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erictmason · 3 years

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The Road To “Godzilla VS. Kong”, Day Four

(Sorry for the delay on this one, Life proved just a bit too busy the other day to finish it; my “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” review is gonna be pushed back as a result too. But! No worries, on we go. ^_^)

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Writers: Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly, John Gatins

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly

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Technically speaking, Gareth Edwards’ “Godzila” from 2014 was the first entry in what is now generally referred to as “The Monsterverse”, an attempt by Warner Bros. Studios and Legendary Pictures to do a Marvel Studios-style series of various interconnected movies (and which, like most such attempts to cash in on that particular trend, hasn’t really panned out; “Godzilla VS. Kong” seems likely to be its grand finale as far as movies are concerned, the only two “names” it had going for it are Godzilla and Kong themselves, and even at its most successful it was never exactly a Powerhouse Franchise). But the thing is, when that movie was made, the idea of a “Monsterverse” did not yet exist; it was only well after the fact that Legendary and Warner Bros. got the idea to turn a new “Kong” project into the building block of a Shared Universe of their own that they could connect with the 2014 “Godzilla”, with a clear eye on getting to remake one of the most singularly iconic (and profitable) Giant Monster Movies of all time. As you might guess from that description, however, said “Kong” project also had not originally been intended for such a purpose; it would not be until 2016 that it would be retooled from its original purpose (a prequel to the original “King Kong” titled simply “Skull Island”) into its present form, which goes out of its way to reference Monarch, the monster-tracking Science organization seen over in 2014’s “Godzilla” and which includes a very obviously Marvel-inspired post-credits stinger explicitly tying Kong and Godzilla’s existences together.

The resulting film is fun enough, all things told, but that graft is also really, distractingly obvious.

Honestly, I wish I knew why I’m not, generally, fonder of “Skull Island” than I am. It’s not as if, taken as a whole, it does anything especially bad; indeed it does a great deal that is actively good. Consider, for example, the rather unique choice to make it a Period Piece; that’s decently rare for a Monster Movie as it is (indeed one of the only other examples that springs to mind for me is Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of “King Kong”, which chose to retain the original’s 1933 setting), and it’s rarer still that the era it chooses to inhabit is an immediately-post-Vietnam 1970’s. Aesthetically speaking, the movie takes a decent amount of fairly-obvious influence from that most classic of Vietnam-era films, “Apocalypse Now” (a fact that director Jordan Vogt-Roberts was always fairly open about), and it results in some of the movie’s strongest overall imagery (in particular a shot of Kong, cast in stark silhouette, standing against the burning sun on the horizon with a fleet of helicopters approaching him, one of a surprisingly small number of times the movie plays with visual scale to quite the same degree or with quite the same success as “Godzilla” 2014). It also means the movie is decked out in warm, lush colors that really do bring out all the personality of its Jungle setting in the most compelling way and, given how important the setting is to the film as a whole, that proves key; Skull Island maybe doesn’t become a character in its own right the way the best settings should (too much of our time is spent in fairly indistinct forests especially), but it does manage to feel exciting and unusual in the right ways more often than not. The “Apocalypse Now” influence also extends to our human cast, which is sizeable enough here (in terms of major characters we need to pay attention to played by notable actors, “Skull Island” dwarfs “Godzilla” 2014 by a significant margin) that the framework it provides-a mismatched group defined by various interpersonal/intergenerational tensions trying to make their way through an inhospitable wilderness, ostensibly in search of a lost comrade-is decently necessary. Though here we already run into one of those aspects of “Skull Island” that doesn’t quite land for me. Taken as a whole, it sure feels like the human characters here should be decently interesting; certainly, our leads are all much better defined and more engagingly performed than Ford Brody, to draw the most immediately obvious point of comparison. Brie Larson (as journalistic Anti-War photographer Mason Weaver), Tom Hiddleston (as former British Army officer turned Gun For Hire James Conrad), and John C. Reilly (as Hank Marlow, a World War II soldier stranded on Skull Island years ago) definitely turn in decently strong performances; I wouldn’t call it Career Best work for any of them (Hiddleston especially feels like he’s on auto-pilot half the time, while Larson has to struggle mightily against how little the script actually gives her to work with when you stop and look at it) but they at least prove decently enjoyable to watch (Reilly especially does a solid job of making his character funny without quite pushing him over the edge into Total Cartoon Territory). I likewise feel like Samuel L. Jackson’s Preston Packard has the potential to be a genuinely-great character; his lingering resentment at the way the Vietnam War played out and the way that feeds into his determination to find and defeat Kong is, again, a clever and compelling use of the 70’s period setting, it gives us a good, believable motivation with a clear and strong Arc to it, and Jackson does a really solid job of playing his Anger as genuine and poignant rather than simply petulant or crazed. But there’s just too much chaff amongst the wheat, too much time and energy devoted to characters and ideas that don’t have any real pay-off. This feels especially true of John Goodman’s Bill Randa, the Monarch scientist who arranges the whole expedition; the Monarch stuff in general mostly feels out of place, but Randa in particular gets all of these little notes and beats that seem meant to go somewhere and then just kind of don’t. Which is kind of what happens with most of the characters in the movie, is the thing; we spend a lot of screen-time dwelling on certain aspects of their backstories or personalities, and then those things effectively stop mattering at all after a certain point, even Packard’s motivations. A Weak Human Element was one of the problems in “Godzilla” 2014 as well, though, and you’ll recall I quite liked that movie. There, though, the human stuff was honestly only ever important for how it fed into the monster stuff; it was the connective tissue meant to get us from sequence to sequence and not much more. Here, though, it forms the heart and soul of the story, and that means its deficiencies feel a lot more harmful to the whole.

Still, those deficiencies really aren’t that severe, and moreover, like I was saying before, there’s a lot about “Skull Island” to actively enjoy. The Monsters themselves do remain the central draw, after all, and for the most part the movie does a solid job with that aspect of things. It does not, perhaps, recreate “Godzilla” 2014’s attempt to make believable animals out of them (even as it does design most of them with even more obvious, overt Real World Animal elements), but there is a certain playful energy that informs them at a conceptual level that I appreciate. Buffalos with horns that look like giant logs with huge strands of moss and grass hanging off their edges, spiders whose legs are adapted to look like tree trunks, stick bugs so big that their camouflage makes them look like fallen trees…the designs feel physically plausible (especially thanks to some strong effects work that makes them feel well inserted into the real environments), but there’s a slightly-humorous tilt to a lot of them that I appreciate, especially since it never outright winks at the audience in a way that would undercut the stakes of the story. Kong too is very well done; rather than the heavily realistic approach taken by the Peter Jackson version from 2005, this Kong is instead very much ape-like but also very clearly his own creature (in particular he stands fully erect most of the time), with a strong sense of Personality to him as well; some of the best parts of the movie are those times where we simply peek in on Kong simply living his life, even when that life is one that is, by nature, violent and dangerous. Less successful, sadly, are his nemeses, the Skullcrawlers; very much like “Godzilla” 2014, Kong is here envisioned as a Natural Protection against a potentially-dangerous species that threatens humanity (or in this case the Iwi Tribe who live on Skull Island, but we’ll talk more about them later), and while they’re hardly bad designs (the way their snake-like lower bodies give them a lot of neat tricks to play against their enemies in battle are genuinely fun in the right sort of Scary Way), they’re also pretty bland and forgettable, even compared to the MUTOS. That said, they serve their purpose well enough, and their big Action Scene showdowns with Kong are genuinely solid. Indeed, the movie’s big climactic brawl between Kong and the biggest of the Skullcrawlers has a lot of good pulpy energy to it (particularly with how Kong winds up using various tools picked up from all around the battlefield to give himself an edge), likewise there’s a certain Wild Fun to the sequence where our hapless humans have to try and survive a trek through the Crawlers’ home-turf.

Where things get a bit tricky again is when the movie attempts to put its own spin on “Godzilla”’s conception of its monsters as part of their own kind of unique ancient eco-system. The sense of Grandeur that gave a lot of that aspect such weight there is mostly absent here, especially; there are instances where some of that feeling comes through (Kong’s interactions with some of the non-Crawler species, for example, do a good job giving us an endearing sense of how Kong fits into this world), but far more often it treats the monsters as Big Set-Piece Attractions. Which is fine as far as it goes, it just also means a lot of them aren’t as memorable or impactful as I might like. Meanwhile, the way the Iwis have built their home to accommodate, interact with, and protect themselves from the island’s bestiary feels like a well-designed concept that manages to suggest a lot of History without having to spell it out for us in a way that I appreciated (I would also be inclined to apply this to the very neat multi-layered stone-art used to portray Kong and the Crawlers except that the sequence where we see them is the most overt “let’s stop and do some world-building” exposition dump in the whole movie). But the Iwis in general are one of the more difficult elements of the movie to process, too; it seems really clear there was a deliberate effort here to avoid the most grossly racist stuff that has been present in prior attempts to portray the Natives of Skull Island, and as far as it goes I do think those efforts bear some fruit; we are, at the very least, very far away from the Scary Ooga-Booga tone of, say, “King Kong VS. Godzilla”, and that feels like it counts for something. I just also feel like there’s some dehumanizing touches to their portrayal (in particular they never speak; I don’t mean to imply that Not Speaking equals Inhuman, but the fact that we are not made privy to how exactly they do communicate means we’re very much kept at arm’s length from them in a way that seems at least somewhat meant to alienate us from them), especially given their role in the story as a whole is relatively minor.

At the end of the day, though, all the movie’s elements, good and bad, don’t really feel like they add up together coherently enough to make an impact. And I think if I had to try and guess why, even as I find it wholly enjoyable with a lot to genuinely recommend it by, I don’t find myself especially enamored by “Skull Island”. It has a lot of different ideas of how to approach its story-70’s pastiche, worldbuilding exercise, Monster Mash-but doesn’t seem to quite succeed at realizing any of them fully, indeed often allowing them to get in each other’s ways. It isn’t, again, a bad movie as a result of that; there really isn’t any stretch of it where I found myself bored or particularly unentertained. But I did paradoxically find myself frequently wanting more, even as by rights the movie delivers on basically what I was looking for from it.

