littledust:

AKA Star Bucks: The Espresso Awakens

OUR HEROES: Rey, a plucky unknown who can fix any coffee machine as well as make a mean latte; Poe Dameron, a barista who can sell customers on literally any weird combination of flavors and he is ALWAYS RIGHT (and always handsome); and Finn, a sweetheart who just wants a job to pay for textbooks but DEFECTS from big corporate coffee after witnessing worker exploitation! Great at making cinnamon rolls and other baked goods.

OUR VILLAINS: The First Order, a coffee chain that plans on complete coffee domination. Your first order, your last order… ALL WILL BELONG TO THEM. General Manager Hux keeps the coffee flowing through unethical business practices. Kylo Ren, the young protege of CEO Snoke, tries really hard to be great at corporate espionage even though all he’s accomplished is letting Snoke know that his family has a secret book of recipes out there somewhere, who knows where.

OUR PLOT, SUCH AS IT IS: General Manager Leia Organa is trying to keep her independent coffee shop, The Resistance, in business despite her son’s betrayal. She will do this without the illegal goods Han Solo and Chewbacca smuggle in, yes really, no matter how delicious. Their salvation most likely lies in the talents of Luke Skywalker, the greatest barista who ever lived and the keeper of the rumored recipe book. OUR HEROES must do all they can to save the galaxy’s best cup of coffee, aided by espresso machine BB-8 and the single snazzy leather jacket they share between them. Will they find Luke? Will they find LOVE? Find out at a theater near you!

lobsterstannis:

cbrownjc:

marajadeskywalkerx:

I’ve seen many posts lately speculating on Rey; her character; her role within the films and her potential lineage. Once I looked a bit deeper into this however it is clear to me that many of these viewpoints have been distorted by the fact that she is a girl and not a boy.

The most prominent one for me centres around the ultimate question - is she a Skywalker or not? I’ve noticed that many people don’t believe she is Luke’s daughter, despite a wealth of evidence that she is (see my other posts for that, although I’m sure you’ve seen it all already!) and when questioned they cling to flimsy evidence that might suggest she is Kylo Ren’s long-lost sister, and therefore Han and Leia’s daughter, despite this being highly implausible based on the interactions between all of them, and ignoring all of the pro-Luke evidence. The most incredulous suggestion I’ve seen is that she could be Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter, even though there is not a shred of evidence that this is the case, and I mean a SHRED. I’ve asked people to justify this and not one person has come up with any believable evidence yet.

I was talking to someone about this today, and they said to me she can’t possibly be a Skywalker. I said why not? And they said “I don’t know, I just don’t think she is”. This got me thinking, and I’m only speculating here, but is this gigantic cognitive dissonance occurring because she is a girl, and in the minds of some she can’t possibly be the Skywalker heir-apparent? I’ve noticed many people expressing their disbelief at her powers, her abilities with the lightsaber and how she was able to use force abilities without any training. But if you think about it, if she was a boy nobody would ever question it. Nobody questioned Anakin’s natural abilities, or Luke’s natural abilities in ANH when he was able to destroy the Death Star just using the force to aid him, and without any proper training. So why is Rey getting all of this scrutiny? People always assumed that Anakin and Luke had always been Jedi, just untrained ones, but when talking about Rey they say that she can’t possibly be that powerful because “she’s not a Jedi”.

So in light of all of this I just want to say that Rey is here, she is the main character in the new trilogy, she is a Jedi and has always been a Jedi, it is almost certain that she is a Skywalker, but even if she isn’t she is still very much valid!

(I’d be interested to know other people’s thoughts about this, as I said it’s just something I’ve noticed, and it pisses me off!).

I agree with you. (And have been wanting to write a post like this myself about it, but didn’t know where to start, so thanks!)

What’s being set-up in The Force Awakens is a Classic Inheritance Storyline. 

In classic inheritance storylines, the set-up is usually simple: two people from the same family are fighting over something. Money, an Estate, a family business, etc.

And everyone knows that, when it comes to the “classic” version of these stories, the “oldest” child is usually the one who is first in line when it comes to the Inheritance.

And, in the majority of those stories, the oldest child is almost always a male. If the oldest is a girl, there usually is some “rule of male primogeniture” in place that makes the inheritance skip over her and, instead, go to the next male heir - even if that next male heir isn’t a son, but someone not even in the immediate family. (The plot of Jane Austen’s novel Pride & Prejudice has a male primogeniture rule about the Bennett Estate, which is one of the main reasons why Mrs. Bennett is so desperate to get her 5 daughters married, which kicks off the whole plot).    

The legacy being fought over in the new Star Wars film - and probably for the entirety of the new trilogy - is Anakin Skywalker’s legacy. A legacy that includes a split: between light and dark, Jedi and Sith, Anakin and Vader.

When that legacy came down to Luke - via his father’s lightsaber, which Obi-Wan gives him - it’s not questioned that it went to Luke, even though Luke is a twin. Because even though he’s the first-born twin (something we didn’t learn until Revenge of the Sith, over 28 years later), he is a boy. His father’s son. So even if Leia had been born first, many people still wouldn’t have really question it. Because people are just used to the male primogeniture nature of such things, the passing on of an inheritance - a legacy - from father to son. 

