#Aragorn booping boromir one last time

[yourwakingnightmares]

Even leaving aside the terrible plots, the horrific writing, the nonsensical contrivances, and the decimation the new Star Wars movies did to the universe, let’s talk about ‘Rey’ for a moment. Now, I would like to say that, while Star Wars lore will obviously be mentioned, I’m not going to talk about any of the above mentioned things as issues, because I seriously want to focus on this new -and unfortunately increasing -characterization in film and books lately.

Rey is one of the most horrifically written characters I’ve seen in a major franchise in years, for many, many reasons. None of them having anything to do with her gender, despite what thousands of critics like to loudly proclaim.

Firstly, let’s talk about how Rey just ‘does’ things. There is no learning curve with her; there’s no payoff for a journey well traveled. Everything Rey does, she simply does well. In the first movie alone, Rey is...

1. A phenomenal pilot, despite having never flown a large starship. She does this in a ship that -we’ve seen from previous movies -is old, and cantankerous; like many older vehicles in our own world, the Millennium Falcon has it’s own little quirks that Rey simply knows how to deal with, or counter effectively while flying for the first time in what’s referred to as a ‘dog fight’.

2. She’s a phenomenal mechanic. She knows how to repair space ships, to a point where she feels confident yanking out what looks to be a type of computer chip, while flying through space.

3. She knows how to use the computer systems of this ship, opening doors, plotting courses, etc.

4. She’s a crack shot with a gun after her first three shots miss wildly; after that, she rarely misses a shot ever again, regardless of circumstances, or distance.

5. She is able to speak or at least understand, several languages that are either incredibly rare (Wookie), or that are nothing more than a series of beeps and boops (droids), or that we see from random space aliens in random settings.

5. She is an excellent light saber duelist; despite using a weapon that’s considered to be incredibly dangerous for the user, she not only doesn’t harm herself at all, but she is able to defeat someone who we can safely assume has had 15+ years of dueling training with these weapons.

6. She is able to lift very large objects using the force, despite every other character in all 9 movies requiring training to do. But Rey simply does it, and on a much larger scale than what we’ve seen before previously -even from Anakin Skywalker, one of the most powerful force users in the trilogy.

7. She is able to use advanced Force techniques, purely by accident. Force Lightning and Force Healing are things that -in the books, the movies, the games, and the television shows -that require years of training, a focused mind, and will and intent to use them. Rey, however... simply does it. Out of nowhere.

This is a small list of things that Rey is simply able to do, with no training, no learning time. She’s an orphan girl from a scavenging desert world, with minimal technological advances; she shouldn’t even be aware that half of the above mentioned things are possible, much less to do them with ease. The other half are things that require training, and experience to be able to do, and yet still: Rey does them with ease, and much better than many other character who have had that training and experience.

Now, onto a more psychological note. Rey is simply good. She has no flaw that she needs to develop, no weakness she needs to improve. She is kind, helpful, persevering, plucky, humorous, quick-witted, intelligent, loyal, and believes in the good of people. The only things we see about Rey that are presented as flaws is her need to bond with people, and her unwavering belief that there’s good in any one.

But despite these being presented as Rey’s ‘flaws’, they are not shown to hinder her in any real, significant ways; they don’t cause her any lasting consequences, they don’t hinder her in any important way, and in fact, are used to show us, the audience, that she is simply good. Her immediate trust of Finn, her belief that Kylo can be good, and so forth, are all presented to us as ‘look at what a great person Rey is’.

The few ‘mistakes’ Rey makes, never leave her with any consequences at all. She accidentally releases the Rathors? How convenient that they eat all of her opponents instantly, while leaving her friends alive for her to save. She runs off on her own, and gets captured? How convenient that it left her exactly where she needed to be to destroy the base, and save her friends.

Nothing bad ever sticks with Rey; her mistakes don’t make her question herself, her actions don’t ever leave her injured, her quips don’t ever come back to bite her in the ass. She simply continues on, with no negative side effects.

Despite people’s resistance to it, this is indeed the definition of a Mary Sue; a blank slate character we typically see in fanfiction writing, by younger, or more inexperienced writers. These characters are presented as perfect, because the people making these characters don’t know how to make a sympathetic flaw, or how to create a compelling character arc for their character. Characters who the author wishes they could be, perfect, in every way. (Also, despite the name, there are many male ‘Mary Sue’ character out there -it’s not a ‘female’ problem).

Movies and books are both the same thing: a way of telling a story. If we go back to some of the oldest stories ever told, ones that are repeated today, we see characters who are flawed, characters who struggle, characters who fail at their task, time and time again. Gilgamesh is vain, arrogant, and proud, yet he does everything in his power to try and save Enkidu, a one-time slave who has become his closest companion. Beowulf, like many story warriors, is arrogant, and insists on his own superiority against a clearly superior foe; however, despite this, we’re told that his men loved him, and that he was a good king. I could go on and on with examples of this throughout history.

But the example I find most fitting for comparison here is the Lord of the Rings series. While far more simplistic than Star Wars, the characterizations in LotR are vastly superior. We’re shown that Merry and Pippin aren’t the brightest creatures in Middle Earth, but they’re loyal to a fault. We’re shown that Aragorn is a strong, good man, but he’s so afraid of failing that he won’t even let himself try. We see Boromir, a man who just wants to protect his people, and be a hero, that he’s willing to risk it all. We see Legolas and Gimli, two people from different species who spend most of the first book/movie bickering over slights that no one else even remembers. We see Frodo, a Hobbit who falls repeatedly, but keeps forcing himself back up. We see Sam, who can’t fight, can’t sneak, hell, who can’t even swim, going on the most dangerous journey ever undertaken in their world, to try and take care of his friend.

And we watch these characters overcome these flaws as time goes on. We see Merry and Pippin go on to bring the Ents into the war, and fight side by side with Men against vastly superior foes. We see Aragorn finally accept his destiny, and overcome his fear of failure to accept his responsibility. We see Boromir realize the mistake he’s made, and die trying to protect the Hobbits, while telling Aragorn that he has shamed himself with his actions. We see Legolas and Gimli become best friends, to overcome the millennia of hatred their species share, to spend the rest of their lives together as friends. We see Frodo and Sam persevere against all odds to finally succeed in their goals. 

Part of the emotional high we get from watching or reading about make-believe characters is the journey itself; what they do to get from point A to point B. The mistakes they make, the flaws they try to better, and so on, and the consequences they suffer because of the mistakes made, and the flaws they have.

So while watching Rey, we’re deprived of that emotional high; we know Rey will succeed, because Rey is all that is good. We know that Rey will succeed, because nothing bad ever happens to her. We know that Rey won’t fall to the dark side, because she literally has no flaws to speak of. We know that she’ll suffer no lasting consequences of her actions, because she is simply there to succeed and move the story along.

This is lazy writing. This is a Mary Sue character. And for the first female main character -I don’t consider her to be such, I stan Princess Leia now and forever, but many do -it was a disappointment. An epic let down. We received no emotional pay off, no rollercoaster of events, no hesitation or doubts in her abilities...

It was the ‘Rey Does Everything’ show, with the audience around to act as the live studio audience to clap when appropriate.

#Star Wars #Rey #Mary Sue #Bad Writing #Lazy Writing #Characterization #Character Development #Lord of the Rings