#king kong #kong: skull island #godzilla vs. kong #movies #theroadtogvk #review #ericthemason #my writing

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rorykillmore · 5 years

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Ohhhh now I'm so curious about your taste. Recc me some good female-led horror in general!

god listen horror has become a great genre for women, i’m so proud. arguably it was once a lot worse (which is why not that many older films are on this list) but even then... it was casting women as leads where a lot of genres weren’t tbh. here you go!

suspiria (2018 remake & 1977 original) - i have to rec both although they might be to VERY different tastes. same basic concept; “american girl attends prestigious european dance school and finds it is run by a coven of witches”. the remake is political, poignant, a lot quieter and more slow-moving while the original is vivid, vibrant, not particularly narrative coherent but you will NEVER forget the visuals and the sound design. both feature mostly female casts and center on relationships between women.

warnings: lots and lots of blood/gore/body horror in both. the original is very showy with its blood and guts but it also all looks very Fake for deliberate aesthetic purpose. the remake is a bit more sparse with it but when it comes, it’s a LOT

halloween (2018 BUT ALSO the 1978 original cause you gotta) - i mean... i can’t not rec the original halloween because it produced one of the most iconic women of horror of all time (along with, of course, one of the most iconic villains) but also. the recent 2018 sequel. does an AMAZING job exploring female trauma, mother/daughter relationships, and just generally features a lot of Women Kicking Ass. good option if you like slashers.

warnings: uh... a lot of people die, on screen, blood and guts. sorry i do not remember a lot of specific deaths in the remake, but the original is VERY tame by today’s standards.

us (2019) - i feel like us needs little introduction. everyone knows about us. if you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out on an incredibly fucking performance (or technically, perfomances) by lupita nyong’o

warnings: mostly blood but also some weird surrealist imagery if you’re sensitive to that kind of stuff

hereditary (2018) - hereditary is a heavy film i would only recommend if you’re steeled for... well, heavier subject matter. it’s a lot to do with grief and family trauma and the horrors of that. BUT toni collette’s performance is INCREDIBLE, i’ll go to my grave saying she should have gotten an oscar nom for it.

warnings: uhhh boy. blood, body horror, child death, animal death im pretty sure, LOTS OF UNCOMFORTABLE EMOTIONS

the babadook (2014) - i’m actually not as big of a fan of this one as some people were (not that i DISLIKE it, i just haven’t felt compelled to go back and revisit in awhile) but it’s another really compelling lead female performance comparable to hereditary while being perhaps not... quite as heavy (though still heavy), so it’s worth checking out!

warnings: i’m sorry i haven’t seen this in so long, i don’t remember. i’m pretty sure it’s not super graphic though. i think there’s a weird vomiting scene in it? also it bears mentioning that this and hereditary do some metaphorical and literal examination of mental illness

annihilation (2018) - featuring four women in the lead roles, and people. LOVE. this movie. for good reason. i’m slightly biased because i read the (very different) source material first and lean towards that but this is a STUNNING movie in its own right. if you’re looking for some good sci fi/horror with some really thought-provoking themes, annihilation’s well worth checking out.

warnings: LOTS OF BODY HORROR, also self harm/suicide. probably some other stuff

happy death day (2017) - if you’re looking for some lighter fare, happy death day is SO much fun. very campy, very funny, very... affectionate towards the slasher genre and its own characters. WONDERFULLY entertaining female lead. it’s basically slasher movie groundhog day. there’s no way you’re not gonna have a good time.

warnings: i don’t really think there are many. people die obviously and there is one scene where a girl hangs herself but it’s a pg-13 movie so nothing’s really grpahic

you’re next (2013) - really, REALLY fun subversion of the slasher/home invasion genre here. not... quite as light as happy death day, but definitely not as dark as some of the other entries on this list. very clever and tongue-in-cheek! i can’t say much about the lead without spoiling EVERYTHING but she is phenomenal and you will not regret watching her. most people who watch this movie fall in love with it

warnings: usual blood, gore, etc.

absentia (2011) - do you like the haunting of hill house? hush? oculus? mike flanagan directed all of those, and absentia was really his first kind of... delving into the horror genre before those. it’s a quiet, low budget little movie that’s not very well known but it has stayed with me for years. very poignant, haunting story about a relationship between two damaged sisters and their respective... healing journeys. SO good.

warnings: almost everything happens off screen tbh. there’s a bit of scary imagery but like i said it’s pretty low budget and they make better use of what you DON’T see than what you do

jennifer’s body (2009) - i feel like jennifer’s body has practically reached cult status by this point. do i really need to introduce it? female-led monster movie. GAY female-led monster movie. girl falls in love with her best friend, best friend gets possessed by a demon. written by the eternally witty diablo cody. need i say more.

warnings: i think there’s some gross body horror in a few parts but that’s about it

the silence of the lambs (1991) - very much a crime thriller first, horror movie second, but. yes, silence of the lambs. if you like mystery-thriller-serial killer stories, you can’t go wrong with this. everyone knows it for hannibal lecter but clarice starling is an AMAZING protagonist and very ground-breaking in a lot of ways for the time. it’s a movie that actually actively examines sexism

warnings: hannibal lecter and buffalo bill are freaks, they do stuff like skinning and eating people

alien (1979) - just to include another right and proper classic on this list, ellen ripley is still one of the best women in fiction EVER. you like sigourney weaver? scary monsters? claustrophobic spaces? go back and watch alien. i’d also recommend the sequel, aliens, and i also have a soft spot for prometheus (2012). people are very split on prometheus but i think it had AMAZING potential and, again, great female characters

#i could go on but ill stop there #sorry for the vague warnings in places my memory is bad #horror #Anonymous

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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08/29/2019 DAB Transcript

Job 31:1-33:33, 2 Cor 3:1-18, Ps 43:1-5, Pr 22:8-9

Today is the 29th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today as we around the corner on another week, continue taking steps forward, and allowing God to speak to us. So, let's get to that. We've been reading from the New International Version this week, which is what we’ll continue to do all the way to the end of this week. And in the Old Testament, we are continuing our journey through the book of Job. And today we’ll read chapters 31 through 33. And Job is continuing to pour out his heart. He's listened to his friends plenty. He's in the middle of some things that he needs to say today. So, obviously Job wants an audience with God directly in person. This hasn't happened yet. But let's continue the story with Job, chapter 31.

Commentary:

Alright. So, when we were going through the book of Romans and reading that letter that Paul wrote and obviously it's a very dense letter, a very theological letter. So, we explored a lot of the implications of what Paul was saying then, but as we continue to move forward in his letters, we notice all kind of different types of imagery that he uses and some of it's very familiar to us, especially if we’ve been around the Christian faith for a long time. But Paul is rooted in his Hebrew identity, like even though he is the apostle to the Gentiles and his Hebrew brothers and sisters think he's an apostate and a heretic and deserves to die, all of the things that Paul is saying in his letters are largely rooted in his Hebrew roots. So, he talks about veils today, right? And if somebody just randomly starts talking about veils in a religious conversation, right, you don't necessarily know what's going on, but a Hebrew person would, and a Gentile could learn really easy if they learn a little bit of the Old Testament. So, Paul’s talking about veils today and the reason that he is talking about veils is that he's contrasting the old covenant law that began with Moses and a new covenant that is revealed through Jesus. So, the law had been given to Moses in glorious fashion, which is exactly how Paul describes it. And it was glorious because his face was glowing. Remember, we read this back in Exodus. So, his face was glowing. Moses climbed Mount Sinai to meet God in person on the people's behalf and when he came down his face shone with the glory of God, which caused the people to fear Moses. And, so, Moses put a veil over his face. And, so, for Paul, as he’s looking back at that story for how Jesus comes into the story and carries it forward, this idea of looking through a veil represented the way that people had been viewing the law all along. He says it like this, “their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.” And then Paul starts making this distinction between this new covenant an old covenant. And again, we talked about this when we were going through Romans because we can pass by this like, “no big deal. Of course. Dah. Everybody knows this”, but what Paul is saying in this letter is incredibly or was incredibly controversial at the time he was saying it. So, for Paul, the law constantly pointed out how failure was occurring, right, like how you are failing while the redemptive work of Christ, this new covenant frees us from those failings and makes us righteous before God. And, so, what makes this compelling is how Paul paints a picture of what life might look like if we weren’t looking through a vail anymore. And this is where we need to start really paying attention. “Whenever”, Paul says this, “whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory.” In other words, not through a vail but looking upon His glory straight up we are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Like that’s pretty big stuff on a number of levels. Friends, if Paul isn’t nuts, and I don't think we believe he's nuts, we trust in the Scriptures, if Paul's right then where this Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. The veil has been removed. We can see clearly. Where is the Spirit of the Lord? Well, if Paul is right then he told us when we were reading from the book of Romans that it is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. So, the Spirit of God, then, is within us, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is…do you see where we’re going here…there is freedom. Or for that matter we just turn to the Psalms. “Where can I go to escape from your Spirit” And this is from Psalm 139. “Where can I flee from your presence. If I go up to the heavens You’re there. If I go down to the grave You're there.” Right? Like, “if I go to the far side of the earth You're there.” What Paul is saying here, what the Scriptures are telling us is that we cannot get out of God's presence. His presence, His Spirit lives within us, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. You are a freedom machine wherever you go. And at some point, I mean, at some point, I know, like we can go over this ground over and over…I can go over this ground over and over and over and over and over every year and still not, you know, and still find myself not walking in freedom, at some point in the year just be losing it. Like, I get it, I understand, but I also recognize it really actually is always available. It really is always there. Freedom is always there as well as bondage. It mostly boils down to what we choose. We often think like, “well if I were walking in complete freedom then everything in my life would be easy…like everything would be like moving in the same direction, the wind would be at my back, I would be sailing downhill.” That's just not how life works though, like, not for anybody that I know and that's not how life worked for the son of the living God and that's not how life worked for the apostle Paul or any of the other apostles. That's not how life worked for our early patriarchs that we’ve read their stories. That's not how life worked for the Kings. That’s not how life worked for the prophets. So, we have some sort of ideal that we don't even know we’re talking about. We’re gonna face opposition in this world, it’s been promised. Has nothing to do with whether we’re gonna walk in freedom. So, let’s think about it today. Where's the veil, right? Is the veil over your over your face? Is it over our faces? Or has the veil been removed so that we can see? And hopefully, even for a moment…even for a moment in the Scriptures today the veil has been removed so we can at least see what we’re talking about. Even if we can't reach out and attain it this moment, if we can see what we’re talking about. I am free. I am perpetually free. It is always mine. I just normally don't choose it. Like, if we could at least just get that clear, that we have a beachhead to start walking in freedom. Friends, it’s ours. What would the world be like if we were truly free?

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that because there's no telling what could happen. There’s no telling what could happen in this world if all of Your people who claim Your name, who claim all of this to be true, who are banking on the Bible to be accurate. If this is true, and we believe this was true, and we began to walk in this, we would not be comparing ourselves to each other, we would not be bothered by each other, we would be doing everything in our power to stay in the freedom that You have given us as we are transformed into Your likeness. Like, some of this stuff is so good…so good that…that we haven't even tasted of it. Transform us Lord into Your image with ever-increasing glory as we whose faces have been unveiled contemplate Your glory. This is what the Scripture says. This is how it works. And, so, we consider Your glory and we consider the way You are transforming us and we open ourselves up to You fully. Come, Holy Spirit and bring the light of truth and lead us into all truth we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and, of course, where you find out what's going on around here.

