Anakin’s Tragedy Continued Through The Original Trilogy Where We See Him Truly Stripped Of His Humanity,

I just rewatched the prequel trilogy for the first time in YEARS and I have to say, they were nowhere near as bad as I remembered.

I mean, yeah, the direction was shit and made the actors seem like they’re awful (which they aren’t, most of the cast is made of very decent actors) and the writing was kind of ridiculous but the story? The story is amazing.

And it really just reminded me how horribly everyone in Anakin’s life failed him, with the exception of Padmé.

Obi-Wan did love Anakin like family but he should have fought harder to keep Anakin more distanced from the Jedi and from the Senate when it became abdundantly clear that he was too unstable to handle it. But he, and the rest of the Council, just saw this unbelievably powerful young man and they used that power.

Most of all, they (and Padmé) should have opened their eyes and seen that he was being manipulated by Palpatine. But instead, they encouraged him to get closer and closer to Palpatine to spy on him and report back.

And they left him in the clutches of Palpatine who gave him everything he wanted - someone who believed in him, who didn’t exclude him without reason, who didn’t discount his feelings. They failed Anakin in exactly the same ways that Ben was failed so much later.

Watching the prequels again also really cemented why I hated how the sequel trilogy ended. Anakin’s life was nothing but pain, loss, failure, and disappointment. He never had a chance against everything that happened to him.

Anakin’s tragedy continued through the original trilogy where we see him truly stripped of his humanity, always abused by his Sith master.

And despite that, we see Anakin redeemed at the end, but only through death. At the very least though, his death is genuinely mourned. His loss is felt deeply by his son who, despite it all, still loved him. Anakin is forgiven and he is allowed to come back as a Force ghost. And he comes back as Anakin, not Vader. The young, vibrant man he once was who died as soon as Vader was truly born.

And therein lies one of the many ways that the sequel trilogy was so incredibly unjust to Ben Solo. Like Anakin, he was tormented his entire life. He was manipulated and abused. Everyone who should have protected him failed to do so and Ben was lost, giving rise to Kylo Ren.

But, unlike Anakin’s change into Vader caused Anakin to die, Ben was simply lost behind Kylo Ren. He was torn between the two sides rather than entirely lost to the dark side. He was more primed for redemption than Anakin could have been.

Kylo Ren actually tried to shake loose the things that kept him bound to the light, unlike Anakin who had everything ripped away from him. And despite Kylo Ren’s efforts to sever the light that was causing him so much pain, he was NEVER able to succumb completely.

So strong were his innate ties to light and goodness that he could not give in even if he tried. He wore a mask trying to convince the world and himself that he was solidly evil, but it was a facade that no one entirely believed.

Palpatine was able to fairly easily bring Anakin into the darkness. But even with all his efforts, all his desire to possess this last Skywalker, he could never own Ben Solo.

So strong were his ties to the light that he could never bring himself to harm Rey. He didn’t even kill Finn when he easily could have - why? Was it his innate goodness? Was it that he knew killing Finn would hurt Rey deeply?

His lightsaber was the perfect way to express his anguished personality. Unstable, over heated, unusual. Always shimmering with a passion and energy not typical for a lightsaber, whether it was a Sith saber or a Jedi saber.

Like Rey, he was neither a creature purely of light or darkness. Both were perfect mixtures of grey.

And then, we lose Ben Solo.

It is beautiful because he saves the woman he loves so much.

It is also abrupt, unexpected, and unceremonious.

He is not mourned.

He is not remembered.

He is just gone.

He was made to be mourned and remembered less than even the most evil characters we see. His loss is treated with less concern than anyone ever gave to a red shirt in Star Trek.

His life and his death are both devoid of meaning.

The boy, lost and broken, who was failed by everyone who should have protected him. The boy who crawled from the pit of death to answer the call of the light. The boy who so desperately wanted to be free of pain that he was willing to break his own heart.

The Skywalkers - all of them - deserved better. But especially Ben Solo. His life was reduced to nothing. His death was reduced to nothing. His redemption was reduced to nothing.

And that is my biggest beef with the end of the sequel trilogy. I loved the prequel trilogy because it humanized Anakin in preparation for his redemption. The sequel trilogy humanized Ben Solo in preparation for ... nothing. Just an unceremonious death and to be forgotten by everyone.

He deserved better.

