Benjamin (he/him/his)

It’s helpful to keep stats like this in mind when one finds themselves in disagreements with strangers on the web, especially here on BlueSky Dot Social.

Are you able to answer the questions I asked in my prior reply? I'd love to continue this conversation knowing what your thoughts are on those topics.

I just want to get a crowbar, pry the box open and shove whatever contents in front of JJ's face.

I feel kind of bad about having left him with the bill, but I figured he could afford it with his Felicity residuals.

Last time I tried to talk to the man who wrote the character, I asked him to describe the first act of A New Hope, and this is what he gave me. I ended up pretending I had to take a phone call so that I could leave the restaurant table and climb out the bathroom window.

Still one of the stupidest things any human being has ever said. Thank you, Mister Gramugliantone

Some people are defending this moment from my criticism by saying it was just a production mistake, to which I say: I do not care.

The text of the film is the text of the film. And the text of this film says that Rey’s need for attachment is more important than Chewbacca’s grief.

And Rey agrees.

Didn’t just train with anyone, mind you. Trained under Luke Skywalker — the greatest Jedi who ever lived — and Snoke.

Not sure how that’s a reply to the post above, since I was quoting a statement someone did make to defend the scene in question.

“It was against a wounded guy who’s kind of a weiner.”

Oh I hadn’t realized that. My bad.

You have bad news about Anakin Skywalker? Interesting. I’d love to hear more. Can you relate to me the meaning of Anakin’s sacrifice at the end of Return of the Jedi?

As well, can you relate to me what the title “Return of the Jedi” means?

As is the case with any problem in any narrative.

I must have missed that in the text of the films. Can you help me locate the scenes where Rey and Leia offer emotional support to Chewbacca over Han’s death? I’ve got the movie queued up on VLC right now, so I’m ready whenever you have a timestamp.

You must be new to my account.

No it does not, which is why that’s not what Obi-Wan and Yoda were doing, and why Jake’s characterization in the non-canon trilogy is fully incongruous with Luke’s characterization in the Saga.

Part of the beauty of how Lucas usually keeps the shooting style very simple is that visual poetry between different scenes comes through very easily, and the meaning makes complete sense each time you notice a rhyme like this.

Just realized how the visual similarity between these two shots signifies how much Luke has already matured by the end of A New Hope.

Simply lowering the camera angle down to his eye level and making the lighting harsher on his face really beings out Hamill’s bone structure.

Also, Luke immediately wants to rescue Leia despite being trapped on the Death Star with a near-guarantee that Obi-Wan will set the Falcon free, whereas Rey has nowhere to be on the third Death Star and doesn't know where she's going after the writers give her a Jedi mind trick to free herself with

That is another reason. But that is also a byproduct of the narrative continually rewarding her without her having to work to achieve anything, which also manifests in her selfish behavior.

And that is why Rey Palpatine is not a Jedi.

Rey's selfish desires are far more important to both her and to the narrative of the non-canon trilogy than the well-being of literally everyone else in the galaxy.

Like honey, all of the Resistance is in danger right now. I think we can find a better time for you to to listen to Jake recite Jonathan McIntosh's "Case Against the Jedi" video, and we can certainly find a better time for you to play around in a mirror funhouse.

But the instant the possibility of attachment to her parents or at least parental figures crosses her mind again, she completely goes along with the idea of wasting everyone's time learning about the Force, the Jedi, and finding "someone" who can "show me my place in all this."

Granted, Rey does start TLJ trying to convince Luke to rejoin the fight against the ̶E̶m̶p̶i̶r̶e̶ First Order by warning him that the First Order will bring totalitarianism back to the galaxy. Solid start.

And Rey is the one who goes to find Luke afterward, tasking Chewie with driving her there and chaperoning her, because her desire for family that she can become attached to is more important than anything else in the narrative.

Chewie had just saved Rey's life, and Rey does not care at all about what he must be going through after he watched his best friend's son kill him.

Let me repeat: Leia does not give a single solitary shit about how Chewie feels having just watched Han die.

And even afterward, she shows no growth in her ability to think for others as her encore after slicing Kyle's face is to seek comfort from Leia without thinking at all about how Chewie feels having lost his best friend.