#i think im gonna just go overwatch for a bit and throw pink nukes at people to feel better

[arebelnow]

can i just take a moment to express my love and appreciate for the important that is jyn erso? like, of course not every review will be spectacular and of course not everyone is gonna to like every single character. but i feel like the people who really drag jyn are missing something very core to her character.

i feel like the reviews and tumblr posts annoyed with jyn expected to go to rogue one and watch a movie about a white savior, not white behavior. they say her political apathy was pathetic --- even harmful to the representation of ( white ) women. but what they don’t realize ( or do and that’s why they don’t like her ) is that jyn represents them every time they think or say “not my problem” to someone who isn’t cis and white. like, the number of times i’ve had the real world equivalent of “it’s not a problem if you don’t look up” flung in my face is immeasurable. 

some of her detractors wanted her to be perfect from the beginning. to be this badass woman who has a vague enough personality for them to insert themselves and a moral compass that always makes her right from the start. they wanted jyn to make them feel good, not reflect upon uncomfortable.

especially since jyn is expendable. cassian makes it real damn clear in the book that his mission is unhindered if she dies. if jyn died at any point after delivering her father’s message, the mission would not have been compromised. more difficult? heck yes. but impossible? not at all. so jyn isn’t “the only one who can save us” type of hero. she’s a hero by choice. i think after jedha she realized that she can’t exist outside of existence. that not looking up only works until the ground is literally destroyed beneath your feet. that her apathy can only shield her for so long. and i think that shield is something a lot of audience members, especially white audience members, share with her. and they don’t like thinking about it.

rogue one wasn’t the feel good star wars movie a lot of people were expecting. and its leading lady wasn’t the feel good self insert they wanted. jyn is the story of how inaction is still action. and that heroism is not a birthright, it’s earned.

i don’t know, maybe it’s a mix of reading this post and the inauguration that i needed to express my feely feels for jyn. because goddamn it, i wish the world had more brave baes like her around so maybe i wouldn’t be so scared.