kalinara:

You know what I think is fascinating:

There are people who tend to criticize the Star Wars franchise on a whole, as being very black and white.  But I think the current Star Wars movies have done something really interesting with that:

We see a man, raised from infancy as a Stormtrooper, brainwashed and with no other moral compass, who is ordered to take part in a massacre, but chooses not to.  Later, he seizes the opportunity to rescue a tortured prisoner and escape with him.

We see a scientist ordered to build a death weapon, still manage to leak out information to the people who can stop it, and build in weaknesses that can be exploited.

We see a career Imperial choose to defect rather than continue to work for a corrupt regime.

The new movies have given us a number of stories about people who on the wrong side, by choice or by force, but still choose to do what’s right in the end.

And that’s why I get so frustrated by fans who insist that Kylo Ren MUST have a redemption arc, because Star Wars is “about redemption.”

Because they’re right and they’re wrong.  Star Wars is about CHOICE.  It’s about people who choose to do the right thing, even when it’s hard, even when it’s painful, and even when they might have started on the wrong side.  It’s about abandoning the darkness, and choosing light..

Vader didn’t have a “redemption arc.”  He had a moment of choice, and despite all of his past evil, when it came down to it, he chose to save his son.  

Kylo Ren chose to leave the Light.  He chose to betray Luke.  He chose to join the First Order.  He chose to massacre villagers.  He chose to torture helpless prisoners.  He chose to aid in a genocide.  And when face to face with the same choice that saved Vader, he chose to murder his father.

We do not need this mass murdering patricidal monster to represent the Star Wars theme of choosing light over darkness.  We have Finn, we have Galen Erso, we have Bodhi Rook.  

That’s where you’ll find themes of the Star Wars Universe alive and well.  Not Kylo Ren.

belinsky:

going off my tags on this post; the prequels emphasizing anakin’s love for padme as the tipping point for his fall to the dark side doesn’t, i think, make his intrinsic humanity his ultimate flaw or his passion/love, which a lot of people have critiqued the prequels for doing– and, true, the acting/script in the prequels isn’t strong enough to emphasize anything beyond this, essentially.  but i think what the anakin/padme romance actually does, and what if i want to give lucasfilm credit for the films are actually trying to do, is give further and essential strength to anakin’s final choice to murder palpatine and save luke.  because anakin’s love for padme isn’t what turns him into a sith– palpatine is.  when anakin believes padme is going to die, he doesn’t tell padme (who not only is, you know, the subject of discussion here, but has throughout the story been an avatar of calm rationality), he doesn’t tell obi-wan (who he loves probably in equality to padme and is his connection to the jedi and the force and those who actually want to help him), he tells palpatine.  and what’s essential about that choice is that anakin’s arc is all about deference.  

anakin is born a slave, lives nine years in slavery, and when he’s rescued he’s immediately dragged to the jedi (told he’s too old to be a jedi! rejected by the people who saved him! only allowed to be trained because qui gon was killed by a sith and demanded obi wan– first sithkiller in a thousand years– train him as his dying wish) and told that a) he is possibly the most powerful being in the universe b) as the most powerful being in the universe, he should shut up and listen to some people he’s never met about how to use that power and how someone that powerful should live their life.  the jedi council is very consciously i think depicted as what we would think of as an organized religion, only one where the deity empirically exists (think the catholic church if saints and prophets had laser swords).  the council have some good ideas about how to use the power of the force, how jedi should live their lives, how they should act and interact, but to take essentially the messiah– a messiah who has been a slave for nine years, ripped away from and told he must never see again the person he loves most in the world, and who is already a roiling mass of anger and pain– and tell him that he should live a completely ascetic life is just asking for it.  and indeed, the first thing anakin does when he’s given a solo mission is act like a ridiculously powerful nineteen year old boy and go after his boyhood crush.  (and then slaughter the people who hurt his mom.)  palpatine’s not an idiot.  palpatine’s probably the smartest man in the galaxy.  palpatine sees that this ridiculously powerful child is being told he can’t have feelings by the people he most looks up to and cares about in his life.  

