ST Rey Skywalker/Daisy Ridley Discussion Thread

See, here’s the paradoxical double-think at the core of saying that Rey”s “rejecting” Kylo at TLJ's end:

There's absolutely nothing in TLJ that is even in the same zip code of definitive and existential a statement about Kylo’s intentions, nature, or fanaticism as even just half of what he does in TFA, both symbolically, metaphorically, and literally to Rey, Finn and Han. Kylo has burned the bridges of an ROTJ-esque redemption story, broadcast his decision and clarified why he did it, then personally sought out and maimed, tortured, and violated the two main characters of the story.

So… the only way to accept that Rey would suddenly think she can, should, or wants to redeem Kylo requires rejecting the premise that Kylo *can* “give his statement” as it’s starting point; you have to basically declare that there’s nothing Kylo could do that would solidify that he can’t just be reached out to like Vader before you even contemplate having Rey think it’s probable.

…Which means there’s no real argument that Kylo simply telling Rey “no” and *only* trying to kill her and his own mother later actually matter either way- until it’s time for the film to save face by pretending a disappointed look means anything when violation, torture, and losing one friend and almost losing another means anything.

And it still requires ignoring Rey’s own dramatic requirements *and* her backstory *and* how ruthlessly gleeful the story has her be against anyone else to make TLJ work.

No way is a hardened survivor who’s been tortured and violated by a fascist going to hear about his mass shooter days, and then decide that attacking the principal for having suspicions of him and going to help the violator/mass murderer/slave owner take over his Aryan Brotherhood gang is either an instinctual or pragmatic move.

Rey matters more than Kylo, and TLJ desperately wanted to forget that.

 

So why was she holding his hands? And why did she get painted up and box herself up like a Barbie doll to follow him to Snoke’s lair, have eye-sex in the elevator, and then yell “Ben” when Snoke was torturing her like some damsel yelling for her boyfriend?

I didn’t see anything after the initial scene when she tried to shoot him (before buying his ‘but he made me’ sob story) that showed rejection of Kylo beyond the milquetoast leaving him unconscious on the ship.

 

There is no way she would survive Jakku being *emotionally* that weak either. Unkar Plutt and every incel there would eat her for breakfast.

 

Wanting her parents to come back and getting attached to Kylo of all people can’t have anything to do with each other, that makes zero sense.

 

Except that she doesn’t reject him, because she holds his hands, and dresses up, boxes herself, and follows him to Snoke’s lair.

So why wasn’t she creeped out? Nobody needs to be experienced to know that’s creepy as hell.

Every argument you make about why she coddles Kylo so much is an argument for exactly why she should be using—or at least want to use, and try to use—some sort of Force acceleration or Force projection to get as far away from him as possible as quickly as possible.

We had a situation at work in which a kid taunted another kid about his mother who had died from cancer. The kid whose mother died was not interested in holding the other kid’s hand and telling him how “not alone” he was—he wanted to beat the **** out of him.

And “it’s a fantasy universe” does not cut it because the character motivations have to be relatable and understandable in some way, and also because Star Wars character motivations have always made sense, even if they made sense only using the argument that the characters were being stupid, like Anakin and Padme in ROTS.

 

OK but quite a bit happened before that scene, quite a bit in which she didn’t reject him.