#I’m looking specifically at everyone who ships Adam and Daisy

[watchingtheearthrise]

Watching someone try to desperately argue that the Rey Skywalker movie is going to ‘bomb’ unless they hire/make Adam Driver a lead over on Twitter makes me laugh. A witchy cackle, if you will.

Like, sure, because all of Adam Driver’s latest films have been box office record setters /s

[aion-rsa]

Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020

https://ift.tt/37LLRPI

It’s been a weird and often devastating year, and our social media has reflected that. Tumblr has just released its top fandoms of 2020 and it’s fascinating to see how a year of pandemic and quarantine has affected transformative fandom and broader cultural trends. In a year when almost everyone spent a lot more time at home, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the most blogged about topic on the social media platform, followed by animated dramedy Steven Universe, Belgian SKAM adaptation WtFOCK, K-pop supergroup BTS, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We talked to Tumblr’s Trend Expert Amanda Brennan about how she interpreted the biggest trends of the year, how this was a big year for animation and international media, and why 2020 was the year everyone stopped worrying about what was cool and just embraced what they love. But, first, some 2020 Tumblr statistics:

Top 20 of 2020 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Steven Universe

wtFOCK

BTS

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Artists on Tumblr

Critical Role

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Boku No Hero Academia

Black Lives Matter

Pokémon

COVID-19

The Witcher

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

The Magnus Archives

Reylo Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe

RWBY

Sanders Sides

Catradora Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Zuko | Avatar: The Last Airbender

Top 25 Ships 

Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe (m/f)

Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (f/f)

Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak, It (m/m)

Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier, The Witcher (m/m)

Aziraphale & Crowley, Good Omens (m/m)

Zuko & Sokka, Avatar: The Last Airbender (m/m)

Luz Noceda & Amity Blight, The Owl House (f/f)

Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Supergirl (f/f)

Park Jimin & Jeon Jungkook, BTS (m/m)

Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural (m/m)

Live Action TV

Wtfock

The Witcher

The Mandalorian

Good Omens

Skam France

The Umbrella Academy

Doctor Who

Supernatural

The Untamed

Killing Eve

Animated TV

Steven Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

The Owl House

Invader Zim

Ducktales

The Dragon Prince

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Gravity Falls

TV Characters

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Zuko

Catra

Jaskier

Sokka

Adora | She-Ra

Geralt Of Rivia

Katara

Aang

Crowley

Aziraphale

Movies

Frozen

The Old Guard

Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker

Birds Of Prey

Twilight

Hamilton

Little Women

Parasite

Sonic Movie

Lord of the Rings

Movie Characters

Kylo Ren

Harley Quinn

Bucky Barnes

Batman

Steve Rogers

Tony Stark

Rey

Spinel

Peter Parker

Richie Tozier

Actors

Chris Evans

Henry Cavill

Sebastian Stan

Adam Driver

Tom Holland

Pedro Pascal

John Boyega

Robert Pattinson

Tom Hiddleston

Timothee Chalamet

Actresses

Katie Mcgrath

Jodie Comer

Daisy Ridley

Margot Robbie

Zendaya

Lili Reinhart

Naya Rivera

Brie Larson

Florence Pugh

Jodie Whittaker

Books

Harry Potter

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Warrior Cats

The All for the Game series

Pride And Prejudice

Midnight Sun

The Secret History

The Raven Cycle series

Carry On

Six Of Crows

Authors of Books

J.K. Rowling

Rick Riordan

Erin Hunter

Nora Sakavic

Jane Austen

Stephenie Meyer

Donna Tartt

Maggie Stiefvater

Rainbow Rowell

Leigh Bardugo

Video Games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Among Us

Pokemon Sword And Shield

Undertale

Minecraft

Sims 4

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Danganronpa

Overwatch

Persona 5

Video Games Characters

Obey Me Lucifer

Obey Me Mammon

Tom Nook

Link

Sans

Cloud Strife

Dandelion

Kirby

Raihan

Arthur Morgan

Animal Crossing Villagers

Raymond

Marshal

Poppy

Fauna

Julian

Claude

Marina

Stitches

Bob

Ankha

Anime & Manga

Boku no Hero Academia

Haikyuu!!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Beastars

Naruto

Mo Dao Zu Shi

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

One Piece

Fruits Basket

19 Days

Anime & Manga Characters

Midoriya Izuku

Bakugou Katsuki

Dabi

Wei Wuxian

Aizawa Shouta

Hawks

Todoroki Shouto

Kirishima Eijirou

Lan Wangji

Levi Ackerman

And, now, our chat with Brennan. (This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.)

Den of Geek: I’ve heard you refer to the users as the Tumblr hive-mind or the orchid, whatever it is. I was just hoping you could generally talk about what the Tumblr hive-mind is to you? Which is the way of saying, who uses Tumblr generally? And how and why? If you can even extrapolate those things. Go!

Amanda Brennan: Most of our audiences is Gen Z; it’s at 48%. Our new user registration with Gen Z is even higher; I’m pretty sure it’s 60%. These are people who come to Tumblr because they love something so much they just want to share that love with people who love it as much as they do. I know that feels like a giant umbrella, but that’s the thing: Tumblr is what you make of it. If you love sports, sports Tumblr is intense hockey Tumblr, so good. If you love TV, you’ll have all of that. K-pop Tumblr, totally amazing. Furby Tumblr is off the hook and they make these incredible creations. I’ve recently gotten into Stained Glass Tumblr.

There’s layers upon layers. No matter what you love, there’s something on Tumblr for you. That’s both the easiest thing and the hardest thing about it. You have to go in being like, “Alright, I’m so into this thing, what does Tumblr have for me?” It’s not like the other social media networks, right? It’s really about what you love rather than who you know.

Yeah, I like that. I did want to ask you specifically about the process of how you track trends and how you make decisions about what to track?

We built the whole taxonomy that powers fandom metrics based on what Tumblr talks about. I’m a librarian, as you know, and I kind of reverse engineered it. My first year in review at Tumblr in 2013, they handed me a spreadsheet and they’re like, ‘OK, go to town.” So I was like, “Cool, let me pull out the threads that I see.” We really let the data tell us how to analyze it, if that makes sense. So when it comes to what we track, I have a running notebook that I’ve kept all year of the things that I’ve wanted to have in year in review.

The Witcher has been on my list since it came out. Animal Crossing has been another one. The Old Guard had a huge moment. I was just writing notes, like, “Oh, what is this thing? And we’ll keep an eye on it.” I have an amazing team. We all are into our own pieces of Tumblr. So we’ll all work together to just keep an eye on different fandoms. I don’t know if you know about Minecraft YouTuber fandom?

Yeah. I was actually listening to the latest Fansplaining last night and they mentioned it in that. I was just like, “OK, a new thing.” There’s always a new thing to learn about.

There’s always a new thing. That’s the beauty of Tumblr. It’s so fluid in fandom. You can go from one fandom to another and then you’ll see like, “Ooh, what is this thing?” I’ve got Supernatural on the brain, as who in the fandom doesn’t right now. [This interview was recorded on the day of the Supernatual series finale.] I was telling someone, the whole reason I got into Supernatural was because I saw a gif from the show on Tumblr and I was like, “What is happening? Let me go back and watch this entire series.” That’s the vibe of Tumblr, right? You see a thing and you’re like, “Oh, I need to know everything about that.”

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Hmm. Yeah, for sure. I was interested in talking to you or getting your insight into how trends you saw or data you saw that were maybe tied to the very unique experience of being in the middle of a pandemic.

Yeah. I was looking back at the predictions that I had made last year and like four of those things didn’t even come out. It was just so unexpected. There’s two things that we really saw tied to the pandemic. The first was “cottagecore” as an aesthetic. It kind of touched everything because it’s soothing, it feels comfortable. In March and April in the early days, when you didn’t know what to do, you’re stuck in a forest isolation. Cottagecore has got this vibe of chosen isolation. It was very fantasy-driven and something to reach out for.

That evolved also into nostalgia. I think this year’s really big theme is nostalgia and comfort. We saw huge returns to fandoms like Twilight and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar going on Netflix was such a world-breaking moment. Not only did it introduce a new, younger fandom to the show, there’s a lot of Avatar content once you get into it, but it brought people back to a younger time in their lives. Remembering and rewatching. The Avatar fandom, as you see, it’s all over all of the lists. Zuko is number 20 on all of the things on Tumblr this year. Avatar was able to redefine people’s year. Because you know what, we’re all at home, I’m going to binge Avatar. Reignite my love for this fandom.

A lot of TV too, because TV is episodic, you get lost in it. Movies had a really rough year. When we look at the movies, movies like Megamind were trending this year. That comfort movie that you go back and watch 17 times.

