#the film didn't succeed in ruining Ben but it wasn't for lack of trying you guys

[frumfrumfroo]

I saw an interesting take where someone complained why so many people in the fandom just focuse on Bens death and not so much on Rey’s character being destroyed. That person said even if Ben is brought back, Rey’s character would still suffer and her character was more destroyed than Ben dying.

People argue about what was ‘worse’ and it really depends on where you’re coming from (if you’re primarily a fan of just the ST Rey is probably worse since she’s the main character, if you came here for the heroine’s journey it’s sort of all the same thing, if you’re most invested in the generational saga or the legacy of sw, the treatment of Ben is much worse, if you’ve ever been suicidal, Ben is definitely worse), but at least to me it’s pretty obvious why there aren’t hashtag events and whatnot for Rey. It’s too difficult to separate celebration of her character from approval of tros and tros’s entire mission to warp literally everything into a coronation anointing her the flawless new superhero face of the SWCU. She is the Brand Avatar, she embodies the new Disney mandate of shallow trappings preying on nostalgia, and she represents the death of sw. To the public, she’s inseparable from this abhorrent narrative. The ending always defines the audience’s relationship with a story.

What tros did was make the entire Skywalker tragedy from beginning to end into a footnote in the rise of Rey Palpatine, Born Perfect and Innately Good becoming Jedi Super Saiyan and being given everything because she’s just such a worthy empty vessel. Reypatine Skysurper IS tros.

Her character was completely destroyed, but DLF don’t see it that way and it takes actual time to explain. It’s very simple to see how Ben was shit on and pretty much everyone reasonable agrees that he was. For Rey you have to explain why it’s not a good ending for her, it’s not a positive example or good depiction of a female protagonist, it’s not ‘yay girl power!’, and it’s terrible writing. For people who don’t see the problem with it, you have to explain sw itself and how this is a wholesale destruction of everything it set out to be (including even its structure). If someone refuses to see what is so colossally reprehensible about the Replacement Golden Child narrative, they’re already seeing the characters too much as action figures to understand that this isn’t what Rey wanted because it is what they wanted and she’s a protagonist-shaped blank slate as far as they’re concerned.

Ultimately I’d argue it’s stupid to talk about which is ‘worse’ as if they were discrete events because they’re not. They’re fundamentally entwined. Ben was killed and Rey’s character was ruined both in service of that ending. Whether it was with malice aforethought or through sheer incompetence/lack of imagination is irrelevant. I’d say it’s marginally more likely there is actual knowing intent behind erasing Ben, where they genuinely don’t realise they took a dump on Rey. They thought this was a great ending for her and that she’s a great ‘hero’.

#the entirety of tros is completely unfixable so I don't know why we need to single Rey out #Luke and Leia are also totally unsalvageable if you try to go on from there #the whole Skywalker saga is totally unsalvageable and the Force is a malevolent video game power #just resurrecting Ben would not repair his story #I guess people forget because Adam did so much to give us the healed and reconciled Ben the story demands #that actually his redemption and character arc was completely botched by this garbagefire script #the film didn't succeed in ruining Ben but it wasn't for lack of trying you guys #it's not like the only problem is that he died #idk about anyone else but to me making noise about Ben isn't about me expecting them to fix this (bc they can't and won't) #I just want them to know how bad they fucked up and show solidarity to everyone who felt hope and love in his story #as we've talked about on here before- he has become the perfect personification of the 'real sw' the myth that Lucas was trying to make #and DLF are desperately trying to smother to death for soulless profitable status quo dreck #salt #a tros ity