3/23/2023 0 Comments Star wars the force awakens reyAfter she saves the Millennium Falcon from self-destructing by performing an ad hoc repair, she beams with pride and then, after a beat, frowns in puzzlement. No one is more surprised at Rey’s skills than she is herself. (At one point, John Boyega’s Finn picks up the floating ball that helped a blindfolded Luke learn how to use the Force from the floor of the Millennium Falcon and tosses it aside - we won’t be needing that.) But the idea that Rey is “over-powered,” as Landis put it in a later video, neglects a key component of Rey’s character: astonishment. As Tasha Robinson wrote at the Verge, “We wouldn’t be worrying about Rey’s excessive coolness if she were Ray, standard-issue white male hero with all the skills and all the luck.” The only referendum I needed came from my daughter, who during the final battle yelled out “Go Rey! She’s so good!”Ĭritiques of Rey’s hypercompetence - and here we abandon the term “Mary Sue,” never to look back - rest on a sloppy reading of “The Force Awakens,” and in many cases boil down to “She’s not enough like Luke.” No, she doesn’t have a mentor like Obi-Wan Kenobi, and we don’t see her learning how to use her powers. Often but not necessarily this character is recognized as an author insert and/or wish-fulfillment.”īut as io9’s Charlie Jane Anders pointed out, over time, the term “broadened until it means ‘any female character who is unrealistically talented or skilled.'” And while Landis and others may counter that their criticisms have nothing to do with gender, it is difficult not to notice that these objections are never raised when the same proves to be true of male characters, which it does all the freaking time. Rey’s alarmingly steep learning curve prompted objections from some critics, including screenwriter Max Landis, that the character is a “Mary Sue,” which Wikipedia defines as “an idealized fictional character, a young or low-rank person who saves the day through extraordinary abilities. “I Know” can’t resist adding, a few seconds later, “You got a lot to learn, kid.”) That’s why I’m giving it to you.” (Even so, Mr. When Harrison Ford’s Han Solo offers her a blaster, she snorts, “I can handle myself.” He responds, “I know. Through the course of “The Force Awakens,” Rey turns out to be good at a lot of things: She’s a skilled pilot, she’s good with a firearm, can hold her own in a lightsaber fight with the evil Kylo Ren. Just as Luke comes into his Jedi powers over the course of “Star Wars,” so Rey becomes progressively adept at using the Force, although until the movie’s final minutes, she doesn’t seem aware that’s what she’s doing. With No Studio Entries, Best Animated Short Is an Open Race for Indies and International TitlesĪbandoned by her parents on a desert planet, Rey watches spaceships soar into the sky and dreams of a better life - in other words, she’s a lot like Luke Skywalker, just as Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron is a next-gen version of the original trilogy’s Han Solo. James Cameron Reveals Why He Thinks 'The Force Awakens' Doesn't Live Up To George Lucas's Visionĥ1 Directors' Favorite Horror Movies: Bong Joon Ho, Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro, and More (Even when rocking a skimpy metal slave-girl getup.) But while Leia was quickly reduced to a secondary character after A New Hope, Rey is all Leia's potential fulfilled - jumping right into the pilot's seat instead of moving to the rear of the starship while the boys fly.Star Wars Celebration: What Other Studios And Festivals Can Learn About Balancing Art And Fan Service She was one of the original models for modern women heroines: like Rey, Leia is confident, competent, unapologetic, and an active participant in her own rescues. Abrams has described as "always a boys' thing." Abrams was wrong about that (and knows it he's clarified that quote) - given that A New Hope's Princess Leia was a feminist icon back in 1977. And it's especially thrilling to see a new tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners heroine in the Star Wars franchise, which even writer-director J.J. That these heroines not only make it to the screen, but beat out their male counterparts at the box office is even more encouraging. For women who've felt underrepresented through decades where most of the ladies onscreen were victims, tokens, rewards, or shrews, it's natural to feel a sugar rush of fulfillment over characters like Katniss Everdeen and Imperator Furiosa.
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