Yeah. I was curious about that too. The balance or proportions between older fandoms and newer fandoms, like the Avatar example. I was curious how much that changed this year? How much you thought it was tied to the pandemic? How much is tied to accessibility and things, like Avatar coming to Netflix? Do you think that is an interest in older fandoms? Or that it’s going to continue past the pandemic?

Yeah. I think another high-level theme of this year is the rejection of cringe culture. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I’ll tie it all back in. I think people are realizing what their values are and not being afraid to admit that they like a thing. Not caring what other people think of the things they like. Unabashedly loving the things they love. That’s why I think we do see a resurgence in these older fandoms.

Because people who may have loved them their whole lives, or may have been nervous to share that they liked it when they were younger they’re not afraid anymore. They’re like, “You know what? Twilight, it’s not that great, but I love it. This is my emotional support vampire.” Recognizing that you can be critical of something. You can see where its flaws are, but you can still love it. That duality of fandom is something that is going to persist into next year. That freedom to just like a thing, because you like it. Be able to see its flaws, but still be like, “You know what? Overall, this brings me joy and the world is melting down.”

I’m on board with that mission, that plan for 2021. I did want to ask about the role of non-English language media, especially live action stuff. Generally because I was someone who fell into The Untamed this year, but I saw that there were two SKAM remakes as well that are on the top 10. In general, have you seen over your time at Tumblr, and maybe especially in the past few years, an increase in non-English language content? Do you think that is mostly English speakers and Americans being more open to that or being able to find it easier? Or do you think it’s also an influx of people from outside the United States coming to Tumblr? Or both?

Interesting. The data that we work with is actually stripped of all user information. I don’t really have an insight into where these people are coming from. I do think that users in general are more open to content in any language. Tumblr is more interested in characters than where the story comes from. Thinking about The Untamed, it’s just such a compelling story, it doesn’t matter if you have to read subtitles.

To parallel it to something in major pop culture, Parasite. People are becoming more open to just watching content because it’s good. SKAM is really fascinating to me because the number one live action show is wtFOCK. Then, I think two years ago, 2018, the original SKAM was number one at some point. This show really transcends language barriers. It transcends geographical barriers. At the core, the story of the teenagers is just so relatable to anyone. We’ve seen lots of translation happening and not just into English. Translation of SKAM into other languages, just because people want more of these characters and their iterations, no matter what locale they’re based in. I’m waiting for some professor to have a class on it, because it’s so fascinating to me.

I also wanted to ask about how you thought the election cycle affected Tumblr this year, if there were any trends or data that you were like, “Yes, of course this is what people were doing on Tumblr this year.”

Tumblr has always had this backbone of social justice. This year, it came out stronger and in more force. No matter what fandom you were in or interests, everyone I know on Tumblr was participating in sharing social justice stuff. Even politics, if they weren’t from the US, those kinds of memes that were like, “I feel for you”. The way that fandoms do. I see your show is ending and I’m sorry.

The one thing that Tumblr really had leading up to the election was such an appreciation for the postal service. Especially Gen Z, their world is so much larger due to digital connection. Mail order, just as well as sending letters and keeping in touch with your digital friends is just as important as keeping in touch with your IRL friends. All of the artists on Tumblr, so many of them turn to mail order to replace cons. This is their livelihood. By the time the fall hit and the postal service was having all these issues, people are ready to jump in. There were the Transformers dressed like mail people.

https://morethanmeetstheass.tumblr.com/post/626466946047705088/i-completely-forgot-to-post-this-guy-here-this-is

There were all these comments like “support your postal workers,” “support the USPS.” It really boils down to the fact that we are all connected and the mail service is something in the US that connects everyone. Even overseas. Supporting these artists whose livelihood went from IRL to online and having to deal with all of this.

And the “Super Putin Election.” The confluence of those elements. I was just surfing on my personal computer and I was on Tumblr and I saw a post being like “Destiel’s canon.” I’m like, “Excuse me?” I immediately texted my team. I was like, “Open up your work computers, let’s go.”

It’s time.

We all signed on trying to figure out what’s going on and watching the numbers. That, to me, is thrilling. I said this to someone else, but it felt like the night of The Dress. To have that moment where everyone on the internet is feeling the energy. The things that kept getting layered on top of it. Putin and Sherlock and all the anime mysteries. It was breakneck speed, and it was really thrilling just to be in that moment, and so Tumblr.

I did want to ask you about an increase in animated fandom and potentially anime fandom. A lot of these things I’m anecdotally or just observing things in my own little corner of the internet. It just seems like animation and anime, probably at least partially because Netflix has accumulated a much larger anime collection and seems to be investing in these sorts of things. Have you seen that increase? Could you talk about it, if so?

It plays into what we were talking about earlier, twofold. That nostalgia vibe, the late nineties anime vibe, that art style. Also your comfort zone and being open to more stuff just because it’s good. Not worrying about reading subtitles and stuff like that. But anime in general had a huge year. Haikyū!! ending also transposed into other fandoms because that moment of the final panels, it brings people together. People being so excited to see this massive thing come to a close. You might not be familiar with Haikyū!! in general, but you’ll see the fanart and be like, “Oh, I feel that.” It’s the emotion of it.

The popularity of Avatar did also open people’s doors to like, “Oh, well, what else can I watch? What else do I want to learn about”? Boku No Hero was consistently on our Week In Review every week. BEASTARS is another Netflix anime that’s at the top. Then Mo Dao Zu Shi, thinking about The Untamed, the story of Mo Dao Zu Shi is so fascinating. I don’t think I can name another piece of content that has that storyline. People are just ready to take it all on.

I did want to ask you, I think you’ve probably talked about some of these already, but what were some of the biggest fandom moments for you on Tumblr this year?

Oh boy. So many things going canon. Catradora was a huge, huge moment. I cried watching that. The Witcher, Jaskier, introducing this whole new world to Henry Cavill. I saw a post yesterday that was like once Superman was goth, a lot more people realize that he’s hot. Repurposing and looking at things in a new way. Among Us, so huge. There is a user who is doing a comic about White and Pink being in love. She’s giving them lore. She’s giving them backstory, personalities. It is amazing.

Unus Annus, I am not very into streamers, but I’ve caught some of those videos. When they had their final stream, I was tuning in. I was like, “Are you really going to delete the channel?” Then they did. Just watching the fans have that moment, even though I am not in that fandom, it was wonderful so meaningful.

Harry Potter being taken by the fans. Fans own Harry Potter now, and that’s what matters. The Old Guard also came out of nowhere and really blew Tumblr away. The Immortal Husbands. I love that ship. I’ve got to touch on almost all of the places, MCR, My Chemical Romance. Those fans have woken up and they didn’t get their tour, but they will. They’re not going to sleep until they do.

Because we maybe all have Supernatural on the brain, to a certain extent. I’m just curious how you think, that show’s been on for 15 years. The fandom has gone through literal generations. How do you think the fandom is going to change?

There’s always going to be a supernatural gif for everything. People will continue gifing it. It’s going to surpass what it is and it’s going to become that comfort show. This is a personal anecdote, but when I go to the dentist, every single time supernatural is on. It’s just like, “Oh, I get to watch my boys while I’m getting my teeth cleaned. That’s good.” It’s always going to be there. It’s always going to be there for people when they need it the most. We’re going to see a lot more fan creations. People love these boys, men now they’re adults. People love these characters. I haven’t watched this season. I am going to watch the finale tonight. I’m going in almost cold. I know that a lot of fan favorites have returned. My prediction for Supernatural fandom going forward is seeing these side stories come through in fanfiction even more than they already do. Lots more Charlie. That’s personal of mine because I love her.

I don’t think you’re alone in this.

Yeah. Who doesn’t love Charlie? Seeing these smaller characters come out and just shine in their own fan works, more so than the world might’ve provided them in canon.

It feels dangerous to make fandom predictions based on what happened this year, but if you have any predictions and or hopes for the coming year in terms of Tumblr and fandom?

Where we’re at now and going forward, it’s all about true authenticity. Screw what people think. We’re rejecting our old ways of thinking. We’re about flipping perspectives and forgetting what you thought was important in exchange for what you truly love. 2020 has helped us all figure out what our values at our core are. It’s about choosing something that makes you happy, that supports you, and your people. Choosing the happiness of those around you and making sure that you’re fighting for the goodness in life. Which sounds really sugar sweet, but one of the things, again, that I love about Tumblr is it is about putting people first based on the things they love. That’s what I see happening.

Explore the rest of Tumblr’s Year in Review lists here, and let us know what your biggest 2020 fandoms were in the comments below.

The post Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[letterboxd]

Ten Things We Learned at the Rise of Skywalker Press Conference.

Director J.J. Abrams and the key cast spill some beans about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Although we’re gifted more Star Wars content than ever these days—all hail baby Yoda—a new Star Wars film still means something. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker “is wrapping not one film, not three films, but nine,” says director J.J. Abrams, “so the responsibility was significant.”

