ladyofleithian | Star Wars D23 Trailer (Reply)

So, I finally watched it (here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3n1T3HxHd7Y). As a trailer, I will admit that it does its job really well, but I just have a bad feeling about how exactly the possible Dark Rey twist is going to play out, especially considering how (a) it makes zero sense for her character, and (b) like I said in my previous post about D23 news, people tend to make Rey’s turn to the Dark Side revolve around Kylo, from what I heard. I saw more than one “idea” of Rey turning to the Dark Side simply to make Kylo turn back to the Light which, looking back, is pretty insulting. Did KOTOR do something like that with Bastila? Actually, no, considering that Bastila’s fall very much originated from her own character, her own strengths and weaknesses. Making the argument that she fell because of a man is too simplistic; she very much fell because of her own struggles with the Dark Side, her own demons.

And Rey, meanwhile — I think, really digging deep, that part of the reason that Rey’s possible fall to the Dark Side makes zero sense is because, really, Rey doesn’t have many serious flaws. She’s not completely free of them, of course (I’m not citing TLJ, where Johnson was clearly writing her out of character) — she can jump to erroneous conclusions, she can cope with her parents ditching her on Jakku via denial, and also have a bunch of other maladaptive coping strategies, but she’s never been shown to actually struggle with the Dark Side. Even Luke had his struggle with the Dark Side, and Luke was still, at least in the OT, a well-intentioned person. Even her getting angry on Starkiller is snapped out of pretty quickly. She doesn’t have a serious streak of darkness in her, she doesn’t really struggle. And contrary to what some people think, there is nothing wrong with showing female characters struggling in some way. Look at Mulan, for example. I daresay making Rey too perfect kind of does send a harmful message to little girls, because (and granted, maybe it is just me) it possibly makes them feel like if they don’t show people up at absolutely everything, they’re not worthy of respect. Which isn’t true. I mean, women deserve respect because they’re people and people deserve respect. They don’t have to be Mary Sues (not accusing Rey of this, mind you!); they just have to not be shat on for being women.

Talking of that, Johnson really did that with Rey. In a way, even though people pretty much praise TLJ for being “feminist”...it’s really not. Rey is a shining example of that. Other female characters too, but I’ll get into those later. In TFA, yeah, some of her Instant Expert moments stretched suspension of disbelief (I say that because I think that there is nothing wrong with showing female characters learning things, but it’s like modern culture thinks women have to be beautiful, perfect, etc. or else we’re nothing), she was occasionally shafted to play with the protagonist-switcheroo thing with Finn (which I think hurt Finn too, in a way), and there wasn’t any reason why JJ had to knock her out during the fight with Kylo (initially). (I like TFA, but it does have its flaws, and in a way, I fear JJ got lucky when he made the movie) But at least in TFA, she felt like a fully fledged character otherwise. She had preexisting skills that made sense considering her background (like fighting skills. Those actually make sense, because on Jakku, it is very much a struggle for survival). She had her share of character flaws, even if some of her character development was lacking. (Emphasis on “some”) She was a kind, caring, strong-willed, clever young woman who it was easy to root for, and Daisy Ridley played her well. She had her funny, dorky moments (which women don’t often have in fiction). She had her more prickly moments. But TLJ? She was mostly relegated to a one-dimensional savior role for Kylo, which isn’t just sexist (IMHO) but also makes no sense considering that Rey has ample reason to be angry at Kylo (which isn’t really taken seriously by TLJ, at least not enough). Her Hero’s Journey is interrupted by Johnson making her simply “the savior”. And talking of harmful messages to send to little girls, what kind of message does this send? That your job in life is to save men (because God forbid a girl be asexual, aromantic, LGBT+, anything!) who are mean to you? That you’re a supporting player in men’s stories? Don’t little girls get that message enough?

While we’re on the subject, other female characters aren’t portrayed well either. They’re either Stuffed in the Fridge (see also Paige, Tallie, Holdo), insufferable female stereotypes (Holdo, Leia, Rey), or there to serve the needs of male characters (Rey, Leia, Holdo, Rose, arguably Paige considering part of the reason she was killed off was to make us hate Poe and want to see him be “taught a lesson"). The only women I can think of that escaped that fate are D’Arcy and Kaydel Ko Connix, and that’s because Johnson probably used up the supply of bad writing on everyone else. People think that TLJ’s feminist (even its detractors) because it bashes men of color to make primarily white women look good. (I say primarily because Rose is played by a Vietnamese actress) Look closer. What are the women doing on screen? Are their plotlines self-sufficient, or are they there to serve men in some way? Rose is there primarily as Finn’s life coach, Holdo is there to teach Poe lessons he didn’t have to learn in TFA (as is Leia, to an extent...and Leia doesn’t even get to be awesome in TLJ because she’s in a coma for most of the movie. Not in a way that shows her competence as a General, at least), Tallie is killed off without so much as being mourned by her teammates (at least Paige got some mourning from Rose. Tallie was just glossed over), Paige is killed off simply to make us hate Poe Dameron when he showed none of those traits in TFA (and judging how fans and critics alike bash Poe now, I say they fell for that blatant emotional manipulation, hook, line, sinker and bait), Rey is mostly there to try and redeem Kylo and fail...don’t girls get enough toxic messages like this? Don’t POC get enough toxic messages like this too? (Especially since the majority of TLJ’s manbashing is focused on Poe and Finn, a.k.a. two men of color. It’s not even white feminism; it’s an aping of white feminism written by a man who wants pats on the back for stuff that looks like representation on the surface, but really is just more misogyny and racism dressed up in more “acceptable” clothing.)

And it’s a shame, because I was genuinely excited for these new female characters. I don’t go into a piece of media wanting to be disappointed by its portrayal of women. There are so many female characters that I absolutely adore. But the ST? It’s been disappointing so far in its alleged progressiveness, especially TLJ. TFA had it’s annoying moments, but I don’t think it ever had really ugly messages masquerading as insightful social justice commentary. It didn’t squander its women or MOC. That’s why I’m nervous about Dark Rey — it just feels like it might be a final nail in the coffin for a trilogy that tried to change the fabric of the Star Wars universe and just made things worse. And hell, maybe I don’t know anything about the mutation feminism and social justice has undergone. But I have a bad feeling about this.