(In other words: here’s Rose, Rey, and Kaydel as the Sanderson Sisters. Would they win the Annual Halloween Costume Contest over at Resistance Headquarters? I like to think they would!)
I love the ship names Hux gets. They’re so much fun. Like they can be sort of silly sounding or they can sound cool, there is no in between.
Reyux > cool sounding. Sounds like a laser or a brand of stereo equipment and I like it.
Kylux > cool sounding. Sounds like a hotel/casino in Vegas.
Roux > cool looking but it’s technically pronounced like “roo” and makes me think of stew and thus makes me hungry. (Alternatively gingerrose sounds pretty.)
Phux > *hehehe* (Huxma sounds like chutzpah which is also a lot of fun.)
Hoe > silly. So silly. (Gingerpilot is also silly but I kinda love Hoe more because I’m a 14 year old boy.)
There, I said it. I’ve been seeing multiple people invalidate other’s opinions by accusing them of being self-insert shippers as if it were a badge of shame and it’s a frequent subject of mockery even in the reylo fandom. I don’t care if the people being mocked are antis or reylos either. I’ve been through way too much when it comes to bullying to be silent about this.
It’s especially infuriating because that’s such a common accusation for gatekeeping misogynistic fanboys to use. It’s clear to me now though that the reason most people take offense to the self-shipper accusation is not because it’s sexist to assume that “the poor little wimmins can’t help but let her fantasies and desires for a male character cloud her judgment. “ No, they’re upset because they agree with the fanboys about self-shippers deserving mockery and being unable to contribute to meaningful discussion. They shouldn’t be lumped in with those women because, unlike them, they fandom correctly.
I don’t even write fan fiction much less self-ship but y’all are making me want to write Kylo/reader fic purely out of spite because at least I would be doing something constructive with my anger.
Man, whatever happened to fandom being about everyone having fun in their own ways. For some folks that’s speculating about the future films and for others that’s writing fic or making art. I dont get why we have to be so mean to each other over such small things. We’re all a little odd here. It’s 100% fine to write self-inserts or silly AUs or crack fic or whatever. Last I checked, being strange and unapologetic about our fantasies and love of fictional characters wasn’t what was killing fandom, it was what made it great in the first place. What hurts fandom is, as esperanza said, the separation and mockery of “the people who don’t know how to fandom right”. No one here is better than anyone else. We’re all Star Wars nerds. Mocking a certain kind of shipper doesn’t make you smart or cool, it makes you an asshole.
who’s the werewolf and who’s the hunter Finn is the werewolf who’s just trying to live a peaceful life and Rose is the scrappy little hunter. who’s the mermaid and who’s the fisherman Finn is a fisherman who hates fishing and wishes he could do anything else. Rose is a curious mermaid who’s always been in the weird two-legged creatures that visit her lagoon. who’s the witch and who’s the familiar Finn is a green witch and Rose is his familiar. who’s the barista and who’s the coffee addict Finn is the chipper barista and Rose is only addicted to coffee because she’s been working late nights to finish her masters in PoliSci. who’s the professor and who’s the TA Rose is the professor and Finn is not her TA, he’s the TA of one of her colleges who teaches military history. They have lunch and she gives Finn a crash course in economics (which he eventually ends up studying on his own to try to impress and keep up with her. Little does he know she’s already very taken with him). who’s the knight and who’s the prince(ss) Finn is a knight, charged with guarding Princess Rose. Little does he know the squire he’s been training with is actually the Princess in disguise. who’s the teacher and who’s the single parent Finn is a single dad who hasn’t been on a date since his son was born. Rose hasn’t been on a date since…. well she’s lost track. Perhaps their discussions of whether or not Finn’s son, Michael, needs specialized tutoring could lead to something more?? who’s the writer and who’s the editor Finn’s a writer struggling to get a handle on the craft and Rose is a no-nonsense editor who bleeds pages with her trust red pen. Finn’s convinced she has it out for him, but really Rose thinks he’s got amazing potential.
Also, I don’t know why you can’t reply to my posts. I checked but I have it on. Is anyone else having that issue?
So anyway something I really like is that Star Wars is full of complex and interesting characters who can be highly sympathetic and deeply flawed.
Anakin is a genuine person who loves deeply and fiercely. He’s also rash, impulsive, possessive and willing to do absolutely anything to hang on to what he considers “his”. Leia is an inspiration to many real and fictional people because she’s no nonsense, clever, and steadfast in her convictions. She’s also a hotheaded workaholic who puts her cause ahead of everything else. Luke is compassionate and brave but he also wound up believing his own hype and running rather than face his guilt. Han is a people-person who cares a lot about the little guy that no one sticks up for, but he also lives in his own head a lot and his first instinct is to run when interpersonal conflict arises. Rey is sensible and crafty, capable and kind, but she’s also prone to anger and masks her real feelings and represses unpleasant realities under a “tough” exterior. Ben’s intelligent, curious, and can be reassuring and merciful, but he’s also reckless, full of explosive rage, and cruel. Finn is an extrovert with a big heart and plenty of devotion for his friends, but he’s also naive, and fearful.
