Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

nearly-headless-horseman:

aggressivelybicaptainamerica:

Finn is literally the most overt fuck you to toxic masculinity. 

Like, here’s a soldier who’s literally known nothing else but his warrior training his whole life, who’s identity has been consumed to the point where he literally has a number instead of a name, seeing what’s expected of him and rejecting it utterly.  He’s obviously physically strong and capable, but he finds his humanity in NOT using his strength, and his heroism in finding a reason to use his strength. 

He’s afraid for most of the movie, conflicted and hesitant and still able to be brave and strong.  In fact, his truest moments of bravery are also the ones where he is the most afraid and uncertain.  And his fear is never shamed or set up as a weakness, but rather as a huge part of what makes him both human and heroic.

It’s so important to me to see men allowed to feel a full range of emotions including fear and doubt and sadness and still be seen as strong and valuable.

(I think there is an extra layer to this given that Finn is also a black man, but I’m going to stay in my lane and let PoC tackle that.)

as a POC lemme say that finn is extra wonderful because even when he’s fighting, he never looks scary. there’s always this theme that shows strong black men as intimidating and capable of harm but finn is the opposite of intimidating and from the very start you see that he doesnt want to hurt anyone and his strength is not associated with violence but with the ability to help others and he’s sweet and funny and real and no one would ever be afraid of him and both of the poc male leads are shown as caring and using their strength to protect and you’d never be afraid of either of them and there is no macho bullshit at all and it makes me so happy

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

Honestly I feel sort of ridiculously lucky re: potential ships in the upcoming Star Wars movies, and I’m realizing that it’s possibly just me?  But LET ME LAY THIS OUT FOR YOU.

MOST LIKELY: Finn/Rey.  These two children are cute as shit.  They’re just so damn excited about the world and the universe and green and the Force and each other.  Finn is all star-eyes and bear hugs, and Rey is all toothy grins and fierce protection.  It’s fucking precious.  Sit with me and think about Rey coming back from Fuckety Nowhere to find Finn recovered from his injuries and learning how to be Resistance, and she bounces off the Falcon and runs up to him and throws her arms around his neck for a hug like they did in Starkiller, and when she pulls away she holds onto one of his hands and they smile at each other like the adorable little fucks they are.  BONUS: interracial relationship between a white woman and a black man, which is still something that’s considered more than a little taboo.  Racism is a thing guys, and it’s SO IMPORTANT that representation of this sort of relationship be in the media, especially in such a big-name franchise as Star Wars.  Finn is affectionate, self-determining, and allowed to show emotions like fear and anxiety without any in-narrative penalties, and that is NOVEL, unfortunately.  And Rey is…well, Rey.  Come on, guys, I want to be Rey when I grow up and I’m sure you do too.  She’s able to be the hero, and not in the sense a lot of us are familiar with: there’s no assault, no rape, nothing like that.  She just finds a droid, and then she finds a lightsaber, and then she has the Force, and then she fights for the people she cares about, which is the same way that Luke became a hero.  No one criticizes her for being female.  THIS WOULD BE A GREAT COUPLE.

SECOND MOST LIKELY: Finn/Poe.  The jaCKET?  That is all?  No, seriously, though, this would be a great ship: the dashing pilot and the rogue Stormtrooper.  The entire base would ship it.  Poe would shout down anyone who talked about Finn being a spy, and Finn would learn Droid to talk to BB-8, Poe’s best friend.  This would be a ship with a lot of teasing smiles and laughing, arms around shoulders and warm support.  It would be about Finn learning to be an independent person and Poe welcoming someone new into his family.  BONUS: interracial gay relationship between a Guatemalan man and a black man, which is a little taboo in a different way.  Homophobia is a thing guys, and it’s SO IMPORTANT that representation of this sort of relationship be in the media, especially in cuh a big-name franchise as Star Wars.  Finn is everything I described above, and Poe is dashing, confident, intelligent, skilled…and caring toward his squadron, kind to a stranger, and respectful toward women, including those who have authority over him like Leia (insert battle hymn about the greatness of General Leia here).  Poe is a whole other thing from the standard cocky bastard of a pilot we know from movies and TV.  And please sign me right on up for this new type of dashing heroic gentleman, I am on this bullet train to a brighter future and you should be too.  THIS WOULD ALSO BE A GREAT COUPLE.