I’ve been talking for a couple of days, not gonna keep talking about it, but it's kind of important, is the update that has been released for the Daily Audio Bible app. and mentioning it more than once on consecutive days because it's such a big update. It's 10 months of development baked into this update and it solves a tremendous amount of little pesky things and sets things up for future updates that’ll be a lot quicker and a lot more meaningful as we…well…we…like I said a couple days ago, like we learned a lot when we launched this and we learned a lot quick and fixed a lot quick but then had to observe and learned a lot. And so, so much of that is put into this so that it will stabilize a lot of little pesky issues, but also so that we’re prepared now to connect it in a more instantaneous way to the platform. So, I know, I mean, it's hard, I'm not a coder. So, I understand what’s going on but even when I start talking about coding language its like…uhhh…you can glaze over because of all of the technical talk. But this is a really big update. So, update your app. If you are on Amazon, if you are on Android, if you are an Apple device user, update your app.

And one of the really big wins, one of the really big exciting things about this new version is the red hotline button, little button up in the header right next to Daily Audio Bible. You won't miss it. That is a hotline. And, you know, we’ve been…we call in and hear each other's voices and pray for each other on a daily basis. And we've been doing that for years. We’re a community that prays for one another and loves one another. This hotline lets you just push a button and you don’t have to dial any numbers. Doesn't matter, you know, what's going on, you can you can start talking and it's got a little timer for you and I just love that. I just left that we can push a button. I just that you can push a button and know somebody’s gonna be praying. And, so, that's incorporated into the app as well. So, definitely take advantage of so much hard, hard work that the team has put in over these months to continue to build what's home for us, what’s home for the community here.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we share to bring God's spoken word to anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to build community around that rhythm, if that brings good news and life and light into your life, then thank you humbly for your partnership. We wouldn't be doing any of those things, truthfully and honestly, if we didn't do them together. So, thank you for your partnership. There's a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or you can just push the hotline button. How fun is that? So, make sure you update your app if you haven't already.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Jazzy from New York City. Last time I called I wasn’t a…oh…well…I was a medical student. I’m a doctor now, I’m a first-year resident and I’m just calling because I still need and advanced residency placement, which means that I’ll go back into the match to apply for a residency position and I just wanted the place that God’s hands. There’s a lot about medicine that I like there’s a lot that I don’t. So, I’m finding myself kind of torn these days in terms of choosing what path to follow and I just I need God’s direction and I would like you to join me in praying for that. I also like…my life’s dream is to get my parent’s a house and I really want to see that come to fruition and I want God’s knowledge and guidance in knowing how to govern my finances accordingly. So, if you can keep me in your prayers. Keep me in your prayers as I work with these patients. I always pray with and for them whether they know it or not because I know that the true healing happens when Father God is present. So, with that I pray that those that may be ill, I pray that those that have been given a diagnosis that has brought fear to their hearts that has gripped them in some way, I pray for peace, and I pray for God’s gentle hand to guide them and heal them…

Good morning my precious family of God. This is Unhidden in Him calling from California. A prayer of blessing. May God’s richest blessings be yours today. May His grace abound toward you, may His love cascade over you, and may the rivers of His goodness flow abundantly through you. May He bless You with health in your body, joy in your soul, and peace in your heart. May He grant you strength for your daily tasks, wisdom in your decisions, favor in your labors, and provision for you daily needs. May God’s great outstretched hands of protection be over you and each family member. May He keep you throughout the day and bring you home safely from every journey. Above all, may He bless you with His presence, keep your faith strong, cause your hope to remain steadfast, and keep your heart forever faithful. God bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. I love you family of God. And Margo from Australia, when I heard you sing, you just put a smile on my face. You have such a beautiful voice and I have been praying for you and especially for missionaries all around the world .

Hi Daily Audio Bible community this is Stephen Pelletier. I am calling in for the first time and great for this new part of the app. I’ve been praying for all you guys for probably the last four or five years anyways, maybe longer and just ask for prayer for wisdom for my wife and I as we begin to look at empty nesting and what’s next. Thank you. Love you all very much.

Hello everyone. Little nervous to do this. I’m a very private person so this is stepping outside the box. My name is Shardane, I’m calling from California. I’m calling for prayer for my family. I have two children ages 4 and 10 who wet the bed for years now and nothing I am doing is working, nothing is solving the problem and it’s a big problem, very frustrating. My children are frustrated, its followed by shame. It’s a very tough situation and I also have a husband of 10 years who is not saved. He believes in God and he believes in Jesus, but he hasn’t had a true conversion and he feels that his religion is __, which brings a lot of turmoil in our relationship, a lot of frustration. I love him and I want him to have a full conversion. I want him to taste and see that the Lord is good. I hope that you guys can help me pray for him but in the same token __ someone who I am unequally yoked with. There’s a lot of heartache, a lot of pain. My husband, he entertains other women and he doesn’t see it as cheating, but I do. I believe in marriage, I don’t want to break up my family, but I’m broken heart. I don’t know what to do. I’m the only provider in my family. I have a whole household of five and California’s super expensive and I don’t even make enough money for us to live on our own. We have to live in a basement. I’m just praying for blessings all around for my finances, for my family, for my children and also that I won’t lose faith or I won’t lose hope because I’ve been…

Hey DAB family this is Gigi from Gainesville giving you an update. I just got…graduated, got my AA from the community college nearby and I applied to transfer to the University of Florida to get a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. Right now, I’m taking the lost three prereqs for that degree and its chemistry II, biology II, calculus and I’m also taking an intro to research class. I would really appreciate prayer for balancing the coursework and understanding calculus and that the administration people, the admission’s office, would really look kindly upon my application. Other than that, I’m doing really well. Sometimes I still feel sick. Like, if I’ve been really afraid or fearful, I find that that’s often the root. And, so, I go back to meditating on God’s love for me and then I feel a lot better. It’s just like, perfect love casts out fear and it works every time. So, well, the main reason I wanted to call is for my dad. He has an appointment on Tuesday, and I pray that really well…the doctor would really have understanding and like just like insight into what would be helpful for dad because we’ve been really struggling to keep his weight up and the confusion that they. Because of the low rate and the lack of sleep he’s not able to do much. Please pray that we would have understanding regarding God’s health. That’s all folks. Have a great day. Bye.

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lj-writes · 6 years

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Rey’s abandonment and the destruction of Luke’s new Jedi: A deconstruction

Warning: I have no idea if I’ve stumbled on to something here or am just pounding sand, but IF I’m right you’d be depriving yourself of a hell of a twist by reading this. Also, I put this in the general TLJ tag because it’s speculation for that movie, but if you’re for or against particular parentage theories and/or ships read the tags before proceeding. There is also a lot of death, violence, trauma and disturbing imagery in this post and a mention of pedophilia (not in support of it, obvs) so exercise caution.

I keep reading theories and headcanons about how Rey was abandoned on Jakku after the destruction of Luke’s school for Jedi, and I find it compelling except for the big glaring timeline problems outlined below. I still feel drawn to the idea, though, and I’ll try to show that this may, in fact, be what happened. I will also discuss some other problems this theory may solve (why Jakku? who left her there?) and how this might put an entirely new spin on Kylo’s and Rey’s stories. Buckle in.

The timeline problem with Rey being left on Jakku after the school’s destruction is that the destruction took place years after Rey’s abandonment. We know that Ben had not yet fallen as of Claudia Gray’s Bloodline, six years prior to the events of The Force Awakens, and the destruction of the school happened after the events of Bloodline when Ben learned of his heritage–that he was the grandson of Darth Vader. By then Rey would have been thirteen years old, far too old to be the child shouting “Come back!”

Right?

Let’s stop right here and unpack the assumptions we’ve made. Here are the facts we know, or think we know, about the destruction of Luke’s school:

Assumption #1: The destruction took place after Ben switched his allegiance and became Kylo Ren.

Assumption #2: Kylo Ren’s fall took place in or after 28 ABY, after the events of Bloodline.

Assumption #3: Kylo Ren killed the Jedi students and destroyed the school.

What if none of these assumptions is true, at least without heavy qualification? It would change quite a lot of what we think we know about the characters and their backgrounds, that’s for certain.

I want to make this very clear, what would not change is the fact that Kylo Ren is a fascist enforcer and mass murderer. This entire post can be summarized as “Cool motive, still murder.” I’m simply wondering if the motive might be so cool that it changes the entire game.

All right, let’s dive in below the cut.

Assumption #1: The destruction took place after Ben switched his allegiance and became Kylo Ren.

Let’s start with the first assumption, that the destruction of the school happened after Kylo Ren’s fall, that is after the events of Bloodline in 28 ABY.

Well, what if I told you it may have happened a lot sooner than that? Impossible, right? I mean, it’s laughable! Anyone who read Bloodline or has a passing familiarity with the new canon materials knows that Ben was traveling across the galaxy with his master Uncle Luke, frequently out of communication with Leia and Han. I mean, if he’d already destroyed the school by this point how could he… be traveling… all the time…

Wait a minute. Is there proof that the school existed at the time of Bloodline? Luke certainly wasn’t acting like most schoolmasters if he was incommunicado much of the time. Why was he traveling so much if he had a school to run?

I combed through my e-book copy of Bloodline for different search terms–”Luke,” “school,” “Jedi,” “Temple,” “Ben” and so on. And while the book said Luke was a Jedi, duh, there was no reference to other Jedi, or to a Jedi school or Jedi Temple in current existence. This itself seems odd, since this was nearly thirty years after the Battle of Yavin, twenty-three years since the war with the Empire ended. Shouldn’t there be a new generation of Jedi already?

The closest reference I could find to the existence of other Jedi and the possibility of a school was this passage:

[Luke] Skywalker had been so long away on his strange quest for the lore of the Jedi that he no longer had much influence outside his own acolytes. He was a figure of myth more than one of flesh and blood.

So Luke has “acolytes,” which seems to hint at followers and possible graduates of his academy. Still, does it strike anyone as odd that he has so little influence? If he left these acolytes in charge of the school in his absence, presumably he would have more influence through these teachers and their own pupils. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case, as though there had been some disruption that broke that chain.

I also talked to @absolxguardian, who unlike me has actually finished the book (and for the record is against my madcap theory so don’t blame her), and she confirmed that she does not recall a direct reference to a school. If you’ve found any, please inform me and we can all have a good laugh at how I was obsessing over nothing.

For now, if you want to come deeper down the rabbit hole with me, you’ll have to accept that there is at least some basis to think that Luke’s school was destroyed before 28 ABY, say, a little less than a decade earlier? Maybe prompting Luke to go away on his strange quest and fade into legend? Without that premise none of what comes below works.

Assumption #2: Kylo Ren’s fall took place in or after 28 ABY, after the events of Bloodline.

Let’s move on to Assumption #2, that Kylo Ren’s fall took place on or after 28 ABY, presumably after he learned that Vader was his granddad. You can see how grabbing and shaking Assumption #1 weakens Assumption #2 as well. If the school was destroyed long before 28 ABY and Ben had something to do with it, then clearly it wasn’t just the extra branch in the family tree that sent him over the edge. He had already gone over, or was at least hovering around the edge, for some time now.

But wait, it was Ben who was accompanying Luke on his travels to esoteric holy places. If the timeline went as I proposed above, how could he have fooled his uncle, a Jedi, so completely?

