Almost every fantasy show is trying to be D&D or Game of Thrones

[Celebrim]

Rey is just as good at stuff as Luke is, but no one questions why he's able to fly a fighter jet, outfly professional pilots and be almost the lone survivor of a suicide mission. He's just a dude and associated with your childhood memories.

And it's now echo chamber statements all around.

And I'm sorry it upsets you that white guys are dying before black dudes and women in movies. Imagine what if it was like that for you for decades. But it's hardly a consistent thing -- the first characters to die nowadays are a random grab bag, as they should be.

And no one is listening to anyone in the race to insult everyone else as to gain what they think is the high ground.

Threads dead already, but just to throw it out there. In Andor the first guy to die is always the black guy. But that's not the reason why everyone seems to admire Andor, even the people who are disgusted by Rey.

 

[Alzrius]

Galadriel should be tougher than Legolas and they establish in the first episode of Rings of Power that she's been fighting orcs for centuries.

As one of my favorite blogs pointed out recently, Rings of Power had much worse problems:

Collections: Why Rings of Power’s Middle Earth Feels Flat

This week we’re going to take a look at the worldbuilding of Amazon Studio’s Rings of Power from a historical realism perspective. I think it is no great secret that Rings of Power broa…

acoup.blog

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ariel isn't green or blue. She's a white redhead with a green tail and big blue eyes.

That's the cartoon Ariel.

For the "live action" one -- which seems a bad term for these 99% CGI nonsense films -- they chose the best singer and actress who auditioned, everyone involved has repeatedly said.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As one of my favorite blogs pointed out recently, Rings of Power had much worse problems:

Female characters being as good as Legolas was the item brought up in the thread.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Threads dead already, but just to throw it out there.

The thread was dead the moment it started.

 

[Mannahnin]

Ariel isn't green or blue. She's a white redhead with a green tail and big blue eyes.

According to whom? Who's the authority on that, that you're referencing? HCA did say her eyes were blue, but as far as I'm aware coloration is not otherwise specified.

According to Disney the character looked one way, and now looks another way.

 

[billd91]

So the real issue with Rey is not only is she badass (for seemingly no reason but its a fair critique that luke is a pretty great pilot without training himself), but she also never really has a big challenge or issue to overcome in her main story. Luke in the first movie lost both of his adopted parents and Obi Wan, and then in the second movie suffers several more setbacks and losses. In comparison Rey just kind of keeps getting stronger and winning, she never really suffers much in the way of setbacks. That's the main beef people had with her.

I would very much disagree that it's the main beef.

But as to the topic at hand: Luke suffers tragedy in the first movie, sure. But Rey also suffers tragedy by being abandoned on Jakku. The main difference? We see it more viscerally with Luke because we see his life with his uncle and aunt while we don't see Rey's life as a child with her parents. We just see her wailing while her parents fly away when we see her memory. Then as she makes connections to the other characters, she loses them - Finn is critically injured, the man who starts to take her under his wing is murdered by his own son. Yeah, no setbacks. No tragedy. Nope nope nope. Not a one.

 

[Mannahnin]

So the real issue with Rey is not only is she badass (for seemingly no reason but its a fair critique that luke is a pretty great pilot without training himself), but she also never really has a big challenge or issue to overcome in her main story. Luke in the first movie lost both of his adopted parents and Obi Wan, and then in the second movie suffers several more setbacks and losses. In comparison Rey just kind of keeps getting stronger and winning, she never really suffers much in the way of setbacks. That's the main beef people had with her.

Rey lost her parents before the movie and then was an orphan surviving in an exploitive cruddy place. Luke at least had loving relatives to raise him. Rey loses Han in practically the same way Luke lost Obi-Wan. She does have traumas and setbacks. None of the other movies are as good as or as dark as Empire, but this comparison really isn't as much a contrast as you're portraying.

 

[Ryujin]

I agree. While I had some beefs with aspects of RoP, this was never one of them. Galadriel is established as a long standing warrior that has been killing orcs longer than some of the mountains around you have stood. And she's one of the early generation elves, and in Tolkien everything early is just plain stronger. She should be utterly dominant in most fights.

I can respect the argument of "how does this galadriel become the more serene lady we see in LoTR", and to me that's one of the things the story should show me over time....but I have no issue with her being awesome at the beginning.



So the real issue with Rey is not only is she badass (for seemingly no reason but its a fair critique that luke is a pretty great pilot without training himself), but she also never really has a big challenge or issue to overcome in her main story. Luke in the first movie lost both of his adopted parents and Obi Wan, and then in the second movie suffers several more setbacks and losses. In comparison Rey just kind of keeps getting stronger and winning, she never really suffers much in the way of setbacks. That's the main beef people had with her.

Rey had already suffered in that she never knew her parents and lost the only stand-in parent she had ever known. They just pretty much skipped over that part. I think there's a fair bit of eugenics hidden in plain sight, in Star Wars. Luke was powerful because of his parentage/genetics. Rey was created from the genetic material of possibly the most powerful force user ever shown in the films, so was fast tracked to power.

 

[Mannahnin]

Rey had already suffered in that she never knew her parents and lost the only stand-in parent she had ever known. They just pretty much skipped over that part. I think there's a fair bit of eugenics hidden in plain sight, in Star Wars. Luke was powerful because of his parentage/genetics. Rey was created from the genetic material of possibly the most powerful force user ever shown in the films, so was fast tracked to power.

Which is honestly one of my biggest complaints with the sequel movies, and one of my favorite things about Rian Johnson's installment. He TRIED to make it not about the special elite bloodlines. He tried to give us a truly inspiring message, glimpsed with that one magical shot of the boy in the stables moving his broom with the force. A hero can arise from nothing. Your parents and birth don't determine whether you are special. And then J.J. completely messed the bed with the awful Episode IX.