ST Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico) in TLJ

I'm responding to the part that AhsokaSolo said about Hollywood desexualizing poc. Specifically about Asian-American women since we're in the Rose thread who is played by an Asian American woman. Not about Rose's outfit. I thought I was pretty specific.

I'm curious why you replied to me with a dismissive response?

First of all, there's not many Asian American female leads or love interests of a lead in a Hollywood blockbuster film. But I can already think of Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels and Gong Li in Miami Vice. Tia Carrere in True Lies (she was a villain opposite to Arnold but it's insinuated she's attracted to him).

 

Well... agree to disagree that that’s so much that it’s something that needs to be countered. Never seen Charlie’s Angels, but to True Lies, villainesses that try to seduce male heroes is a female trope, not an Asian female trope. Besides which, that wasn’t Rose’s character. She played a love interest to a male lead. What exactly is the point of desexualizing her? Rey was made to look cool and wore makeup for her scenes with freaking Kylo. I think they could have done something else with Rose.

 

Sure, but you specifically asked about Asian-American women leads in blockbuster films which immediately shorten the list of times Hollywood sexualizes them considering Asian Americans ordinarily don't get lead roles in Hollywood blockbusters. Do you not think that Hollywood doesn't sexualize them in movies as a whole? However there are many times Asian American women are sexualized/fetishized in Hollywood down to the indie film circuit which is why I'm saying it's nice that they didn't sexualize Rose Tico, and in addition in a blockbuster film which tends to sexualize women in general, that's nice.

Again, you're saying she should've looked cooler - but then you use the term they desexualize her. It gives the impression you're saying sex her up for Finn, but now I'm convinced you don't mean that - just for her to look more cool? I didn't think you meant she should look like a girl, since I thought nobody watching the movie mistook her for a man.

 

Honestly? I don’t think Asian women are fetishized in mainstream American blockbusters. I think they’re rarely cast in american mainstream blockbusters.

I didn’t say “sex her up.” I’m not saying they should fetishize her. I’m saying, an Asian female love interest should be treated like any female love interest and not be desexualized, ie, don’t have her run around in a mechanic’s jumpsuit when it doesn’t even make sense in the scene. I also said that they could let her look cool. She’s in basically a superhero role. These are supposed to be idealized characters. Have her look confident, tough, sexy, ANYTHING other than frumpy and awkward. Then they set her up to kiss Finn while Finn looks confused. Just... why? That’s so lame.

 

Oh yea, in my first sentence on my post you quoted, I pretty much said they're rarely cast in Hollywood blockbusters. What I'm saying is Hollywood as a whole with even small movies have that problem. For example, Memoirs of a Geisha, which is not a Hollywood blockbuster.

Btw, I get you. What confused me was the word "desexualized" but now that we're on the same page, on the aspect of her looking cool, yea I don't have an opinion either way really. I liked that she looked like a plain Jane, but I know I wouldn't have scoffed if she had her sister's outfit or Resistance fighter outfit either.

 

Yep, we were clearly in "I hate sand" territory. It was definitely that bad.

 

I literally don't understand how to construe their kiss as "perceptible awkwardness between the actors"

 

I get this feeling too. I think Kathleen Kennedy has a little checklist of all the certain groups she needs to make sure get represented. It compromises the storyline when characters are reduced to mere tokens.

 

I didn’t mind her so much the second time but why the hell did she crash into Finn to stop him blowing up the laser? She could’ve killed them both ffs.

 

Take any discussion of "certain groups" to the diversity thread.

 

Ugh, you should be careful with throwing in such pejorative words like "meaty" or "sexified". That says more about you than about RJ and in this case, about Rose. I still remember when Ayatollah Khomeini in the late 70ties denounced female demonstrators as being oozing stinking perfumes and wearing skimpy clothes. IMHO a women is presenting herself meaty when she is sexualizing herself mainly to attract men in a manner which is inappropriate to the normal public. I'm aware of the fact that there are some cultural differences but as far as I saw the female demonstrators in Paris or Teheran they just wore normal clothes (about the perfume I can't say anything by just watching television).

What I want to say, when a woman just enjoys herself and her body and dresses like that to enhance her beauty without being overly exposed, that isn't exactly meaty. That is joy of life and of self. And everybody disdaining such or brand it as meaty or with other bad words doesn't get the point of it.

I still think, that Rose should let out more inner shining. And clothes and hair styles are some adequate expressions of that. I still hope to see such in Ep. IX.

