#where hes also angry and hotheaded etc but like. its Different

[bidaryl]

u look at s1 daryl and u think wow u fall in love w a nun in paris in a few years. u international bitch.

[dexi-green]

THE LAST JEDI SPOILERS!!!

I saw a lot of hate for The Last Jedi before I went to go see it. A lot directed at the misuse of Rose and sympathy for Kylo, but knowing tumblr I didn’t take it to heart, and went to go see it. Coming out of the theater I loved it. Yeah sure it was different, surprising, and I guess there were a few moments that weren’t my all time favorites, but i loved it (am I just blinded by my love for star wars so I can’t see flaws? maybe...I mean I love the prequels, and apparently you aren’t suppose to like those...) But when I came back and went on tumblr and twitter to see peoples responses now that I can look and not worry about spoilers, i still don’t get it.

Star Wars isn’t the pinnacle of Representation. Not by a long shot. But I think that it deserves more credit than the internet is giving it. So I’m just going to give my personal opinion on some of the criticisms I’ve seen.

Rose is a Rey Replacement/Meant to break up Stormpilot, Finn/Rose/Poe are treated badly, Poe becomes an angry latinx sterotype, Tries to make us feel sympathy for Kylo:

First off, my personal motto is to not go into movies (especially big franchise films like marvel/star wars/dc/harry potter) with big expectations especially regarding ships. The filmmakers do not care what you ship, and it’s highly unlikely they will be canon. LGBTQ+ representation is something that is desperately needed especially in big blockbuster films, but with the current state of Hollywood, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect it to play out. Also if it isn’t outright stated, I tend to try not to think of any relationship as romantic (I’m not a big shipper anyways).  I’ve just learned that if you want to come out of these movies happy, don’t bring your ships/headcanons in the theater.

Rose is a strong character on her own. She has a lot of potential that they can cash in on with the next film. I would say that she may be a Rey replacement or treated terribly if she would’ve actually died. Then she would’ve just been a placeholder until Finn and Rey reunited. Then she would’ve died with little growth (I say this because episode IX has (like I said) the potential to continue her character arc even more). Within this film she goes from being a maintenance worker, mourning her sister, looking up to the heroes, to becoming a hero herself. Sparking hope in the future of the resistance/jedi (you go Temiri). Infiltrating The First Order and sacrificing herself and delivering one of the most important lines in this trilogy imo “That’s how we’re going to win. Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.” 

I personally feel that saying that all of that is undercut by the fact that her and Finn “fail” or that she is made to kneel in front of a galaxy Nazi or that she got critically hurt at the end, is...saddening. She IS still a strong woc. The fact that she goes through that pain, or fails, shouldn’t take away from the good she does. Same with Finn and Poe. They get thrown around and kicked through the dirt, but that doesn’t make them any less of heroes. Like Yoda said “The greatest teacher, failure is.” and that is what this movie is about. That hope isn’t lost because you fail or make mistakes. That you get up and keep going, learn from what you did wrong and do better.

All writers know that the best way to find your characters true selves is to really push them. Right to the edge. Put them in the worse situations because then they really have to make honest decisions and show who they really are. It makes the audience feel bad, and sympathize for the heroes. It’s the difference between a Superman “I’ve never done bad in my life” type of hero and a Batman/Captain America “I’ve been to hell and back and I’ll fight for what I believe” hero. How interesting would the story really be if the heroes always came out on top in everything they do? The heroes were really on their last leg throughout this entire movie. All of them. Forced to do what they needed to survive. And that makes it that much better when they do pull through. Yeah it sucks to see Finn get berated by Hux/Phasma, so when we see Phasma fall down into that pit of fire, Finn standing over her, You feel that gratification. In TFA when we see Kylo interrogate and manipulate Rey, it makes me feel sick, so when she absolutely destroys him in the battle on Starkiller, I’m so proud and happy. Thats what its about. The triumph of good. But if there is no evil, if there is no bad guys, or no pain, what is there to overcome? What is the point? How do the characters grow?

That is on reason why I didn’t see Poe as an angry latinx stereotype. Because despite some people having a somewhat calm demeanor, everyone else was in the same place as him. He just showed it. I didn’t even seen him as angry/hotheaded. I saw him as frantic. He was scrambling to try and find a way to save everyone. He didn’t want to back down. Holdo/Leia were just calm, and tried to think of other ways. He is standing up for what he believes. And people get angry/upset/loud sometimes. There isn’t anything wrong with that. Not to go into it to much, but I think that is a problem with some people on the internet. They want representation, but get mad if the character isn’t “perfect”. But people are flawed. People get mad and loud, no matter what their race/ethnicity/gender/sexuality/etc. I feel like he would fall into that stereotype if he had...i guess, refused to help Finn in TFA, or anytime throughout that film (where he seems to be smiling in every scene he’s in??)? If he had absolutely flipped on Leia for slapping him or demoting him (and I mean got more than a little loud). If he had been angry for Holdo/Leia for not doing his plan, not because he thought it was the right course of action, but because he wanted to do what he wanted to do and nobody was going to tell him he couldn’t.

