ST Rey & Kylo Ren in Episode IX

This.
Kylo never held any grudge towards Rey, I think she is the only person that he acts that way around.

After watching the films two more times, I just think their romance was planned right from the beginning. I never saw it coming in TFA when some people analysed that way, and it never crossed my mind that they could be couple. But when I watched TLJ, I just saw their relationship building with a lot of romantic and sexual tension.

My feeling is JJ planned it right from the start, when people were so concerned with Rey's parentage, who Snoke is and why he is the baddie, it turned out they were all just smoke and mirrors. The true revelation lies in Kylo Ren & Rey and their relationship.

 

@FrolickingFizzgig I have a love for enemies to lovers stories in general, but Rey and Ben’s relationship and how it unfolds is probably one of pure innocence compared to the other ones I’m familiar with. Even though neither are of that age, there’s such a teenage first lovers undertone to it, right down to getting caught with Not-Dad Luke’s Force shotgun in the hut.

When they’re not pushing and pulling on each other to come to the others side, they’re capable of SO MUCH when they stand together. Supreme Leader Snoke is dead, for heavens sake!

 

Parentage debate was a smokescreen. If it were revealed that she were random, the undulating sexual tension between two attractive young actors in TFA would've made romantic Reylo too freaking obvious for LF and their mystery boxes. Keeping #TeamSkywalker vs. #TeamSolo vs. #TeamKenobi vs. #TeamEasterBunny kept hype and interest up, while distracting everyone from the true crux of the story: Kylo and Rey's relationship.

 

Okay let's play Shoe On the Other Foot since those who like the Kylo/Rey romance are frequently asked how we would feel if it doesn't come to fruition. Let's turn the question the other way:

For those of you dead-set against it, how would you feel if a Kylo/Rey romance occurs in overt fashion in Ep IX?

 

Not going to bother with your #Strawmen, but I will inform you that the "female-gaze" is in fact a film technique, not a sweeping generalization. Saying something is filmed with the female-gaze in mind is like saying this is an establishing shot:

 

This is a very simplified version, but female gaze doesn't mean all women have to like a work of art. Female gaze is when, instead of treating women as objects in film/literature/art, the female characters are presented as fully fleshed out people, sometimes with men as the object. For example, female gaze doesn't mean I as a lesbian am supposed to think Kylo Ren is hot (LOL) even though I can obviously see the painstaking care they took to "pretty him up" or even that I have to approve of their relationship. It means the film is shot so that Rey is presented as a fully layered protagonist and we the audience may even be privy to seeing her male interest how she sees him: as someone she sexually desires.

Edit for addition: Female gaze is also present in how Rose is presented and how she (and the audience) sees Finn, as a dashing and handsome hero with his deep cut v-shirt revealing a hint of chest.

 

Oh, I'm with you there and always have been. Rey did what she needed to do by declining Kylo's request that they rule together. He wanted her to wallow in the darkness with him. If they were going to be lonely they could be lonely with each other, but Rey had to do what she had to do. He wasn't ready yet. Of course, there's a whole movie left and the care immensely for each other...

 

It was a total smoke screen. We have a mountain of evidence now that Reylo was planned from the beginning, including a quote from JJ in 2013 where he says there will be a central romance, but it will be done a little bit differently. The characters went through several changes (even swapping genders at one point), but it was always the Solo child involved in the main romance.

I’m one of the few who didn’t catch the Reywalker misdirection on my first viewing of TFA, so Reylo hit me like a ton of bricks, and I never questioned its validity.

 

I would have preferred Kylo actually be doing *something* instead of just standing in the middle of his quarters staring at the wall. His skin looks a bit shiny so I guess it can be argued he was working out when Rey showed up. I will say I found Matt Martin’s comment amusing that he was just waiting around all day for Rey to show up, but I do agree had she caught him actually working out, the scene would have worked better.

She can still have that same flustered reaction whether he’s in the middle of something constructive or just waiting for her to grace him with her presence.

 

I saw them bond over their shared loneliness, isolation and mutual feelings of rejection from their separate mentors. The attraction was there too, obviously. It's what takes the dynamic from a potential friendship to a potential romance. But really, they're like a couple of awkward teenagers on Ahch-To. Rey is all flustered by seeing Kylo shirtless, they bicker, share secret conversations and Luke walks in on them like a disapproving parent. They have no idea what they're feeling. Kylo isn't like Anakin with the waxed poetics. He just feels for her. Rey doesn't want to feel the same way, but she does.



Rey also wears "the pants" in every way, but we've had this conversation many times. He is presented as her love-interest in her story, thus "female-gaze". And the irony is for all Kylo's entitlement and the mighty Skywalker blood flowing through his veins, it's not about how she fits into his story. It's about how he fits into hers.

 

Via Wiki: The female gaze is a feminist film theoretical term representing the gaze of the female viewer. It is a response to feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey's term, "the male gaze," which represents not only the gaze of the male viewer but also the gaze of the male character and the male creator of the film. In contemporary usage, the female gaze has been used to refer to the perspective a female filmmaker (screenwriter/director/producer) brings to a film that would be different from a male view of the subject.

 

@anakinfansince1983 To be fair, his pants were higher up than Anakin's ever were. I couldn't find it that gratuitous because I was too busy thinking about how I have that exact pair of maternity pants in the bottom of my closet somewhere...

 

Anyone notice just how close Ben got to Rey in the shirtless force-bond scene? She's literally looking up, elevator-level closeness there! (Btw not sure if i'm allowed to post TLJ pics so apologies if not!)

 

@ReyRandom
We both found it.

 

Right, but I was just posting what people mean by the term. Of course different women have different 'gazes' just like different fans see 'Reylo' in different ways.

No, Rian isn't a woman but many of the storytellers/members of the Story Group are and TFA was edited by woman editors.

 

But the perspective of the entire film was nearly exclusively from the female eye: Rey, Leia, Rose and Holdo.

This is one of the reasons many factions were infuriated by TLJ. This is not a film where the male eye dominates. It is a different perspective where the male one is the minority. This is most noticeable when it comes to the Force story and Kylo and Rey's interactions. We see them nearly exclusively from Rey's perspective.

 

Okay see... that wild look on his face is similar to what I was talking about earlier. He looks ravenous -- like TFA was a more subtle version of that ^^, which is not subtle at all.

And yes, that stance is awfully close.

 

Hmm, good question. I am just against Ray/Kylo. But for me to accept that it is an official romance I would have to see Kylo treat Rey way better. I would also have to see them either declare their affection for each other or kiss. Do I want that to happen? No, but if it does then I will accept it with as little mumbling as possible.

 

Haha I am with you on this. I had read about Force projection Luke ahead of time, and thought it was complete crack. I not only thought it was horrible, I thought it was horrible to the point where it was just plain fake. You can imagine my surprise when it turned out to be real. Not only was it real, it was INCREDIBLY well done.

I know we don’t see eye to eye just yet and maybe that just comes down to story preference, but I see definitely Kylo making a completely selfless act when all is said and done, and not just because it’s what Rey wants him to do, but what he should do.

 

I just hope JJ makes the right call when it comes to it.