Jedi have been fooled before, though. That was pretty much the plot of the prequel trilogy. Maybe Ben was a manipulator on par with Palpatine or he wasn’t (he wasn’t), but he may have had a master manipulator on his side. That’s right. Snoke, the guy Leia says was watching Ben from the shadows and manipulating him.

One excellent way for Ben to be in his uncle’s good graces and not fall under suspicion was to bond over their shared tragedy, the destruction of the Jedi school–remember, acceptance is the price of entry to this rabbit hole!–and their status as traumatized survivors. What an act! Why, he must be as good an actor as Adam Driver to pull that off!

But what if it wasn’t all an act? Which brings me to the third assumption…

Assumption #3: Kylo Ren killed the Jedi students and destroyed the school.

This is the part that is going to get me anons, and possibly a defamation suit if I’m wrong and fictional characters can sue. Here’s where the cool motive part comes in, and may unravel all the pesky details of Rey’s abandonment that have been troubling me. Step deeper down the hole with me.

What if it wasn’t Ben who killed the students.

What if it was Rey.

Yes, tiny, maybe five-year-old Rey, with skinny arms and her piping child’s voice. That Rey. I told you this would get me anons.

I mean, why would she? Not out of malice, obviously. I don’t believe for a second Rey is a murderer, but rather a weapon. I haven’t worked out the exact mechanics, but much like my earlier Rey Solo theory, I think Snoke may have turned her raw power against the students, killing them. Maybe she was a student, maybe she was a visitor, but whatever she was there for that day, things turned deadly and it became a day of indelible tragedy.

Now that we’re far enough down the rabbit hole and know what we’re working with here, let’s take a freefall down Headcanon Shaft. It’s quickest, and hopefully entertaining, to tell it in fic form without all the qualifications and hedging, so bear with me. Just remember that I’m not telling a definitive version of this theory, simply presenting one way it could work.

A note on the relationship between Ben/Kylo and Rey: This theory works best with Rey Solo as Ben’s sister, but could also work for Rey Skywalker. It might even work with Rey Kenobi, Rey Random etc., though with a big dose of “why?” (One particular part of the headcanon only works if Rey is Vader’s granddaughter, but the theory could work without that part.) I will use the name “Rey” for the purpose of this headcanon, though as a theorist I prefer “Breha.”

I hope it will become clear, though, that even with Kylo and Rey being unrelated this version of events pretty much closes out the possibility of romance between them.

“One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all.”

Rey is unconscious, having spent even her incredible powers. She looks so small among the wreckage and the other children and the adults who tried to defend them, with one difference–her chest rises and falls, where the others’ never will again.

Ben knows. He has gone from body to body, checking, searching, hoping. Now he kneels by Rey’s side, among the fragments of the world they used to inhabit.

But one thing is clear through the fog of shock and sorrow. This wasn’t Rey’s fault, and he has to protect her by any means necessary.

It’s at this point that his trusty advisor, this wondrous man who’s been teaching him so many secrets of the Force, whispers through their link that she can never live a normal life now, that the vengeful surviving Jedi will come for her and lock her away forever. She has to be hidden in a place where she can’t hurt others or attract attention.

But where? Ben asks, sobbing, cradling Rey’s tiny body in his arms. Her clothes, her skin, her hair are stained with the blood of other children, which he tries to wipe away only to smear it around.

Jakku, comes the answer, and Ben’s heart tries to both sink and lift at once. It is a place powerful in concentrated Force energies that will tamp down on Rey’s powers, keeping her and others safe. But it is so remote and far away, it’ll be just like losing her.

There is also no other choice if he wants to keep her free and others safe at the same time. He swears to her that he will clear her name, make the galaxy a safe place for her so that he can bring her back and she can once again live in her own name.

He must act quickly before the adults return. He burns the ruined school down so that Rey’s body will not be missed among the others, apologizing to the dead students and their families. The fire glints red off his tears.

Then he takes the Millennium Falcon, his father’s ship that his parents were using to visit, lays Rey in the back, and launches off. This time he apologizes to his father. He has a feeling he will be making a great many silent apologies in the years to come.

He uses a Force trick his friend teaches him to silence the memories from Rey’s mind. His heart aches again, but again he has no choice. If she remembers who she is she will try to make her way back, and all will be ruined. She could spend her life locked up, might hurt other people again.

Most of all, though, he doesn’t want her to have the memories he will carry for the rest of his days. Just sparing her that may be worth all of this.

She wakes up during the hyperspace jump and is confused but happy enough to chat perched in the copilot’s seat, though he can see she has no clear memory of him. He keeps her entertained by talking to her and distracting her with the old knick-knacks on the ship. He tells her they are taking a trip and will be home soon.

Once he lands on Jakku his will nearly gives out, but he has come too far and this is the only way. “Wait here,” he tells her, seized with the terror that she will wander away and he will never find her again. “I’ll come back for you! It will be all right.”

He exchanges the Millennium Falcon for a freighter with instructions to get rid of the ship, his heart bleeding at the thought of his father. He does not look back as he boards his new ship and leaves Jakku behind.

“Come back!” she screams, though he cannot possibly hear her at this distance through the hull of his ship. He makes the jump to hyperspace too soon, almost hoping to disintegrate. Her voice echoes through the Force for a long time.

He sends out a distress signal when he is safely away from Jakku. When found, he tells a story about how the school’s attackers kidnapped him and he managed to escape. He’s not sure how good it was. The adults, already ashen and dazed, likely do not have the heart to prod and have their world collapse on them once again. He knows what that feels like.

Over the years the secret expands inside him until it threatens to spew out every time he opens his mouth, so he stops talking. About anything that matters, anyway. Every time his mother goes expressionless and numb, every time his father travels away without word when he’ll be back, Ben grits his teeth and clamps down until his ears ring.

“I just never should have sent him away. That’s when I lost him.”

When Luke decides to seek the lore of the Jedi instead of rebuilding the school and asks whether Ben wants to come, he jumps at the chance. Home was becoming unbearable, and he has his own reasons to seek knowledge of the Force. Leia is hesitant but Ben persuades her to let him go. He needs to continue his training, he tells her, and Luke could use the backup. His father is all right with the idea. Ben doubts he even cares. He watches his mother spend her evenings alone and despises the man.

Ben has another reason to stay close to Luke’s side: He knows Luke wants answers about the night his school was massacred. That’s all right, though, with his friend to advise him Ben can find out ten times as much as Luke and stay ahead. And if Luke gets too close to the truth, Ben can kill him.

The first time the thought occurs to him it frightens Ben. Then it comes again, and again, and he grows used to it.

He often wonders during his travels whether Luke suspects anything. At night, when his uncle sometimes turns and cries out, he wonders if it wouldn’t be more merciful to end his misery. He certainly wishes someone would do him the same kindness.

He sleeps with a cloth stuffed in his mouth so he would not cry out something fatal in his sleep. He tries to picture Rey but cannot imagine what she might look like now.

“There was nothing we could’ve done. There was too much Vader in him.”

Almost a decade into their travels Ben is a man, and has learned a great deal but is no closer to solving Rey’s puzzle. Then Luke sits him down and tells him the truth about who he and his sister’s father was, throwing aside the lie they had been telling Ben, the galaxy, all these years.

Ben realizes at that moment that there will be no peace or freedom for Rey or for him. If the universe is to be made safe for Rey to reveal herself, there must be no Force users left to threaten her.

There is a way, his trusty friend tells him. Gentle and noxious as dust on the wind comes a name: The Knights of Ren.

It’s just as well. Once the killings begin they will think he was the Jedi Killer from the school, and it is no lie. That is what he will become, there was just a small time difference. It will make things better for Rey, and that is all that matters.

That night Ben leaves the camp. He looks back one more time at Luke’s sleeping face, troubled in the firelight. He toys with the idea of ending things here, but turns and leaves instead.

He might come to regret it, but regret has become an old, old friend. He is twenty-four years old.

In which I deal with a torrent of objections

If you’re still with me, you probably hate me. Let me answer a few of the possible objections and go into how this theory helps fit some of the puzzle pieces together.

But Ducain stole the Millennium Falcon from Han!

That’s what Han said. Who’s to say his information was accurate? In my version of this theory he and Unkar Plutt were told that story by the same person, Ben Solo.

But since there is evidently text in the incredible cross-sections book about Ducain refurbishing the gun turret while he had the Falcon, let me propose an alternate timeline: Ducain stole the Falcon from Plutt’s parking lot and kept it for a time, during which time he invested in the aforementioned enhancement. The Irving Boys stole it from him, and then Plutt stole it back. Han tracked the train of custody down as far as Ducain, so he assumed old Duc had stolen it directly from him.

Much as in my earlier Rey Solo theory, this version of events adds a layer of emotion and urgency to Han’s search for the Falcon. Since its disappearance is tied to the events at the school, Han would be looking for answers as well as the ship itself. It also explains why he seemed resigned but cool with (evidently) not having the Falcon in Bloodline but was super keen to find it in The Force Awakens: With the revelation of his son’s duplicity it became a much more urgent question for him.

So why didn’t Unkar Plutt get rid of the Falcon?

Does Unkar strike you as a good-faith kinda guy? Ben probably didn’t instruct him to keep Rey in a half-starved state of indentured servitude, either. Plutt also probably knew the ship and smelled a bigger payday down the road. (Anyone else getting a Cossette and the Thénardiers vibes?)

This theory is incredibly white-prioritizing, to have the entire plot and twists wrapped around these two characters and to creat this incredibly convoluted back story just to make Kylo seem sympathetic.

Yes, it is. Unfortunately, given the way Rian is talking I think that makes this theory or something like it all the likelier to happen.

It’s also sexist as fuck, to reduce Rey to an object to be used by Snoke and “saved” by Kylo Ren, and to inflict this undeserved trauma on her.

I completely agree. I hate it, actually, but it does seem to tie a lot of things together and… did I mention I hate it?

This is Reylo and I hate/love you for it!!

This is actually the most anti Reylo theory right up there with Rey Solo (which is likely to be true if something like this happens, because come on). Even if Ben did all this for a girl totally unrelated to him, which is unlikely, if this backstory results in a romance it would be the creepiest grooming bullshit of all time. It would be even worse than if Rey and Kylo had never met before TFA. It’s arguably abusive even without the romance aspect.

Speaking of which, JJ said Kylo and Rey never met!

So we’re into believing JJ now? Not only does he have a track record on this point, why the heck are you believing the cast and crew whose job (well, part of it) is to mislead you? He can always walk that comment back with “never met in this movie” and such.

There are a whole lot of other objections, but you’re too tired and on edge to think of them at the moment.

Correct. Have at ‘em in the asks, reblogs, comments etc. Keep your capslock on. We have to fill the time somehow until TLJ opens, right?

So is this theory actually good for anything?

I should hope so, since I’m staying awake until an ungodly hour to type it up. Here are some of its advantages, as I see it.

