#mind the rating on the fic but Honestly this ship deserves more pwp | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

smuthuttpodcast · 4 years

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“Fanfiction explores power dynamics, trauma, shame, humor, loss; fundamentally fic explores EMOTION.”

Name/Handle/Alias

Graendoll on Ao3, Mokelly1066 Twitter

About how long would you say you’ve been rooting for Reylo?

Since TLJ

What did you think of the way Rise of Skywalker handled Rey and Kylo’s relationship?

The film regressed them back to TFA antagonism and relied solely on the progress made in TLJ to contextualize their romance. It didn't explore the depth of their connection except to use it as a way to demonstrate "awesome force powers". It was handled without finesse or much thoight, really. Like "okay Kylo and Rey will kiss, now onto the MacGuffins!"

Do you think the film understood why you, and other people, felt like Rey and Kylo had something together? Did it get their chemistry?

Nope! It felt like it was checking things off a list rather than actually exploring WHY these two people were connected and why there was tension between them. They didn't explore the force dyad, the balance of the force, the significance of the two of them...nada. They also really didnt seem to understand why it was important to see Rey make a choice about what she wanted, which is a tragedy.What about the handling of Kylo’s redemption? Was it something you had to think through in your stories?I've been rooting for Kylo's redemption before I shipped Reylo, so I was always more of a "I want him redeemed and alive more than I want a kiss" kind of fan. Because of this Kylo's redemption has always been a sort of given in my fics and required more framing than anything else. What I mean by that is that it's done from his POV so the reader gets to see him realize hes messed up. See him make that move to change. This is really what redemption is about for me. It's personal. The individual acknowledgement of wrong doing and the desire to change and cease doing wrong is all that's necessary for redemption. Obviously there is a larger metaphysical, maybe even theological, conversation to be had around that, but ultimately in my mind...that's what redemption is. And that's how I've always seen it for Ben/Kylo. Hed realize he was on the wrong path and correct and voila! Redeemed Ben Solo. Redemption IMO is not something you have to die for. It's not something where your crimes are weighed against your good deeds and some judging body determines if you're "worthy" of redemption. This philosophy wasn't changed by TRoS, and honestly I don't see me approaching Ben's redemption differently going forward. But boy I sure did hate how they handled it as a result!

What did you think of where Rey landed at the end? There had been a lot of excitement around Star Wars having a female protagonist. Do you think she lived up to the promise of her character?

I admit, I always struggled with Rey. That being said, however, I do not think her ending was deserved. It felt punitive. Leaving her alone on a desert, with a droid. And a white hood. Like a virginal nun. The exploration of the dark side of female power and sexuality and the joining with the animus in the form of a reclaimed Ben Solo would have been significantly more rewarding. She had waited her whole life for her family to come back, only to end as isolated as she began.

There’s criticism of the movie that argues it’s akin to “fan fiction” and that is has too much fan service. As fans and fan-fiction writers, how do you react to that?

It wasn't so much that it had "too much fan service" but rather that it treated the fans like idiots. JJ and CT really seemed to think that if they showed us enough shiny objects, we'd just drool happily into our sweaters and lap it up. As for it being akin to fanfiction...I don't think that's at all accurate. Fanfiction explores power dynamics, trauma, shame, humor, loss; fundamentally fic explores EMOTION. TRoS did none of that. It was very much more like porn without plot than a multi chapter fic. Not that PWP is fundamentally bad! We were just expecting something a bit deeper given this closes out a 42 year saga. NBD.

Are you still writing any Star Wars fanfic? Tell us about it! (Don't forget your Ao3 handle!)

I am...slowly! I write to completion before posting so nothing pending on Ao3 but there is an e-rated resurrection fic in the works. ;) I'm also working on other fandom content and some original fic!

Thank you to Graendoll. You can find them on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graendoll/pseuds/Graendoll

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