Basically, what’s great about these characters is that they’re a sometimes contradictory mix of good and bad traits. Their strengths often feed right in to their flaws. Good and bad characteristics are what make these characters interesting and that’s a good thing. None of them is just one thing and that’s great. We should celebrate the fact that we get to enjoy and play with characters with depth instead of trying to boil them down to just one or two things.
Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I have written a meta, and this would be the first time that my meta is focusing on the villains, rather than the hero(es). I have seen that popular post about the Stockholm Syndrome and the three characters mentioned in the title here, however, this is not a rip-off, and I am taking a different spin on the relationship. Hope you have fun reading, leave comments, and don’t be shy to message me about this or anything else! 🙂 Oh, and, I could also probably write a whole separate meta on the villains’ narcissism/dark triad, there are whole books written on the topic, but I am trying to give a brief overview of all the aspects of the relationships, and draw all the parallels I can find.
Let’s get started! 🙂
A common denominator for
Supreme Leader Snoke (Star Wars), Mother Gothel (Tangled), and Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) would be the dark triad.
THE DARK TRIAD
The dark triad is a subject in psychology that deals with three traits – narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy. All are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They all point to a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.
Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.
Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and deception.
Psychopathy is characterized by continuing antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.
I will elaborate on how these traits (perhaps not all of them, but most of them) manifest themselves below.
One thing that all of these villains have done to their victims (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, Rapunzel, and Quasimodo, respectively) was separating them from their families at a young age and then keeping them in isolation, in order to achieve selfish goals.
NARCISSISM
Apart from a certain air of grandiosity, egotism, and disregard for others, it is easy to see how pride manifests itself in the three antagonists, physically. There were two studies that determined that people with dark triad traits put more effort into their appearance. All three are vain – Snoke is dressed in a gold robe and slippers, Mother Gothel captured Rapunzel in order to remain young and beautiful forever, and Frollo adorns himself with large rings (do not get me wrong – nothing wrong with large rings, I am just talking about what they represent, in the limited character exposure we get! 😉 ).
STUNTED GROWTH, EXPLOITATION
One of the defining characteristics of these relationships is that the villain does not let their victim grow – otherwise the victim would certainly run away. While this stunting refers to the intellectual and emotional,in Rapunzel’s case, this is symbolized and presented in a literal way – Rapunzel wears a dress that is several sizes too small for her body, even though Mother Gothel does not seem to have monetary issues, and makes shopping trips. When it comes to the intellectual, Rapunzel only has three books, even though she obviously enjoys reading – she does it every morning. While Quasimodo is about 20 years old, we can see him still learning (or rather – endlessly repeating) the alphabet (Frollo: D? Quasimodo: Damnation?Frollo: E? Quasimodo: Eternal damnation!). Quazimodo is bright and he could certainly do more. Snoke somewhat stunts Kylo Ren’s intellectual growth – remember Snoke’s promise about the continuation of the training in exchange for Han Solo? – but the stunting is predominantly emotional (I will talk about the emotional aspects later).
The villains all exploit the victims – Kylo and Rapunzel possess supernatural gifts (”raw, untamed force power” – of use to Snoke for ruling the known universe, and a healing/rejuvenating power, respectively). When it comes to Judge Frollo, the exploitation is more subtle – when the archdeacon insists that Frollo mustn’t kill the malformed infant on the steps of a cathedral, Frollo says that the boy might prove to be of use one day. It is also worth mentioning that he did not spare Quasimodo out of pity, but he was “afraid for his immortal soul”.
CREATIVITY
It is interesting to remark how Kylo Ren, Rapunzel, and Quasimodo are all creative people.Kylo Ren practices calligraphy in a universe where everything is digital, Rapunzel paints, cooks, makes music, knits and charts the stars, whereas Quasimodo sculpts figurines and buildings out of wood and paints them. In a way, this indicates that they are responsive to outer stimuli, that they deeply process the events and the world around them, meaning that they are more open, and more vulnerable to “input”. This makes them a perfect target.
FAMILY
Upon isolation, the villains take up the role of the protagonists’ parents. Since the protagonists are being stunted in their development, and do not have enough of a critical opinion about their “caretakers”, they still believe in their parental figures’ judgement when it comes to what they should and should not do (less so over time).
There is also a lot of guilt-tripping going on, making the victim feel like a burden – the villain’s narrative is always a variant of how the world wanted/wants to kill the victims, and rejects them, but the they saved them.