Abrams is only the second two-time Star Wars director after George Lucas, lured back because “we live in a crazy time, and Star Wars to me was about hope. It was about community, it was about the underdog… Seeing all oddballs represented and the most unlikely friends. It really is about hope, and it’s about coming back to a sense of possibility.”

As the culmination of the nine-film Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has the dual burden of wrapping up one of—if not—the most beloved cinematic stories ever told, and helping the franchise move on from the often toxic divisiveness associated with the previous film, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. Which was amazing, by the way.

Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’.

Letterboxd’s West Coast reporter Dominic Corry reports his learnings from a press event with the key cast, plus Abrams, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and co-writer Chris Terrio (an Oscar winner for Argo).

1. Sure, the fans are everything, but you can’t think about them. “My job as director was to make sure that all the pressures of all the obvious things—fan expectations and studio—weren’t on the set, so that on the set we could have a buoyancy, a sense of being spry,” says J.J. Abrams. “While it was never quite an ‘indie’ on the set of this movie, we needed to keep the thing feeling as human as possible, and not like a massive machine.” Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) agrees: “The way we approached shooting a lot of these scenes, there was a looseness to it. There were things shot in big, beautiful, choreographed takes that are just astounding to watch.”

2. It’s all good when you have the right people. “We didn't know at the beginning of The Force Awakens exactly what it would look like with Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac and John Boyega,” says Abrams. “What would that cast be like? On the first day of Rise of Skywalker, we knew those things were working. What we didn’t know was everything else. The scale of the movie is pretty enormous, [but] none of that would matter if you didn’t care deeply and track with the people. So the most important thing—people—we were good with. We knew we had this incredible cast, who I think have gone beyond people’s expectations and are extremely spectacular in the film.”

Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron).

3. Isaac and Boyega fail, again, to quell the Poe and Finn-shipping frenzy. “When Oscar first came in, the chemistry was blatant,” John Boyega (Finn) reminisces. “There was a natural vibe between me and Oscar. I don’t know why. I just liked the guy.” Oscar Isaac elaborates in, er, more detail. “He came into my dressing room, he was so sweet. He was like, ‘You wanna run the scene before?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah!’ In the dressing room we were like butt-to-butt and ran the scene together and from then on we’ve been in that position.”

4. Rian Johnson’s Last Jedi set things up nicely for Skywalker. “Larry Kasdan and I, and Michelle Rejwan and Kathy [Kennedy], the producers, we had talked about quite a few things back [on The Force Awakens], so it was a bit of picking up where we had left off,” Abrams explains of Rise of Skywalker’s storyline. “What Rian Johnson had done in The Last Jedi had set up some things that were wonderful for the story. One of the things being that the cast was separated. The characters weren’t together for the entire movie, essentially, so this was the first time this group got to be together.”

Getting together with co-writer Chris Terrio to pick up the threads, Abrams says, “we immediately wanted to tell a story of an adventure, there were some very specific things that we were both drawn to immediately. We just started doing that thing that you do, which is you say: ‘what do you desperately want to see? What feels right?’”

5. Keri Russell freaked J.J. Abrams out. New cast member Keri Russell, who plays the mysterious bad-ass Zorii Bliss, kept her mask on between takes. “J.J. emailed me and said: ‘Do you wanna be in Star Wars?’, and I was like, ‘Yeah!’ Then he told me the idea about the mask. Personally I loved the mask. That’s my fantasy: that I can see everyone, in a super-tough version of myself in costume, and nobody can see me. That’s my dream. It’s a real power play. Because no one can really see what you’re thinking, and you can see everyone else.”

Keri Russell as Zorii Bliss.

The problem was, says Abrams, “Keri loved the mask so much that the first two days she worked as Zorii, the entire two days, I never saw her face. She could have, like most people, taken the mask off between takes. Or after a couple of hours. Or after two whole days! I got to work with Keri for a couple of days and never saw her. It was weird.”

6. There are horses in space. Space horses. Fellow new addition Naomi Ackie, who plays mysterious freedom fighter Jannah, found her character through Jannah’s physicality. “I felt like Jannah’s strength was in her body, so when I got to training, that’s when I was like, ‘I’ve got this’, being able to do pull-ups and horse riding, and with that came the confidence that I hadn’t previously experienced.” (Those space horses have a name: orbaks.)

Naomi Ackie as freedom fighter Jannah.

7. Richard E. Grant broke the review embargo and was not sued (yet). Third major new cast addition Richard E. Grant, who plays Allegiant General Pryde, feared he was in deep trouble for tweeting his reaction to the movie after a cast screening the night before this press event. “I thought that Disney would sue me, because I think you’re not supposed to say anything about it. But I didn’t tweet any spoilers,” he promised, before going on to review the film some more.

Just seen the 1st cast screening of @starwars #THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. What it achieves, weaves & resolves, is a total emotional meltdown & resurrection of the Spirit. Bravo to @jjabrams & his astonishing cast & creative crew 💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀 pic.twitter.com/EwtYghYTXK

— Richard E. Grant (@RichardEGrant)

December 4, 2019

“Having seen the first one when I was a theater student when I was twenty years old, before many of this cast were even born, it’s an extraordinarily emotional thing to see just the passing of time that goes through all of these movies. It felt really like a combination of everything I’d read in the Bible, Greek mythology, The Wizard of Oz all rolled into one. It delivers an emotional wallop at the end that I was totally unprepared for. I was wiped out and I barely slept. So thank you very much for having me.”

8. Carrie Fisher is everywhere. “I, like everyone who knew her, loved Carrie,” says Abrams. “The idea of continuing the story without Leia wasn’t a possibility, and there was no way we were gonna do a digital Leia. There was no way we would ever re-cast it. But we couldn’t do it without her. And when we went back to look at the scenes that we hadn’t used in The Force Awakens, what we realized is we had an opportunity and we could use that footage, use the lines that she was saying, use literally the lighting, the… [at this moment a stage light suddenly and unexpectedly turns off] …that was amazing. That was creepy. Hi Carrie. That’s so Carrie, by the way, to do that. Weird.

The late Carrie Fisher (Leia) hugs Daisy Ridley (Rey).

“In any event,” Abrams continues, “we knew we had an opportunity to use the footage to create scenes that Leia could be in. And of course, had Carrie been around—and it’s still impossible for me to believe she isn’t, because we’ve been editing with her for about a year, and she’s been very much alive with us in every scene—if we’d had Carrie around, would we have done some different things here and there? Of course we would have. But we had an opportunity to have Carrie in the movie, and working with all the actors, including Billie Lourd, her daughter, who’s in scenes with her, we were able to do something that Carrie herself, I’d like to think, would be happy with. She’s great in the movie, of course. And it’s still emotional and moving to think of her and how sad we all are that she’s not sitting here with us.”

9. Everyone is emotional. Daisy Ridley found the emotional demands of playing Rey more trying than the physical burden. “With the physical stuff, you train and train and train… obviously the stamina needs to be there for you to continue to do the thing. But I would say it was more demanding emotionally, because there really wasn’t a day where I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just a quick scene’. Coming from the last one, which was quite heavy, even the joyous scenes I found very strange to do. That was probably the most tricky thing, to sustain that emotion. There’s a singular intention that was tiring.”

Likewise, Oscar Isaac found his character’s optimism tested. “He’s always had a bit of wild-card energy in figuring out where he fits in the story, and I remember J.J. getting excited about dirtying up the squeaky flyboy image that he’s had for a bit and just revealing a bit more of his personality. [We see] the hope that I think he in particular brings, a kind of relentless, almost aggressive optimism that he has. And how that is tested. And how he tries to push them all even when it seems quite hopeless.”

10. John Boyega has no time for shit-talking. “I really do genuinely respect J.J. because he’s not into bullshit,” Boyega says. “When you come into this industry the way I did, you get a whole bunch of promises. A whole bunch of people telling you, ‘this is gonna happen and that’s gonna happen’. J.J. was like: ‘I really liked you in Attack the Block and we’re gonna get you in something’, and in my head I was like, ‘I’ll see you in twenty years mate, champion’. But I auditioned at [Abrams’ production company] Bad Robot several times before Star Wars. For TV shows and other stuff. And it just so happens that Star Wars was what I was right for. I appreciate him not being like the rest of this industry, talking shit half the time.”

‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ is in theaters from December 20. Related: read our recent interview with Rian Johnson about his new whodunit, ‘Knives Out’. The Star Wars films, ranked by weighted average rating (‘The Empire Strikes Back’ takes the top spot), and by overall popularity (‘The Force Awakens’ rules). Naomi Ackie appeared in ‘Lady Macbeth’ with Florence Pugh. See the rest of her film history here.

[pacificwanderer]

I’m starting to feel very nervous that there will be no romance between Ben and Rey. What if it’s just them reconciling and that’s it. Their relationship just evolves to them being friends at the end of IX or their relationship is so subtle and is left ambiguous...

