Star Wars: Episode VII An Old Hope.

Why Kylo is the perfect villain for JJ Abrams

I’m going to get strung up on a pole for this.
Seriously, you don’t have to read this if you don’t want to.
If you truly enjoyed the Force Awakens and don’t want some uppity punk with an awful blog and some brazen accusations to sully that joy, please pass these words by and pay me no more mind. I freely confess that Friedrich Nietzsche has seduced me to the dark side of the force. I’ve sold my soul in the hopes that I might better be able to see and speak the truth as I see it. So here it goes.

Spoilers abound

I

V

I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
I

V

I

V

I

V

                With the passing of the mantle from George Lucas to JJ Abrams, there was a lingering doubt hanging over my head. Is the new guy going to be able to bring back the Star Wars magic? Can he re-enchant a cynical generation burnt out by poorly written prequels that tarnished the legacy of one of the most iconic villains in all of cinema? After seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens I can honestly say that JJ Abrams has managed to bring back absolutely everything that was good about the original Star Wars trilogy. And this is exactly what is wrong with this film.
                I think the simplest way to illustrate my point is to explain why I believe that Kylo Ren is the perfect villain for the latest Star Wars trilogy. In particular the core of Kylo Ren’s character and one crucial scene demonstrate to my mind that Kylo Ren is the symbolic embodiment of The Force Awakens and its’ director, JJ Abrams.

Kylo Ren’s Character

                From the moment you first encounter Kylo Ren on the planet of Jakku in the opening minutes of the film It is difficult to keep oneself from drawing direct comparisons between Kylo Ren and Darth Vader. He dresses purely in black. He wears a mask with a voice disfiguring breathing apparatus. He ruthlessly orders the mass murder of innocent civilians in a desert village. There is just one problem with Kylo Ren’s appearance. He doesn’t have any breathing problems. The asthma inhaler is purely aesthetic.
                We learn later in the film that Kylo Ren is a perfectly healthy young man with a tremendous command of the force. Kylo Ren adopted his appearance because he is self-consciously trying to emulate his idol, Darth Vader.
                There is something deeply sympathetic about the character of Kylo Ren. His given name is Ben Solo, and he is the son of the famous rebellion heroes Leia Skywalker and Han Solo.it is perfectly reasonable to believe that has long felt the anxiety how he can possibly fill the shoes of such lofty and accomplished parents. How do you live up to the legacy of your parents when they are the ones who saved the galaxy?
                What quickly becomes clear about Ben Solo is his deep insecurity. It is almost laughable how uncomfortable he seems to be in his own skin. Rather than try to learn how live the honest life of Ben Solo, he retreats behind the theatrical mask of Darth Vader and seems to be self-consciously trying to mimic in his own life the legacy and work of his Grandfather. But just like the problem with the Asthma inhaler, Ben Solo has another and bigger problem, he is not Darth Vader. Rather than go through the difficult work of trying to achieve some self-knowledge that could lead him to understand how best to live Ben Solo’s life, he hides from this knowledge and flees to an identity that is safer for him to adopt. Why risk living the honest yet vulnerable life of Ben Solo, when you can be assured of respect and fear by living the life of Darth Vader?
                Just as Kylo Ren cannot live his own life, but feels like he must achieve significance by re-enacting the life of Darth Vader, I get the distinct sense that JJ Abrams did not make a JJ Abrams film. He re-performed a George Lucas film. If you don’t believe me let me reiterate some of the pertinent plot points from The Force Awakens.

-A rebel agent collects a secret message but is intercepted by the evil authoritarian establishment before he can deliver it.
-The rebel agent hides the message in a droid. This droid then escapes to a barely inhabited desert planet.
-The droid is saved by a humble lonely hero who turns out to have a tremendous amount of aptitude in the force.
-The droid and the lonely hero escape from the desert planet on the Millenium Falcon.
-In the meantime we learn that the evil Sith villain has a complicated filial/Paternal relationship with one of the primary heroes of the film.
-And this evil Sith lord has built a planet destroying battle station and prepares to use it for the first time.
-As the Force adept heroine begins to become aware of her powers she has a visionary experience in a dark underground place where she si confronted by a spectre of the main Sith villain.
-The strong female lead is then captured and held prisoner aboard the planet destroying space station.
-She is rescued by the male lead and an old hero from a bygone era.
-As they are escaping the two newly initiated heroes are forced to witness from a distance as the elderly hero confronts the main villain with whom he has a paternal relationship.
-The elderly hero is struck down by the villain’s lightsaber as our new heroes must watch helplessly from a great distance away, just prior to making their escape from the planet destroying space station.
-The movie concludes with our new force adept journeying alone to a distant planet where she encounters an old Jedi master hiding in self-imposed exile.

Do I need to go on?

Wait yes, don’t forget about the scantily clad lady leaning against the enormous, gross alien monster.

                There is a reason everyone is saying that this feels just like the old Star Wars trilogy. It’s because this is the old Star Wars trilogy. It’s not just the same story, it is the same set pieces, the same character relationships, the same plot elements. This is not a new movie.
                But don’t get me wrong, no work of art is truly original. The first Star Wars film is a textbook example of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. This is the reason A New Hope feels like a brand new American myth. George Lucas intentionally patterned his story after Joseph Campbell’s archetypal structure of ancient myths. The reason The Force Awakens felt so forced to me is because it isn’t a copy of a mythic template. It is a copy of a copy of a mythic template. Unfortunately Abrams chose to communicate not the mythic archetypes of the original trilogy but rather the specific concrete forms that those archetypes took in the original Star Wars. The Force awakens has consciously dressed itself in Darth Vaders disguise and hoped we wouldn’t notice the insecure villain underneath.

