forumgamer:

underhuntressmoon:

evasivereasoning:

aimmyarrowshigh:

leupagus:

reylohues:

“We don’t have epic space battles here on planet earth, but he (Adam Driver) said ‘A lot of kids can relate to having parents who are really devoted to like a political cause or to a business, or to their faith, their church. And that devotion sometimes makes the kids rebel against it, rebelling in this case against the actual rebellion.’“ – Anthony Breznican on how Kylo Ren is relatable

Okay so this is why I’ve had a huge, huge problem with Kylo Ren this whole time: because even in The Force Awakens, it was clear that we were supposed to blame his parents, his uncle, Snoke, literally everyone else for his turn to the dark side. And it looks like Johnson didn’t do a whole lot of work unpacking that, which is frustrating.

Ben Solo is in his early twenties, perhaps mid-twenties, when he joins Snoke officially; he is about 30 during the events of TFA. That is, frankly, way too fucking old to not be responsible for your own actions. We’ve seen this sort of thing too much in real life—Don Jr. being called a “good kid” when he’s in his late 30s comes to mind—for me to have a lot of patience for it in fiction. Plus, while the idea of a distant mother (and come on, they’re talking about Leia here, Han’s about as “devoted to the rebellion” as a cat) being a catalyst for men’s shittiness is a very, very worn-out trope, it’s not actually a valid reason to become a terrible person.

So this is the opposite of relatable—it makes me less empathetic for Kylo Ren’s struggle, which I’m sure is meant to be compelling, because I know of so, so many people who’ve had genuinely abusive and harmful and neglectful parents who are good and kind and work to make this world better. While I can very much imagine that Leia would be a tough mom to get along with, to frame Kylo Ren’s behavior as “youthful rebellion” instead of what it is, a conscious and adult choice to kill innocents in a quest for power, is to once again woobify a male character at the expense of any woman nearby.

#this is all so bizarre because some LF people clearly don’t think it’s a good excuse #notably Pablo Hidalgo who was like #‘Rey was raised by sand and didn’t become a murderer’
#like again
#I can see why he’s justify it to himself like that #but as an objective explanation it just doesn’t fly

(via @lehdenlaulu)

I’d love it if they used it as a way to think critically about our problem in the US with radicalized white men but it seems like they want to excuse it, not critique it. Not only do I have no sympathy for that plot line, I think we can’t afford it. We seriously cannot afford to make white male violence resulting from a feeling of neglect or marginalization more sympathetic to Americans than it already is.

“My parents cared about the welfare of other beings too much so I had no choice but to become an asshole you see. IT’S DEEP”

“We seriously cannot afford to make white male violence resulting from a
feeling of neglect or marginalization more sympathetic to Americans than
it already is.” 
<- THIS! Shitty parenting (and let’s be honest, Leia would be a tough mom, sure, and maybe Han would be a useless Dad, but neither of them would be in any way abusive, plus you cannot tell me that with all the Rebellion do-gooders around the ONLY viable, efficient and interested surrogate
parent figure would be a FASCIST MURDERBEAST!) is no excuse for becoming a homocidal maniac. It’s been accepted as one for FAR too long.