Civil War Man wrote: ↑2019-04-13 01:30am
The Romulan Republic wrote: ↑2019-04-12 05:40pmI
really hope Abrams didn't quickly kill off Rose. If he took the pandering to the TLJ bashers that far, I will denounce the film as racist and misogynist and refuse to recognize it (or probably the whole ST) as canon. I don't even care whether you like Rose. Quickly killing off the first major Asian character in a Star Wars film, presumably to placate the bashers, after her actor was driven off social media by racist and misogynist harrasment, would be an unforgiveably shameful act. Hell, that might be enough to get me to walk out of the theatre. And shout "Fuck JJ Abrams" on my way out the door.
I know it might not count for some people since it was a side story and not a numbered episode, but Chirrut and Baze were technically the first major Asian characters in a Star Wars film. Of course, they
were both killed off, but that gets a pass since it was a "Rocks fall, everyone dies" plot.
You're right. And I probably should have included them, since I'm not inclined to slight
Rogue One.
Still, there's a certain high profile cachet that comes with being in a main trilogy film, and rose got a more central role than either of them. So I'd say she still counts as a "main character" in a way that they don't.
That said, Tran was at the recent Star Wars celebration, and Abrams is on the record saying he thinks Rose was Johnson's best contribution to Star Wars, so it's a pretty safe bet that she will be showing up again.
That's reassuring to hear.
While we're on the subject though, I think if you want to talk about Star Wars movies taking risks, TLJ is a bad example. While it does have little twists thrown in to try to differentiate itself from ESB, a lot of the movie does hit a lot of familiar points. A large section of the plot is about a massively outgunned rebel ship trying to escape an Imperial fleet in hot pursuit, but having to do it at sublight speeds because they are unable to escape into hyperspace. The reason they can't escape is different (low fuel vs broken hyperdrive), and the Raddus is bigger than the Falcon, but we've still got that.
Meanwhile, the Jedi plotline is about our neophyte Jedi traveling to a remote world to study under a reclusive Jedi Master in hiding. The Master expresses initial reluctance to teach, but then starts giving lessons anyway. The difference here is that Yoda's reluctance was likely at least partially a test to see if Luke was committed, whereas Luke's lesson are specifically trying to discourage Rey from becoming a Jedi. As a bonus, both also have a lesson that involves a dank cave full of Dark Side energy.
Now, a few pages of ROTJ get shuffled into the script with the throne room scene, where the Jedi character lets themselves be captured by the Sith apprentice and brought to the Master, which ends in the apprentice choosing to kill the master in order to save the Jedi character. The twist here, which is one I actually like, is that Kylo Ren consciously rejects redemption after doing it. It's one of the reasons I think his character fared the best in TLJ, and why I share some of the concerns others have expressed of him fixing the mask in the teaser.
-Killing Snoke in the second film, and having a successful apprentice betrayal with Kylo elevated to Big Bad.
-Deliberately deconstructing and reconstructing "Light vs Dark" morality.
-Trying to subvert the usual "Lone Rogue Action Hero vs Corrupt/Incompetent Superiors" plot line with Holdo and Poe.
-Making Rey "No one".
You can argue how well any of those ideas worked in practice, but they were all major points in the film, and none of them were conventional or particularly safe. Especially the first and last one. The similarities, meanwhile, are generally fairly broad ones, in some cases stuff that would apply to pretty much any big budget action film (like the chase plot, the infiltration subplot, and the evil villain vs. heroic protagonist duel).
Anyway, back to the similarities with ESB, we've got a confrontation between the Sith apprentice and the Jedi protagonist, which ends in a big reveal about the family of the protagonist. Here, the twist is that there isn't actually anything to reveal, and all the foreshadowing was just a series of red herrings. Unless Abrams retcons it to it being Kylo trying to gaslight Rey, which I think would be a bad idea, though I do like the interpretation of Kylo having an unrequited attraction towards Rey (hence the "but not to me" line), and that a lot of his rage at the end of TLJ is over Rey rejecting him (he views himself as the big hero for saving Rey, and the hero is supposed to get the girl, so Rey's rejection completely disrupts how he thinks the narrative "should" go).
Kylo having an attraction to Rey, and lashing out at her over it, fits very well with the character, which is basically "angry young neo-fascist white male spree killer in space". Rey returning it... makes me a bit queasy, because we have enough girls and women who think abusive "bad boys" are sexy and that abuse is true love as it is. But I could see it as a tragic flaw stemming from her identity and abandonment issues and desire to fit in.
What I don't want is some stupid "Rey saves Kylo with the power of the love" crap. Or for them to just reverse her turning her back on him at the end of TLJ. Because the latter would be a regression/betrayal of her character development (which is already scant enough as it is) that would weaken her character. And the former... well, what worked for Luke and Vader won't (or at least shouldn't) work for Rey, because the nature of the relationship and characters is different. And again, we already have too many girls who think that deep down, their abusers love them, and that they can "save" abusive men if they keep giving them second chances.
Then, to wrap things up, we have the Imperial walkers attacking the rebel base while the rebels evacuate. Here, the twist is that the planet is salt instead of snow, the attack happens at the end of the movie instead of the beginning, and the evacuation is facilitated by Luke doing some magical hologram trolling instead of a giant fuck-off ion cannon.
See, to me, having some vaguely-familiar set pieces is less important than taking risks with fundamental themes and character development. Its just putting something new in a familiar package.
All said, the most original sequence in the TLJ was Canto Bight, and there are legitimate criticisms in that it doesn't accomplish anything except getting more characters killed, and the sea of identical tuxedos and Earth-based games of chance makes it feel a bit more mundane.
I think that Canto Bight served an important purpose, not so much in furthering the plot, but in furthering Finn's character development, his progression from storm trooper, to scared deserter running for his life, to a man who's only in the fight for Rey, to someone who by the end of the film is genuinely committed to the Resistance's cause, enough to proudly declare himself a Rebel and to try to give his own life for it. By having him see the galaxy from the point of view of an ordinary Resistance grunt (Rose), and see the corruption beneath a pretty place like Canto Bight. And, of course, furthering his relationship with Rose in the process.
My main quibble with it is that when I heard they were going to find an ally on a casino planet, I thought for a brief moment that Lando would be making a surprise appearance, and was disappointed when he didn't. But they're bringing him back now, so its all good.
If you want a better example of a Star Wars movie taking risks, I'd go with Rogue One. It was tonally different from the other films, being more grit and less high adventure. A lot of the ship and vehicle designs were the same or very similar to their OT counterparts, and the main villain was an overly ambitious egotistical bureaucrat, which is less merchandizable. Plus, the aforementioned "Rocks fall, everyone dies" ending.
I mean,
Rogue One returned us to the beloved OT era, with loads of fan service and an ending directly tying into
A New Hope. It did it beautifully and brilliantly, so I'm not complaining. My point is that it took risks, but in a very familiar setting. I'm not sure how that's so different from TLJ, which took risks within a vaguely familiar plot structure.