The Torture Scene

                One of the most jarring scenes for me is the moment that Kylo Ren interacts with Rey when she is captured on the Death Star. In this scene Kylo Ren uses his command of the force to probe deep into Rey’s mind and unearth her deepest, most vulnerable memories. I don’t think I’m stretching when I call this a rape scene. It’s not physical but it is a profound violation of Rey’s personal integrity.
                And again I think it is clear that Kylo Ren feels a certain affection towards Rey. He invites her to join the dark side and learn the true power of her abilities. But Kylo Ren is so insecure that he cannot do the slow and difficult work of seducing her towards the dark side. He brazenly blunders into her mind and forcibly unearths her deepest secrets.
                This is the sort of activity that should only take place in a mutually vulnerable, trusting relationship. But Kylo Ren doesn't have time for that so he barges into her brain and drags her deepest secrets into the light.
                But then he begins to try and act compassionate towards Rey. His voice gets soft and warm as he ponders her secrets. But his knowledge of Rey’s secrets are not because they have an intimate connection. Rey did not graciously offer up her true self to Kylo Ren. These are stolen memories that he has no right to know because he has not earned Rey’s trust.

                In a similar manner I think JJ Abrams’ did not exercise the patience necessary to build a new world and generate a trusting relationship between his audience and his characters. He was able to get around our natural aversion to this sort of character development by using templates of characters from older movies that we already know. Abrams can give us the sensation of knowing Rey and Finn without actually knowing them. I don’t know Rey, I know Luke Skywalker. And most of the film is not designed to let you see Rey, but rather it tries to tell you that Rey is just like Luke Skywalker. You don’t need to be concerned about the new characters that are introduced into the Star Wars universe because they are just like the old characters.

                My biggest fear after seeing the initial trailers is that this film was going to be a tremendous nostalgia-fest. It was going to be less about going deeper into the Star Wars universe and more about remembering through a new film how good the old Star Wars films were. If you are anything like me you have strong emotional ties to these films. Ties that were forged in early childhood. I remember seeing Return of the Jedi for the first time while on vacation. As soon as the movie was over I snuck into the master bathroom and was running around the Jacuzzi that had suddenly turned into a Sarlacc pit. I’m sure many of you have similar stories to tell, and I’m sure JJ Abrams has similar memories as well. And he took advantage of those memories. He pulled them out of our heads and acted like we were in a trusting relationship where he was vulnerably telling a story that would build a new set of powerful emotional memories. But he wasn’t creating new memories, he was reminding me of the existence of those old memories and stealing the emotional capital that was already present in my mind.

[Also, BB-8 could not have maneuvered over all that dense terrain. He should have gotten stuck in the sands of Jakku very quickly. There was a specific moment in the woods when I saw him begin to climb a hill and I thought, “that robot can’t roll up that hill.” The film then suddenly cuts away to a different angle and BB-8 is magically on the top of the hill.]

                In conclusion, all art is communication. And communication in its best form is revelatory. I believe that unless we are incredibly skilled manipulators we cannot help but reveal ourselves to others when we communicate. Even when we are trying to communicate something that we do not believe, my beliefs about human character tell me that the truth leaks out. And I think the truth about the Force Awakens leaks out in a big way through the character of Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren didn’t kill Han Solo, JJ Abrams killed Han Solo to prove that he could Star Wars as good as late 70’s George Lucas.

        This is all my subjective opinion Blame me for everything you don't like in this piece. But people have told me for the longest time that I am a very good listener. I’m just trying to tell you what I heard and saw when I watched Star Wars the Force Awakens.
         And I know that the politics that lie behind such a massive commercial undertaking like Star Wars probably means that JJ Abrams probably did not have as much creative control as he would have liked. I suppose it is possible that JJ Abrams consciously adopted the guise of Kylo Ren to punish his creative handlers for their restraints. And if that is the case I have to admire the man’s wily creativity. I just don’t know.

                And even now, all hope is not lost. In the film, Ben Solo’s murder of his father seems to be a definite turning point in his character. I’m sure Sigmund Freud would be very proud of him. I believe that from this point on Ben Solo will begin to feel more comfortable in his Darth Vader guise, leading him to act more authentically as an heir of Darth Vader’s legacy. Unfortunately this will just make him a more honest villain, and thus a far more dangerous adversary.
                I truly hope that JJ Abrams just needed to get George Lucas out of his system. Much like Emperor Palpatine needed to purge the entire Jedi order before he could finalize his governmental takeover, I hope that JJ Abrams was doing a sort of creative ground clearing. I just wish that Han Solo didn’t have die in the service of JJ Abram’s creative palate cleanser.
                Abrams has proved to an excruciating detail that this is a Star Wars film. But the way he demonstrated his Star Wars credentials does not lead me to trust him going into episode VIII. He is still going to get an awful lot of my money. I am going to continue to enjoy the films of a very talented filmmaker. But he does not have my trust.

I have much more that could be said on this topic but I welcome your complaints and look forward to responding to them.