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littlewinnypsyco

5 years ago

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littlewinnypsyco

5 years ago

I never really paid much attention to the “people just didn’t like that women were important in TLJ” line of thought but now I look back and think about it, especially after TROS, I’m more and more convinced that the role it gave women was a pretty big part of the criticisms, whether it was actually they didn’t like women or just they weren’t able to follow it because it is very heavy on the female perspective, which is not really something mainstream media shows a lot so we’re just not trained to look at things that way and it confuses and/or makes us a bit uncomfortable. Like, I honestly thought FinnRose kind of came out of nowhere the first time I watched it, but then I realized it was because I was automatically looking at it from Finn’s side. Like, I was watching Finn and there was none of the classic male gaze romance indicators there. He is not pursuing her; she has no makeover he can ogle at; He is the pursued slowly learning he cares. He is in the position that the woman usually fills in this sort of story. He’s not the Han; he’s the Leia. He’s got that soft gaze on Canto Bight, and when DJ takes Roses medallion he gets Super Defensive over it, and then when he almost loses her, and he’s taking such tender care of her at the end—he’s realizing he cares. But Rose—the romance is from her perspective. She wants Finn. She pursues him. She’s disappointed in him and forces him to reconsider by making him listen to HER. When he almost dies on the Supremacy, she’s defensive and desperate and tries to shoot Phasma dead on the spot. The last thing she wants to see when she almost dies is HIM. She’s so proud and soft when he steps up and commits! She’d rather die ramming him with her speeder to save him than let him die pointlessly, and SHE’s the one that initiates the kiss. Once I looked at it from a female perspective (from MY perspective) it all fell into place.

The exact same goes for Reylo. I had a friend who thought the Reylo kiss was unnecessary because she hadn’t seen the Reylo in the last two movies. (When I explained it to her she said “Oh! I thought they just had a weird connection!”) Because it was entirely from a female perspective. In TFA we don’t get Rey all prettied up so Ben can gaze at her, which is the normative signal to an audience that “this is a romance.” She’s dirty and sweaty and tied up. It’s Ben who’s prettied up for Rey to gaze at. And then TLJ especially is in every possible way from HER perspective. SHE pursues HIM. She pretties up but it’s subtle and because she’s pursuing him. He’s the one that gets the “makeover look at him” scene, not her. He LISTENS to her. It’s about emotional intimacy, which at least in a film setting is a very female perspective thing. It’s all women-centered myths and tropes and power fantasies. There’s no big strong guy saves and gets the girl. Ben is great because he knows Rey has the ability to save herself —he sends the lightsaber straight through Snoke to HER. He doesn’t sweep her off her feet, but he is swept off his. Like there’s a reason in all the Disney crossovers Ben’s is always the “Princess” role, and its because Rey is the active mover of her story and her romance, not him. (I mean, Ben May be on the dark side but he clearly drinks his respect women juice).

And like, that’s just the romance part of it! That’s not even the “listen to the women in your life” or the “destruction isn’t the answer and neither is violence but instead it’s communication and connection and love” thing that belongs to a more traditionally feminine worldview. Or that fact that the women’s actions and feelings are given huge weight (Rose can have a whole scene to cry about her sister and Rey can feel scared and alone and that’s THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. They can love and the story treats it as Important; Leia can feel despair for a moment and the story stops and sends an entire Luke her way to give her hope; Holdo sacrifices her life and everything suddenly goes silent in reverence). Like Rey, they are all active movers of the story. It’s just so foreign that a lot of the audience is thrown for a loop by it. It’s not what they’re used to so they think it’s not there at all. Or it’s “bad writing” because they aren’t reading it.

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littlewinnypsyco

7 years ago

I reviewed marvel's infinity war trailer about 30 times since it first appeared on the web. The question is what am I doing with my life.

(But I feel fucking satisfied oh yeah)

Ned/Arya

1st shot: Quick peck on the forehead from papa Ned, he keeps his eyes open, he smiles at Arya, Arya smiles back at him.

We don’t get additional, separate shots showing Arya reacting to Ned kissing her, no showing Ned reacting to kissing her, nor him reacting to Arya reacting to his kiss. Because why would they do that? It’s a familial kiss, there are no reactions lol Their reactions and behavior are natural and in place, whilst Jon and Sansa’s reactions are completely out of place for a familial kiss.

This is a familial, platonic kiss between a father and his beloved daughter.

Robb/Cat

1st shot: Shows Robb kissing Cat on the forehead, both of them are in the same frame, their forehead kiss was shot in a similar way to Arya and Ned’s.

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littlewinnypsyco

3 years ago