star wars: the force awakens
Dec. 22nd, 2015 01:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
splinteredstarokay. this one /will/ have spoilers under the cut. So. The Force Awakens spoilers below the cut.
On the one hand, there are several scenes that were definitely done to be callbacks to the original series. Lightsaber in the snow, everyone. On the other hand, they weren't obstrusive. They established continuitity without breaking realism - there were nice hints for the old fans but not jarring for the others.
Sutble call back, on that note: the weapon was called Starkiller, which was iirc one of the draft versions of Skywalker. *checks* Yep!
I kind of loved Ray scavanging from crashed empire tech. It was both continuum check and also realsim check - that shit has to go /somewhere/, and people always use the bits left behind. Also, Rey is established very well - independant, sympathetic, willing to help but unwilling to be helped. I kind of love her.
One of the really important things that those call backs do, I think, is establish equivilency for Rey. She's shown doing the exact same actions as her (possible uncle, possible father, more on that in a bit) forebeaer Luke. Like the light saber in the snow scene, or the piloting scenes. On that note, she's also shown to be the potential equilient to Han with her skill with the ship. I like that she's self-taught, incidentally, from scavenging and stories. I like that she was left on her own and learned compassion as much as she learned survival.
For 75% of the movie, I assumed she was Han's kid, and thus Ren's sister. The engine knowledge, the easy comradery. Her flashbacks did not counteract this. And this is Star Wars - sibling pairs are A Thing, and especially sets of twins. (I believe in the EU novels, it's a set of twins.)
But then we saw her around Leia - and Leia doesn't act like Rey is her daughter. (And Leia would /know/ even if Han didn't.) It's not impossible that Leia is hiding it - she's lost one child, already - but it is unlikely. And I think I like it better, if Leia isn't her mother? I like cross-generational female support networks, especially if they're not by blood. An aside: the female mentorship in this movie is so great.
That being said, that girl is /definitely/ a Skywalker, because the story of Star wars is the story of that family. So yeah, I think she's Luke's daughter. I won't be heartbroken if I'm wrong, but I do like the idea.
I liked her reaction to the the lightsaber. Both that she had a reaction to it, and that she had a very reasonable freak out. I mean. She unexpectedly got someone else's traumatic flashbacks shoved in her brain...
Fiiiiinnn. I immediately wanted to hug him. Soldiers who have crises of conscience and switch sides win me over so easily, oh my god. Also, he grows a lot. Admittedly for Rey's sake, but also for Po's. Also: interracial romance! I ship it.
Po is great. He's so friendly and charismatic and accepts Finn so easily. He's just like "yeah we're bros now! yay bros!" I don't know if I ship it, but the brotp is pretty strong. I was /so/ glad he didn't actually die. Platonic brotps are important! On that note: I want Po and Ray to get into a race. I don't care who wins. (Well, okay. I want Ray to win. And I want Po to be cool about it.)
tl;dr RAY IS PRECIOUS. PO IS PRECIOUS. FINN IS PRECIOUS. LEIA IS AND FOREVER WILL BE QUEEN OF MY HEART.
I loved Han and Leia. I loved the awkwardness of the relationship, the stiffness, the strain. They'd lost a son - and worse than that, their son had left them, turned to the Sith - and that's broken up stronger marriages than theirs. The arguments are easy to imagine. ("If you'd been a better father - " "it's your damn bloodline that gave him that power-") I like the sensation of "I love you, I'll always love you, but maybe being together isn't for us."
(On that note, I loved the hints we got of Leia's own powers. She might not have chosen the path of the jedi, but not for lack of talent. She must be a goddess at politics, which I want to see.)
Kylo Ren. Ah, Ren. I kind of want to pat him on the head and coo at him. "Awwwn, whosa big scary sith looooord, who's so scawwwrrrry. it's yooou, you're the big nasy sith looooord." There /might/ be cheek pinching involved. Like, oh my /god/, is that Anakin's grandkid or /what/. Funniest scene in the movie was when he threw a fit and sliced up everything, and the storm tropers outside were just "oh god, he's doing it again, just take the other corridor..."
That being said. I like him as a character, even with all that he did. He's trying so hard to be as powerful as he wants to be, as strong and unassailable as he thinks he's supposed to be. "The light calls to me," he says, guitly and ashamed and in pain. I recognize the sentiments from the other side, and I feel for the kid. (and god, is he still a kid.) That's the thing about Skywalkers, I think - they never fully belong to the light /or/ the dark. Troublesome Jedi, /terrible/ Sith. Just like his uncle! (And his granddad, for that matter. On that note: where did Ren get that Vader skull? Anakin wasn't wearing it when he died.)
On that note: fuck, HAN. I - i am not angry. Mouring, but not angry. It was done well. And I think the /way/ it was done was important. That was an important part in Ren's plotline - I don't think he wanted to kill his father, he just knew that he was /supposed/ to want to kill his father, and thought that if he killed his father he would stop feeling so much pain over it. He would stop feeling so damn much if he acted like he didn't feel anything. Destroyed the symbol of his pain, because he thought that would make his father not matter any more. By killing his father he would have proven himself strong, and unemotional, and unaffected.
(Brief aside: nice to see "boy with daddy issues" being treated as an immature child, tbh)
But Han prevented that. If Han had been fearful in his last moments, then Ren would have felt powerful. If Han had been angry, betrayed, then Ren would have felt justified. But Han reached out in love, and in doing so prevented everything that Ren was trying to do. When your murder victim forgives you and reaches out to you in love with their least breath, all you can feel is pathetic and weak. And that's /important/, that what would have been Ren's last step into the dark - wasn't, because his father didn't let it.