Hey Nonnie,

Romance has always been an overt part of SW as a whole, so there’s no reason to believe that any romance between Rey and Ben would be subtle or ambiguous.

I’m going to be frank, but they were not so subtly eye-fucking each other on that elevator (my non-shipping spouse thought they were going to kiss, which is exactly what they wanted the audience to think).

She saw his tits.

They touched hands in a symbolic union across space and time.

And then there’s the whole throne room scene. I just, you know it’s not only the Reylos that see this shit, right?

Here’s a fun article from Vanity Fair: How The Last Jedi Became the Sexiest Star Wars Movie Yet that features such gems as: 

But having seen the film with a full audience three times, I can say no moment draws more audible gasps and applause than when Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren and Daisy Ridley’s Rey whirl around in brief slow-motion, stand back-to-back, and take on a room of their shared enemies together. It’s the sexiest moment in a franchise that already featured a young Han Solo answering Leia’s earnest “I love you” with a smoldering “I know.”

But I hate to break it to you: the Tumblr fans were right. With Rey’s non-Skywalker lineage confirmed, she and Kylo burn up the screen in the franchise’s most intense relationship we can’t help but root for—even though we know we shouldn’t.

It’s tempting, at first, to deny the existence of any sexual tones in The Last Jedi. This is, after all, a franchise for kids. But sex, love, and bad or off-limits romances have always been written into the D.N.A. of Star Wars—albeit a little less lustily.

And like this entire paragraph:

But for all the romantic picnics between Padmé and Anakin and passionate stolen kisses of Han and Leia, nothing in the Star Wars franchise has ever had quite the dangerous spark as the late-night Force Skype sessions between lonely, misunderstood misfits Rey and Kylo. “You’re not alone,” they urgently confess to each other as the movie pushes them closer. Nothing is sexier than a forbidden romance—and, like any overprotective father figure, Luke should have known that busting up their call would only drive Rey directly into Kylo’s arms. (Note the precise moment in the film where she switches from calling him Kylo to calling him “Ben.”) The fact that Kylo is unwittingly being used as some kind of sexy emo honeypot so Snoke can lure Rey into his clutches is beside the point. These kids think the connection they have is special because they are special. 

Okay, so read the entire article because it’s gold.

And then this article is just lol:

1. Kylo Ren takes his shirt offLike I wasn’t going to start with this? Adam Driver as Kylo Ren gamely serves up the most Star Wars beefcake since Luke went sleeveless on Dagobah, and even Rey is rattled. She forgot to force-knock before barging in on the dude, and here’s Kylo Ren alone in his room, stripped to the waist, boasting sweaty pecs that look like he sliced Alderaan in half and glued the remainders to his chest. It’s a lot! Finally, even people who don’t subscribe to HBO can wonder, “Shit, am I attracted to Adam Driver?”

2. Kylo and Rey’s whole thingMany weirdos shipped these two characters after The Force Awakens, and now I kinda get it. Kylo and Rey never make out, but they still share The Last Jedi’s sexiest scenes as well as a telepathic connection fostered by sinister voyeur Snoke, the galaxy’s mightiest cuck. And how about that moment where Kylo kills his mentor — it’s always hot when a space goth murders a lazy magician — and then flips sides with Rey to kill off a straggling crew of ruby-red stormtroopers? If watching seven seasons of Buffy has taught me anything, it’s that there is no sex sign more unequivocal than teaming up with your sworn enemy to throw stage punches.

And like, this is going to get a little ranty (not directed at you, nonnie, just in general because I have a lot of feelings about SW and Reylo lol), but I don’t know if I can properly convey just how big of a fucking deal it is that Ben killed Snoke for Rey. He killed his master for someone he’s known for, what? Three days? A girl who tried to kill him twice? And he’s not even mad about it! I think he’s impressed, and more than just a little bit in love with her.

But he killed off what everyone thought was going to be the big bad, because he wanted to keep her safe. He was thinking of this plan from when she arrived on Snoke’s Supremacy. He knew what he had to do, but he wasn’t sure until that lightsaber fell in front of him and everything clicked because there was no way he was going to let Snoke have her.

After everything he’s been through and everything that Snoke has done to him, he wasn’t willing to give her up.

He killed someone who has had a hold on him since BIRTH, basically an evil wizard that had a powerful spell over him for his entire life, and he killed him for her. I don’t know if people realize just how significant that is for Ben. Unless you’ve grown up in an extremely oppressive environment (think fundamentalist religions or even cults), it’s hard to properly convey just how much of a big fucking deal it is to turn on everything you’ve come to know.

Snoke isolated Ben so completely that they weren’t even allowed to utter his birth name in the FO. He tried to fashion him into a weapon that could be used to bring down Luke. But furthermore than that, the relationship was insidious and predatory in nature, but as is the case with those kinds of relationships, people are brainwashed into believing certain things. They condition people to have certain reactions (so, when Han questions Snoke’s loyalty to Ben and tells him that Snoke will use him and destroy him, Kylo basically replies with a ready response, “No, the supreme leader is wise.” LIKE FUCK ME SIDEWAYS. That’s a learned reaction, something that gets triggered by specific circumstances/conditioning and, in this case, that circumstance is someone questioning Snoke’s power).

So turning away from something that you’ve been indoctrinated into is hard and, in some cases, impossible because of the kind of conditioning that is used to control people accounts for that kind of thing (which also makes Fi//nn turning against the FO a huge fucking deal too, btw). But Ben overcomes that for her. This isn’t something you do for like some rando on the street. He did this because he wanted to keep her, and she wanted to keep him, but not as they are at that point. Both of them need to figure out some shit on their own before they’re able to come together and resolve their problems and get a HEA.

He made his first step towards the light for her, but now he has to find his own reasons for coming around. He has to want to change for himself, and not because Rey or anyone else wants him to, in order for there to be any kind of lasting change in his life (and of course it’s fine if he needs help to do that, but the main motivating factor has to be that he wants to change).

And I’m not so convinced that Rey is sold on the idea of the Resistance. Like it was always her intention to go back to Jakku until Kylo got her to see the truth about that. She’s been fighting to survive her entire life, like she doesn’t owe them anything. I think her story is going to be more Force driven than anything else (with the eventual resolution for it all at the end), but we’ll have to see.

Also. ALSO. She shipped herself to him, right smack into fucking enemy territory, risking torture and death, to get him back. She did that. SHE DID THAT. RIGHT IN THERE. Like how impulsive and awesome. She saw the good in him, saw that they shared something yet to come, and BOOM she’s in there to get him back. I admire that about her. It’s brave and such a fucking hero thing to do, and for the villain. MY GOD. FOR KYLO FUCKING REN. THE DUDE SHE JUST TRIED TO KILL TWICE. I JUST. *FLAILING*

BE STILL MY VILLAIN FUCKER HEART.

Anyfuckingways. Basically, LF knows how thirsty everyone is for more Reylo content, JJ knows how thirsty we all are for more Reylo content (his director’s commentary, what does he say when the story shifts back to Rey and Kylo? “Back to the story that everyone cares about?”). 

Just don’t worry. Honestly, it’s not worth it. And, honestly, this shit already isn’t subtle or subtext or any of it. It’s right the fuck out there. Obvious enough that other media comments on it and fanboys get riled up about it.

It’s real. And I have faith that they cast Adam Fucking Driver because they know what a god damn fabulous kisser he is, like they’re not going to let those “plush lips” go to waste. WHAT A CRIME THAT WOULD BE.

WHAT A WASTE.

Anyways, there’s a shitton of awesome Reylo meta out there that pretty much lays out why people thing it’s going to happen and if you’re still worried about it, maybe take a break from spoilers/the fandom for a bit because, at the end of it all, it’s supposed to be fun and not stressful.

Cheers and chin up, Nonnie!

