Thoughts About Finn in TROS
Dec. 31st, 2019 04:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorSome thoughts about Finn in TROS.
Finn doesn't really get an arc in TROS. We learn that he's Force sensitive, but this never really becomes applicable to the plot of the story besides as a way to make his original defection less interesting because it seems to be used to retroactively "explain" it, even though the simple possession of Force abilities in no way determines moral alignment, a fact which is integral to the plot of the entirety of Star Wars. The way it's framed just takes that choice away from him because it implicitly removes the element of volition. It also sets up an artificial separation of 'specialness' between the defectors and non-defectors.
Now, there are interesting ways his Force sensitivity could have been combined with the fact of his defection. One possibility would have been if many Stormtroopers in the First Order are Force sensitive due to Force sensitive children being intentionally sought out for the role. This might be so that some of them can eventually be funnelled into the Knights of Ren or other high-ranking positions. Another interesting addition would be emphasizing the activation of his empathic abilities occurring in TFA, but also finding out that other Stormtroopers who have the same ability activated didn't necessarily defect.
What could have been really cool is if when Finn fought Phasma, she started using the Force to throw objects around at the same time she's shooting at him. And then he ends up using the Force to stop one of those objects from crushing him or to divert blaster bolts. And then if he had gone against Kylo Ren or Palpatine in TROS. Those are just a couple ideas I came up with really quickly so they're not that impressive--an actual story arc has more to it than that. But I just think they'd be fun additions.
Finn doesn't really get an arc in TROS. We learn that he's Force sensitive, but this never really becomes applicable to the plot of the story besides as a way to make his original defection less interesting because it seems to be used to retroactively "explain" it, even though the simple possession of Force abilities in no way determines moral alignment, a fact which is integral to the plot of the entirety of Star Wars. The way it's framed just takes that choice away from him because it implicitly removes the element of volition. It also sets up an artificial separation of 'specialness' between the defectors and non-defectors.
Now, there are interesting ways his Force sensitivity could have been combined with the fact of his defection. One possibility would have been if many Stormtroopers in the First Order are Force sensitive due to Force sensitive children being intentionally sought out for the role. This might be so that some of them can eventually be funnelled into the Knights of Ren or other high-ranking positions. Another interesting addition would be emphasizing the activation of his empathic abilities occurring in TFA, but also finding out that other Stormtroopers who have the same ability activated didn't necessarily defect.
What could have been really cool is if when Finn fought Phasma, she started using the Force to throw objects around at the same time she's shooting at him. And then he ends up using the Force to stop one of those objects from crushing him or to divert blaster bolts. And then if he had gone against Kylo Ren or Palpatine in TROS. Those are just a couple ideas I came up with really quickly so they're not that impressive--an actual story arc has more to it than that. But I just think they'd be fun additions.