Rey's Love Interest?

I don't think young girls would see Rey's love for Ben and not think to run away if they encounter a murderer in real life.
This is fiction. Fantasy. Mythology. It is all a metaphor. ReyLo wouldn't be a metaphor for an abusing relationship but for love defeating hate.

Yes. Ben needs to redeem himself. But the point is that the compassion he has for Rey and perhaps her compassion for him, will motivate him to see beyond the darkness.

No, this isn't some frivolous cupid idea. This is about the true power of love.
Luke didn't have to love his father. But he felt the good within him and he loved that.
He felt that the man who was once a great Jedi knight and hero still existed. And he loved that person.
This love is what sparked the compassion within Anakin and motivated him to redeem himself.

Leia still loves her son. Han showed compassion for his love even upon his death at his sons hands. Therefore, it is possible and not wrong to love the good person that exists within Kylo Ren. It all depends on what happens next. If Ren is a dick throughout TLJ and shows no compassion or contrition then sure, ReyLo would be far-fetched and a distasteful. But if the films shows the plight of Ben Solo - the sheer hell of his journey from child to Snoke's apprentice, the inability to reject the dark side and the reasons why he has formed this backward ideology - if it shows that as well as his compassion then I see no good reason to say Rey couldn't see the good in him and love that.

 

Silence was a good film. Driver really should his acting chops. Looking forward to however his character proceeds. Reylo or whatever haha...

 

Agree: "that person / her son = the one she used to know"

Rey did not see that person. And even if she'll see a bit, a beam of that person... for the moment I shall say her: run.
That's what I shall say to a friend of mine, until the guy is not fully recovered.
Because, that friend of mine is not his mather, uncle, child, and she deserves the best.

However, agree to disagree.
Really respectfully.

 

Hey Lealt! I see your point but I'm afraid I wholeheartedly disagree.

The idea that women need idealised characters and relationships to discern right from wrong is so utterly patronising. That is something I absolutely detest. Women are NOT children. They don't need to be treated like children. They are capable of critical thinking and differentiating right from wrong, just as any man could. Abusive relationships are absolutely terrible and people, in general need to learn to see the symptoms of it should it present in their lives. No doubt. However, I do not think it's the job of a fantasy film to teach that particular message.

More crucially, Kylo Ren and Rey, as they stand right now are adversaries. They are enemies. They are not in a relationship. And at every point, Rey shoots first/ charges first. If two enemy soldiers engage in combat, is that considered abuse?

I doubt anyone would expect them to get together until Kylo Ren atones for his actions (which I admit is going to be a long, painful uphill battle). Rey does not love him right now, hell she doesn't even like him very much.

Kylo Ren needs to become Ben Solo before anything really happens. I don't think anyone wants Rey to fall in love with the absolute idiot that he is right now. Moreover, he has to do it all by himself, paying for his sins in blood, sweat and tears.

Now I ask you, is a man who has paid his dues not deserving of love? Are the people who love a repentant sinner, weak? I'm agnostic at best, nor am I a Christian but Star Wars borrows heavily from the Abrahamic faiths. Forgiveness is central to Star Wars. Loving someone even when it is terribly hard to, is something that lies at the very core of both the SW couple's story arc.

I'd also like to add that violence is SW cannot be compared to violence in real life. People get maimed, murdered and whole planets get blown up without much consequence. Applying real world morality to a Galaxy, far far away, just makes each and every character look bad.

I also ask this, if the genders had been reversed and Kylo was a Kyla and Rey was a Ray, would we be having the same argument, I wonder?

Has anyone in the entirety of western civilisation uttered the words "Think of the young men! What message would it send them?"

Never. Not. Once.

Personally, as a woman, I want morally grey characters. I want complicated arcs. I don't want to be coddled and lectured to. I don't want to see "ideal relationships" and I don't think any sane person uses a fictional character as a basis on how to live their life.

Fans of Hannibal Lecter do not cannibalise people. Fans of GTA do not car-jack on a regular basis. As much as I hate 50 shades of grey (terribly written, poorly made characters), I do not think the women who read it are any more likely to be forgiving of a person who jerks them around.

Stop giving us uncomplicated characters because grey doesn't exist in women. Abusers come in all shapes and sizes and women are just as capable of abuse as men. There are better ways to address this issue. Better ways to get the message across.


Edit: I apologise if this seems a bit heated. I just hate the idea that women need to be treated with kid gloves and spoon fed what is right and whats wrong in the media they consume.