[kadebronson]

kadebronson’s LGBT book list

hey guys! so i get a decent amount of questions about if the books i talk about have any representation in them (specifically i get trc a lot which for good reasons) and i know i ship boy do i ship but i do try and read as many books as i can with actual representation so i’m gonna comply a list (a working list for now) with some good books

those bolded are faves

a flash of hex by jes battis - this is part of a series and i never got around to reading the rest because i picked it up at a used book store it features gay, bi, and trans characters it was a seriously fun sci-fi book

the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay by michael chabon - listen this book is already a classic and for good reason it’s simply amazing and has everything you could hope for two jewish cousins hopping on the comic book bandwagon one obsessed with magic and trying to be a magician and one who falls in love with a solider it’s gonna make you cry but it’s so good

the family fang by kevin wilson - imagine a wes anderson movie as a book this is basically it annie’s story of coming to terms with her sexuality is heart warming

honor among punks by guy davis and gary reed - PLEASE READ THIS this is one of my fave books of all time it’s a graphic novel set in london in the 80′s if the industrial revolution never happened jack the ripper is running rampant and a bisexual female sherlock holmes (i’m sorry sharon holmes) is on the case! also did i mention she’s a punk? with a badass mohawk? also features a trans woman character but i don’t wanna spoil that part

the parasol protectorate and it’s varying spinoffs by gail carriger - if you follow me, you know how obsessed i am with this series it is my entire life and i absolutely adore everything about it the first book in the main series, soulless, starts off a bit slow but after that it’s totally worth it it’s a steampunk sci-fi/fantasy fusion set in victorian london where werewolves, vampires, humans, and some other creatures live in harmony (sort of) and basically everyone is queer i mean everyone the main character is bi demi and two of her closest friends are a gay vampire and a lesbian inventor

blind items by matthew rettenmund - about a history buff who falls for a tv star who has to stay in the closet for his career great if you love pop culture references a lot very sweet not as heartbreaking as it sounds

p.s. your cat is dead by james kirkwood - based on a play doesn’t focus too much on the characters sexuality but for 1972 it’s pretty boss

the egyptologist by arthur phillips - my mom sent me this one once in a care package because it was about egyptian history and had a gay character because obviously that’s my whole personality it doesn’t focus that much on his sexuality like at all and the book is alright but i figured i’d include it

221 baker streets - there’s only two stories in this anthology that count but they’re both worth it another sherlock holmes one the two stories are wildly different one is of sherlock and john in the 60′s and they’re a part of the factory in new york and the other one they’re teenage girls solving mysteires in their boarding school

ghost hunter series by victoria laurie - ok so gil is sometimes the stereotypical gay bff and it drives me crazy but this whole series is cheesy as hell but i adore it so it’s making it on the list it’s exactly what you think based on the title they’re ghost hunters and that’s about it (plus some romance troubles for both m.j. and gil)

the raven cycle by maggie stiefvater - ok as said before most of the questions i get is about this series YES ronan is gay and adam is bi are these words ever said? no is it annoying? sure but the series is really good and worth it ask me to sum it up? yeah i still can’t do that but you can check my tag and try to figure it out

lumberjanes by noelle stevenson and grace ellis - girls solving supernatural mysteries at summer camp could you ask for anything more? mal and molly are absolutely adorable

giant days by john allison - another graphic novel all the characters are absolutely amazing and it is fucking hilarious we don’t get into daisy’s sexuality until a couple issues in but it’s still fun

station eleven by emily st. john mandel - ok i know i keep saying this but we don’t even find out about clark’s sexuality until the end BUUUUUUT this book is so good i rec it to everyone it’s about a pretty simple disease wiping out most of humanity and then follows the survivors 

the foxhole court series by nora sakavic - another tumblr fave you probably know about this thanks to me as well it’s definitely not for everyone it can be extremely violent but i love it so it’s on here

the captive prince trilogy by c.s. pacat - i’m not gonna say anything about this it’s my guilty pleasure ok

nimona by noelle stevenson - noelle’s lesser known graphic novel! it’s adorable but also very bittersweet nimona becomes the side kick to villain lord ballister blackheart who is hellbent on destroying his nemesis, and jilted not-quite-lover,  sir ambrosius goldenloin

aristole and dante discover the secrets of the universe by benjamin alire saenz - another one you probably know :)

every heart a doorway by seanan mcguire - PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE read this book because guess what? my url is from this book! meet kade bronson my sweet child he’s a trans man and the main character nancy is asexual it’s about people at a boarding school to help them recover from falling through magical doors and living in magical worlds so like rehab for alice after coming back thru the looking glass

rainbow boys trilogy by alex sanchez - alright this trilogy is from the late 90′s so you gotta take a lot of it with a grain of salt but it really good for what it is just about three boys (two gay, one bi) and trying to navigate through high school, coming out, life after graduation, etc.

marine biolgy by gail carriger - it’s my girl again! this is the first story she’s wrote that’s set in present day it’s about alex, a werewolf, who’s starting to fall for marvin, a merman it’s just a short story so i don’t wanna give it all away but there’s a full length book coming soon i’m excited for that!

a charm of magpies trilogy by k.j. charles - ok i still have one more left in the trilogy to read but i adore this series! it’s a little risque ok but it’s about magicians and has some crazy mysteries and i’ve been really enjoying it

alright that’s the list for now i only quickly went through my book journals but i may think of others as time goes on!

[myfanfictiongarden]

Movie update- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (aka best SW movie ever)

Before I get into spoilers I’m gonna say this movie is by far and without doubt on level with the original trilogy and maybe even better. Yes, you heard me right, maybe the best of all the Star Wars movies. While I was watching it the cinema was full and the flood of emotions we all experienced was unbelievable, like, people would grab their heads while a specific scene and it was just an experience. I can’t believe how amazing this movie is, and I’m definitely going to see it again.

Now, spoilers ahead.

Where do I even start, there is so much to be said, it’s unbelievable. The action, the visuals, the actors, the story, the freaking story!!! The movie opens with an grand fight, the Rebells fighting the First Order in space, and you feel for every single of those we see die in this fight. Like, you see them for a few seconds and the emotion impact is already huge. And it doesn’t stop there, while the Rebels try to survive the attack, Finn awakes and gets send by Poe on a quest with mechanics Rose (she was a great addition and I’ll talk about her later) hoping they can de-activate the tracing system of the First Order fleet. And most importantly, Rey meets Luke Skywalker. Mark Hamill said that he was at first shocked when he read the script and his part, but also admired that in the great context was glad for the choices made. It was heartbreaking to se Luke in this state Rey finds him in. He is bitter, he is sad, he is exhausted, he is simply done with everything and you can’t even blame him for that. Luke Skywalker, the personification of hope lost all hope. That’s pretty tough. But like I said, the movie makes it clear to understand where it comes from, Rian Johnson shows such an deep understanding of all the characters. I’m probably gonna make a special post concerning Luke in this movie, there is just so much to be said. Yoda coming back was the highlight, I mean, they brought back puppet Yoda!!!! And he is just as funny and wise as ever. What I also loved was Rey’s training, it was different but it was so good. Daisy Ridley did a fantastic job. Rey is full of hope, full of a longing she doesn’t understand and on top of that there is a bit of darkness that tries to call her. On of the best things in the movie was the Dark Cave scene, both visually and intellectually. The search for her parents was a big deal and the cave showing her two blurry people melting into an mirrored image of her was just brilliant. To me it showed that part of her parents lives in her, she doesn’t need to search for them because they are already part of her. That ties also perfectly in with the final resolution on who they were: drunkjards who sold her for money before dying. And that is so much better then her being a Skywalker or Solo or even Kenobi (wth). The Force is in everyone and has nothing to do with your background, it has to do with you. Also, can we talk about the Force-chat between Rey and Kylo? How awesome was that. The whole theatre went silent when it happened the first time, it was just one of these wth moments when you don’t know where it may go but it surprises you in the best way. Adam Driver as Kylo was once again amazing. He is the most dangerous villain you can imagine and his inner conflict makes him even more dangerous. Luke didn’t turn him to the dark side, Ben/Kylo chose his path and it’s a dark one. Actually all the actors were amazing. The late Carrie Fisher was able to shine most brightly in every single scene she was in. The good-bye between her Leia and Mark´s Luke is heartbreaking wonderful. Poe’s character had a much bigger role in this and I loved how he evolved, I just love how they handled his character. Finn was just so great, I’m always glad to see more of him, and the addition of Rose was a very good choice. Not only does she add to a wider feel of this universe, I suspect they have planes for her and Finn... which is fine, even Rey seemed to agree (in that one scene when we see her looking at Finn nursing a wounded Rose), only Finn doesn’t know it yet. Look, I was kinda shipping Rey and Finn in the last movie, there was this love between them that’s hard to ignore. But with the path Rey ended up in there would have been no chance for them, if you like it or not. And I’m sure Rey understood it. What else to say? Visually grand looking, it’s a feast for the eyes. And it had honestly funny moments. Oh, and before I forget, the duel at the end between Kylo and Luke was honestly the best thing in a Star Wars movie ever. The energy and the moves. The build up and payoff made people jump in their seats. My sister noticed first that Luke was leaving no footprints on the salt and I was later “How did I not notice!”, it was just unbelievable and such a Luke thing to do. The scene that follows was another tearjerker, freaking broke my heart seeing him on that island looking at the sunset with the score and then becoming one with the Force. Gosh.

On a short note, best Star Wars movie ever!!!! In a long note, there is too much to talk about. I am sure going to see it again and I am sure going to make more posts to scenes and characters. The Force was strong with this one.

[hadanelith]

Just got back from finally seeing TLJ... I don't think I've been this disappointed in a Star Wars movie since Phantom Menace. This movie was *awful*, both as a Star Wars movie and just as a film.

Massive, total spoilers below the cut.