1. It gives Kylo Ren the sympathetic back story we were promised, but doesn’t make him a puppet or a secret good guy. It also shows the depth of Snoke’s manipulation while also giving Kylo Ren agency.

2. It explains the Millennium Falcon’s presence within sight of Rey all these years, for as long as she can remember according to Rey’s Survival Guide.

3. It gives emotional depth to Rey’s fascination with pilot imagery, which was also a big part of my previous Rey Solo theory but which never quite fit because I couldn’t think of how to make it emotionally satisfying on a visceral level.

Rey knew that she was waiting for a pilot, hence her sense of comfort from wearing a pilot helmet, keeping a pilot doll, doing flight sims and so on. While it’s unlikely Ben was in a Rebel flight suit there was plenty of Rebel and Empire paraphernalia to be found from the ruins of battle, and she may have made the association. Something probably told her it wasn’t an Empire pilot she was waiting for because oh, the irony…

4. It explains why Rey had to be left on Jakku, which just happens to be a pivotal place in the new canon. absolxguardian’s excellent Rey Palpatine theory also addresses this.

5. “WHAT GIRL?” Kylo Ren heard “Corellian YT model freighter” and “girl” and immediately made the connection. Under this theory, he was probably thinking the whole time about where Rey was in relation to his location and later the location of the search parties.

And remember how pissy he got with Hux about the droid being recovered, not destroyed? I mean I bet he’d love to have a chat with Uncle Luke and all, but was he also trying to set limits on how destructive the mission could be (as in, no bombing from orbit)? Of course it turned out to be plenty dangerous for Rey anyway, but I think we’ve established by this point that Kylo Ren is a master of intellectual and moral laziness, seeing only what he wants to see.

6. It explains Lor San Tekka and the Church of the Force’s presence on Jakku so near Rey in a “correlation is not causation” kind of way. They were there for the same reasons, Jakku’s being some kind of important Force spot. Rey’s presence did not cause San Tekka to be there, but it was also not a coincidence that they were there at the same time.

7. Speaking of which, “There’s been an awakening. Have you felt it?” This line was spoken after Rey left Jakku.

8. Then there’s this part of a deleted scene of Kylo searching the Falcon:

[Image description: Kylo Ren stands in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, hunched over and clutching the backs of the pilot’s and copilot’s seats]

See how he’s gripping the copilot’s seat closer with his right arm bent more than the left, almost like he has an arm around someone’s shoulders? Is he remembering the last time he saw little Rey in this chair? I always thought he looked like he was in some sort of pain here, and with my theory goggles on I the pain might have been even sharper and more immediate than I thought at first.

At the end of this cut he says to himself, “Han Solo.” But why? Did he really need to grab the seats to feel his father’s presence? Dude, I don’t have the Force and I could have told you it was Han just by looking at the damned ship. It’s the Millennium Falcon! That crashed through an impregnable shield! How much surer can you get, sniff the seats for Essence du Ford?

No, I don’t think the “Han Solo” line was him feeling his father’s presence. I think he was steeling himself for what he had to do. Yes, I’m going there. Yes, I do believe…

9. This theory explains why Kylo Ren “had” to kill Han. Again, this works best with Rey Solo, but could fit Rey Skywalker, Rey Random etc.

Think about it. He knew from early on from Snoke, in the “There’s been an awakening” scene, that Han was with Rey. Han had talked to her. He could have recognized her, especially if she was his daughter. Rey’s entire cover, the whole reason for Kylo’s existence for the past 15 years, was about to be blown.

Doesn’t that put Snoke’s comment in the earlier scene, that this was going to be a test such as Kylo had never faced, in a whole new context? Kylo knew it then, and he’s realizing it anew: It’s too soon for Rey to be known. Han has to go.

“I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” Kylo’s words to his father. If killing Han is for Rey’s protection, the idea that he “has” to do it takes on a whole new gutwrenching meaning.

The “Thank you” at the end might well have been genuine–thank you for dying to protect her. I won’t forget this.

And when Han touched his son’s face before he fell? He may well have realized the truth he may have suspected, what his son had been carrying all these years. It was monstrous, it was unthinkable, and yet he understood.

Because Han might have done the same.

10. From the novelization, when Rey catches the lightsaber: “It is you.”

11. “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before.”

What if it wasn’t Ben that Luke was talking about here, but Rey?

012. “Something inside me has always been there. But now it’s awake, and I need help.”

She sounds thrilled about what’s awakening in her, doesn’t she? Why is Rey so terrified of the Force, anyway?

13. “Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you’re meant to be.”

Hmmmm

14. “Fulfill… your… destiny!”

HMMMMMMM

"This isn't going to go the way you think!"

I really don’t think Rey’s parentage is going to be the SHOCKING REVEAL we’ve been promised, not like Luke’s parentage in The Empire Strikes Back. The “I am your father!” line was shocking because we weren’t thinking about it and nobody saw it coming. If his parentage had been left as an open loop that fans had been given three years to obsess over, someone would have come up with Vader as the father because that’s dramatically appropriate. Or, you know, because everyone would have been Luke’s father by the time ESB rolled around.

With Rey, the parentage was teased from the first and fans have already come up with every theory under the sun and from where the sun don’t shine. That’s not a shocking reveal, it has to be handled for maximum emotional satisfaction and not for shocks.

The twist has to be something we’re not looking at, and we should be looking at Kylo Ren. The amount he has been talked up, the gushing about what a relatable villain he is, cannot be a coincidence even if it’s distasteful to me.

In this post I’ve presented several assumptions that fans have been holding without question, much like Luke’s father being a) dead and b) killed by Darth Vader. I showed how they can be twisted within the bounds of known canon. Whether I’m right or wrong about this theory, the actual twist is going to do something similar by tackling our unexamined assumptions and totally blindsiding us.

I hope you’ve found this exercise entertaining, whatever the twist turns out to be. Hopefully we’ll all find something to enjoy in The Last Jedi.

#safereysolo #anti reylo #rey skywalker #rey solo #kylo ren #star wars #the last jedi #speculation #meta #theory

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extemporaneousmusings · 6 years

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ok first off you're object canyon post was really interesting!!! secondly it got me thinking about sappho and her fragments!! all those gaps + mis/interpretations and there is this thing anne carson has said about the fragments and the spaces they make + cultivate almost that is so beautiful and interesting, like the way the poem breaks &leads to a questioning, enticing lack: "There is the space where a thought would be, but which you can’t get hold of." [also i feel this way thru my whole life]

Thanks for this ask, Anna! Sorry I’m responding a bit late, Iwanted to do it justice. I also apologize in advance for how long this got.

I’m really glad, and also unsurprised that you thought ofSappho/Anne Carson’s treatment of her fragments. Sappho is the postergirl for fragments in a lot of ways, and Anne Carson’sflexible and creative treatment of them engenders this spotlight of attentionto the idea of a Fragment. That’s the eternal appeal of Sappho in some ways,that her work can resonate so deeply, while being so achingly, visiblyincomplete.

I think that this idea of fragments, especially as they mapon to our own attempts to understand humans in the past, extends way furtherthan people often recognize. Sticking with literature for a moment (before Imove to material culture, bc I’m me…) we can consider manuscript traditions asan entity in and of themselves. Sappho is glaring and obvious, in the gaps. Butevery ancient text that we inherit has holes, or has been miscopied ortranslated at some point in time. They’re cobbled together from scraps ofpapyrus, manuscript pages, quotations inside other works of literature, etc. I’mcertainly no lit. scholar, but every text that we get has been altered in someway, even if it appears more-or-less whole in its presentation. When you readancient texts in in their original language, sometimes you’ll have theadditional suggestions/words listed in the footnotes, so the text itself seemssmooth but belies its patchwork reality. Other time you’ll have a pair of thesedaggers ( † ) which indicate that despite theeditor’s best efforts, the words/phrase they surround are nonsensical orextremely fraught, with no obvious solution. (In my undergrad Latin courses we’dcall them the Daggers of Despair/Doom).

But beyond manuscript traditions, everyone’s understandingof words and language is individually contextual. You build up your personalunderstanding of words and language through the ways that you see words andphrases used, and the ways they make you feel. The connotations of individual wordscan be so deeply personal, and dependent on where and how you’veread/heard/seen them. This is all even further complicated when you are workingwith something in translation, or trying to translate something yourself! SometimesI’m truly surprised that humans are even able to communicate with each other atall. This is all fragmentary in a way, in the sense that even if a piece ofwriting is completely unaltered from its conception, to publishing, toconsumption, different people can and will conceive of it in different ways.

I’m sure at this point, that I’ve made my own inherentbiases and opinions clear, regarding the deep subjectivity of language andliterature. I think that, because of the place that language holds in society,people can often and easily forget how flexible and fragmentary it is. Whentrying to understand things about humans who lived in the Classical world, Ioften find my colleagues who work on literary and historical problems (thatdraw heavily from literature) stating, whether explicitly or implicitly, thattheir evidence is more whole, more clear to understand or interpret than mine,because somehow their understanding of language provides them with more, ordeeper knowledge than what can be derived from material culture.

Obviously I think this is bullshit. In my Object Canyon postI say at the end that we can never recover the full depth and extent of the visualimagery that the die cutters (people who made the coin designs) drew upon andutilized in their compositional processes. That’s true! I don’t think I’ll everbe able to understand the full context and connotations that shapes, images,and objects meant to people in the ancient world. But I also think that I can tryto approach an understanding.

To give an example, I am working on an assemblage right now froma cave that was probably used as a votive deposit for several centuries. Of the several hundred sherds of pottery from it, I will show you just one.

What the fuck is that, you may ask. Great question. What I’mabout to tell you is knowledge I’ve accumulated over years of touching, lookingat, and thinking about fragments. It’s a small piece of a specific type of drinkingcup, called a kylix. It was made in Athens, probably during the 6thcentury BC. (Honestly I can probably narrow it down to a couple of decades butthat’s kind of irrelevant).

The black pattern you see ‘painted’ on it is the splayedhand of a figure, most likely either a human or a satyr. The little bit of black glaze at the bottom left is probably the tip of a beard. I’ve included aparallel from the Met’s collection that isn’t perfect, but is the right shape(a mid 6th century band cup) with a processional scene.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1917, 17.230.5

Here is a zoomed in detail of one of the figure’s hands, which is similar, although not exactly the same as on mine. (note my dude’s ithyphallic genitals, pls. it’s irrelevant to this conversation, I just love dicks on pots.)

Usually youget this splayed, outstretched hand motion when dealing with either drunken satyrs in a Dionysianprocession, or drunken humans in what’s called a “komos”. Even though thecomparanda I’ve provided is an intact vessel, it can still be considered a fragment, inthat I don’t know where it was found, how it was used, and other pieces ofinformation that compose the reality of an object’s existence.

Beyond what my fragment shows,which is in all likelihood an extremely common scene for Attic vase painting ofthe time period, what does it represent beyond that?