Frollo tells Quasimodo that his mother abandoned him, and that anyone other than Frollo would have drowned him, had they found him. In a Star Wars novel, it is said that Snoke used Ben Solo’s feeling of inadequacy for his own purposes. While I have no proof of it, I am guessing that Snoke told Ben Solo how his mother, Leia, too involved into politics (novels), and father, Han, who would often be absent, did not care about him, and are abandoning him. This makes the victim clutch to their abuser, as they do not wish to be left again.
It is important to mention the following:
Rapunzel is in a tower, and her parents live far away.
Quasimodo is in his “cathedral sanctuary”, his mother dead, his father probably imprisoned. However, he wants to seek belonging among the people of Paris, establish a new “family”.
Kylo Ren, on the other hand, IS surrounded by people, BUT, from what I have concluded, he is “kept” secluded, something represented in his costume too, especially in The Force Awakens, where he is completely wrapped, to the point that not even a bit of his neck is showing. I also guess that, like Vader before him, he is seen as some sort of a strange wizard that no one really wants to be friends with. Instructed by Snoke, he killed his father – additionally, the deed makes it harder for him to go back home, to the Resistance, and to old friends. Snoke wanted to kill Leia, too.
LOVE INTERESTS
All the three villains try to – literally – destroy the protagonists’ romantic/sexual interests.
They convince the protagonists that their love interest is trying to exploit them and/or that their relationship is not genuine. Ironically, in the cases of Mother Gothel and Judge Claude Frollo, I think that they even think this to be at least partially true and that they may be projecting. This also implies that, as they are the ones uncovering this “truth” about the “manipulation”, and “protecting” their victims, they are the ones to be trusted as they have the protagonists’ best interests in mind.
While they are cutting off the emotional comfort and reassurance that the love interests would provide to the victims, making it easier for the victims to stand their ground and run away, I believe that they are also trying to prevent them from physical intimacy, that would help the victim transition from the child-like-state that they are in into (sexual) maturity. The villains intentionally infantilize their victims – Snoke calls Kylo Ren a child, Frollo calls Quasimodo “boy”.
SELF-ESTEEM
Another way in which the villains manipulate their victims is through ruining their self-esteem. This leaves a deep cut in the protagonists as, their whole lives, they receive both praise and insults from that ONE person (see the first paragraph in the segment “FAMILY”), whom they have respect and a certain sort of awe for. In part, they want to prove themselves, and that’s why they obey. For example, Frollo calls Quasimodo deformed, ugly, and implies that Quasimodo is intellectually inferior. Snoke mocks Kylo Ren for being emotional, sensitive, and compassionate. Mother Gothel makes plenty of remarks about Rapunzel’s “inadequacy”, including some about her appearance. The worst part is that the abusers tell their victims that that is simply the way things are, and that they are making all of those nasty comments for the victim’s own good, so no harm would come unto them. The lack of self-esteem makes it easier for fear to be instilled.
FEAR
Fear is a “great” way to manipulate victims and further isolate them. It does not take much to instill fear into Kylo Ren after the Luke Skywalker incident. It was, after all, his own uncle, who camein the night with the intent to kill him. When it comes to Quasimodo and Rapunzel, they were fed lies about the exaggerated dangers of other people and the world their whole lives. In Quasimodo’s case, the Festival of Fool’s day incident did not help.
THE GOLDEN CHILD AND THE SCAPEGOAT
A tactic that Snoke employs, as Kylo is not completely, literally, cut-off from the world (unlike Rapunzel and Quasi) is scapegoating. This is a technique that many narcissists employ (it does not fall into the diagnostic criteria for narcissism, but it is nevertheless well known). From what was briefly shown in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, we can conclude that General Hux is “the golden child” and Kylo Ren is blamed for failures whenever it serves a purpose for Snoke. This again instills a feeling of guilt and inadequacy, prompting Kylo to perform “better” next time.
IMAGINARY FRIENDS
Developing imaginary friends as a support network is a testimony to the deep loneliness that the caharacters are experiencing.
It is tragic that a twenty-year-old and a thirty-year-old are turning to stone gargoyles and a melted helmet of a dead man, respectively, for advice and support. This also shows that the trust between the victims and the perpetrators is one that is not based on trust and understanding.
Commentary:
Things turned out well in the end for Quasimodo and Rapunzel, and I hope that everything will work out for Kylo Ren/Ben Solo as well. I wish to say that he is not blameless for all that has happened so far in the sequel trilogy, but I am hoping for a redemption arc, and him breaking away from his old mindset.
Thank you for reading! Again, feel free to comment! 🙂
Disclaimer: I own nothing, entertainment and educational purposes only; I do not own any of the images or characters
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