Regarding Rey In "The Force Awakens"

This post contains spoilers.


THE FORCE AWAKENS is a fun movie. I wanted to get that out of the way first. Yes, it would have been nice to see something more original, but Director J.J. Abrams kicks off this new trilogy of films with confidence and style. It's not all roses, of course, and there were certain things that bothered me while watching the film for the first time that still bother me now, after three viewings. One of those things is Rey.

Daisy Ridley's performance makes it impossible not to like Rey. As a scavenger on Jakku, she relies on finding quality parts for starships in order to scrape by. It's a meager existance, but one that requires her to understand where things are and what their purpose is. So, of course, she knows what a fuel pump is, or what resetting fuses should do to blast doors. And, she needs to be physically capable of not only acquiring and transporting these items but protecting them as well (or she doesn't eat). The fact that she can walk on board the Millennium Falcon and kind of know where everything is and fly it . . . Well, that isn't the problem. Actually, that's a solid base from which to build the character because her mechanical knowledge and physical competance are justifyable by her circumstances. The thing that bothered me was how quickly she begins to understand and manipulate The Force.

In the original STAR WARS, Luke is introduced to the concept of The Force by Ben Kenobi. After a few conversations and a bit of training aboard the Millennium Falcon, he is able to tap into it for the first time, briefly. Wearing a helmet with the blast shield over his eyes, he is able to deflect a laser bolt from a remote droid by focusing on his other senses and using the Force to anticipate the droid's movements. "You've taken your first step into a larger world," Ben says proudly. Tapping into The Force again during the trench run at the end of the movie seems like a nice, logical progression. It's NOT a huge jump in development because we know Luke is already an ace pilot. According to his friend and fellow rebel, Biggs Darklighter, "Luke is the best bush pilot in the Outer Rim territories," someone who can "bullseye womp rats" in his T-16 back on Tatooine. Luke never does anything that would be considered advanced, such as moving things with his mind, exerting his will over others who are weak minded, OR FIGHTING SOMEONE TRAINED IN LIGHTSABER COMBAT. In STAR WARS, Luke is a novice; plain and simple.

Three long years pass before the events of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Obviously, Luke has been trying to hone those Jedi skills on his own during that time. At the beginning of that film, Luke is attacked by a Wampa snow creature and hung upside down with his lightsaber in the snow beneath him. With no teacher to guide him, he is still able to take what I would assume is a huge leap in Force abilities: telekinesis. It doesn't happen smoothly, and Luke narrowly escapes the Wampa. Even with instruction from Yoda later in the film, The Force is shown to be very difficult to master in such a short amount of time. So, when Luke leaves Dagobah to help his friends and confront Darth Vader, he puts up a good fight, sure, but Vader is playing down to his competition, and Luke still fails miserably.

In contrast, Rey in THE FORCE AWAKENS has a learning curve that could make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I'll grant you that there is a progression to it all. First, she has a vision after touching Anakin's/Luke's lightsaber. (Don't get me started on this item, it's ridiculous that they use it at all.) Unpacking what we see and hear in this scene would require a separate post entirely, but I'll concede the moment as a great way to show her latent ability.

Later, she's interrogated by Kylo Ren and finds the strength not only to keep him at bay, but also the understanding that the door swings both directions. This has been a favorite talking point for fans who do not have an issue with her accelerated growth. "Kylo Ren flipped a switch in her brain when he was poking around in there for information!" Within the context of the film, that does make sense, but it's a silly idea. If that were the case, the Jedi would've saved time and years of training by simply using The Force to unlock the minds of other Force-sensitive people.

Soon after the interrogation scene, Rey is able to perform a Jedi mind trick on a Stormtrooper, allowing her to escape and acquire a weapon. How did she even know what a Jedi mind trick was? You could perhaps justify this with her knowledge of the "legends" and "myths" of the Jedi and The Force, which Han Solo confirms as true. It's a stretch, but it's possible. You could speculate that she logically assumes that if Kylo Ren can invade her mind for information, she could do the same to control someone weaker than herself. Seriously though, there's nothing to back that up. At all.

At this point in the story, Kylo Ren returns to discover that she has escaped and sends Stormtroopers to find her, stating, "She is getting stronger every moment," or something to that effect. Does J.J. stand for Johnson & Johnson? Because there sure are a number of Band-Aids in this movie. ("That's a good question... for another time," is another infuriating one.)

Here's where I imagine this bit of dialogue came from:

KASDAN: "Things are happening awful quick for Rey, aren't they?"
ABRAMS: "No, it'll be great! We'll toss in a line.... Something like, 'The longer it takes to find her, the stronger she grows with The Force.' It'll be fine; it worked on TREK."

Sorry, I don't ususlly go full snark. I'm passionate about this stuff though and being critical is an extension of that. Which reminds me, I've seen a lot of fans who loved the movie attacking fans who didn't in some sort of reverse shaming act. Naturally, you shouldn't make fun of someone for liking something. Anything. But, just because some fans, myself included, have issues with the film doesn't mean we are just looking for reasons to be negative. Like sports fans, the critiques are representative of the passion we have for the thing. If we didn't care, we wouldn't say anything because we'd be too busy talking about something else. So, stop shaming people, and that goes both ways.

Getting back to the topic at hand, here's where we get to the meat of it. Remember that laser bolt at the beginning of the film that Kylo Ren stops mid-flight? Pretty cool, huh? Well, that established him as a very powerful character and, although he was injured at the end of the film by a shot from Chewbacca's bowcaster rifle, when Rey calls the lightsaber to her in the climactic scene, he was also calling for it. She was able to dominate his power the very first time she tried to, and that's tough to swallow, even with Kylo in a weakened state. With absolutely zero training, Rey exhibits skills that require considerable time and practice to master: mind control, telekinesis, and saber technique.

To accept that she can do this on instinct would make her a quicker study, or possessing more natural ability, than either Luke or Anakin Skywalker. Perhaps that is exactly what Abrams and Kasdan wanted to convey: Rey is some kind of freakishly strong Jedi prodigy. If that's the case, and the next film acknowledges it... I'll eat crow. It's tough to buy into that, however. It's more likely that Abrams, who has a history of creating narrative short cuts in his movies (magic Khan blood, anyone?) couldn't come up with a satisfying conclusion to his story without accellerating things because the last act is built upon that moment in the snow where Rey accepts her destiny. And, while I have no proof of this, it's easy to believe that there were things this movie HAD TO HAVE, things that were mandated by Lucasfilm and Disney, and "Lightsaber Duel" would be high up on it. Doesn't matter that Rey's arc from capable scavenger to being roughly as good as Luke Skywalker in EMPIRE is improbable, she's the chosen one. Right?

Before anyone starts accusing me of being misogynistic or anti-feminist, unable to enjoy an action/adventure movie with a female at its center, just know that I considered that. I actually stopped and asked myself the question: If Rey was a guy, or if you swap Rey for Finn, would I feel the same way? The answer, of course, was a resounding "Yes!" As I stated above, I like Rey. She's intelligent, attractive, capable, and has a strong moral center. What's not to like about her? By all means, find a way to show us that she's got the ability to tap into The Force. Show us that it gives her an edge. Just don't hang the finale of your movie on somebody going zero-to-Jedi so quickly. It's jarring and requires a leap of faith that, frankly, I have tremendous difficulty with.