Well, it’s extremely high quality, in terms of clay andproduction. You obviously can’t tell this from the photograph, but it’s verythin, which is an indication of skill on the potter’s part. It was found in acave that lies on the outskirts of the traditional extent of Athenianterritory. Therefore, it had to travel, probably 2-3 days walk from where it wasmade to where it was ultimately found, and up a mountain as well, whichindicates further effort on the part of whomever deposited it. There’s evenfurther information about the sorts of people who had access to this sort ofpottery, etc. but I’m not gonna go it to that here bc this is getting reallylong…

Aside from being totally self-serving and gratuitous, what evenis the point in talking about this tiny sherd of pottery? As an archaeologist,pretty much everything I deal with is unquestionably fragmentary. The degreesto which things are broken, and their original identity is obscured variesgreatly, but regardless of the medium or material, the passage of time hasfragmented the past in some way, and that is reflected in what comes onto mystudy table in the summer, or the readings I do for class. But we can still derive remarkable amounts of information from those fragments, and string that information together to form comprehensive, compelling, and consuming narratives.

We will never be able to fully reconstruct the past, andhonestly, we can never have a completely whole understanding of the presenteither, given the individual nature of the human experience. So, everythingthat we touch, see, or hear is in one way or another a fragment. Once you acknowledge, truly and deeply, thateverything you’re ever going to work with, or look at, is a fragment in someway, the better you will be able to analyze it, on its own terms, as well asour own.

That can be difficult and uncomfortable, for sure. But italso opens the scope for creativity, interpretation, and ingenuity as well. And that’s definitely the space and mindset that I try to apply, always, even though it is a constant struggle.

#writing #research #this was a ridiculously long answer I'm sorry #I also apologize to all my lit friends #both for totally shading ur integrity #and also for such a shoddy job summarizing the processes behind manuscript traditions #i-burn-i-pine-i-perish

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oilskirt7-blog · 5 years

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Behind an all-star Americana collaboration (Mark Erelli interview)

It’s funny to hear Mark Erelli describe himself as “largely unknown,” since I’ve admired his songwriting and singing for years. But I suppose all things are measured on a scale, and weighed against the Taylor Swifts of the world, his assessment is fair. That being said, he’s a frequent sideman for both Josh Ritter and Lori McKenna, and in the smaller world of folk singer-songwriters, he’s well respected for his own music too.

Aiming to make Americana’s first socially-conscious, multi-artist project (like “We Are the World,” only with more acoustic guitar), Mark recently recorded and released a single about the gun violence epidemic. He called in some favors from a number of other notable singers, including Ritter and McKenna, Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, and Anaïs Mitchell — and partnered with Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s Courage to Fight Gun Violence organization, which receives 100% of the proceeds.

“By Degrees” is a great song — Rosanne Cash called it “the most compassionate, vivid and non-preaching anti-gun violence song I’ve ever heard” — so I wanted to ask Mark Erelli some questions about the writing process, the collaboration, and what it’s like to distribute and promote a song that has such a clear social purpose. My thanks to him for taking the time.

As someone who admires your songwriting, I’m curious — if you can average out such things — how much stuff do you throw away, compared with how much you keep?

I guess it depends what is meant by “throw away” and “keep.” I might have anywhere from 15-30 new songs when I begin making a new record that will ultimately only have 10-11 tracks on it. It might seem that I throw away as much as 2/3 of what I write, but the just because something doesn’t make the record doesn’t mean it’s discarded.

Some songs get used on future recordings or as part of a concert set. Some of those songs have imagery that I love, but it’s not enough to carry that particular song. Oftentimes, the same or similar lines may appear in a completely different context in a newer song, but does that mean I threw the first song away, or was it just a draft that I had to work through to get to the one I “kept?”

How do you know whether it’s time to discard it, set it aside, or move ahead?

If I’m trying to decide what stage a song is at in this process, the guiding principle is always “what am I trying to say?” Does the song communicate an idea clearly, does it evoke a deep emotional response? If it does, I keep it. If it doesn’t, then I know I’m not finished with it yet. This process can take an hour or two or, literally, years.

“By Degrees” has four strong verses, but for me the real punch of the song happens in verses five and six, when we have to consider the children. Maybe that means I’m as numb as anyone to the feeds and headlines and arguments you refer to earlier in the tune, but Jesus, the kids! When you were writing, did you discover those verses later in the process, or did you start with the kids, and reverse engineer the song?

I don’t always write linearly, but I think in the case of “By Degrees” I did write the earlier verses first before following the river downstream. It’s not religious, but it is a very “moral” song, in the sense that I felt the need to explore why all these little changes and degradations matter. Adults, at least some of them, can think critically and see how we got to where we are. But the thought that this sort of gun violence might be the only sort of world my kids knew was and remains a sobering thought, so bringing it back to the kids felt like a very natural conclusion.

As I write in the song, I really don’t know what to tell my boys (ages 8 and 11), so I have not had any explicit conversations about societal gun violence with my kids. They’ve heard the song many times, of course, but I’m not sure those later verses have sunken in yet.

Why make this song a collaboration?

I grew up in the 80’s with MTV and I still have vivid memories of things like “We Are The World,” where multiple artists banded together behind a common message. Not that my song is on an equivalent scale, but I felt there was a place for a project like this in the Americana scene. It’s a relatively new designation, and though many great artists identify or are identified with the genre, there really hasn’t been a socially-conscious, multi-artist project like this before, that I can remember.

Ultimately, I am not alone in my struggle to comprehend how we got to where we are, and having multiple voices sing the song kind of emphasizes that this is a problem that we all face collectively and will all have to work together to solve.

How does this kind of collaboration work, I guess first in terms of asking the artists and getting permissions, and then actually piecing the vocals together? Lots of Dropbox?

So much Dropbox! I would have loved to get everyone in the same room and run it down, old-school, which would have saved me months of work. But when you’re a largely unknown independent folksinger, you’re calling in too many favors to work that way.

The whole collaboration started with Rosanne Cash, who was aware of the song and had sung it with me before at a Brady campaign fundraiser. I knew I would need help bringing artists on board, but I felt that if Rosanne wasn’t into it, then it was basically a non-starter. Thankfully, she is so generous and supportive, and it only took her an hour or so to respond enthusiastically.

From there, it was just a matter of dreaming up artists to work with and seeing what connections we had with them. The band signed on right away, so I was able to at least build a good basic track and sing a guide vocal, so artists would get a sense of what they were signing up for. Once people did commit, they basically each sang their verses at different studios, Dropboxed us the files, and mix engineer Lorne Entress did a painstakingly brilliant job of making it all sound cohesive and musical.

How did you come to work with Gabby Gifford’s organization?

For some reason, I have never thought of this song as anything other than one that should raise money for some other group that is doing good work in the fight against gun violence. There are so many that are addressing this issue—Moms Demand, Sandy Hook Promise, Everytown —but Rosanne was the one who suggested and put me in touch with Giffords.

How has the promotion for this song differed from your past releases? Like, I noticed the song has its own website.

I’ve never released a standalone single song before, but it turns out that if you want to do a good job getting it heard than you basically have to do everything to promote and publicize it that you would a full-length record.

The biggest difference was timing: I didn’t get the final verse vocal til just after Labor Day, but the Giffords folks really wanted the song to help amplify their efforts leading up to the midterms. So we basically had to rush to assemble a promotional team on very short notice. I got a few “we don’t have time for this” sort of responses, which I could sympathize with because between my own records and sideman work, I didn’t really have enough time to work on this!

But it was something I felt compelled to do that just happened to have a well-defined political, non-musical timeline, and I just had to find champions who felt similarly compelled to get involved. Fortunately, Signature Sounds, Brad Paul Media and Songlines all came on board, donated their services and gave it their all on very short notice. I am extremely grateful for their efforts.

When a song has such a clear purpose, does it free you up from some of the usual ego things that songwriters deal with when sharing or promoting their music?

Completely. I find it very difficult to talk about the worth of my own material, though I obviously wouldn’t devote my life to something I didn’t fully believe in. But if there’s a bigger purpose other than “look at me!” it makes it a lot easier to push for people to listen to it.

For example, with the Milltowns record, I really wanted to shine a light on the legacy of Bill Morrissey, so it was a lot easier to advocate for it. “By Degrees” was the same way—I don’t make a cent from this. It’s not enriching me personally in any way or selling out concerts for me. It’s just something I’m doing because I know what doing nothing looks like and I can’t just stand by anymore.

I don’t really know how to do political organizing and push for legislation; all I know how to do is write and sing songs that hopefully support the ones directly engaged in those efforts. It feels very good to put myself in service to the music and an idea larger than my own gain.

You’re a professional songwriter and performer, but I’m curious about your day-to-day work that happens away from the guitar or stage. How much of your life is emails, booking, promoting, packing lunches?

Next year will mark my 20th year as a professional musician, and it’s a bit dizzying to think of how my day-to-day routine has changed over that time. The biggest change was becoming a parent, and since I’m home a lot of the weekdays most of my work happens during the school day, between 8 am and 2 pm. I can be pretty productive in that time, but I have to be ruthlessly efficient and come up with a plan for every day.

My average non-gig work day is as scheduled and planned out as anyone who works in an office, and it has to be if anything is ever going to be accomplished. I’m up between 5-6 am everyday, making lunches, doing the morning routines with the boys. After drop off, I head straight to the gym for swimming or lifting. It’s about 9 am after that, so the next 5 hours can go any number of ways, though several loads of laundry are nearly always involved.

If I’m taking a day to do office work, I can spend that entire time keeping up with emails, social media, and advancing gigs. More often than not, I spend those 5 hours rehearsing for whatever I have coming up next. Could be shedding Josh Ritter or Lori McKenna tunes, reminding myself how to play bluegrass, working out and rehearsing set lists for solo shows, and more. I like to say that I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I haven’t been bored since 1998.

And what’s the revenue picture like for you? Are you earning a living mainly from your own touring? CDs and vinyl sales? Sideman gigs? A little bit of each?

It’s a bit of a mystery to me how it all works out, because I get income from several different streams, and they seem to tag team at random to for the distinction of being the most lucrative.

Sometimes I’m doing lots of solo gigs and that’s where the money comes from, other times it’s a lot of sideman work, which is great because it’s all income and no expenses. I’ll occasionally get a recording session or something like that, and then there are modest checks from Soundexchange, CD Baby for digital online sales, and ASCAP royalties.

Every once in awhile, an extra zero will really surprise me at the end of the payout, which is lovely but completely random and can’t be depended upon. For example, my ASCAP check just tripled for one month and as best I can tell, it’s due to recent airplay of a song from a 16-year old record…in Belgium. I’ve never performed in or even been to Belgium, so that about sums up how unpredictable and capricious making a living as a musician can be. I basically look up at the end of every month and think “holy sh&t, I did it again!”

What’s up next?

I’m working on my 12th full-length album of originals, and it’ll hopefully be released in fall of 2019.

Check out Mark Erelli’s website for concert dates, music, and more.

[Photo by Lara Kimmerer.]

