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ladyofleithian...and while I normally avoid...well, things like this, this...this needs to be done:
Ben Skywalker's Ascension Into Domestic Violence. And before any of you say this is a Ron The Death Eater post, I'm just going to give you the general overview of what the fuck happened (at least, I'll quote because I can't really sum up what happened succinctly enough):
Mourning Sith love interest Vestara Khai, fresh off cleaving her father Gavar in two a few pages earlier, sits down to write a letter to her “Papa.” The letter-writing ties back to the previous book in the series, where she’d used the same exercise to express her innermost emotions to a fictional father, the one she wished she’d had. Over the course of five novels, Ben has waffled between trusting and not trusting Vestara. Having just been in trust mode a scene earlier, Ben abruptly overrides the lock on Vestara’s bedroom and bursts in on the grieving girl and demands to know what she’s doing. She, naturally, would prefer not to tell him. Ben tries to muscle his way into her chair to read her computer, and grips her wrists when she tries to stop him. Protecting herself, Vestara Force-shoves him away. Enraged, Ben retaliates with a Force-slap across her cheek. Struggling ensues, Ben gets the jump on Vestara, and she ends up swathed in bedsheets and defenseless. Now the dominant person in the room, Ben maintains her bondage while he reads her private letters. When he does and realizes what they really are, he feels horrible about reading them. Not more than a page after striking his love interest across the face, Ben spoons with Vestara, at which point she asks if she can become a Jedi. Ben then kisses her. In subsequent scenes, Ben and Vestara make basically no effort to hide their feelings for each other from Luke Skywalker or the other Jedi. This scene, in other words, creates their “official” relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend and her first steps on the apparent path toward redemption. No mention of Ben’s violent act is made, and no negative consequences of his abuse of Vestara are shown for either character. Everything internal to the book suggests that what Ben did to Vestara is perfectly okay.
Yeah...and in between the recent, one could say, sexism in the Star Wars EU (the treatment of Leia, Jaina, Mara, Tahiri, etc.), this...*sighs* I thought what happened with Jacen and Luke was bad enough. I thought the whole "compassion is for those who deserve it" (ironically coming from the same author, Jesus Christ. 0.0) bullshit was bad enough. But this...this is another level of failure. Just...moral failure. At least with what happened in Revenge of the Sith, with Anakin Force-Choking Padme, it had a degree of reason for being there -- it was to show how far Anakin had fallen, basically killing the one he loved most. And it had consequences -- horrible consequences, but consequences nonetheless. This, though...*sighs* I'm guessing Golden was going for a Gone With The Wind sort of sex scene, basically the "bullying and breaking" scene, but here's the thing: Gone With The Wind didn't suck!
I think I'm going to let Eomer sum things up for me here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-TIr-KiZKg.
Yeah...
Crying now. Will get to work on my writing/icon-making.
Ben Skywalker's Ascension Into Domestic Violence. And before any of you say this is a Ron The Death Eater post, I'm just going to give you the general overview of what the fuck happened (at least, I'll quote because I can't really sum up what happened succinctly enough):
Mourning Sith love interest Vestara Khai, fresh off cleaving her father Gavar in two a few pages earlier, sits down to write a letter to her “Papa.” The letter-writing ties back to the previous book in the series, where she’d used the same exercise to express her innermost emotions to a fictional father, the one she wished she’d had. Over the course of five novels, Ben has waffled between trusting and not trusting Vestara. Having just been in trust mode a scene earlier, Ben abruptly overrides the lock on Vestara’s bedroom and bursts in on the grieving girl and demands to know what she’s doing. She, naturally, would prefer not to tell him. Ben tries to muscle his way into her chair to read her computer, and grips her wrists when she tries to stop him. Protecting herself, Vestara Force-shoves him away. Enraged, Ben retaliates with a Force-slap across her cheek. Struggling ensues, Ben gets the jump on Vestara, and she ends up swathed in bedsheets and defenseless. Now the dominant person in the room, Ben maintains her bondage while he reads her private letters. When he does and realizes what they really are, he feels horrible about reading them. Not more than a page after striking his love interest across the face, Ben spoons with Vestara, at which point she asks if she can become a Jedi. Ben then kisses her. In subsequent scenes, Ben and Vestara make basically no effort to hide their feelings for each other from Luke Skywalker or the other Jedi. This scene, in other words, creates their “official” relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend and her first steps on the apparent path toward redemption. No mention of Ben’s violent act is made, and no negative consequences of his abuse of Vestara are shown for either character. Everything internal to the book suggests that what Ben did to Vestara is perfectly okay.
Yeah...and in between the recent, one could say, sexism in the Star Wars EU (the treatment of Leia, Jaina, Mara, Tahiri, etc.), this...*sighs* I thought what happened with Jacen and Luke was bad enough. I thought the whole "compassion is for those who deserve it" (ironically coming from the same author, Jesus Christ. 0.0) bullshit was bad enough. But this...this is another level of failure. Just...moral failure. At least with what happened in Revenge of the Sith, with Anakin Force-Choking Padme, it had a degree of reason for being there -- it was to show how far Anakin had fallen, basically killing the one he loved most. And it had consequences -- horrible consequences, but consequences nonetheless. This, though...*sighs* I'm guessing Golden was going for a Gone With The Wind sort of sex scene, basically the "bullying and breaking" scene, but here's the thing: Gone With The Wind didn't suck!
*Sighs*
Maybe you don't agree. Maybe it's just me. But even reading through the article, I just felt sick. And it's horrible Character Derailment for Ben Skywalker as well, considering, well, that's not who Ben is. And the whole Domestic Abuse as Redemption thing just makes it worse. *Sighs* It's not right. It's just not right. I just don't even -- agh!
I think I'm going to let Eomer sum things up for me here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-TIr-KiZKg.
Yeah...
Crying now. Will get to work on my writing/icon-making.
