- The "deliberate" thing comes from watching his body language--- I was really weirded out the first time by how... precise and methodical... he was during the first rage, especially in the way he ignites the lightsaber; it felt like he was forcing himself, rather than like an irresistible impulse. Now, some of that could be Doyleist rather than Watsonian, something to do with how the special effects work to make lightsabers happen, maybe? Or else it could've been an attempt at showing that he's kind of dissociative during his rage? (The line from the movie Anatomy of a Murder describing a character apparently in the grip of an irresistible impulse/dissociate reaction is "like a mailman delivering the mail" comes to mind though that movie is like a half-century old, and I haven't looked up anything more recent on the subject.) But his body language is so oddly contained in that scene for someone supposed to be losing his shit (and I refuse to call it bad acting from a Julliard-trained Broadway actor--- who is also a former Marine and should know something about how his body moves, lol--- nor bad direction given that Abrams seems to have been pretty damn clear everywhere else). And especially the mood whiplash from that very... precise or constrained body language to the much more... uninhibited/impulsive feeling reaction to "the girl" just kind of... lights up for me, like it was huge.
-IMO his fundamental character is kind and relatively mild (more Padmé than Anakin/Luke/Leia) and what he's driving himself to not only do but be as Kylo Ren is so utterly antithetical to who he is that he's cracking under the psychological strain.
I am SO RIGHT THERE WITH YOU on his fundamental personality, so much. And the strain that he's under.
And I think you are overall right that they may well be going for the cult approach to Ben/Kylo!
But I also don't really want to think of Han, Luke, and Leia as failed parental figures...
I think that is exactly where we differ on our interest in Snoke's involvement! Because I am like INSANELY excited about a storyline that is, "Yes, these people are awesome--- but that does not make them awesome parents or teachers because parenting and teaching are their own separate skillsets that not everyone has". Like, they all three love Ben and want what's best for him and try to do it, but they don't actually know what to do with and for him? (Ahem. I might have really strong feelings on the subject of "parenting is a skillset and a set of dispositions and not all people everywhere have those ones, much less have those ones come naturally for the particular kid they get" and also, "No, not everyone who is good at a thing is good at teaching the thing, teaching is also a separate skillset, that's why 'education' as a field is a thing that exists", and I would cry happy about having that all up in my Star Wars trilogy, in the same way that I can cry happy about how the PT is the story of the importance of successfully identifying AND TEACHING gifted kids from backgrounds that don't fit the dominant culture's expectations, lol.) So having it be largely Snoke's fault just feels like a cop-out from this amazing-to-me story about how these glorious legendary (in their world and ours) figures are nonetheless not actually good at parenting/teaching this particular kid, even though they love him dearly and want what's best for him not least because of a lot of the things that made them awesomely legendary in other areas. (E.g.: Luke! Picked up Jedi skills like that *fingersnap*! He doesn't know how to teach people for whom it doesn't come naturally!) Whereas for someone who doesn't want to see that, Snoke's involvement is naturally a lot more interesting? IDK if that makes sense.
(I could blather about my headcanon on the specifics of the mismatch between Ben and his talents/disposition and all three of his parent/mentor figures, but. Headcanon, possibly digression, etc.)
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2016-01-19 09:28 am (UTC)-
I am SO RIGHT THERE WITH YOU on his fundamental personality, so much. And the strain that he's under.
And I think you are overall right that they may well be going for the cult approach to Ben/Kylo!
I think that is exactly where we differ on our interest in Snoke's involvement! Because I am like INSANELY excited about a storyline that is, "Yes, these people are awesome--- but that does not make them awesome parents or teachers because parenting and teaching are their own separate skillsets that not everyone has". Like, they all three love Ben and want what's best for him and try to do it, but they don't actually know what to do with and for him? (Ahem. I might have really strong feelings on the subject of "parenting is a skillset and a set of dispositions and not all people everywhere have those ones, much less have those ones come naturally for the particular kid they get" and also, "No, not everyone who is good at a thing is good at teaching the thing, teaching is also a separate skillset, that's why 'education' as a field is a thing that exists", and I would cry happy about having that all up in my Star Wars trilogy, in the same way that I can cry happy about how the PT is the story of the importance of successfully identifying AND TEACHING gifted kids from backgrounds that don't fit the dominant culture's expectations, lol.) So having it be largely Snoke's fault just feels like a cop-out from this amazing-to-me story about how these glorious legendary (in their world and ours) figures are nonetheless not actually good at parenting/teaching this particular kid, even though they love him dearly and want what's best for him not least because of a lot of the things that made them awesomely legendary in other areas. (E.g.: Luke! Picked up Jedi skills like that *fingersnap*! He doesn't know how to teach people for whom it doesn't come naturally!) Whereas for someone who doesn't want to see that, Snoke's involvement is naturally a lot more interesting? IDK if that makes sense.
(I could blather about my headcanon on the specifics of the mismatch between Ben and his talents/disposition and all three of his parent/mentor figures, but. Headcanon, possibly digression, etc.)