Source: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/behind-an-all-star-americana-collaboration-mark-erelli-interview/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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darthbutterfingers · 7 years

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Han Solo’s death and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s redemption

It took me a while but when I finally got up the courage to analyse the scene in which Kylo Ren kills his father, Han Solo, I noticed some compelling imagery/symbolism relating to redemption around the Christian concept of salvation, in particular the role of the crucifixion. There are many aspects of Han Solo’s death that follow the story of the crucifixion. A quick disclaimer, I’m not a bible scholar but I have read the bible so here goes. Also, if you think I’m crazy, you’re probably right. Also this is a long post.

What prompted my thoughts was a picture in a post by gwendy85 here . The picture I’m mainly thinking of is this one:

There is a lot of debate as to whether Kylo Ren killing his father was a step too far and he’s now irredeemable OR that this act actually prompts some kind of change in Kylo Ren that eventually propels him back to the light, i.e. a redemption arc. I’m in the second camp. I think redemption is definitely in store for Kylo Ren/Ben Solo.

As I noted above, there is some powerful Christian imagery in this scene in the movie. To start with it would be impossible not to notice that Kylo Ren’s lightsabre is in the shape of a cross/crucifix (see below image).

You might think that’s just a cool shape for a lightsabre but in the scene of Han Solo’s death it presents a specific image (and I’m not talking about the Knights Templar – think further back). When Kylo/Ben kills his father he impales Han with this crucifix shaped lightsabre and Han Solo essentially dies on a cross.

Who else died on a cross? Jesus Christ! To help explain my observations I’m going to have to outline the story of salvation and the crucifixion all the way back to creation and the original sin.

The Fall: In the beginning when God created everything, it was all ‘good’. Then Satan, by using a lie about God, tempted Adam and Eve to doubt God. They did and hence disobeyed his command (don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). The unfortunate penalty for disobedience was death and from that point humans were lost. They were in a predicament they couldn’t get out of on their own unless they had Divine Intervention.

The Redeemer: God said he would make it right by sending a Redeemer. Prophecy throughout the Old Testament points to the Redeemer. So God came to earth and became a man (the Redeemer) and was called Jesus.

Sacrifice: Jesus lived a sinless life in which he taught his disciples the truth about God and was then crucified. Satan thought he was getting rid of Jesus but as it turned out that sacrifice on the cross became the payment for the penalty of sin. Jesus took this penalty on himself so that humans wouldn’t have to, i.e. they were saved. Jesus death on the cross was a victory that Satan didn’t see coming.

Resurrection: Jesus then rose from the dead as evidence of that victory. In the same way humans who have accepted the forgiveness of God will rise from the dead (i.e. come to life) at Jesus second coming and spend eternity with God. Note that it doesn’t depend on humans being good but on being forgiven.

That’s just a quick skim. More details can be discussed elsewhere. Let’s investigate these four aspects in relation to Han Solo’s death.

The Fall

So let’s suppose that Kylo Ren represents lost humanity. Kylo Ren is covered in dark clothes and robes and masks and gloves where you can’t see any of him. It’s almost like he’s lost in it all, trapped in it, especially that mask. His wardrobe suggests he is trapped in the dark side. He is trapped in the dark side by Snoke. Deceived and manipulated, probably from a young age, by the ‘Supreme Leader’, he is trapped by a mysterious past in which he committed a terrible act, this act allegedly being the killing of students at Luke Skywalker’s academy. He is given the name ‘Jedi Killer’ to make this point. Did Snoke manipulate him into this – more than likely. Being trapped by the powerful Snoke, it seems there is no way he is going to get out of this on his own. He needs a redeemer/saviour because he can’t get out of this himself. He knows this too when he tells his father “It’s too late for me.”

Ben Solo doesn’t want to be where he is because while he’s going in one direction towards the dark side there is another side of him in which he is being pulled to the light. He confesses this to Vader’s melted mask (the pull of the light) as well as saying to his father “I’m being torn apart”. As humans we’re in the same state – fallen into the darkness of sin even as we look to God wanting to be back in the light (heaven, garden of Eden, new earth etc.). The conflicted figure of Kylo Ren represents the human race.

The Redeemer

Who then does Han represent. Han is no sinless person like Jesus Christ here but we’re talking imagery and symbolism. Han represents the light side of the force. The original trilogy involves him fighting on the side of the light in spite of himself. But who else does Han represent. I find it interesting that in the bridge scene Han goes out to his son. He doesn’t wait for Kylo/Ben to come to him. In the same way, God came down to earth as Jesus rather than expecting humans to come to Him. The redeemer goes to the one who needs redeeming because that’s the only way it’s going to happen. Even though Han knows it will probably be the death of him, he goes after his son anyway. He calls his son by his real name, Ben. Why? He’s his father. He knows exactly who this man is. Han here represents a creator/God/father-like figure who seeks out his son to beg him to come home. Jesus Christ, as the incarnation of God, came to earth to show humans that he wanted them back. Remember Leia said “Do you think I want to forget him, I want him back” – this is essentially God’s reaction to the loss of humanity through sin. God had no intention of writing us off because the human race messed up.

In the same way Leia and Han don’t want to write Ben off either. Obviously Han has his doubts but then Leia tells him it was Snoke who seduced Ben to the dark side. This makes something click inside Han. He seems to see things differently (the novelisation makes it clear there is more to what Han and Leia know about Snoke but the movie itself says very little about this). When Han leaves for Starkiller base I already had the feeling, when he was hugging Leia that he knew then that this wasn’t going to end the way he hoped. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered if this was going to be the last time Han and Leia saw each other. Jesus was reluctant to go to the cross – he asked his father to ‘take this cup from me’ (Luke 22:42) but then said ‘not my will but yours’. Deep down Han knows if he’s going to do as Leia asks and save his son then he’s going to have to make the sacrifice. He might not have known exactly how this was going to go down but I always had the feeling he knew it wasn’t going to go well for him personally. He’s reluctant but he goes anyway.

Sacrifice

So we skip forward to Starkiller Base to when Han follows his son out onto the bridge and confronts him. At this point Ben has no choice but to face his father, in spite of making an effort to avoid confronting his father up to this point. Oh yes, he makes it sound the other way around “Han Solo, I’ve been waiting for this moment.” And he’d have happily waited for longer if he could have. He takes off at Takodana rather than run into his father. Even walking out on the bridge was also the quickest way of getting as far away from his father as possible. But the moment is forced upon him by Han.

Snoke (who represents Satan in this – the original deceiver and murderer) has already prompted Kylo Ren/Ben to do the unthinkable, kill his father. So, his father calls out to him and Ben stops in the middle of the bridge. He can’t run, he can’t hide. All he can do is wait for his father to approach. This bridge was probably the most exposed position inside the base, i.e. where everyone who cares to look can see what’s going on – kind of like the exposed hill where Jesus was crucified. Everyone looking on sees what happens. And there are a number of onlookers.

Before the sacrifice there’s the laying out of the truth. In the bible Jesus spent three years laying out the truth to his disciples before he was crucified. When Kylo Ren tries to tell Han that ‘your son is dead’ and ‘the Supreme Leader is wise’ etc. etc. Han doesn’t waste any time getting down to the truth of the matter. “My son is alive” and “Snoke is just using you for your power.” If Ben was truly dead then Kylo Ren probably would have stayed on at Takodana to make sure he killed both his parents there and then. Or at least he would have gone and killed his father the moment he felt him on Starkiller but no it had to get to the point where Han forced the issue in a way Kylo Ren couldn’t run away from. Why was Kylo Ren running away? Because Ben is definitely not dead. He doesn’t want to kill his father. He still feels the pull to the light.

As for Snoke, it’s pretty obvious by now he is using Ben in some way, manipulating him. Han states this plainly to Ben going on to say that when Snoke gets what he wants he will crush Ben. Ben’s words “It’s too late for me” show that he knows this deep down but as JJ Abrams has said, he can’t accept it. You get the impression right here that Han knows more about who Snoke is than the movie lets on as well. His earlier statements about Luke, the new generation of Jedi and an apprentice who destroyed it all, Han knows a lot more about everything that went down than he is saying. Han pleads with his son to turn away from this dark path he’s chosen, to come home.

JJ Abrams has said that Ben Solo is being convinced here to leave and go with Han. He has to make a choice. When Ben says “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it” there are two meanings here. First is the obvious ‘at the moment’ meaning. He’s asking for strength to kill his father. The second less obvious meaning, which is the one I believe will come to the fore over the trilogy (I hope), is that he is asking for strength to defy Snoke and leave the First Order. While the first meaning is Ben’s intention at first, the second meaning is the real meaning that he is very much in denial about. Han is there telling him he’ll do anything to help him. It’s the second meaning that Han provides the solution to. So…Ben starts to give Han the lightsabre.

There are many times when humanity could have turned back from crucifying Jesus. One particular point is where Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate. This Roman Governor could have freed Jesus but, because he was ‘afraid of the people’ causing a riot (and ending his political career), he didn’t. Instead you get the famous hand washing scene as he turns his back on the Son of God. There is a moment when Ben Solo has what I call his Pontius Pilate moment. Han asks him to leave and go home with him. Does Ben have the strength to defy Snoke and the First Order and turn away from the dark side? Ben is silent struggling with this choice. Does he defy Snoke and leave because if he stays then he must do as Snoke wants and kill his father. I believe they both knew exactly what the two choices were. Han has just warned Ben that he is Snoke’s pawn. If Han is aware of Snoke’s ruthlessness in regards to his son then he’s aware that he is also in danger as well. There’s a certain sense of defiance from Han by laying out the truth to Ben with nothing to gain by it (apart from getting his son back), as the novelisation says.

Ben is frozen, unable to make the decision one way or another. When Ben asks his father for help Han says “Yes, anything”. He wants his son to be free, both free of Snoke and free of his pain. He knows he must do something for his son because his son can’t do it for himself. At this point I believe Han is ready to sacrifice his life for Ben. To be the redeemer for his son.

When Ben pulls out the lightsabre and offers it to Han it seems as though Ben hasn’t quite come to his decision yet. It could still go one way or the other. But then Han grips the lightsabre. The light of the star fades and is gone. There is only darkness now. The dark decision is made in the darkness, not by Han but by Ben, and Han allows himself to be a sacrifice for his lost son. In the same way, it was not Jesus decision to be crucified but he allowed it to happen. Because it got done what needed to be done.

The movie doesn’t show exactly what happens. It leaves it a little bit obscured. Does Ben ignite the sabre or is it Han. Does Han help him or was he not expecting this given that a moment ago Ben seemed to be considering leaving with Han. But it’s clear that Han is there willingly and in my mind Ben is the one who ignites the sabre.

In one of the most unsettling moments on film, Ben thanks his father after killing him. Ben switches from the conflicted and afraid young man that Han reaches out to, to someone Han doesn’t recognise. Someone who appears to have grasped the dark side and it’s evil. Here Kylo Ren says thank you for letting him kill Ben’s father. In that moment the meaning is dark and full of horror. He thinks he’s gotten rid of the impediment to what he wants. Snoke no doubt thinks this too, he’s gotten rid of someone in his way. Now he can further manipulate Ben to do what he wants.