The opening sequence was bad. While the whole phone call thing was a decently funny bit, it went on about 2 exchanges too long. The space battle that followed was insultingly stupid, between the idea that this Dreadnaught has no effective anti-starfighter defenses and the ludicrous design of the bombers with *gravity bombs*. This sequence was effectively a straight up WWII bombing run, and it just didn't make any sense. Rey's badgering of Luke went on too long, and while it kind of aped the kung fu movie 'seek out the master, he refuses to train you but he's actually testing you/teaching you the whole time he's refusing' thing, it didn't pan out in the end at all, so it felt completely wasted. The rebel fleet escaping to deep space was fine. The FO tracking them was fine. The idea that they would just follow along, shooting at them ineffectively for hours and hours, is just insane. I was specifically irritated that they remembered that ships have shields NOW, but they totally didn't during the opening battle or the starfighter fight that started the chase. Are they going with the idea that starfighters ignore shields for some bullshit reason? If so, why would they not send in a massive starfighter wave to end the battle? The FO had 6+ Star Destroyers plus the Super Star Destroyer - they should have had at least three or four hundred TIEs, and since TIEs blew out the bridge and space Leia, they must be capable of otherwise hurting the ships. This whole ticking clock siege setup was dumb, and the follow on effects were bad too. Spacing Leia felt like 'oh, so that's how they're gonna fix it', and then they didn't. Instead they have her explicitly use the Force, which, okay, fine, but what the hell? I guess they just wanted her out of the way for a while, and couldn't think of a better way? Finn trying to cut and run? Fine. Rose catching him? Fine. Them turning around and hatching a plan to save the fleet? No. The dialogue was bizarre during this bit, and the instant turn-around from anger to camaraderie felt very forced. Poe going with it? Eh, it fits. The casino planet was one sequence that went on exactly as long as was reasonable, without drastically overstaying its welcome. It was a bit on the ham handed side, mind you, but it didn't drag on, the action half was fun, and no part of it felt too out of left field. Getting back to the fleet, Poe's little mutiny could have been completely prevented just by telling everyone the plan. Not doing so was ludicrous. Then there's the Holdo maneuver. Why the HELL did she wait that long? If the whole plan was a noble sacrifice, why wait until half the damn shuttles got blown up to get started? Just do it straight off! It also opens a brand new can of worms. Someone finally realized that a sufficiently fast drive system is also a powerful weapon. Great. Now ramming things at FTL is a thing that you can reasonably do in Star Wars. That's...a solution that no one EVER considered for the Death Stars? Especially since according to TFA, hyperdrive bypasses shields? The Rebels could have just rammed a Mon Cal cruiser straight into Death Star II, ignored the planetary shield, and won with only materiel losses and no personnel! This is a TERRIBLE precedent to set! Finn, Rose, and the slicer on the SSD: eh? BB-8 as a trash can was cute, the evil BB-8 was just merchandising, the shot of the iron descending was actually a fun shot, cinematigraphically. Getting caught, the slicer selling them out, and almost getting executed? Eh. Finn and Phasma fighting? WHY? Why bring back Phasma after they threw her in a trash compactor, just to kill her off anyway in a fight that means nothing and goes nowhere? Not-Hoth: I really liked the visuals. I liked the salt-foxes (but that's mostly just me being a sucker for foxes). But setting up for Battle of Hoth version 2 was really goofy. Why was the big gun ('based on Death Star tech', doesn't look at all like Death Star anything...)TOWED? Why did they tow it with mono-purpose walkers (that were based on Strandbeests, which is cool, but pointless)? Why the FUCK did Rose stop Finn from making HIS heroic sacrifice? I'm sorry, her reasoning is bullshit, and then they didn't even have her die!

Rewinding to Rey: Luke is *completely* out of character. His refusing is bullshit, his lessons are bullshit, his reasoning is bullshit, and the whole thing is character assassination of the highest order. Rey, meanwhile, is stuck with a whiny emo in her head, the poor girl. Those conversations drag on for way too long, and continue to include Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron, so I'm not a fan. The library tree was some hilarious bullshit - up until this point, only Han has called the Jedi a 'religion', so having Luke suddenly talking about the 'holy texts' was way weird. Ditto the idea that they've been on this tiny island on some planet no one's heard of, and not, say, in the JEDI TEMPLE. The FUCK? The whole 'infinity mirror' well of the Dark Side thing was just weird. I liked the effect, I liked the whole bit with Rey trying to figure out what the deal was...but there was NO PAYOFF. I thought they were going to go with some kinda 'many possible futures' thing or something, but for it all to come to exactly NOTHING was really weird. The back and forth about the day Ben Solo became Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron felt like more character assassination of Luke. Also irritating - they keep mentioning other students, but they never bother to show them at all. Then Rey steals the books, and leaves. Joy. Luke's whole conversation with Ghost!Yoda was bizarre. I appreciate that they dug out the old puppet, but why? Yoda was inscrutable, Luke was inscrutable, a Force Ghost had physical effect on the world, which was new and unnecessary, and the whole thing felt way out of place. Rey ends up on the SSD with Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron, and they go talk to Mutant McGrossFace, who is a condescending dickhead, but not as good a condescending dickhead as Palps, so...meh. Special shoutout to Rey summoning the lightsaber and Mutant McGrossFace clobbering her in the head with it. The way Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron kills him was pretty sweet; the big fight sequence was kinda sweet, if gratuitous; the whole 'battle of wills staring contest while doing aggressive jazz hands at each other' thing went on for FOREVER. sigh. Rey...escapes. Off screen. Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron becomes new 'Supreme Leader'. I notice that even his subordinates don't really believe in him very much. Oh, additional shoutout to the last kill in the fight with the red guard guys - that was something people have been thinking was a good idea for a long time, so it was fun to see.

Rewinding again: Chewbacca is in this movie. His little scene with the Porgs was...two shots too long, and completely pointless. And that is basically the sum total of his involvement in this movie.

Right, big finale! Luke shows up on not-Hoth, taunts Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron into fighting him, doesn't actually fight, turns out he isn't really there. This is a major Force Illusion, and it's actually kind of neat, even if it kills him in the end. Rey and Chewie draw off the TIEs in the Falcon in a fun little flight sequence through some salt crystal caves, which is fine. Porgs show up here as comic relief, which is...acceptable, I guess? They don't get in the way, which is nice. The Resistance escapes with the help of the salt foxes, Rey does some pretty significant TK, and they all escape. Luke dies, Rose is comatose, and we end by flying away in the Falcon. Feels like the end of TFA, and not in a great way. The last shot was purely setup, and it felt like some Marvel-style foreshadowing stuff. I do not approve.

Acting:

Decent acting by most people that got to do stuff. Massively hamstrung by the script. I find it telling that Mark Hamill has said (not the exact quote, but the gist) 'I disagree with everything you're doing to Luke, but I'll go do my job as an actor'. Guess it's a good thing they killed him off. But they didn't kill Leia, even when they had an easy way to do so. How the hell are they gonna fix that come the next movie? Kill her off screen? Major shoutouts to Adam Driver and Domhnall Gleeson - they managed to be thoroughly unlikeable villains, turning in convincing performances despite the script. Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron is exactly that, which appears intentional, so that was good acting. Hux was conceptually the worst sort of elitist British Imperialist, and he was exactly that. Apparently Gleeson did a LOT of research on how to portray the role convincingly, and it shows. Boyega does a decent job as Finn, but he has to fight with characterization as someone who is way more naive than the actor. Oscar Isaac turns in a good performance as Poe, despite getting handed the idiot ball by the script. Carrie does fine as Leia, but she doesn't actually get to do much in the movie. As her last hurrah, it's pretty muted. Daisy Ridley does alright with what she has - but she has to play a girl who has Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron in her head AND Massive Dick Alternate Universe Luke Skywalker being a dick to her face. Her perseverance is kind of admirable. They didn't get Peter Mayhew as Chewie. Maybe that's why he's barely in the movie. Andy Serkis is fine as Snoke. He's not as good at being evil as Ian McDiarmid, but what can you do? Laura Dern as Admiral Holdo...she's written as a bitch, she pulls it off just fine. My complaint is her script, not the acting. Kelly Marie Tran as Rose is...fine, I guess? Again, I mostly hate the script, not the actress.