Going along with the, push characters to the edge to show the real them, thing... I am 100% not for a Kylo redemption. I can see them doing it, but I say he is a great villain so let him stay a villain. When they were teeing it up, with Rey and Snoke, I wasn’t too happy (But the battle with the Praetorian guards was cool so I was okay for a bit) I did not want him to go to the light side. I was sort of relieved when it was revealed afterwards that he still just wants to rule the galaxy, but is still sort of set in the Sith way of “I’ll have power, and I’ll get it however I can.” So not exactly “good” in that classic sense. With all that being said, I don’t see much wrong with how Kylo is shown in this film.

Rey is manipulated and obviously has her own conflict of light and dark (a bit) so her sympathizing with Kylo isn’t exactly “good” sympathizing with “bad” (especially since this new trilogy seems to want to blur the lines between the two more so, (and hopefully give us a Grey jedi Rey)). And the audience doesn’t have to feel bad for him. We were just given a bit more of his story, and like with the other characters having flaws, the villain is allowed to have nice qualities as well. A lot of popular villains are charismatic, and amazing people persons. They have an alluring nature. A lot do bad because of bad done to them, and are on the edge of being Robin Hood types. A lot of villains aren’t textbook evil 24/7. When we feel bad for villains or antagonists, it adds to the story (i guess maybe just for some people). It causes us to talk and think about them and the story more because we can relate. It allows the messages to resonate deeper with us, and makes us look inside ourselves. In the case of TLJ, How would you let your or someone else’s failure influence you? Would you be like Kylo and seek revenge, power? or would you be like the Resistance and let it motivate you to do better?

I very much agree with people online. The Star Wars franchise, and Hollywood in general can do so much better with Representation. There is many things they could fix. Add in more POC, LGBTQ+, especially main characters. Make them complex and realistic. I know it hurts to see the one character that you see yourself in go through pain, but (and I know i’m going to get hate for this) thats a part of life, and a big part of dramatic action movies like Star Wars. Star Wars isn’t exactly a nice family sitcom. If you go into expecting no one to be hurt, then, you’re gonna have a bad time. I can’t seem to find it but there was a nice post about how every piece of media that tries to have representation doesn’t need to be “THE ONE”. Not every piece of media with a black man is going to have every single black man relate to it. Having more representation isn’t about it being perfect, it’s just that, having more. A straight, white, man can sit down and start watching a film, and if they don’t connect with the story they can turn around and go to something else. That is what we are trying to go to. Have so many different representations of LGBTQ+, or POC, or disabled, etc. communities, so we don’t all have to hang on to the same one. So we can find something we personally connect to. Just because you don’t connect or like the characters in SW, doesn’t mean no one else does. There are soooo many little boys who look up to Finn and Poe and see them as a heroes. Or girls who look up to Rose. They don’t see the negative bits that you might. Even if it is Rian Johnson’s goal to slap around the POC characters as much as possible, a lot of people, outside looking in, don’t see that. If enough people are looking up to these characters as heroes, and more people (the actors, writers, fanartists, comic writers, etc.) get their hands on these characters, does that intention even matter anymore? If we create a supportive community, what does that matter? I know we want representation but to make that a reality people have to stop berating and negatively judging every single bit of representation we get. There is plenty we can attack.So we have to be supportive and critical. Say “I’m so glad that star wars introduced a WOC. Though I think in the next movie, I would love to see her hold her own a bit more.” instead of #star wars hates poc. Otherwise the only thing those big hollywood exec’s are gonna see is negative backlash to their attempt at representation, and they will just crawl back to their straight, white, male, comfort zones. You know how many times hollywood has used the excuse of a film or show with a diverse casting not doing well so they wouldn’t have to do it again. How many times they have manipulated it to be that way? (e.g. The Catwoman and Elektra movies did badly (also got bad advertising) so they avoided making another female led superhero film for a long time.) With overall negative reviews. Then there are things like Saban’s Power Rangers in more recent years. Not the best of the best, but good and entertaining, with a diverse cast, but it did badly and you don’t see marvel or dc picking up a superhero with autism. They look at each other’s numbers, look online and see what kind of buzz it gets, and decide from there what things succeeded and what didn’t and put the good bits in the pot for the next film. So when they see people trashing the representation, guess what part they aren’t going to pick out and use again? I’ll stop now. Edit: I also want to add that I am completely open to talking about this. I do want to hear people’s opinions on why they might have felt uncomfortable with certain things, and what they think should be changed in future installments. I’m open to civil discussions, with people who respect other points of view.