The irony is that, in time, Ben will be thankful for his father’s sacrifice, not because it has somehow admitted his son to the fold of the dark side but because it will show him the way out of it and back to the light. When he feels his father die and feels ‘strangely weakened’ by his wicked act he gets the first hint of this unexpected turnabout of what his father’s sacrifice will eventually mean to him. This reflects the disaster that Jesus Christs death on the cross appeared to be initially to the disciples but the victory his sacrifice gave his followers in time when they finally understood what it was all about. Kylo Ren will ‘die’ and Ben Solo will come back to life. Remorse/repentance can be a powerful motivator if it’s based on a real change of heart. With two movies in this trilogy to go though I don’t expect this to happen either smoothly or quickly. The road to redemption can be one of the bumpiest. There is a lot more for Ben to learn about the realities of the dark and light sides of the force. His interaction with Rey and possibly Finn and what’s left of his family will also play a part.

Now let’s think about that light. JJ said to think about what the force is doing here. At the crucifixion there was an unseen battle between good and evil, God and Satan. What Christ went through in the crucifixion was due to Satan stirring up the people against Jesus in an effort to get him to use his divine power to defend himself. If he had then Jesus would have failed. His purpose was to be a sacrifice for humans, not to defend himself against humans. In the bridge scene in TFA we see the changes in the light representing the battle for Ben Solo between the light and the dark side of the force. Inside Starkiller Base it’s dark but not completely so. As in the picture above there is a ray of light coming down from above to illuminate Han and Ben. Almost like a light from heaven. The light side of the force is shining down to give Ben the strength he needs if he would but reach for it. But because he is afraid he doesn’t and then, as the star dies, everything goes dark. It’s as though in this moment, Ben Solo loses the battle to leave and Kylo Ren reasserts himself as a servant of Snoke. He loses the opportunity to reach for the light side for the strength it could have given and the dark side wins the battle for Ben Solo (but perhaps not the war). At the crucifixion of Jesus darkness comes over the land when Jesus dies. When the darkness comes over Starkiller, this is when the dark side reasserts itself over Ben Solo and Kylo Ren ignites the lightsabre, impaling his father. As I noted above, Han Solo dies here on a cross in the darkness just as Jesus Christ died on a cross in the darkness.

What happens before Jesus death and what happens in the moment before Han Solo falls away into the abyss are spoken and unspoken words asking for forgiveness, not for themselves but for the ones who killed them. Jesus Christ looks up to heaven and asks God the Father to “forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23: 34).” When Han Solo reaches out to his son and touches his face he is saying “I forgive you because you don’t know what you’re doing.”

An additional point is that after Jesus dies the curtain in the temple is rent in two and the book of Mathew records that “the earth shook and the rocks split” (Matt 27:51). The Resistance first blows up the oscillator (ripped the curtain in two) after which Starkiller Base starts to split apart (the earth shook and the rocks split).

After Kylo Ren kills his father he does realise what he’s done. He does realise the wicked thing he has done – afterwards. You can see the shock on his face (due to Adam’s superb acting). He realises this hasn’t worked for him as he’d hoped. Just like the dark political and spiritual powers at the time had hoped to get rid of Jesus they instead found that they had given him the victory. If we were to say that Snoke represents Satan, the First Order represents the Roman Empire and the Jews of the time represent the manipulated Kylo Ren then by killing Han Solo, none of the players from the dark side of the force will get what they want (or thought they wanted). They have essentially given Han and the light side of the force the victory. Many Jews and Romans (outside the disciples) realised who Jesus really was after the crucifixion and were converted. The Star Wars Sequels story isn’t finished yet but it’s my hope that episode 8 and/or 9 will show Ben Solo being ‘converted’ back to the light side of the force. In the Meta ‘Rebirth of the “Son”’ by frolickingfizzgig (click here) there is a discussion about the representation of the transformation of Kylo Ren through the imagery of Starkiller turning into a sun, stating that as we witness the rebirth of the sun, this represents the rebirth of the ‘son’. This also brings in the Christian concept of being ‘born again’ as part of redemption.

Resurrection

The flip side of the story of the crucifixion is the resurrection. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead and came to life and walked with his disciples. He bore the marks of the crucifixion, the wounds on his hands and feet as proof of who he was. Will we see this part of the story reflected in episode 8? It will be interesting to see what becomes of Han Solo given that there have already been strong hints that he will appear in some capacity in episode 8. Harrison Ford implied this in an interview he gave not long after the release of TFA and he was also included in the cast that was identified by Walt Disney as appearing in Episode 8. If the screen writers want to continue to invest in the Christian imagery discussed here then this allows for it to be in a greater capacity than just flashbacks.

Another point worth exploring here, now that we know that the name of Episode 8 will be ‘The Last Jedi’, is a link between Han’s death and this name. There is already speculation that ‘The Last Jedi’ hints at the possibility that Luke will be the last Jedi and that something different will arise through Rey and Ben Solo. A new kind of Jedi. Snoke, for one, was concerned that “The New Jedi” will rise, the main reason hee wanted to get rid of Luke Skywalker. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ formed the basis of Christianity, a new religion. Given that there are hints that there will be fall out from Han’s death, including the redemption of Ben Solo as I have argued here, could this point towards the rise of a new ‘religion’ of force users. If Ben is redeemed will he and Rey lead this new way of using or seeing the force or whatever it might be? Maybe Luke already found this new way (at the first Jedi temple – in which case it could be the original way of the force) and Snoke, wanting to keep the old ways because that’s where his power stems from, wants to stop this rise of the ‘New Jedi’. I won’t go on too much here because I’ll just get off topic but it’s worth considering.

Others

Okay, let’s have a look at where Rey and Finn are.

These two characters are important to the scene of Han Solo’s death and there is symbolism in where they are standing and what they’re doing. When Jesus was crucified there were many onlookers. These onlookers weren’t just the disciples and others standing around when Jesus was crucified. The angels in heaven we’re also there watching what was going on, albeit unseen by humans. It was the most important event in the galaxy at the time. If you were an angel you would not have been off doing something else. They wanted to know what the outcome would be as well.

When Han Solo and his son stand on the catwalk and the light shines down on them, the light comes from an upper doorway to the outside where Rey and Finn have come in on the scene below. They are essentially standing where that ‘heaven-like’ light is coming from (see picture at the begining). They are standing in the position of the angels when Jesus was dying on the cross. They are standing in the position where the symbolic light of the force is coming from. In the bible, angels are servants/messengers of God who carry out God’s work faithfully to help fallen humankind. Jedi are essentially servants/messengers of the light side of the force who do their best to carry out the will of the force to help the beings of the galaxy. The fact that both Rey and Finn are standing in this position denotes them as servants and messengers of the light side of the force to help people (inclusive of humans and other sentient species).

Now I think TFA established that Rey will train in the use of the force with Luke and perhaps become a Jedi (or maybe it will be something different as noted above) but Finn is also there. For those who like the idea of Finn becoming a Jedi too (like me) this is a good thing. He’s definitely standing in the right place. If you think back to when Finn was on Takodana about to leave and he hears the cries of people dying then looks up to see the destruction of the Republic by the First Order. There is an obvious similarity to Obi-Wan Kenobi feeling the death of millions when Alderaan was blown up.

In whatever capacity they have, either as Jedi or just serving the light side of the force, both Rey and Finn will interact with Ben Solo to help his redemption. They have their own journeys as well but they already seem to be linked to Kylo Ren at pivotal points in the story so far.

My point being

So what’s the point of all of this? If you want Ben Solo to have a redemption arc then the scene of Han Solo’s death is basically screaming at you “we’re going to give it to you.” More than that, I believe this scene is the start of that redemption arc (I’m not the first to speculate on this) and may even have implications for something bigger than Ben Solo. If you don’t think Ben Solo deserves a redemption arc, it’s my opinion that you’re out of luck, it’s already begun. If you’re on the fence about the idea then I suggest you get off the fence and get on the train because it’s already moving out of the station. Just as Jesus death on the cross laid the foundation for the redemption of the human race (and a new religion), the death of Han Solo lays down the foundation for the redemption of Ben Solo and possibly more. As the fall out from this act of sacrifice continues and through Ben’s interaction with Rey and others, not just in the future episode 8 and 9 but those interactions already seen in episode 7, e.g. Rey and the lightsabre duel, as well as the possible reappearance of his father, Han Solo, in some way, I’m hoping the film makers will continue to propel him through this redemption arc back to the light side of the force and use him for a bigger step towards the “balance in the force” noted at the beginning of the movie.

Am I reading way too much into this? Possibly? But then why go to all this trouble of putting all this symbolism into Han Solo’s death if we’re not supposed to read it for what it is. If you believe that Ben Solo has gone too far by murdering his father and can’t be redeemed, just remember, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ could be seen the same way, if you want to ignore the entire reason for why it happened. In my opinion, the film makers have already started Ben Solo’s redemption arc. Ben is already ‘fallen’ and trapped in the dark side by Snoke after what happened at Luke’s academy. Han Solo’s death may seem initially like a victory for Snoke but it’s my opinion it can be turned around into a victory for the force, including winning Ben Solo back to the side of the light. I really hope the filmmakers go this direction in episode 8 and 9.

#han solo's death #kylo ren #kylo ren and rey #star wars #The Force Awakens #the last jedi

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ulyssessklein · 5 years

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Behind an all-star Americana collaboration (Mark Erelli interview)

How a “largely unknown independent folksinger” partnered with Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Josh Ritter, Anaïs Mitchell, and Lori McKenna on his new single.

Mark Erelli on songwriting, collaboration, mysterious music revenues, and laundry.

As someone who admires your songwriting, I’m curious — if you can average out such things — how much stuff do you throw away, compared with how much you keep?

How do you know whether it’s time to discard it, set it aside, or move ahead?

Why make this song a collaboration?

How does this kind of collaboration work, I guess first in terms of asking the artists and getting permissions, and then actually piecing the vocals together? Lots of Dropbox?

How did you come to work with Gabby Gifford’s organization?

How has the promotion for this song differed from your past releases? Like, I noticed the song has its own website.

When a song has such a clear purpose, does it free you up from some of the usual ego things that songwriters deal with when sharing or promoting their music?

And what’s the revenue picture like for you? Are you earning a living mainly from your own touring? CDs and vinyl sales? Sideman gigs? A little bit of each?

It’s a bit of a mystery to me how it all works out, because I get income from several different streams, and they seem to tag team at random to for the distinction of being the most lucrative.

What’s up next?

I’m working on my 12th full-length album of originals, and it’ll hopefully be released in fall of 2019.

Check out Mark Erelli’s website for concert dates, music, and more.

[Photo by Lara Kimmerer.]

The post Behind an all-star Americana collaboration (Mark Erelli interview) appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.

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