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Billie Lourd and Kelly Marie Tran behind the scenes of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

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here’s a post sponsored by my momma, who is a clinical psychologist: our brains don’t know these characters are fictional. i mean, they do. kind of. we know on the outside, but our temporal lobe just registers that we recognize their face and that we feel deeply for them. our brains release dopamine and adrenaline because of it. there’s no different kind of dopamine or adrenaline for fictional people vs. real ones. scientifically it’s the same. of course you feel deeply for them. of course you do. there’s no reason why you wouldn’t. you know intimate details about them that have brought you closer emotionally in the same way you’ve learned intimate details about your friends. you empathize with them the same way you would with a person you can touch. people want to give self shippers a hard time for blending fiction with reality or whatever, but that’s kinda how humans’ brains work. it’s not “i love this real person” AND “i love this fictional person”, it’s just “i love this person” and that’s it.

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It’s so weird right now cause I feel like I’m reading Darth Vader comics to cheer myself up because his grandson’s ending was much more pessimistic than his. Like “oh yeah Darth Vader the villain in the Skywalker family who had a hopeful ending” instead of the all-our tragedy with Ben

Same, lmfao. Because at least Anakin had a life before Vader, kids and a padawan and a mentor who was like a father to him, and he’s vindicated at the end of his life with a Jedi funeral and a ghostly reunion with his loved ones. At least there’s actual catharsis. And Anakin, during his dark side years, leans into it much more than Ben does. Anakin is a tortured soul too, but he’s much better at burying this than Ben, and he expresses a lot more agency than Ben does. His fall comes across as a hero failing because of a crucial fatal flaw, whereas Ben’s comes across as him straight-up being born under the wrong star and suffering for an original sin that was never his.

And Anakin at a certain point (esp. in the current 2020 issue and the 2015 issue) reaches critical mass and starts scheming against Palpatine and expressing a sort of fucked up type of agency, whereas Ben himself, being a person who his whole life has really only wanted acceptance and safety, convinces himself almost until it kills him that Snoke “is wise” and a good father to him. Anakin wises up quite quickly that Palpatine is a snake after he falls to the DS. Ben’s fall not only feels much more out of his control, but much more innocent. Anakin wanted to save his wife, which is an adult fear. Ben was betrayed by his caretaker and is trying to find a safe place, which is a child fear.

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What’s interesting is that when you get Carrie going she still remembers all the lines from the old films - Oscar Isaac.

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Ren out.

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Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi (2017), dir. Rian Johnson

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GIRLS | 5x03 “Japan”

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He has a vaguely Cubist face, all sharp angles, his features somewhere between Keanu Reeves and Charles Bronson, prominent nose and ears, a penetrating gaze. And above all a magnetism, a strong presence to which his athletic, discus-thrower physique contributes significantly. […] [Paterson is] a role that is emblematic of Driver’s own profound dualism: an ex Marine who imagined a military career and instead became an actor; a guy who craves recognition and approval but who fears the fame and consequences that come with it; a committed and scrupulous actor who is also happy to pose for Vogue or a Gap jeans ad campaign, shirtless with the by now famous sheep on his shoulders. […] Back in the day there existed the figure of the Hollywood star who had also been a war hero: James Stewart was a brigadier general, Gene Hackman and Humphrey Bogart were Marines, Morgan Freeman was a fighter pilot. But show me a young actor today who has been through official military training… The rigour and discipline of that experience was crucial for Driver in becoming the actor he is today: obedient, perfectionist, always attentive. The same can’t be said for his life, which has never followed a smooth, predictable or rational path, and his choices in fact reflect a dichotomy of desires and directions that are often incongruous. […] While he speaks, Driver looks you square in the eye, alternating moments of shyness with spurts of disarming sincerity. He is involved in the conversation, striving to give you responses that make sense: he thinks, suddenly adds a comment, edits and corrects himself, then picks up the original thread, often concluding with “but I don’t want to come off as presumptuous”. If fame and popularity embarrass him, doubt torments him: “I ask myself questions that have no answer, like, how can I perfect my craft as an actor — because for me an actor is a spy, someone who must observe others without being seen — when I’m no longer free to leave my house? So I end up closing myself off more and more, building barriers that isolate me from the real world”. He pauses. “But then again, this is all new to me, I’m still young and I’m learning”. […] In the most anticipated film of the past decade [The Force Awakens], already an unprecedented global phenomenon, Driver is Kylo Ren, an adept of the dark side of the Force, a tall dark figure complete with mask and light saber. When he removes his helmet in the final scenes and his pale, suffering face appears on the screen, there is no longer any doubt: he is the most extraordinary character in the saga. “It was a surreal experience”. That’s all he says, lowering his eyes.

ADAM DRIVER for L’Uomo Vogue | January 2016 🖋 Alessandra Venezia 📷 Terry Richardson

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Kylo Ren on Takodana.

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moodboard: the original trio

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Deleted Leia sass from The Empire Strikes Back

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Joaquin Phoenix shouting out Adam Driver during his acceptance speech for Best Actor at the 2020 SAG Awards

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luke comes to visit once a year high as a kite to sort some scared 11 year olds and poor obi wan is like get this man off my lawn so we can actually sort these children

Obi-Wan: Luke… Release the child

Luke, perched on an eleven year old kid’s head and tripping balls: GGGGRYFFINDOR!!!

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Can you believe Ben Solo said "ow"? That's the same man who repeatedly hit his wound on Starkiller Base back in TFA. And he didn't even flinch when he did? Despite bleeding like A LOT? And he still managed to fight really good? Kylo Ren was merciless to himself before anyone else. Ben Solo allows himself to be a human being 💕

Ben Solo is fucking loved.