OTHER MORE UNLIKELY COUPLES: The Damerons (Finn/Poe/Rey).  It would be great for all of the reasons above, with the addition of the Poe-Rey dynamic of, I imagine, “Look at how beautiful and powerful and glorious this girl is” from Poe’s angle and “You are nice to me and handsome and I’m not sure what to do with any of that” from Rey’s.  Technically the best of all worlds (interracial! everyone is bi except possibly Rey!), but unlikely because, well, it’s a threesome, and that renders it frankly improbable for Hollywood to make it a thing.

And of course, THE ONE PAIRING I’M NOT EXCITED ABOUT: Kylo/Rey.  Um.  No.  Not least because things are looking like she’s going to be Rey Skywalker and that makes them EITHER first cousins OR siblings, depending on which twin is Rey’s parent, and yes, Luke and Leia were almost a thing, but let’s just take a hard line on No Incest this go-round, shall we?  But also because that would, I think, be wildly unhealthy unless they pulled off some sort of miracle.  And because honestly my main interest in a redemption arc for Kylo is the one that is Entirely For Leia’s Benefit, and I’ve read enough stories about poor damaged boys whose actions weren’t their fault at all being saved from themselves by the purity of love and…like…give the man the dignity of his own choices, okay?  I can feel sorry for Kylo because of the way he’s so clearly been manipulated and groomed by Snoke, but unless there’s evidence of actual legitimate mind control it’s still his choice to side with the Dark.  I have a lot of firm opinions about human dignity and free will and even though he’s currently a spectacular bastard, Kylo Ren still has free will and he has exercised it and as a human being he deserves to have his choices recognized as his own.

ANYWAY.  My point here is that no matter what you ship hardest, it needs to be recognized that either of the two most likely ships to happen will be almost groundbreaking in the representation they’ll offer.  I will make no judgements and fight no wars about what kind of representation is ‘most important’ because, you know what, it’s ALL important.  It matters that kids see interracial relationships on the big screen, presented as grand sweeping romances rather than comedy or tragedy.  It matters that kids see gay relationships that way.  It is important that teenagers and adults and children look at the characters they love and see themselves there, see the people they love there, see their friendships and relationships there.  Duking it out about who is more oppressed and therefore more deserving of that representation lessens us as people.  You, as a person reading this, deserve to see yourself in a character, in a hero, and so do the other people on the street, friends, strangers, enemies.

I want us to have it all, guys.  I want you to have everything: trans characters who are fierce and strong, women who can save galaxies, men who can be gentle and emotional and heroic, gay and lesbian romances full of light and laughter, racial diversity because, hey, when your copilot is covered in ten inches of hair what’s a little melanin between friends.  I want you to have ace characters with adoring husbands and wives, nonbinary characters and genderfluid characters whose friends would die for them no matter what their pronouns are today and vice versa, aro characters with badass spaceships full of loyal crew they love, characters with ADHD and autism and schizophrenia and depression going out to save the world with the people who care about them, physically disabled characters with blasters concealed in their prosthetics or souped up hoverchairs.  ALL OF IT.  And this movie series isn’t going to give us all that, because all of that is…it’s a lot to ask, and I know it, but I want it anyway.  But this movie is virtually guaranteed to give us something, some starting point, and you know what?  I’m ready to take what I can get while I work on finding a way to give you guys everything.

moosefeels:

januariat:

guys someone talk to me about poe dameron - best pilot in the resistance, top dog, guns-blazing male protagonist - and how he was so kind. how he took an ex storm trooper at face value and with unconditional, immediate trust and even a fierce kind of joy- yeah, you go buddy! fight the darkness. i’m here to help you. i’m here to work with you. i’m not here to take control- we won’t get out of this unless we work together. 

