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Star Wars: The Force Awakens
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I can't believe the critics of Rey for being, essentially, "good at everything." Yes, she does seem to have an incredible amount of talents and skills that conveniently directly effect her ability to successfully get out of a tight spot. However, that describes a huge number of action/adventure stars in Hollywood. It is my observation that (not only in the comments here at RB but in the larger response to the film) there is an incredible amount of sexism that is tainting perceptions of Rey.
Han Solo was a great pilot, able to fix his own spaceship in a pinch, was such a good shot her could take Greedo out no problem without batting an eye... Luke was a gifted pilot, mechanic, best jedi ever... This is not an unusual quality for a main character in an action/adventure/sci fi film. What's unusual is that Rey is female and, apparently, we as a culture somehow find it more unbelievable (or just more acceptable to belittle) females. (January 22nd, 2016, 15:19)dazedroyalty Wrote: I can't believe the critics of Rey for being, essentially, "good at everything." Yes, she does seem to have an incredible amount of talents and skills that conveniently directly effect her ability to successfully get out of a tight spot. However, that describes a huge number of action/adventure stars in Hollywood. It is my observation that (not only in the comments here at RB but in the larger response to the film) there is an incredible amount of sexism that is tainting perceptions of Rey. I thought some of that criticism against Rey was justified. It's strange that Rey would be a good pilot without the film making a prior mentioning of it (Luke was said to do some things with some guys in some canyons before he met Obi Wan, Han Solo obviously had experience smuggling things). It's also strange that she would know how to do the mind trick without knowing what it was or practicing it beforehand. It took Luke until the third film to figure that one out.... (January 22nd, 2016, 17:46)greenline Wrote: I thought some of that criticism against Rey was justified. It's strange that Rey would be a good pilot without the film making a prior mentioning of it (Luke was said to do some things with some guys in some canyons before he met Obi Wan, Han Solo obviously had experience smuggling things). It's also strange that she would know how to do the mind trick without knowing what it was or practicing it beforehand. It took Luke until the third film to figure that one out.... Maybe, but most of the critics have not been based on internal continuity or logic but a simple reaction of "Ah! Ridiculous that she's good at everything!" If you want to critic that J.J. plays fast and loose with the entire notion of Jedi training (that is, Rey can just talent herself into skills instead of needing training like Luke), I would find that a valid criticism. But to decry Rey's character as being ridiculous because of her talent is different completely.
Luke didn't actually get much training either, unless it occurred off-screen (which is certainly possible, it's unclear how much time elapses between most scenes in the original films). IIRC all we see him do in IV is learn the very basics of swinging a light saber and predicting an enemy's movements. Then in V Yoda gives him a crash-course in the metaphsyics of the Force and moving large objects, which Luke largely misunderstands and fails, respectively, until he abandons Dagobah anyway to launch a disastrous rescue attempt of his friends. Maybe he resumed training in VI, I forget, but he manifested his Force Pull ability without any training or explanation that I can recall.
At least Rey has a reasonably major heroic flaw in that she displays fairly awful judgement. Luke's main problem was that he was impatient, I guess? But then again so was almost every other major named character at one point or another. I am perplexed as to how Rey knew how to fly anything though. Was that ever established?
To be fair, Rey had her bike-thingy that she travelled on to the downed Star Destroyer which I would say is comparable to the Landspeeder that Luke drove in IV. I wouldn't say its too much of a stretch from there without it being applicable to both of them.
"You want to take my city of Troll%ng? Go ahead and try."
Heh, I watched the original trilogy with my sister(who hadn't seen it before) and she was wondering how Luke learned to be a Jedi in 2 days while Anakin took over 10 years.
Regarding Rey, I was happy to explain most things(including the flying) as just being strong with the force -> good reflexes, intuition. I thought it could be assumed she had some prior flying and mechanical experience too. The only one I really objected to was the mind control. I enjoyed the movie itself, some great scenes that were obviously meant to tug on your nostalgia, but they worked for me anyway. Everything about Death Star 3.0 detracted from a great start though.
She was salvaging spaceship parts for a living, so a pretty good engineer, who'd have seen a bunch of different ships. And beyond understanding how ships work and the practice on her bike-thingy what else is there to being a good pilot? The film established that she was tied to the planet by family rather than lack of talent.
As someone else said we should also discuss James Bond, Han Solo (who is so good he can bend distance into time) and everyone from star trek if it's an important thing to point out about Rey.
Completed: RB Demogame - Gillette, PBEM46, Pitboss 13, Pitboss 18, Pitboss 30, Pitboss 31, Pitboss 38, Pitboss 42, Pitboss 46, Pitboss 52 (Pindicator's game), Pitboss 57
In progress: Rimworld |
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Is that character a variant? (I just love getting asked that in channel.) - Charis |
