The Rise of Skywalker: Kylo Ren's Arc
Dec. 24th, 2019 05:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorOne of the things that was crucial to my enjoyment of the bits of this film that meant anything to me was basically not being invested with what the movie decided to do with Kylo Ren. I want to distill my thoughts on his arc now, though, as he's one of the few characters to actually have any sort of arc in this film (which has so many loose threads at its end).
I thought his redemption arc was incredibly emotionally and thematically empty. I mean I've never really been a fan of the idea of redeeming Kylo in the first place, because as I've said before I feel that direction just says he has to be redeemed because of his Skywalker blood, making his redemption all about the idea that one's bloodline is their destiny, or that the most useful thing a woman can do is 'save' a man from himself. Still, I think there were directions they could have taken that redemption arc that at least wouldn't have made it feel like I was watching a puppet walk across the screen and interact with the other puppets. Everything seemed to happen 'because plot' and had no real lead-in or emotional versimilitude at all. I also couldn't feel surprised that Disney nixed the 'no redemption' route for him. It seems almost strange to think I ever thought there was any possibility of that. Such a course would have taken far more bravery and thought to forge a new route than was even remotely likely to have been allowed this film.
I usually love redemption arcs, but the combination of Kylo's poor character development throughout this trilogy, the incredibly poor character development and dialogue in TROS, and my deep loathing of 'woman redeems a man' arcs really killed this one for me. Maybe if they'd made Kylo a woman I would have felt differently about the whole affair. Maybe I could've even gone for Reylo then lol, who knows? Though she'd still have been a boring character if they'd left her with only the nonexistent backstory and nondescript motivations shown throughout this trilogy.
So yeah, I thought Kylo Ren's redemption was pretty terrible and really says nothing remotely uplifting at all. You can be redeemed if you're a special Skywalker. That's it. And unlike Vader, Kylo Ren's redemption burned through the lives of his entire family to get there. Hmmm, wait, perhaps that last part isn't so meaningless after all. Maybe if there had been more reflection of what Kylo's redemption cost, it could have been worthwhile. But not in the hands of J.J. Abrams and Disney, apparently.
I thought his redemption arc was incredibly emotionally and thematically empty. I mean I've never really been a fan of the idea of redeeming Kylo in the first place, because as I've said before I feel that direction just says he has to be redeemed because of his Skywalker blood, making his redemption all about the idea that one's bloodline is their destiny, or that the most useful thing a woman can do is 'save' a man from himself. Still, I think there were directions they could have taken that redemption arc that at least wouldn't have made it feel like I was watching a puppet walk across the screen and interact with the other puppets. Everything seemed to happen 'because plot' and had no real lead-in or emotional versimilitude at all. I also couldn't feel surprised that Disney nixed the 'no redemption' route for him. It seems almost strange to think I ever thought there was any possibility of that. Such a course would have taken far more bravery and thought to forge a new route than was even remotely likely to have been allowed this film.
I usually love redemption arcs, but the combination of Kylo's poor character development throughout this trilogy, the incredibly poor character development and dialogue in TROS, and my deep loathing of 'woman redeems a man' arcs really killed this one for me. Maybe if they'd made Kylo a woman I would have felt differently about the whole affair. Maybe I could've even gone for Reylo then lol, who knows? Though she'd still have been a boring character if they'd left her with only the nonexistent backstory and nondescript motivations shown throughout this trilogy.
So yeah, I thought Kylo Ren's redemption was pretty terrible and really says nothing remotely uplifting at all. You can be redeemed if you're a special Skywalker. That's it. And unlike Vader, Kylo Ren's redemption burned through the lives of his entire family to get there. Hmmm, wait, perhaps that last part isn't so meaningless after all. Maybe if there had been more reflection of what Kylo's redemption cost, it could have been worthwhile. But not in the hands of J.J. Abrams and Disney, apparently.