how he didn’t treat him with suspicion or macho posturing despite the fact that he’s a top tier pilot and has probably been at war with people like FN 2187 for years. how the first thing he does once they’re out of immediate danger is give him a name, treating him like a person worthy of respect and not like another faceless white mask. how he is patient with a panicking Finn even under the incredible stress of a life or death situation, ensuring he knows what to do and being endlessly positive and encouraging instead of berating him when he falls short.

how he gets out of his jet at the end of the big firefight and sees BB8 and his whole face just lights up. how he unselfconsciously runs to BB8 like a kid, automatically lowering himself to BB8′s level. 

how he doesn’t need to be the spotlight, the center of attention. when they gather around the hologram to strategize, star pilot and battle veteran poe dameron shuts up and listens. 

how he never has a Trek-reboot Jim Kirk-style playboy sequence, no endless string of girls. not even a hint, and you know they could have stuck it in there if they wanted to. how we never see him treat another being, human or otherwise, with anything less than respect, optimism and good nature. i’m just. i mean. do you realize how significant this is?

you guys, if poe dameron is the future of male protagonists in big action movies, sign me the fuck up. 

forreal though also: can we talk about the fact that finn spends so much of the movie being scared. he wants people to tell him what’s going on, he wants help, and at one point, he nearly runs away. but the movie really shows us him deciding to come back, to be brave. where poe shows incredible kindness and goofiness and joy (!), finn gives us an incredible amount of vulnerability and emotional open-ness. 

this star wars is extraordinary because of the way it gives us such vivid and such different ways to access masculinity, and they are both established as valid and interesting and good.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

stitchingatthecircuitboard:

ok but. leia knowing exactly who finn was the second poe came in all like “my friend needs to talk to you.” which means that poe TOLD her about finn. like EVERYTHING about finn. liKE

leia: poe! you’re alive! how did you escape the first order?
poe: general this stormtrooper named FINN appeared like an angel and he SAVED ME and we flew a TIE FIGHTER together and he is SUCH A GOOD SHOT and he is the DREAMIEST AND THE CUTEST BOY IN THE WHOLE GALAXY and did i mention he SAVED ME
leia: …
leia [upon meeting finn]: it was incredibly brave what you did and i’m saying this because it’s true but also because poe won’t fucking shut up about it

(via ifeelbetterer)

destronomics:

How badly do you think the First Order fears Finn? Do you think they put a hit out on him, because he shows that brainwashing isn’t destiny, that it can be broken, that you can break free, that given half an opportunity 90% of their ranks, the tools they need to maintain control, can–

–change their mind. Strive for something better?

Jedis are terrifying, but they’re born. You either have the force or you don’t. You can kill them and they go away.

But storm trooper with a conscience is a virus that can multiply too fast to stamp out. It makes Finn the biggest threat to the First Order than any Jedi could ever be.

Force is destiny. Finn is choice.

(via dubiousculturalartifact)

reysforceawakens:

Imagine Poe Dameron singing.

And while I do partially mean it in a gratuitous “I want Oscar Isaac singing in Star Wars” king of way, I think there’s a lot to work with.

Poe singing playfully at BB-8, a loose rhythm as he makes up the words on the spot. BB8 beeps along happily. 

Poe singing gently, like a whisper, by Finn’s bedside after the destruction of the Starkiller. Finn vaguely remembers the tune weeks later, after he’s woken up and hums it to himself. He doesn’t remember where he knows it from.

Sometimes he’ll sing without quite realizing it while he’s flying. He feels most free when flying, it’s something he can’t quite explain. So imagine that slow smile he has just for himself, and he sings a light melody, maybe something swinging. He only ever sings during non-stress situations, then he is too focused, calling out orders and evaluating the situation. But during drills he will without realizing the rest of his team can hear. Until Jessika starts singing along.