and so palpatine sweeps in and tells him not only that feelings are great and important but most essentially that palpatine is always there for him if he needs to have feelings.  palpatine plants himself as the one person in anakin’s life he can actually be a human being around.  not the jedi, who saved him, because they’ll tell him he’s not a good person.  not obi-wan, who he most looked up to, because obi-wan will chastise him.  (whether or not obi-wan would actually have given him a tonguelashing over caring about people is debatable (see: obi-wan, crying over qui-gon’s corpse; obi-wan, biggest flirt in the galaxy; obi-wan, ‘you were my brother, anakin, i loved you’) but anakin never dares ask because obi-wan is, in his eyes, ultimately first and foremost a jedi and a mouthpiece for the council), not padme, who he loves enough to tank the republic, because she’s too reasonable and wouldn’t know the way anakin does the way people can betray and humiliate you.  palpatine is the only one around whom anakin can be himself.  and by placing himself in that position palpatine makes himself anakin’s ultimate master, before anakin even knows he’s anything but a politician.  so of course he runs to palpatine with the fear of padme’s death.  of course he doesn’t make the “right” choice.  he can’t trust anyone else, because they’ll kick him out of the jedi, out of his marriage, out of all of he knows and loves and all the way back to watto and jabba.  (obviously they probably would not do this. but anakin has been systematically conditioned through circumstance to think this way.  anakin’s story is high tragedy, where situations pile up to the point that, through one mistake, he topples a whole society.  oops.)

anakin makes the wrong choice.  anakin doesn’t love padme too much.  anakin isn’t too little of a jedi.  anakin isn’t ultimately too selfish.  anakin doesn’t stand up for himself.  passionate, angry, idealistic, firestorm anakin was never told by anyone that it was okay to make his own choices, or that what he thought was as important as what other people thought.  anakin loves padme so much he breaks the jedi code to marry her, and then never tells anybody about it because he’s terrified of the council.  anakin loves qui-gon and obi-wan so much that he agrees to leave his mother, and then never goes back for her because he’s told she’s an attachment he has to let go of.  anakin feels so guilty about never going back for her (despite, see above, being conditioned to not make his own choices) that he slaughters an entire innocent village.  anakin begins the prequels saying that he’s going to free every slave, and then ends up being ‘held on a leash’ by tarkin.  anakin thinks the woman he loves is going to die– what’s he to do?   he’s not allowed to have married her. he can’t trust the people he loves.  so of course he runs to the sith.  the sith proclaim to be about selfishness, about power, and ultimately, about freedom– but the sith, too, are run on a system of masters and servants.  anakin lives in a universe that has been shaped– with lots of help from palpatine, who’s the only person who comes out on top in this, of course– to tell him that he’s not only not allowed to make his own choices, but even thinking them will harm him and the people he loves.  and so anakin chooses the only thing he thinks he can.  the only thing that will actually save padme.  anakin chooses the sith.  and anakin becomes even more chained than before.  

and this inability to choose for himself, to try to find the right among all the things that have been (fairly literally) beaten into him, continues through the original trilogy– in anh, he’s completely under the thumb of tarkin despite demonstrably being able to murder anyone in the room with a thought.  in esb, when he’s told about luke, his first instinct is that they ‘rule the galaxy as father and son’, and when luke says no, he goes running back to palpatine.  anakin doesn’t even consider throwing over palpatine himself until palpatine attacks luke– he brings luke to palpatine to be his new apprentice.  luke’s existence isn’t enough.  padme’s death isn’t enough.  the fall of the jedi isn’t enough.  becoming palpatine’s pet isn’t enough.  what is the only thing that allows anakin to finally make an independent choice?

“father, please”.  his son– his untrained child– the only thing left of padme, who he failed, of obi-wan, who he betrayed, of himself, when he cared about something– is completely and utterly helpless, and the one man anakin thought cared about him is going to murder him, painfully, in front of his eyes.  luke is given the same choice as anakin– the people you love will die, your society will be despotic and inhumane, you will be betrayed by your family and friends, you will lose everything– and luke says, “father, please”.  luke not only demonstrates to anakin what it is to make his own choices, luke also demonstrates what it is to willingly trust someone else with your love and your life in the most dire of circumstances.  and in doing so, luke willingly hands anakin the reins.  and anakin looks between the man who’s held those reins for twenty years and the man who is looking at him saying ‘i love you enough to let you choose’, and finally gets to actually make a choice.  in these circumstances, that choice is easy.

shipsallshipshoweverimprobable:

tfa:

