DarthMetalliCube said:
Agreed. Some take this laughable stance that if you don't like the new trilogy or Rey, "oh you're just threatened by strong female characters!" The funny thing is, I really think it's the opposite for most of these viewers - at least it is for me. I really enjoy strong female characters - those that are believable and have depth, flaws, etc. Which is why I don't like Rey. Rey doesn't have much in the way of these traits. Rey is NOT a strong female character, in the sense that she has no depth. She's not relatable. Katnis Everdeen is one of my favorite characters of the last decade. Yet Rey just gives me a constant feeling of "meh, why should I care?" Well, why is this? It's because Rey is not well written. And the acting isn't particilarly memorable either. And it doesn't help that she's basically been relagated to super-hero status with how untouchable she is, and I'm not typically crazy about cheesy super hero films. Sure, you can argue she's a Jedi in training, and thus powerful and able to overcome much, but unlike Luke, she just seems to coast by and overpower everything with ease. (though you can largely say this about Anakin and many of the Jedia in the prequels, at least Lucas knew to give Akakin his inner struggles with his mother, his love with Padame, his thurst for power conflicting with his morals, etc. Rey just rings extremely hollow, boring, and souless. It rings as incredibly superficial and pandering to me. And we all know Luke was far from perfect, even weak at times, and had to overcome a lot. That isn't a powerful female character to me. This is a boring cardboard cutout and a lazy protagonist. And I would wager many women would agree with me (and I have seen many take a similar stance). Women want female characters they can relate to just like we do. And this usually means characters that may be powerful, but that also have depth, obstacles, and flaws to deal with. I see very little of this with Rey (or most of the new trilogy characters for that matter), which I think is a large part of the reason it feels like this new trilogy is just boring and lacking a soul for the most part. Ironically Kylo is the most interesting aspect of this new trilogy for the most part, because he's at least gvien some depth and flaws. |
The thing about Anakin is that while Lucas seemed to be going down the same path with him in Ep 1, he course corrected in Ep 2. We see Anakin after he has been training for a few years, yet he still isn't a Jedi master. He gets his ass handed to him when he decides to fight Count Dooku, and loses a hand because of it.
Rey, on the other hand, just touches a lightsaber and is almost a Jedi master. She read Kylo's mind, even though he was trying to read hers. She uses a Jedi mind trick, without even knowing how to even attempt it. I can't remember, but I even think she had no way of knowing Jedi could do that. She defeats Kylo, who has been training for at least a decade, even though she never picked up a lightsaber. And that poor excuse of him being injured or unbalanced is complete BS, because if you rewatch that scene, those things play no part in the actual fight. He's not overly emotional. And he has no problem moving around and swinging. Then, she Force pulls a lightsaber to her, even though, again, she has no idea how to do it, and Kylo was pulling it to him. Not to mention she can fly and repair the Falcon better than Han, for no good reason other than she is just better than everyone at everything.
And that's just the first film. In the second film, she takes down Luke with no problem whatsoever. A freaking Jedi master versus a woman with a staff, and he gets taken down? She swings around a lightsaber for a little bit, then apparently that makes her a master duelist. She's confronted by the dark side, and it has no sway on her at all, not even a little. The only person to give her a problem was Snoke, which he just became a joke because his writing is all over the place. One minute he's all powerful, the next a childish trick takes him out. She helps take on Snoke's elite guards. Then, when they are both pulling the lightsaber towards them and it breaks, she instantly gets up, while Kylo is knocked out for about half an hour. She then shows up at the end to lift up tons and tons worth of boulders with absolutely no effort whatsoever. Something that would have strained even Yoda to attempt, if he could even pull it off at all.
And, now, with the third film, it looks like we have Rey at full Neo powers. With absolutely no training whatsoever. No origin story for her could explain that away at this point.