When Rey experiences her first rain on D’Qar, stands still for a moment, closing her eyes before racing out further to let the water soak her. Some of the others with the Resistance look at her strangely while going about their duties, shaking their heads at the girl who watches and waits and is hesitant to ask her many, many questions. Some who know more of where she came from look at her sadly for a lingering moment. Poe sees her and remembers the excitement he had as a small child during the downpours on Yavin 4. He says nothing but stands next to her and starts singing the simple rhymes his parents used to say to him so long ago. She looks confused for a moment, turning to face him and her eyes searching before her face slowly splits into a gentle and radiant smile in the pouring rain. 

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

cailin-grace-j:

kylorenblues:

every time I see a video or gif of Kylo Ren in his mask all I can think of is that interview with Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac where Oscar says that their first day on set was Poe’s interrogation scene and Adam didn’t take the mask off in between takes and would lean in and be like “don’t worry I’m under here it’s me” and my heart fills with so much love

I saw an interview where John and Daisy said he even stayed in character the whole time he was on set, and sometimes you’d hear random shouting and screaming coming from somewhere, and people would just go “oh Adam must have a scene coming up soon”

Like…the actors playing the nopetroopers probably noped away from several of Adam’s rehersals irl before they filmed the scene for the movie. 

I’m sorry, this is v serious, but all I took from that was the word ‘nopetroopers’ which I love and will use constantly from now on.

(via yea-lets-do-this-shit)

sainatsukino:

out-there-on-the-maroon:

onetrueemotion:

goddammitstacey:

pornoreblogfever:

goddammitstacey:

goddammitstacey:

So this whole Rey Mary Sue thing just keeps twigging me (and not just because the whole bullshit, sexist concept of the Mary Sue knots my knickers like nothing else)

Because while this fuckboy opinion is probably motivated from dudes being, well, fuckboys, it may also be mired in them being MEN.

Because like, I and every single female friend I have walked out of Star Wars with absolutely zero doubts that Rey had earned every inch of her scrappy, badass survivor mantle. It wasn’t until dudes online started whinging about the “believability” of it that I even contemplated the issue.

So now, three viewings in, the second two spent ACTIVELY SEARCHING for signs that Rey may have suffered New Powers as the Plot Demands I have this to say:

The moment the film opened on Rey - a young woman living and operating ALONE on a world in which literal survival depends on who can scavenge AND EXCHANGE the most goods for food rations, I’d wager every single woman in the audience went, “Holy shit, this girl is capable as fuck.”

We didn’t even need to see her owning the thugs trying to steal BB-8 to know she could handle herself physically. We looked at her environment, her position in that environment, and we knew that to be where she was - just to have lived as long as she had - she had to know how to fight like whoa.

Because here’s the thing: woman don’t walk through life the way men do. Just living in our world is dangerous enough for a woman - to grow up young, alone and female on a world that would brawl over scraps and sell anything that wasn’t pinned down? That’s fucking terrifying.

Women look at Rey at the beginning of TFA and see every single hard-won year of survival. Every year of losing to fellow scavengers stealing her take before she could trade it. Every year she had to not become the very thing they were trading. Every year she was an easy target. And we see every year she had to fight to make sure she wasn’t one anymore.

That had to take guts, not to mention a healthy aptitude for combat and weapons training. The ability to pick up languages and social niceties on the fly would have been essential because my enemies enemy and all that.

Every single “unrealistic” ability these dudes are wanking on about was obvious as fuck to me within the first fifteen minutes of the movie.

So welcome to the party, boys - this is what it feels like to have to identify with someone outside of your own experience. And hey, who knows, if you take the time to ask why Rey was so capable instead of whining about it, you may just learn something.

#also not to mention the scene where she saves bb-8 #she wouldn’t have stopped that guy even if she knew him if she didn’t think she could win #it’s this scavenger’s wasteland and she has enough of a reputation to say ‘hey stop that piss off’ and have someone listen to her #star wars #the force awakens (via @imgoingtocrash)

ALL OF THIS AS WELL

I don’t doubt she could fight, speak droid, speak cookie, shoot, or use the force but how the hell does she know how to fix a fucking hyperdrive? I don’t think it makes her a Mary sue or whatever but it is bad writing. when characters have unexplainable abilities for the sake of making the film run more smoothly, it’s bad. I think it’s easy to go in the defensive when men criticise Rey because I do think a lot of it comes from a place of fear and sexism, but taking an unbiased, logical look at her abilities and realizing they may be slightly overblown isn’t sexist. It’s analytical. still, i’d rather see a female character whose overqualified as opposed to a weakling who needs a man to save her every 5 minutes.