J.J.A. is still looking for a dark haired female character for Ep. IX in order to hamper Finn's third try of defection in the ST.

 

Uh. What the hell. I said meaty role in context of "a role with substance to it". It had nothing to do with her appearance. The most I said about her appearance was that I found it refreshing that a character who was played by an Asian-American woman was not objectified.

 

Not even appropriate

 

no longer relevant

 

So I’m normally not a “social justice warrior”, and I normally don’t assume people are being racist just because they dislike a character of color.

That said, I can’t help but feel that a big part of the negative reaction to Rose is due to her race and appearance.

Usually, when people complain about her character, they point to one or two cheesy lines, but that doesn’t really justify labeling her “the new Jar Jar”. Usually, when pressed, people will complain that she was added for “forced diversity” or to “appeal to Chinese audiences” (particularly insulting, since Tran is Vietnamese).

Combine that with the fact that Rose’s appearance in the film isn’t eye candy (Tran is a pretty girl, but her hair and costume in the film perhaps deliberately obscure this) and her derisive attitude towards the arms dealers, and you’ve got a recipe to anger a lot of people in the “anti-PC crowd”.

Again, I don’t normally make these assumptions about people, but there just isn’t enough about her character to make people this angry without those people having some prejudice.

 

I didn't like her because she is self-righteous and treats Finn like a jerk.

 

Just to be clear: comments about the physical appearance of actors are not welcome here. This is a general warning that should be taken seriously.

 

There were a lot of fun Noir touches in the film. I felt that way about Poe and Holdo scenes, they have certain lighting and angles associated with the Noir style, as well as the trope of our hero not necessarily being in the right and the bad guy not necessarily being in the wrong.

I think it the scene was cut because the parking violation gave me the sense that if they had a nicer freighter or nicer clothes/upper class, no one would have a problem with them parking there, so it justifies how critical Rose was about Canto Bight. Also, I don't think we're supposed to interpret the kiss as romantic and we're supposed to be surprised by it like Finn, but the makeover scene is a popular trope for romances, so the audience wouldn't have been surprised.

 

jyn and rey had the benefit of being shown in a feminine light while not being sexualized, i don’t think rose gets that in tlj, she’s practically barefaced in an ugly jumpsuit. maybe it’s rian attempting to subvert the romance between her and finn but it feels unfair

 

Rose fan here...

Firstly, as a woman I appreciate that she isn't sexualised, like at all. Makes a nice change from the Hollywood status-quo.

Secondly, Rose is starring in this week's Star Wars Adventures comic.
http://clubjade.net/star-wars-new-r...rs-rose-tico-forces-of-destiny-hera-syndulla/

 

It's nice to see Rose fans. I have no great interest in the character, but I like to see different opinions Let me ask you this question: what do you love about her? A part from what she represents, let's say, "symbolically".

 

Standout qualities would be her goodheartedness, and her dedication to the her cause. She's also grounded. Despite regarding 'the Finn' as a hero she doesn't let him off the hook when she realises that he isn't the person she thought he was.

 

She cares about the people on her home world and remembers those who wronged them. She hates traitors and is fiercely loyal to her cause. She’s intelligent and resourceful. Kind to children and animals. An old soul because of her tough upbringing but one who can laugh and appreciate the beauty in life that they’re fighting for and who will stop to smell the roses amongst the scent of war. She isn’t shallow or vain with her attire or appearance but isn’t super masculine on the inside. She’s warm and adorkable and flustered around Finn because she finds him handsome and charming but will also take some light hearted jabs at him once she knows him to keep him from being too uptight.

 

ok, being Italian I had to use the dictionary more than once in order to understand your post, especially for the translation of "adorkable" (the urban dictionary says "dorky" and "adorable", but then I had also to search for "dorky"... lol) anyway, it's a nice description.

 

I don't have a problem with Rose, thought Kelly Tran did well with the role...I just don't know why we needed this character. I know some will point out that she was necessary to show Finn that there is more at stake than Rey, that there is meaning behind the struggle and ordinary people are in the crosshairs of this galactic war. But at the same time, could that not have been shown through another character? It just seems like we have 2-hours + of this sequel trilogy left and there are already an abundance of characters and issues that need to be resolved. Not sure where Rose goes from here (or Finn for that matter). At the end of TLJ, it is clear Poe is taking the helm of the resistance and Rey has found her place as a hero. Unclear how Rose and Finn fit in. As it stands, they had the least interesting storyline in TLJ. I'll reserve until 9 comes out.