However Rey, as a character, upends that type of thinking. Not just because of her gender, but because of her age as well. If Kylo Ren is her cousin, (and I’m 98% sure that he is), not only is he male, but he’s older than her as well. If this story were set up like the male primogeniture rules in Pride & Prejudice, Kylo Ren would be the next in line for the Skywalker legacy, case closed. Making Rey Kylo Ren’s sister would do the same thing - because she’d be his younger sister, not older. (I bet even the people arguing that they’re twins - which, no - think he’s the older twin and she’s the younger). 

However, as we’ve seen, (especially in The Force Awakens) the inheritance line apparently doesn’t work that way. The line goes through Luke’s descendants first, then would move on to Leia’s if Luke had none. 

And, so far, things are pointing to Rey (possibly) being his only child. Meaning, Luke would be passing the legacy on not from father-to-son, or even uncle-to-nephew, but from father-to-daughter. 

That’s not a classic inheritance storyline you often see. (Except in historical dramas involving real-life Queens, who usually only inherited the throne because they had no brothers.)

And I personally think this internalizing of male primogeniture is where some of the arguments about Kylo Ren being the only Skywalker needed and Rey shouldn’t be one at all comes from too. Because, if that’s how it went then, at the end of the day, Rey could use the Skywalker lightsaber all she wanted, and be kickass all she wanted but the saber, the legacy, wouldn’t ever really be hers. 

And she’d have to give it up and hand it over to Kylo Ren after he was “redeemed” or whatever at the end. And the Skywalker Family legacy would continue down a male line. (And no, Leia being his mom doesn’t count, because it will have skipped over her to go to her son).

(The main films in the saga are about the Skywalkers - always have been, always will be according to Kathleen Kennedy, who now runs LFL. It’s the Anthology spin-off films that will focus on other people). 

Anyway, this is what I’ve been thinking, and why I think it’s so hard for some to accept that Rey is Luke’s daughter. (Leaving out those who don’t want it to be true because of shipping her with Kylo Ren, but that’s a whole other thing I’m not in the mood to get into here). 

And you know what? For some reason, I feel a bit inclined to maybe give George Lucas a bit of credit here? Because, for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Lucas actually wanted it to be a long-lost daughter that Indy had, not a son. (Spielberg was the one who vetoed that idea apparently BTW). So part of me can’t help but wonder if, in any outline or treatment Lucas did for Episode 7 and handed over to Disney, he took that idea and gave Luke that daughter instead. Serendipity, if that is what happened.  

Also, what’s a more convincing catalyst for Ben Solo being lured away by Snoke - a younger sister being born 10 years after him (who by all rules of inheritance poses absolutely no threat to him whatsoever) or a younger cousin who is the direct offspring of Luke Skywalker himself? Imagine Ben Solo as a kid, for the first 10 years of his life he sees himself as the sole heir to the Skywalker legacy and he is the only Skywalker child of his generation. He has the whole place to himself. Hell, maybe Luke even treats him as such because he believes he will never have his own child. Ben gets all these ideas that he’s going to take over the Jedi after Luke. Then a little girl is born to Luke and Skymom, Ben is like oh hell no this girl is usurping my place and Snoke’s all like ‘hey come over to my side you’ll never be second to anyone here’. That’s a very believable turn to the dark side. Everything you thought was going to be yours is suddenly threatened by the presence of this new kid. 

hxans:

zawehzawah:

withthingsunreal:

that-vicious-vixen:

raptor–whisperer:

i’m not overly protective of star wars but when people say to watch the prequels first for story purposes I cringe because no no no you gotta watch it 4 5 6 1 2 3 okay

THANK YOU

actually

and I recognise this may be controversial

you gotta watch it 4 5 1 2 3 6

yeah read that again

I am saying you gotta watch the prequels after Empire

here’s why: 

• you get the backstory on Vader immediately after the ‘I am your father’ reveal
  
• you get to drag out the suspense of Han being frozen in carbonite
  
• you don’t immediately ruin the impact of Vader as a villain by starting out with what an awful whiner Anakin was
  
• you also don’t leave Return on the Jedi on a confusing note of ‘wait who the hell is that other ghost’ if you watch the original trilogy in its entirety before hitting the prequels
  
• you aren’t left feeling shitty by ending your marathon on Revenge of the Sith and instead get to close out with the potentially insipid but undoubtedly joyous celebration at the end of the Battle of Endor
  

basically if you’re going to include the prequels at all you need to incorporate them as a mid-story flashback

okay that’s all

i watched star wars for the first time in the 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6 order and let me tell you, imho, that is the absolute best way to get the story out of th emovies.

it makes return of the jedi that much more poignant and good and like spook says, doesn’t leave on your final marathon note being revenge of the goddamn sith 

That is a really good idea. When our son is old enough to watch Star Wars we will definitely have to do it in that order.

heroorgana:

so who’s losing a hand this trilogy