How the hell does she know how to fix a fucking hyperdrive?

She… lives on a planet littered with the remains of the galactic war? Remains that include (as shown in the movie) Imperial Star Destroyers and other ships capable of hyperdrive? Remains that she has to scavenge for survival? Remains filled with parts that she’d have to know the function of in order to evaluate their trade worth?? And you don’t think she’s picked up any working knowledge of complex starship engineering in the years she’s done nothing but crawl around inside literal complex starship engineering???

?????????

Even my idiot brother picked up on the fact that Rey could fix ships because she dismantles them for a living. It’s… kind of obvious.

The only thing that gave me pause was how seemingly easy it was for Rey to use the force, having had no prior experience. Especially given that apparently it’s impossible for individuals to uncover latent abilities without training, going by the fact that if there are no active Jedi, everybody thinks the force is some kind of myth.

However, there are two points that can explain this. First, Rey was under extreme duress. Think of it like how mothers get super strength and are able to lift cars if their children are trapped underneath. The rush of adrenaline and self-preservation instincts allowed her to tap into this hidden ability.

Now maybe that alone isn’t enough. Surely Rey has been under extreme duress before, given her back story, and surely other individuals who are force sensitive have been in difficult situations without their powers manifesting. But my second, and most important, point is the fact that Rey had the force being used on her. She was on the receiving end and knew how it felt. From there, she just took what was being used on her, flipped it around and pushed it back.

So, in short, Rey’s prodigy-like manipulation of the force is not some Mary Sue special snowflake situation, it’s merely a demonstration of how humankind’s ability to dig deep and use everything available to them when their life is in danger is how they managed to survive this long in the first place.

Rey had way more training and prep than Luke did in A New Hope. I don’t see people calling him a Mary Sue. 

Okay, first off:  Anakin winning that race?? no humans ever did it before. He *was* using the force. Just not in a “levitating objects” way. But picking up how to fly complex engines quickly by using battle meditation? Anakin did it at the age of nine. Luke did it when he blew up the death star. It’s like in harry potter, guys. You can use the force subsconciously and not be aware, or rationalise it away. Leia has memories of her mother, even though she was a baby when padme died. In the “Princess Leia” comics, she has a  brief force vision of Padme. It’s entirely possible that as a child, Leia had visions of her mother and later interpreted that as memories. Rey having used the force before? To, for exemple, feel opponent’s intentions a second before they hit her? not impossible. A ton of people probably use the force every day in the galaxy, having “bad feelings about this” and stuff.

My pet theory is also this:

Anakin grew up being told that using the force was hard and complex. He picked it up more quickly than other padawans, and even used it unconsciously before being trained, and definitely had to concentrate less than other people to use it, but he still lived in an environment that discouraged using it outside of actual need / battle, so he never developed it as being as much a part of him as, say, his hand. It was still a tool to him. Still something exterior, something hard and complex. Something you achieve, something you “master.”

Luke grew up thinking it was impossible. On Dagobah, Yoda had to show him that it was, indeed, possible to lift his ship before Luke could do it. The restriction on his powers? It was in his mind, people. That’s the key to all this! Luke could do anything that he put his mind to once he realised that it was all possible, and that the only limit was himself and his beliefs! Do or do not, there is no try: it’s literally the most important lesson that Yoda taught him.

Rey? Rey grew up believing it all real. She grew up on crazy stories about jedi doing all sort of cool stuff, probably most of it being grossly exagerated but absolutely awesome. Of course Jedis can mind-trick people into doing stuff! Of course they can call a saber to them and use the force on their ennemies and I don’t know what else! Of course you can just “use the force” to disable a shield, jedis can do anything! Disabling a shield is probably, like, the first thing you learn as a jedi!!!! (that’s not how the force works. But she doesn’t know that! Imagine the stories that get told! Old clone wars propaganda! The negociator and the hero with no fear!!!) so when Rey starts trying to do those things… well it’s like Harry Potter’s patronus in Prisoner of Azkaban. She’s got no mental block, no hesitation. Of course I can do those things, she thinks, I’ve got the force! ergo, it works. The limit is in your mind.