The nitpicks: Do shields work, or not? Make up your minds! Capital ships have never needed fuel before. This is a limitation that they have added for this movie. I wish they hadn't. Gravity doesn't work like that, space bomber friends. How the hell do they *hear* the Star Destroyers arriving on the planet's surface at the beginning? During Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron's big 'fight' with Luke, they couldn't figure out which way he was holding his lightsaber, shot to shot. Porgs nesting in the Falcon's wiring? And Chewie doesn't say or do *anything*? Really? Given the size of the island, what the hell is up with the 'caretaker' aliens? Also, how the hell do they not exist for apparent DAYS, and then they have just always been there? Why the hell do they show us Luke's X-Wing, and then never do the 'lift it from the sea' shot? Or do ANYTHING with it at all? Why is the Mon Cal Cruiser's hanger bay empty for like 150 meters while Irritating Manchild Kyle Ron is flying through it, with a handful of fighters right at the back end? Why in the world don't the FO use all the TIE Fighters they obviously have? Actually, why is the only real dogfight the terrible bomber escort bit at the beginning? This is Star Wars, dammit, X-Wings dogfighting with TIE Fighters is something that should happen a lot. Why are the cops on the casino planet wearing samurai helmets? Why didn't Holdo bother to just TELL Poe (and everyone else, for that matter) the plan? Why did Holdo wait until half the shuttles were gone, just watching, before her (clearly planned) suicide run? Actually, why not evac the medical frigate BEFORE it runs out of fuel, and use THAT to ram? Why does no one but evil!BB-8 question the moving, beeping trashcan? Why in the FUCK does the entire 'infinity mirror' sequence come to literally NOTHING? There's probably more, but those are the ones that came to mind.

Final thoughts: Everything that has anything to do with the Force in this movie is basically garbage (except Snoke whacking Rey with the lightsaber, that was hilarious). The characters all grab the idiot ball, nobody (except Finn and Rose) bother to tell anyone else what they're about to do, and Luke just straight up gets fucked as a character. The space battles are unsatisfying...actually, they're mostly just insulting to your intelligence. Rian Johnson just doesn't GET Star Wars. What it's about, why we watch it, what people like about it.

This film is structurally a mess and thematically a disaster. I rate it way worse than TFA, worse than Episodes II and III. I honestly can't decide if I dislike this more than the Phantom Menace. If you're a Star Wars fan, this movie doesn't want you to like it, and if you're not...then why would you start with Episode EIGHT?

[calliopekismet]

So...

I don’t post much on Tumblr. I prefer to just lurk about, look at fanart, read fics, and stay tf away from all the toxicity and drama surrounding fandom.

But for right now - fuck all that noise. I’m entering the war zone.

I’ve been peeping on the SW fandom for about the last year and a half now, and something has come to my attention - some people... predominantly, it seems, anti-reylo shippers - are so incredibly vile, ruthlessly harsh, and just generally terrible to other people who are just trying to enjoy their reading of the film in peace.

And I mean, it’s not even like y’all (antis) have the correct reading of the film? You guys have CATEGORICALLY MISINTERPRETED everything you use as bait for why the Reylo ship is “wrong” “immoral” or “disgusting.” I’ve seen so many antis claiming that Kylo Ren won’t be getting a redemption arc and is a ruthless murderer with no regrets, yet the subtext of TFA, the SCRIPT ITSELF, dialogue in the novel, and specific comments from fucking JJ Abrams and Adam Driver himself refute that. You can’t argue that it’s incest, because at this point everyone associated with the series has essentially come out and said she isn’t a Skywalker or a Solo. To claim that Rey was “raped” by him and imply that it’s an abusive relationship is to -

1). Strip Rey of all her agency and overlook the fact that she has been established as a strong character who can defend herself (because, idk if you recall, but every time she encounters Kylo Ren...she defeats him). They have consistently been established as equals both in battle and in their abilities in the force, and to suggest she can’t hold her own against him is just blatantly ignoring the text. (And, going off the anti argument, when she enters his mind, that means she also “rapes” him, but I guess we can all overlook that because Daisy Ridley is a pretty, defenseless little woman and Adam Driver is a big, scary, superior man, right?).

2). To only have the capacity to understand text and character development as it’s presented to you in its most basic form. Y’all know this is a trilogy, right? See, what typically happens is that - over the course of a series of films - the characters change and drastically develop beyond what was presented to the audience in the first movie. This is what we call character development.

Do you guys seriously believe that every single Reylo shipper thinks they’re going to jump each other’s bones based on the mutual disdain for each other that was presented in TFA? FUCK NO! The Reylo speculation is centered around the potential we see for future development between the two, romantic or otherwise. It’s based on canon evidence in the novel and script. It’s based on comments from JJ Abrams, Lucasfilm and co. who suggest - nay, outright STATE - that the destinies of these two characters are specifically tied up in their relationship to one another. And now we have a poster, a trailer, and a whole host of spoilers to indicate that Reylo shippers are headed in the right direction in terms of character development and plot speculation. Don’t believe me? There are pages and pages worth of meta and Reylo-centered analysis circa 2015 - 2016 that has, as of recent news and revelations, pretty much hit the nail on the head. While y’all are still just hoping she’s a Skywalker.

The last thing I’m going to bring up is the the utter VENOM that is spat at people minding their own business, enjoying the SW series, and creating their art, totally unprompted, from antis. To call someone a pedophile based on a ship with a ten year age gap (the same age gap between Han and Leia, I might add, but you guys seem totes cool with that) is outrageous, offensive, and trivializes pedophilia. To call someone a racist because of their ship is, again, utterly outrageous, baseless, and wholly dismissive of POC shippers (like myself). Unless you see someone consistently posting pictures of swastikas and spewing hateful, anti-minority rhetoric, you - just another random, bitter asshole on Tumblr - have no right to call someone a Nazi, again trivializing the experiences of those who have had to deal with *actual* racism, stereotyping and social injustice. And if you think we’re sexist? I invite you to revisit Point 1.

Sorry for the long-ass rant. But people should just ship and let ship. There’s no need for the bullying, policing, name-calling, or even taking any of this shit so SERIOUSLY to the point where you would go out of your way to hurt others. Because at the end of the day, we’re all just watching a series of children’s films about space wizards with light-up swords. CHILL.

[selfconsciousbee]

Dear Fanfic Police,

Racism requires two things. Privilege and power and using those to passively or actively use that to benefit yourself or disadvantage others. Do you really think that Reylo is contributing to systemic racism? 

Fanfic is a wonderful thing. It is widely available, and there are as diverse voices included as there are combinations of relationships and stories. The existence of Reylo does not stop other people from creating whatever fanfic they want. It doesn’t dictate who can create what or what will be recognized. I’ve seen the argument that there is more Reylo fanfic than Finn/Rey so Reylo must be racist. But Finn/Rey fanfic exists. Someone who likes that relationship can find things that support that and they can create it themselves. This is something that doesn’t happen in the mainstream media. If you aren’t white and heteronormative, it is hard to find a voice. Anything outside of the white and heteronormative narrative, more often than not, gets silenced. Thank goodness for fanfic. I have just recently come into the fanfic universe so I find it shocking that people are being attacked for their fanfic. The internet is a huge place where everyone can find similar people no matter how weird of a niche you fit into. So people attacking each other over fanfic is confusing. 

From what I understand, there are Anti’s saying that if I write about any other romantic relationship then the relationship between Finn and Rey, then I’m a racist nazi. That argument is a pretty sweeping generalization. I’m sure that there are people out there that like Reylo and might be racist nazis, but all of us? Given how popular the Reylo ship is, if we were all nazis, I’d think that we would start looking like a Trump rally. Each of us having been emboldened by the realization that we all share the same white supremacist master race bullshit, we wouldn’t be offended by the slur and would answer by descending into using racist propaganda to make our point. I don’t know what Reylo fanfic you have been reading but we aren’t reading the same thing. 

To argue that we are all racist nazis because Reylo fans are interested in exploring the relationship between two white people rather than the relationship between a black and a white person is another overgeneralization. Maybe a lot of us just like the dynamic between a protagonist and an antagonist. Maybe a lot of us just have the hots for Adam Driver. Maybe we just picked up on that Daisy Ridley and John Boyega didn’t play their characters with the intent on a romantic relationship which, during an interview, John Boyega talked about. Maybe John Boyega and J.J. Abrams are racist too.

But really, if I do write about the relationship between Finn and Rey then I’m fetishizing black men. If I write about a romantic relationship between Finn and Po, then I’m fetishizing gay men. But if you don’t support a Finn and Po relationship then I can call you racist and homophobic. And I’ll call you a misogynist if you think that Rey has to end up with anyone. I don’t even know what to call you if you oppose a relationship where Rey ends up with both Kylo Ren and Finn. Which in the end does fuck all and is only used to silence people. So why the attempt at silencing Reylo?   

I don’t know if the majority of fans of Reylo are female, but I’m starting to think that they are. I’m also starting to get the feeling that a lot of fanfic is done by women and girls. Even if that isn’t true, this seems to be a platform where women and girls get to have their voices heard and see their art and creativity appreciated. Something that is extremely rare in mainstream media. Which is also why women get attacked a lot online. So attacking Reylo kind of smells of misogyny. 