....okay so i ended up talking more about Ren than Ray. More eloquent people have talked about Ray, and my feelings for her are still mostly in the inarticulate !!!! phase.
On the one hand, there are several scenes that were definitely done to be callbacks to the original series. Lightsaber in the snow, everyone. On the other hand, they weren't obstrusive. They established continuitity without breaking realism - there were nice hints for the old fans but not jarring for the others.
Sutble call back, on that note: the weapon was called Starkiller, which was iirc one of the draft versions of Skywalker. *checks* Yep!
I kind of loved Ray scavanging from crashed empire tech. It was both continuum check and also realsim check - that shit has to go /somewhere/, and people always use the bits left behind. Also, Rey is established very well - independant, sympathetic, willing to help but unwilling to be helped. I kind of love her.
One of the really important things that those call backs do, I think, is establish equivilency for Rey. She's shown doing the exact same actions as her (possible uncle, possible father, more on that in a bit) forebeaer Luke. Like the light saber in the snow scene, or the piloting scenes. On that note, she's also shown to be the potential equilient to Han with her skill with the ship. I like that she's self-taught, incidentally, from scavenging and stories. I like that she was left on her own and learned compassion as much as she learned survival.
For 75% of the movie, I assumed she was Han's kid, and thus Ren's sister. The engine knowledge, the easy comradery. Her flashbacks did not counteract this. And this is Star Wars - sibling pairs are A Thing, and especially sets of twins. (I believe in the EU novels, it's a set of twins.)
But then we saw her around Leia - and Leia doesn't act like Rey is her daughter. (And Leia would /know/ even if Han didn't.) It's not impossible that Leia is hiding it - she's lost one child, already - but it is unlikely. And I think I like it better, if Leia isn't her mother? I like cross-generational female support networks, especially if they're not by blood. An aside: the female mentorship in this movie is so great.
That being said, that girl is /definitely/ a Skywalker, because the story of Star wars is the story of that family. So yeah, I think she's Luke's daughter. I won't be heartbroken if I'm wrong, but I do like the idea.
I liked her reaction to the the lightsaber. Both that she had a reaction to it, and that she had a very reasonable freak out. I mean. She unexpectedly got someone else's traumatic flashbacks shoved in her brain...
Fiiiiinnn. I immediately wanted to hug him. Soldiers who have crises of conscience and switch sides win me over so easily, oh my god. Also, he grows a lot. Admittedly for Rey's sake, but also for Po's. Also: interracial romance! I ship it.
Po is great. He's so friendly and charismatic and accepts Finn so easily. He's just like "yeah we're bros now! yay bros!" I don't know if I ship it, but the brotp is pretty strong. I was /so/ glad he didn't actually die. Platonic brotps are important! On that note: I want Po and Ray to get into a race. I don't care who wins. (Well, okay. I want Ray to win. And I want Po to be cool about it.)
tl;dr RAY IS PRECIOUS. PO IS PRECIOUS. FINN IS PRECIOUS. LEIA IS AND FOREVER WILL BE QUEEN OF MY HEART.
I loved Han and Leia. I loved the awkwardness of the relationship, the stiffness, the strain. They'd lost a son - and worse than that, their son had left them, turned to the Sith - and that's broken up stronger marriages than theirs. The arguments are easy to imagine. ("If you'd been a better father - " "it's your damn bloodline that gave him that power-") I like the sensation of "I love you, I'll always love you, but maybe being together isn't for us."
(On that note, I loved the hints we got of Leia's own powers. She might not have chosen the path of the jedi, but not for lack of talent. She must be a goddess at politics, which I want to see.)
Kylo Ren. Ah, Ren. I kind of want to pat him on the head and coo at him. "Awwwn, whosa big scary sith looooord, who's so scawwwrrrry. it's yooou, you're the big nasy sith looooord." There /might/ be cheek pinching involved. Like, oh my /god/, is that Anakin's grandkid or /what/. Funniest scene in the movie was when he threw a fit and sliced up everything, and the storm tropers outside were just "oh god, he's doing it again, just take the other corridor..."
That being said. I like him as a character, even with all that he did. He's trying so hard to be as powerful as he wants to be, as strong and unassailable as he thinks he's supposed to be. "The light calls to me," he says, guitly and ashamed and in pain. I recognize the sentiments from the other side, and I feel for the kid. (and god, is he still a kid.) That's the thing about Skywalkers, I think - they never fully belong to the light /or/ the dark. Troublesome Jedi, /terrible/ Sith. Just like his uncle! (And his granddad, for that matter. On that note: where did Ren get that Vader skull? Anakin wasn't wearing it when he died.)
On that note: fuck, HAN. I - i am not angry. Mouring, but not angry. It was done well. And I think the /way/ it was done was important. That was an important part in Ren's plotline - I don't think he wanted to kill his father, he just knew that he was /supposed/ to want to kill his father, and thought that if he killed his father he would stop feeling so much pain over it. He would stop feeling so damn much if he acted like he didn't feel anything. Destroyed the symbol of his pain, because he thought that would make his father not matter any more. By killing his father he would have proven himself strong, and unemotional, and unaffected.
(Brief aside: nice to see "boy with daddy issues" being treated as an immature child, tbh)
But Han prevented that. If Han had been fearful in his last moments, then Ren would have felt powerful. If Han had been angry, betrayed, then Ren would have felt justified. But Han reached out in love, and in doing so prevented everything that Ren was trying to do. When your murder victim forgives you and reaches out to you in love with their least breath, all you can feel is pathetic and weak. And that's /important/, that what would have been Ren's last step into the dark - wasn't, because his father didn't let it.
....okay so i ended up talking more about Ren than Ray. More eloquent people have talked about Ray, and my feelings for her are still mostly in the inarticulate !!!! phase.