This is exactly what I assumed from minute one and I’m so relieved that it wasn’t just me.

(via bonehandledknife)

cumaeansibyl:

okay but seriously: what if Finn is the revolution

what if the story gets around the barracks in whispers – you know a stormtrooper can’t scratch an itch without everyone knowing – and some of the whispers are horrified (treason, betrayal, a trooper gone rogue) but others are trembling with hope. he wouldn’t kill for them! he stole a ship and they couldn’t stop him and he’s free!

and suddenly the AWOL rate spikes as stormtroopers on assignment see their chance and slip away into the night. I could find my family. I could live a normal life. I never have to hurt anyone again.

but there are a few who stay, too. they cautiously seek out others like themselves. they work out codes and signals. at first it’s just the rank and file, but then a disaffected squad leader tells them about a conversation between officers that he wasn’t supposed to hear. and so the conspiracy spreads.

hardly anyone remembers Finn’s number, but every last one of them knows who he is. he’s the one who got out. he’s the one who wouldn’t kill for the Order.

two years later, when the conspirators seize a capital ship and deliver it to the Resistance, the captain asks if her crew can meet “the stormtrooper who made it out.” He was the first, she explains. We all should have known it was wrong, but he was the one who showed us. 

General Organa smiles – it’s too rare a sight, these days – and thinks maybe now he’ll understand just what a miracle he is.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

ceruleancynic:

slightly-fanatic:

talisguy:

cywscross:

3fluffies:

mmelolabelle:

tally-ho-mother-fucker:

indigobluerose:

airyairyquitecontrary:

mmelolabelle:

But what if Anakin isn’t ignoring Kylo Ren?  What if that great pull Kylo feels towards the Light is Anakin Skywalker desperately trying to save his grandson from his own fate, the way his wife and son tried to save him?

what if Anakin is literally constantly standing behind Kylo Ren, sputtering with ghostly frustration, going, “No! No! No! Do not do that! Do NOT do that! oh for fuck’s sake.”

This is almost certainly what is actually happening.

“Ben if you skewer my son-in-law with that lightsaber then SO HELP ME”

“Ben Solo your mother is blaming me for this, get your ass home and apologize now or I swear-”

And Yoda and Obi-wan are watching, shaking their heads. “Now you know how we felt,” Obi-wan says.

Yoda agrees: “A bitch, karma is.”

I love this. So many people can just totally see Anakin trying to strangle Ben from the afterlife.

How much of a fuckup do you have to be for ANAKIN SKYWALKER to yell at you for your terrible decision-making?

Kylo Ren is something else. 

I’d like to think that half the dead Jedi are sitting in a little audience screaming at Kylo Ren at any given moment, sorta like that scene in Mulan with all the dead ancestors.

“kid, unless you want to join the Severed Hands of Star Wars Club, stop waving that thing around and make yourself a lightsaber that isn’t a giant accident waiting to happen. And by the way QUIT VENERATING MY SEVERED, BURNT-OUT SKULL DO YOU EVEN HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA HOW CREEPY THAT IS, AND IT’S ME SAYING THAT, I am the farthest thing from a role model currently available to you”

Anakin is probably cringing each time he recognizes one of the dumb things he totally did himself. Like, okay, the majority of the people who are dear to me at some point went through the Hot Topic phase, as I did. At the time I thought it was absolutely the best thing ever and anyone who disagreed was a prep at whom my middle finger should be put up, to borrow a phrase, and now from the vantage point of the next century I look back at little me and shake my head. Kylo Ren is totally doing the fascist space opera version of the Hot Topic phase which involves torture and murder and vocoders, and it has got to be hideously embarrassing for his grandfather.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)