, I suppose.