“it’s time for the jedi to end” YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW LUKE

actually, luke saying this is a VERY GOOD THING. He doesn’t mean hes not going to train Rey, or that he wants to die or anything, but the Jedi, as an entire order and concept, need to end. The Jedi movie-canonically were VERY controlling, and their approach, which means taking children from parents at the age of infancy, to raise them to a state where ideally they have no emotional attatchments to the world, and shun their own needs as being disgraceful and shameful? The Jedi are the sole reason that Palpatine was able to get so tight a grip on Anakin– because he fell in love and acted on that love, which was the most disgraceful thing a Jedi could do, any not only woud he have probably been evicted from the Order had they found out, they probably would snatch up Luke and Leia the second they were born, or at least monitor the family extremely closely if Anakin and Padme refused. The Jedi try to force people into being blank slates that only do ‘good’ which includes never ever falling in love, never having ‘friends’ and only doing something for the Greater Good– think Dumbledor, but as a galaxy-spanning thing. Luke has obviously uncovered at least part of the Jedi’s true history, and realizes that the Jedi caused more problems than they solved, especially when used as enforcers for a single government, despite their original standing as a religious order

giancarlovolpe:

estebanwaseaten:

sapphixxx:

an-gremlin:

losethehours:

madlori:

where-are-your-source-citations:

thecarrisonfiles:

james-asslow:

fiyhi:

james-asslow:

1. hates donald trump
2. got his ear pierced at claires because why not
3. legit asks people to beat him up in action scenes EVEN NOW AS AN OLD MAN
4. is arguably one of the most iconic star wars characters yet couldnt give less of a crap abt star wars
5. the universe tried to kill him (or at least permanently incapacitate him) twice in 2015 and it only mildly inconvenienced him
6. flies helicopters in search and rescue missions
7. was in his 40s for the majority of the indiana jones series which is insane when you think about all the stunts involved
8. quote “the director yells cut and harrison cracks open a beer and then builds a fucking shed”
9. arguably sexy
10. points angrily and its super effective

11. is just a really sweet person
12. no really my dad worked with him on firewall as the tech advisor and he was just a really swell guy
13. got my mom’s birth date from my dad and sent her flowers
14. he sent my mom flowers for her birthday
15. he didn’t even know her he just wanted to be sweet

this was a beautiful and necessary edition to this post thank you oh my god

Awwwww

Originally posted by yourreactiongifs

When he was asked to be in Jimmy Kimmel’s “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck” video, in which he pulled up alongside them in a car and gave Jimmy a little wink and an air-kiss, when he showed up at the set he looked kind of put out. Kimmel was afraid he wasn’t down with what they were asking. But he just said, “I don’t know, this wardrobe…don’t you have anything mesh that I could wear?”

When he was filming “Witness” he rented a small farm from a friend of mine. At the end of the filming my friend went and checked out the property as usual. He noticed the barn door had been leveled so it no longer would swing open on it’s own. Went into the house and saw the closets had been redone, in the kitchen the cabinets had been replaced and all the drawers now opened really well. Turns out that there were thousands of dollars of work and materials put into fixing up everything at the place.

My friend called Ford and asked him how much he was asking for the work. Ford told him doing that kind of thing helped him relax and stay sane when he was filming. Would not take a dime. Plus he paid for a new water heater and got the sewage system cleaned out.

And he paid rent to live there the entire time.

Local Carpenter Stumbles Into Stardom, Worries This May Interfere With His Carpentry

My step sister was driving through Wyoming once, near Ford’s ranch. She stops for gas, and as she’s filling up, this huge motorcycle roars in behind her, scared the pants off her. The rider, dressed in all black steps off, and she yells at him “who do you think you are blasting in here like that, you Darth Vader looking motherfucker?”. He takes off the helmet, and it’s Harrison Ford, and without missing a beat he says

“Hey! I’m not Darth Vader, I’m Luke Skywalker”

From the co-production designer on The Force Awakens, Darren Gilford:

“The Millennium Falcon was the first thing we were actually building. I had been in London and I came home back to L.A. for Christmas. So I go to Sports Chalet to do some last-minute shopping; I get there early, run to the back of the store, get what I need. I’m coming back through the store, and I just happen to pass this person holding up a pair of ski pants, and it’s Harrison Ford. I look at him, he looks at me and puts his head right down. I can tell he doesn’t want to be bothered; I’m sure from the look on my face he knew I knew who he was. 