You don’t like Reylo. No one is forcing you to look at it. Block away. You are not the fanfic police. It’s like you keep going into a store called “Nothing But Turkey”, and then get angry when all you get is turkey, and then start a group about hating turkey, and attacking people who like turkey rather than chicken. Stop coming in. Me liking turkey isn’t going to stop you from liking chicken. It also does nothing to stop how birds, in general, are cooked. Fanfic is hurting nothing. It doesn’t change canon. We all love Star Wars. Chill the fuck out. It’s fanfiction. 

On a side note: I’m getting super annoyed by this whole argument that Finn is good and has done nice things for Rey, so he should “get” her. And that friendship is a shitty second place price. Seriously, while you are asking us to check our racism maybe you should check your misogyny. Because this is more friend-zone crap which is super creepy. It continues this narrative that women are vending machines that you put kindness coins in and sex falls out. Even worse is this idea that a male hero saves the day and, as a prize, he gets a woman. Women aren’t prizes and aren’t vending machines. There is a Ted Talks by Colin Stokes called “How Movies Teach Manhood” that looks at that and looks at Star Wars specifically, it is really good. Check it out.

[pacificwanderer]

Question! So I’ve noticed that you and a lot of others have been saying stuff about the months leading up to TLJ. I wasn’t into Star Wars at that time, so I was just wondering, what was it like? Was there a lot of content being released, was there a lot of crazy speculation and such? Was there a lot of reylo content in promos and pictures and such?

Hey Nonnie,

And for anyone who’s reading who remembers, this is going to be long, and I’m going to miss things (I’m certain I missed some gates) because I’m just going from memory and old posts from when I wasn’t as militant about tagging (hah), so feel free to chime in if you have any other memories. Also, this took forever to compile lol.

Unofficially, we had shots from Ireland (2016) and second-hand gossip from locals about Daisy, Mark, and Adam filming in Ireland (and lots of people screeching about how the only reason KR would be with those two would be so they could team up and murder them).

But then the conversation started to shift, and we got info that wasn’t from the reylo fandom regarding their “interesting relationship,” though we were always there, saying the exact same thing.

This podcast and breakdown in the comments from May 2016 really highlights when things started to shift for our space kids (and confirmed a lot about what people had been theorizing/writing meta about, etc). We weren’t pulling things out of our asses and we were not wrong for seeing what we were seeing. It’s also a really great snapshot of what the discussion on Tumblr was like back then. Lots of great minds and fun times, as far as I am concerned.

“But I mean like, right now, Rey’s story is kinda weird too. It’s like I don’t know where my mum lives, I wish my mum and dad would come get me on Jakku, oh, I’ve got the force? Oh Luke Skywalker, he’s here? Wow. And then, so, at some point, Kylo Ren and Rey gotta have something more going down. I don’t know if it’s romance, if it’s complete hatred, if it’s you know, but, erm…I know, we can’t talk about it, there’s certain things we’ve heard – and it’s not romance, it’s not romance, but there’s certain things that we’ve heard recently about what’s going down and what Rey, how Rey feels –“

“Yeah, let’s just leave it at that.”

And then there was a very long wait for 2017, when things started to shift even more.

It was pretty much radio silence concerning Kylo Ren (officially) right up until the second trailer (the first only showed him for a split second). Boxartgate happened earlier in the year. (February) when the marketing started to come out for TLJ and Kylo wasn’t on any of it (nevermind that only his mask was on the TFA packaging, but when you’re grasping at straws for reasons why the “Skywalker of the trilogy” isn’t important... I guess you’ll take what you can get).The Reylo fandom guessed (correctly) that he was basically a walking spoiler (which other sections of the fandom guessed, incorrectly, that he was irrelevant to the story and that’s why he wasn’t showing up much N O P E). 

SW Celebration happened in April 2016, and that trailer, combined with the super, SUPER amazing poster dropped:

Oh and Eric Maell’s super Reylo-tastic, officially licensed SWC poster that was available for sale at SWC (yeah, we all lost it here too). The whole thread is funny and read through to where Eric’s signature pops up on the poster.

And then we collectively lost our damn minds when the trailer dropped in October. If you’d like a trip, head into my archive and look for like October 2017 and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what that looked like lol.

It’s so damn good, I just watched it again and it STILL brings tears to my eyes. Avoid the comment section LOL. 

And then came the: “It’S NOT KYLO’S HAND, IT’S HU//X’S FI//NN’S LU//KE’S ANYONE BUT KYLO REACHING OUT TO HER.” SNOKE ISn’T TALKING ABOUT KYLO. (handgate)

As if we, a collective group of Adam stans, WOULD EVER mistake his hand for another. GET GOOD, Anne.

HE’S NOT LOOKING AT REY. HE’S LOOKING AT.... fill in the blank. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA No. We know what he looks like when he looks at Rey. 

Like, I didn’t spend 2 fucking years staring at screen shots like a maniac to NOT be able to see things for what they really are. I mean, the look he gives her when she pulls that saber from the ground on Starkiller? I WISH I could find a gif because it’s classic, “Holy shit, I think I’m in love, but I’m pretty sure she wants to murder me.” HAH Oh Enemies to Lovers, you’re such a riot.

But up until that point there was NOTHING. I’m pretty sure box gate happened somewhere in there, but then the marketing really started getting going and we got fed so fucking well it was almost too much because we’d had so little to go on up until that point that it was just like, “Is this real life? Am I making too much of this? Or are they really playing up the Kylo Ren/Rey angle in this marketing?”

October 31, 2017, we got this GREAT article from V where Adam interviewed Daisy.

AD Is there an aspect of working on Star Wars—it could be anything from the light saber battles, the travel, the catering, to getting to see me every day and do my hair—that was your favorite part?

DR I don’t know if I’ve ever properly thought about it. I love coming into the makeup trailer—everyone is there, you say good morning, and you get a little cuddle from people...I just really liked being part of something where you’re one of a whole. When filming, you’re always part of a thing. Becoming besties with you was the best thing.

AD That’s a lie, but we will make sure that’s printed.

DR [laughs]

The whole interview is really sweet and a really lovely read. Also, got some really adorable fanart of Rey doing Kylo’s hair around that time, which was super awesome.

There was some drama about Rian saying there’s “no romance in EPIX” which obviously wasn’t the case and he was misquoted anyways. Which is a good reminder not to freak the fuck out over everything, just because it seems like it’s going one way (or someone’s pushing their own thoughts and opinions onto paper in an interview). At any rate, Rian’s a big ole Romantic, so we know how it all goes in TLJ. (Romancegate)

This article talking about “the fallen son” and whether Kylo could be redeemed came out in Nov 2017 (which was LOL considering how much of the general fandom had convinced themselves this movie would be about Rey hunting down and murdering Kylo), which had this super quote from Rian:

“But I don’t think it’s very interesting if the whole story is just ‘Will Kylo get his comeuppance?’ He’s a more complicated character than that and I think he deserves a more complicated story than that. I don’t see the point of trying to get behind his mask and learn more about him if all we’re going to learn is ‘Yeah, he’s just an evil bad guy that needs to be killed.’” -Rian Johnson  

This amazing character flowchart that was marketed in Korea to show the relationships in Star Wars (it’s official, and if you’re at all familiar with kdrama’s, you’ll probably understand why half of the fandom lost their shit lol).

This post/podcast from the starwarsconnection also has a pretty great breakdown of what was going on at the time and also shows some of the kid’s toys (specifically, the Reylo dolls that were sold as a set, though there are a FEW sets of Reylo figures, this one was specifically marketed to girls as a part of the Forces of Destiny series, which I really miss).

I’m sure there’s more, but basically the movie came out and the rest is history haha. This article talking about how horny TLJ is still makes me laugh.

1. Kylo Ren takes his shirt offLike I wasn’t going to start with this? Adam Driver as Kylo Ren gamely serves up the most Star Wars beefcake since Luke went sleeveless on Dagobah, and even Rey is rattled. She forgot to force-knock before barging in on the dude, and here’s Kylo Ren alone in his room, stripped to the waist, boasting sweaty pecs that look like he sliced Alderaan in half and glued the remainders to his chest. It’s a lot! Finally, even people who don’t subscribe to HBO can wonder, “Shit, am I attracted to Adam Driver?”

2. Kylo and Rey’s whole thingMany weirdos shipped these two characters after The Force Awakens, and now I kinda get it. Kylo and Rey never make out, but they still share The Last Jedi’s sexiest scenes as well as a telepathic connection fostered by sinister voyeur Snoke, the galaxy’s mightiest cuck. And how about that moment where Kylo kills his mentor — it’s always hot when a space goth murders a lazy magician — and then flips sides with Rey to kill off a straggling crew of ruby-red stormtroopers? If watching seven seasons of Buffy has taught me anything, it’s that there is no sex sign more unequivocal than teaming up with your sworn enemy to throw stage punches.

LOL. So yeah, have fun, don’t stress, and it’ll all be fine. Cheers!