 

Why are you surprised? Are you one of those people that believe race doesn't matter these days? Do you think Reylo would be a thing if John Boyega played Kylo?

 

It absolutely would be a thing.

 

However I think in terms of casting the fact Kylo Ren is white matters less than the fact he's played by Adam Driver, and that he was hand picked (by KK was it?) surely based on his character in Girls I'd imagine. because he plays a kind of amoral, temper tantrum sex obsessed man-child in that show, at least in the first season. So I'm assuming they wanted him for some if not all of those reasons.

If Kylo Ren had been played by someone other than Driver then I don't think there would be as much discussion around it. But then again, the character being White is to do with the fact he's Han Solo and Leia's kid. and as a fallen prince/jedi related to all 3 of the OT heroes, there would always be a group of fans advocating a redaction/romance ark with the main female protagonist. If we relate to Han/Leia then it would only make sense that we also want Kylo Ren redeemed. and I think that is something Lucas Film are playing on, because even if it doesn't happen its a good hook to keep people guessing. and Rey/Kylo falling for each other would be a really obvious way to redeem him/make him human...Like Princess Mononoke if you know that film. When the main characters first meet they almost kill each other, but the girl in it, San, is made more human by her love of the boy, Ashitaka. I think this could still be a viable, non horrid path for the ST story.

 

The whole ST was cast beautifully well.

 

THIS.
This is true quality. This is feminism.
Patronising women by thinking we need to protect them from bad ideas is absurd.
If I watch a film where a guy falls for a bad girl, am I going to use this as a moral guide in the real world?
Of course not. And so I wouldn't expect a woman to do the same.

 

This thread got weird

 

I absolutely agree.

In my opinion, whatever that may be worth, I think the idea that women have no power in a relationship or in the way it pans out is perhaps more damaging than anything else. By continuously placing female characters in an "uncomplicated" or "passive" position in popular media, you're just removing any sense of agency from them.

Besides, does anyone really think Kylo Ren is capable of dominating Rey in a relationship? He seems like the sort who'd turn over for a belly rub instead.




Also, I frickin' love your profile picture. How adorable is that.

 

Reylo is certainly a possiblity, but it depends entirely on Kylo's story for the rest of the trilogy, and we simply don't know what that is yet. Reylo could make a lot of sense and be a good, compelling story but if they don't plan on turning Kylo by the end of the story OR plan on killing him off right after he turns.....

 

Exactly. And what is interesting is that the arguments being made here is that ReyLo would be a bad example for young girls/women. Yet surely a worse scenario is to mollycoddle women so they don't even have to think about such things?! For me, tell the story that works and leave it to women decide what to think about it!

Ha! That's where Han messed up. He just needed to give Ben a belly rub.

Adorable and deliciously provocative.

 

sing it! if ever there was a final word on the pedagogy of cinema, let this be it.
let this be the epitaph on which the grave of all this 50 shades of unbelievable silliness is carved.

Reylo isn't about Rey falling in love with Kylo Ren. as @master_shaitan said, it's about her loving the good in Ben Solo. which no one should find objectionable.
we all have pasts. we all have done things we have regretted. i can't imagine a better message in Star Wars than: you can start again--you are a child of the world and deserve to be loved.

i have never watched the show, but my sense of the character's arc is that this obnoxious man-child grew up and was proving to be one of the more responsible steady characters at the point at which KK cast him.

 

Absolutely. It could be horrendous.

 

if anything, men should be outraged at how whipped he's going to be (or already is ~ hahahaha).

 

Meh, some of us go in for that kind of thing.

 

Reylo shouldn't happen.
Ben shouldn't be redeemed.
Ben needs to be full on Darth Vader level by the next trilogy.

 

Ben shouldn't be redeemed?

The implications of that are truly tragic.

Leia will most likely die believing that her beloved little boy is lost forever.
Han Solo would have died for nothing.
Luke would have failed to change anything in the Galaxy, regardless of his sacrifices.
Anakin Skywalker's redemption would be moot.

These beloved characters would have accomplished kriff all in their life if Ben Solo doesn't come back home.

But I guess Darth Millenial is just too cool to pass up. Whatever cool means.

 

boo. just boo. hahahaha

Ben needs to be saved--for Han's sake. for Leia's sake. for Luke's sake.
condemning Ben is condemning the OT heroes to failure.
is that really want you want for their legacy?

and for Darth Vader to triumph? what in the world kind of story is that for children? : o p


edit: @LilyInTheSkywalker pinch poke, you owe me a Coke. hahahaha