starcraft said:
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't create this ridiculous graphic. It remains unclear how much training each of Luke and Rey received, but empirically the evidence we have suggests Rey received more instruction from Luke than Luke received from Yoda. Yoda himself appeared to state that Rey's training was sufficient. Rey's knowledge, thus far, of mind probing and telekinesis pale's in comparison to Luke's in RotJ. She successfully tricked one stormtropper after initially failing. Luke was capable of mind tricking anyone except a Hutt or another force wielder. Rey proved incapable of easily repelling the dark side in the cave, her initial efforts to adopt telekinesis failed, she was manipulated easily and obviously by Snoke at great distances. Indeed, only Kylo demonstrated any ability to deceive or defeat Snoke. Rey was left alone as a child on a desert planet full of slavers. She survived as an athletic scavenger as a lone, young girl in that environment. If 'competent pilot from flying and and shooting his T-16 counts' then Rey's experiences should too. We have no knowledge of whether she'd flown previously, but its strongly suggested she had. As a force user, she picked up the quirks of the Falcon quickly, like every other jedi in the Galaxy. TL:DR This totallist argument that Rey is a Mary Sue, somehow distinct from Luke, requires lists like the above to be reasonable. Clearly they can be picked apart ad nausuem. One reason so much of this hate seems to be motivated by something other than a genuine attempt to engage with the franchise is this clear refusal to acknowledge any information that conflicts with a pre-determined view of Disney's Star Wars films. Don't like the latest movies? Thats your right. By the only two metrics available to us (reviews and box office receipts), you're in a very loud, small minority. |
You only find it ridiculous because it completely destroys your narrative. She is a Mary Sue.
Evidence points that Rey received more training than Luke? Come on, man, that's just laughable. Luke was obviously there for days. We see several different lessons he goes through. What do we see of Rey's? Luke gives her one quick lesson and calls it quits, fearing her awesome Mary Sue power. The rest she learns herself apparently. We also have the years in between ROTJ and ESB where Luke has obviously gone through more training.
Also, Luke was actually trained to become a Jedi. Mind control would have been one of those lessons. He also at least witnessed Obi-Wan demonstrate it. Where did Rey even learn about that power? Oh, right, she pulled it out of her ass, because she was never taught that or even knew Jedi could do that. The script called for her to be able to do it, so she could. Hmm, MaRey Sue?
Yoda approving of her so quickly, without barely any training, even though she demonstrated a lack of patience, is even more evidence of her Mary Sue status. Luke also demonstrated that lack of patience, which Yoda disapproved of. He also said that his friends may need to perish so that he could train to be strong enough to take on Vader and the Emperor. Not Rey, though. Instant approval from Yoda. In fact, he seemingly destroys some sacred tree and the Jedi tomes, something he mocks, to illustrate that she has all she needs. Something past Yoda would have never done.
And I'll ask you the same question I asked another, what movie did watch? Didn't repel the Dark Side? She easily repelled the Dark Side like no one before her. Sure, she confronted it, but there was no corruption. She wasn't enticed by its power. She confronted it and easily repelled it. Hell, later when Kylo suggests they take a grey path, she isn't enticed by it. She refuses because that's not the 100% good thing to do.
The problem isn't that she picks things up quickly. It's that she does it too quickly to even be considered realistic within established lore. Anything she does takes her mere seconds/minutes to master. Even without any proper training or knowledge she can perform such tasks.
TL:DR
You don't like the Mary Sue arguments because you know you have no real defense against them. It's so blatantly obvious, so instead of actually arguing against them, you just to label a beloved character as a Mary Sue, too. So, your defence isn't really that she's not one, just that Luke is one, too (even though he isn't), so we should just except everything she can do, regardless of how little sense it makes.
Also, I wouldn't point out the BO, because that actually favors us. TLJ was supposed to make $750M+ at the domestic box office, which would have been about $1.7B WW. And that was the "safe bet," with higher end of the range being $800M+ DBO and $1.8B+ WW. Even after the huge drop in its second weekend, analysts still projected it to hit $1.6B WW. Instead, it made $620M DBO and $1.33B WW, underperforming the safe bet by almost $400M. Black Panther beat it. It had worst legs than Rogue One, a spin-off, in the last half of its release. It led to a big decrease in merch sales. Sure, not a flop, but it greatly underperformed.