So I walk past him, and after about 10 feet I think, ‘If there’s ever a time to say hello to Harrison Ford, I’m building the Millennium Falcon!’ So I turn around very hesitantly and go, ‘Harrison, I’m sorry to bother you. I’m co-production designer on the new Star Wars, I’m just back from London, and I’ve been building the Falcon.’ A big smile came across his face, he put his hand out, and we had such a great conversation — he couldn’t have been sweeter. 

As I’m walking away, he goes, ‘Darren!’ and calls me back. He goes, ‘The toggle switches.’ I go, ‘Toggle switches.’ He goes, ‘The toggle switches on the Falcon. When they built it the first time, they bought cheap toggle switches without any springs in them. Every time I threw a toggle switch, it fell back; it wouldn’t hold. It drove me crazy. Please, make sure the toggle switches are fixed this time.’ I go, ‘No problem! I’ll take care of it!’ 

So months go by, I’m back in London, we’re getting close [to principal photography], and I get a phone call saying J.J.’s headed down to check out the cockpit, and Harrison’s with him. I run down there and I see J.J. in the passenger seat and Harrison in the pilot seat. They’re just giddy; they’re having so much fun. And then I see Harrison look up, and he just starts throwing all the toggle switches: boom, boom, boom, boom. [Laughs.] And I remember thinking, ‘Phew, minor victory. Take solace in that and move on. Next task.’ That’s my favorite story.”

HARRISON FORD SMILES WHEN MEETING CREW MEMBERS AND IS A NERD FOR FUNCTIONING PRODUCTION DESIGN

Famed carpenter who performs random acts of kindness then defies death itself:

Jesus Christ
Or
Harrison Ford

roane72:

shinykari:

alltheladiesyouhate:

thesmilinggoth:

helluva-pilot:

crying males: “disney is destroying star wars with female leads”

“rogue one also has a female lead? ugh”

“great another mary sue”

me:

I don’t mind if Star Wars has a female lead, as the Star Wars franchise has always been home to strong female characters, I do care if she is another giant Mary Sue like Rey was. Rey was so Mary Sue that it became distracting to the movie. A character with no force training takes down a trained Sith Knight, she flies a freighter designed for two pilots with no help despite the fact she had never left the planet before, and she can also repair said ship with no problem because she had spent years salvaging parts off of a broken star destroyer? The only thing she didn’t do was have all of the male characters try to romance her at once and I thank the force for that small concession.

The only good new character in episode 7 was Finn. The rest of the characterization fell flat or was just used to make Rey ascend to Mary Suedom.

anakin built the worlds fastest pod racer and c3po when he was nine

the first time luke flew a spaceship he destroyed the fucking death star.

Kylo Ren: Not a Sith. Not fully trained. Also? Injured by a bowcaster that we’d seen could take out several stormtroopers at a time. 

Rey: Literally spent all of her downtime flying a flight simulator to the point that it could no longer throw anything at her she couldn’t handle. For all kinds of ships. Nor did she solely scavenge star destroyers. She spent her entire life scavenging every imaginable wreck on Jakku, and her survival depended on her learning what ships had what parts and what was valuable. This, while competing with other scavengers, most of them working in teams. 

Which meant she had to learn how to fight, or else she wouldn’t have gotten out of childhood.

Basically, Rey had way more in-canon reasoning to be as good as she was than Luke Skywalker did–who basically went from never flying much out of atmo to piloting an X-wing under combat conditions and rocking it… apparently just because of genetics and the Force. Who then went on, only half-trained, into a fight that even YODA thought he was going to die in, and survived, against a man literally birthed by the Force, trained as both a Jedi AND a Sith, with about 25 years of combat experience under his belt, whereas Luke had had a lightsaber for about 3 years. What a Mary Sue he was, huh?

Rey had more reason to be what she was than Anakin Skywalker, who accidentally wound up in a fighter and accidentally destroyed a droid ship. Anakin who was such a Mary Sue he was LITERALLY A VIRGIN BIRTH. How Mary Sue is THAT?

The creators, in short, HAD TO GIVE REASONS for every single thing Rey knew how to do, because of assholes like this person, who would take any special skill she had as proof that she was a “Mary Sue” just because she was a female character. No one bothered to give those reasons to Luke or Anakin. Because they’re the hero. OF COURSE they can do the impossible. But Rey? Jesus, what a Mary Sue.