#i’m not even tagging kiss because the fandom is hella toxic lol

[squishymamasboy]

my grey opinion on the new star wars movie

TL;DR comes first: It wasn’t a good movie but I loved it and I had fun!!

so yeah, tbh, after the first and second movie I stopped reading up on theories and what-might-happen posts and that was a very healthy decision because this fandom is so full of emotions and personal opinions that I didn’t even know what my own was anymore. Like I was so caught up in discourses that I stopped seeing the movies as something that I should just enjoy.

Obviously I see the problems and agree with shitty stuff like not making Finn and Poe canon. I hate it when people harass producers about their ships and try to make it canon but in this case I can absolutely understand the disappointment because not only did they hint at it (even the actors were supportive of it), it is also very clear that disney was simply afraid of doing it. What’s even worse is: on the one side Nazis hate it because of the 2 second lesbian kiss on screen and on the other side we hate it because that lesbian kiss was once again breadcrumbs that we are supposed to praise them for. But that’s all we’ve been getting for a decade now and I’m tired of it. So there’s that.

In case of plot... I mean, they already lost me after the first movie. It was bound to be bad when we realised that it’s the same plot as the original trilogy. Which I can only appreciate in a sense that it’s supposed to bring the original story closer to the younger audience. Fair enough. But it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s not innovative and that’s disappointing.

And that’s about all that I criticise I think... You can hate the fan service in TROS but I loved it. It’s expected and I enjoyed it because those moments were part of the story and not just thrown to our feet like a treat. Reading up on some discourse now I realise that the second movie was done by someone else and now Abrams was kind of trying to thread everything together and lead it back to his own story again. Which basically makes the second movie irrelevant and makes the third one feel like two movies that were cut together. I didn’t mind it much though. And I kind of liked the fast pacing because I tend to get bored quite easily.

Now to the most sensitive subject: Reylo

Like... I can see the appeal but I can also see why people hate it. I’m not proud of the Reylo fic I wrote and certainly not proud of the fact that it’s my most successful fic. But that might just be because it’s the biggest franchise that I’ve written for in general.

It’s a ship that is hella problematic and fucked up but I tend to like fucked up things while still acknowledging the problems. And even though I shipped Reylo a little I never wanted it to be canon. And before the last movie I was like “I’m so over this ship” but THEN THEY DID IT SO WELL?

Like... I don’t know man, I think they handled Kylo Ren/Ben’s story really well and I’m glad he died at the end because obviously the movie couldn’t end with him being alive because there would’ve been no time address all the problematic things he did. He maybe would’ve celebrated with everyone during the last scene and the really interesting and important stuff would’ve stayed unresolved. With his death he didn’t redeem himself completely but a little, in my opinion. He’s like Snape, doing everything for the wrong reasons but he’s a very interesting character in itself. 

And I get it. I also hate that people are so quick to forgive him and want him to be redeemed when a person of colour would have been demonised within a blink. We’re living in a world where white straight men are the only people that are portrayed as redeemable. I hate hate hate hate that. And I understand that a lot of that anger is projected on Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren has shown abusive behaviour by torturing and gaslighting Rey but Kylo Ren (or Ben) never has been just evil. He has been groomed and manipulated since childhood and this was the way he was taught. He’s like our mum or dad who were treated shitty by their parents and now they treat us shitty too because ‘they don’t know better’. But Kylo Ren is learning throughout the story. Not from the people who gave up on him but on the people he meets along the way (mostly Rey really, which is sad, there should have been other people too). I just wish they would’ve explored his reasoning a bit more. Because I was thinking ‘okay he’s helping her, but what comes after that? Why is he giving up on his thirst for power?' But I guess in the end it’s not Kylo Ren’s story. He’s just a plot device for Rey’s story and I kinda like that.

I think it’s interesting how he is struggling on the dark side because he feels the pull of the light and Rey is struggling because she feels the pull of the dark side. I like their bond and the idea behind it and he opened up to her so obviously she feels like she can save him.

Which is a whole nother problem. I have so many (girl)friends who stay with their abusive boyfriends because they think they can change them. It’s sooo toxic and I can see why people see it in Reylo. But she only tried in the second movie. In the last one she gave up on him and just followed her own path and to me it felt like he realised that he can only do it himself if he wants to. That’s why I really liked the scene with him and Han. It was a reflection of that scene when he killed his father, only now he had the strength to actually give up on the dark side. To me it was not Rey who triggered it by healing him. It was the death of his mother. That boy fucked up so much but his parents were still trying to save him. and I think a part of Leia was still with Ben, that’s why she didn’t vanish until he died.

And Ben died by giving his life to Rey, which was nice... I’m usually sad about the “get redeemed and die” trope but I think it was very fitting. And I have to admit I didn’t mind the kiss as much as I thought I would... If he had lived, I would’ve hated it because he obviously didn’t deserve it. That way though it didn’t matter anyway lol. BUT... it was actually a nice kiss. Because it wasn’t all tongue, it was just their lips being pressed together and almost had a platonic vibe to it? and I can totally see Rey giving platonic kisses to people? I REALLY LIKE THE IDEA OF PLATONIC KISSES. And obviously Ben has never kissed anyone and died a virgin so I’m not sure he felt like it was more than platonic either.

I DON’T KNOW I JUST LIKED IT. It seemed.... innocent. Which was unexpected, considering who they are.

And I liked that Reyfinnpoe had their final hug together because if it’s not finnpoe it’s obviously OT3 and anyone who hates it can block me pffhh.

so yeah, I had fun and I enjoyed it. I guess that’s all that matters at the end.

PS: OMG BUT STAR WARS OBVIOUSLY HAS DRAGONBALL Z/SUPERNATURAL SYNDROME. Everything has to become bigger and every enemy has to be worse than the last (even though this enemy literally is the same throughout all 9 movies ooff)

PS2: now that I’m going through the tag I see people either hating Ben and wishing him dead (HE ALREADY DIED GUYS) or either complaining that he deserved better and that he was so hot and pure. AND I HATE BOTH OF KIND OF PEOPLE ASKJHFDjffg

#tros spoilers #spoilers #star wars #wow that's a lot of rambling