Honestly, the conflicting desires has been bothering me, a little bit. LIke, So Many People on my dash have the reaction of "you know what, fuck That Guy" and complain about people trying to justify Kylo Ren's actions based on his childhood, or that people aren't paying enough attention to Finn or Rey. And that's totally fair! Horus knows that woobification is a problem with his character type, and that those characters are likely to be ignored. Their emotional reactions are valid
I'm trying to understand and justify /why/ he's compelling to me while /not/ woobifying him, but I'll admit there's a certain defensiveness to it. I'm paying attention to the Wrong Character, and it's clearly only because of internal bias that I'm not spending all of my energy on Finn, or Rey. By writing about Kylo, I am Part of the Problem. Because clearly, /my/ emotional reactions are not valid and must be corrected, or at least made justified.
(I don't know if this is a result of the current fandom atmosphere, people in general, or simply my lack of confidence. Quite possibly a confluence of the three.)
But it's - not their fault that they have a particular desire for what the narrative and by extention the fandom should provide, and conversely (if all things are equal, which I am forced to conceed) my desires shouldn't be my fault either. Just because my desires for the narrative happen to look superficially like what Villain Apologists want, that doesn't make them invalid. (If it quacks like a duck and floats like a duck, it might be a clever bath toy - or a goose.)
...that kind of turned into an essay there, but yeah, that's the headspace that this post is coming from. Trying to balance what seem to be competing needs for validation, and what I want vs what other people want. (Speaking of questions we don't have answers for...)
And yeah, I think my version would work as a subversion - I just honestly don't know if they're going to go for it. They only have two movies to do this in, and to do this /right/ it's gonna require a lot of subtle writing and acting - there's no neat way to do it, no easy solution, and that would leave a lot of people unsatisfied. Is it cynical to worry that a lot of the audience wouldn't get it? That they'll take it as "see he's not all bad" rather than "even the worst of us are still capable of growth"? Blrg. I'd write it myself, but I'm not sure I'm up to it either.
also, re: avatar - I see that! When I get my hands on it, I will watch it straight away. (Things that Star needs: netflix. Related things that Star needs: A Job)
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timeasmymeasure
i accidentally an essay. again.
Date: 2016-01-17 10:46 pm (UTC)Thanks so much! I'm so glad you like it.
Honestly, the conflicting desires has been bothering me, a little bit. LIke, So Many People on my dash have the reaction of "you know what, fuck That Guy" and complain about people trying to justify Kylo Ren's actions based on his childhood, or that people aren't paying enough attention to Finn or Rey. And that's totally fair! Horus knows that woobification is a problem with his character type, and that those characters are likely to be ignored. Their emotional reactions are valid
I'm trying to understand and justify /why/ he's compelling to me while /not/ woobifying him, but I'll admit there's a certain defensiveness to it. I'm paying attention to the Wrong Character, and it's clearly only because of internal bias that I'm not spending all of my energy on Finn, or Rey. By writing about Kylo, I am Part of the Problem. Because clearly, /my/ emotional reactions are not valid and must be corrected, or at least made justified.
(I don't know if this is a result of the current fandom atmosphere, people in general, or simply my lack of confidence. Quite possibly a confluence of the three.)
But it's - not their fault that they have a particular desire for what the narrative and by extention the fandom should provide, and conversely (if all things are equal, which I am forced to conceed) my desires shouldn't be my fault either. Just because my desires for the narrative happen to look superficially like what Villain Apologists want, that doesn't make them invalid. (If it quacks like a duck and floats like a duck, it might be a clever bath toy - or a goose.)
...that kind of turned into an essay there, but yeah, that's the headspace that this post is coming from. Trying to balance what seem to be competing needs for validation, and what I want vs what other people want. (Speaking of questions we don't have answers for...)
And yeah, I think my version would work as a subversion - I just honestly don't know if they're going to go for it. They only have two movies to do this in, and to do this /right/ it's gonna require a lot of subtle writing and acting - there's no neat way to do it, no easy solution, and that would leave a lot of people unsatisfied. Is it cynical to worry that a lot of the audience wouldn't get it? That they'll take it as "see he's not all bad" rather than "even the worst of us are still capable of growth"? Blrg. I'd write it myself, but I'm not sure I'm up to it either.
also, re: avatar - I see that! When I get my hands on it, I will watch it straight away. (Things that Star needs: netflix. Related things that Star needs: A Job)
Thank you for the help in writing it!