[ SECRET POST #4315 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4315 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________


03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.







Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 49 secrets from Secret Submission Post #618.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: NOTPs

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I think I misled you as to what I'm talking about with the throwaway American President reference (especially since what actually happens is the opposite of "girl dumps guy, guy begs, girl takes him back" And does involve larger self-reflection and behavioral change on the guy's part, not just related to the woman but to other aspects of his life and specifically the extent to which he's failed to live up to his own standards for himself and their breakup is only a piece of it. Again, I'm trying to avoid spoilers but probably shouldn't have thrown a niche reference into the mix without being able to explain). (And possibly being more cautious about spoilers than I need to be, because I'm actually someone who usually wants a lot more in the way that kind of background information on new media so I'm always afraid I'll overshare.)

The thing I find if not necessarily subversive but certainly distinct from the "her love redeems him" trope in Star Wars specifically is that it's always the person in need of redemption who's responsible for their choices--- it's "his love is the impetus for him to redeem himself" and in fact Anakin's own arc explicitly pushes back on the whole "male redemption through female love" idea--- Padme loving him wasn't enough to save him if he wasn't willing to do the work, but him loving Luke is; in fact, ROTJ seems to go at least a little out of the way to make it clear that Luke loving his father wasn't enough by itself, with all the back and forth between Luke and Anakin before Anakin turns.

So I'm waaaaay more sanguine about it in Star Wars than I would be in other properties, especially the "sci-fi/Disney/popcorn" variety) (and if Rian Johnson were still directing/writing I'd be downright confident given how pleased I was with all the handling of relationships and moral/ethical learning curves in TLJ).

Ironically, Ben's parents also have a little of "it's the guy's love for the woman that makes him make better choices and actually the woman is over here doing her own thing"--- in the first two movies especially, Han shows signs of having mainly stuck with the rebellion over his feelings for Leia (and Luke), whereas Han and Leia's arguments in ESB are expressly about the fact that she is focused on the larger picture of the Rebellion. ("We need you? What about I need you?") So there is, to my mind, a lot of room in this story for "dude rethinks his dubious life choices out of loyalty to one or more loved ones". (Actually, if Ben ever finds out how his maternal grandmother died, and more to the point the version of it that Palpatine was pushing and that Anakin may have believed until his own death, "It seems in your anger you killed her", that might be enough right there--- "oh, shit, I am on track to repeat exactly my grandfather's failures," in a manner that's an almost exact parallel of the moment in ROTJ when Luke cuts off Vader's prosthetic hand and looks down at his own, in the way that the sequels seem to like doing callbacks to the OT.)

Thanks for the tips relative to the other recommendations, and if I find any more canons that fit the type, man, I will be shouting happily about them from the rooftops! :)

Re: NOTPs

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT—hmm. Your reference to American President didn’t mislead me, so much as I don’t necessarily see the next film involving a lot of self-reflection or attempts at self-improvement on Kylo’s part. The narrative could go there in the last film, but unless he dies like Vader in the midst of saving Leia—and possibly Rey but mostly Leia—I don’t see the point in redeeming him to pair him up with Rey. There’d need to be a whole ‘nother trilogy of build up for me to not cringe at Reylo.

Kylo just doesn’t seem to have much depth to him. He has, so far as we see onscreen, no sense of humor or hobbies. His only moment of human feeling that doesn’t involve being pissed at Rey is brief reluctance to kill his mother. If he had a similar backstory to Anakin Skywalker I could possibly see redemption via love if Rey were the equivalent of Padme being found alive somewhere.

Kylo Ren had a pair of loving, if possibly awkward and estranged, parents. He was not a child when he killed his fellow jedi-in-training (did they ever call them padawans in the new films?) I’ve heard the novelization expands on his mind-bond with Snoke starting when he was a child, but that’s not made clear in the films. He doesn’t fix droids in his spare time, or practice interstellar languages, or play electric guitar. He broods about exceeding his grandfather’s genocidal legacy.

If Vader had stopped exhorting Luke to rule the galaxy with him and instead offered to go to a space arcade and play Intergalactic Invaders for a day, I would’ve been okay with an ending where Vader didn’t die. But that offer of co-dominion to Luke is the best Vader can do. Kylo should’ve been able to do better if the narrative is gonna end differently this time.

I hope that any possible redemption for Kylo Ren has nothing to do with Rey except possibly as reflects her part in the Resistance, and would prefer (sorry!) that he die rather than get together with her. It’s not that I ship opposing ships—I don’t—but none of the other possibilities except crack like Reyux creep me out so much.

I actually ship a few “her/his love redeems him/her” couples, although I prefer to write and read fanfic where the villain does just as much work as the hero(ine), as in your wishes for Reylo. The difference is those villains are shown onscreen (or page) to have more going on and more to offer the hero(ine) than the realization that mass-murder’s not enough to build a relationship. They have goals in common or differ on method, or family/friends in common and reconcile for their sake, or hobbies/interests in common.

I dunno, I find Kylo Ren really attractive but can’t get over what he’s done when it took him 2 movies into a trilogy to realize destroying entire planets is a stupid way to get girls.