Rey in The Force Awakens (Possible Spoilers)

[Gryffindorian]

I think it's sexism that made them make Rey so flawless. Male characters with flaws are called 'Antihero', female characters with flaws are called 'Bitch'. If they had made Rey as bratty as Luke was at the beginning they would have been accused of making her a stereotype, and the writers knew this.

That makes as much sense as saying racism put Barack Obama in the White House. Rey was simply written as a strong character, a survivor, a scavenger, a loner, but not for the sake of feminism. If Rey had been a man, no one would blink and think, hey, that's a strong male lead! It's the viewer's interpretation that can be construed as sexist.

 

[ancient]

Abrams treats her like ALL the other characters in his movies: able to just do whatever is needed to rush the plot along. I doubt any of the story would've changed if Rey was a guy.

She was a bit arrogant and didn't seem to much care for droids (or BB8 at least).

I actually thought it was odd that Rey, who is obviously a desert-hardened survivor who doesn't even approach self-actualization, would give a shit about some random droid being netted or sold off. At first I thought she just was helping out a cute little helpless critter - sort of like how real-life soldiers will sometimes keep & protect a kitten they find (even while shooting other people all day). Then she immediately told BB8 to go & piss off.

To me, her physical abilities make sense - she had to survive in a dog-eat-dog world in the backside of nowhere. She had to make herself valuable as a trader and powerful enough to be able to resist being attacked and hold her own in a fight.

Her hand-to-hand combat abilities make perfect sense, she'd be dead without them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think Rey suspected that BB-8 might be important. She may not feel that way about all droids, but I'm sure she had some nagging suspicion that this particular droid is important and that she should keep it for herself.

 

[Tyberius]

Watched the movie a second time with my young daughters and wife.

I noticed that the hand that holds young Rey's in the flashback looked like Unkar Plutt, the junk dealer.

I liked the portrayal of Kylo Ren more the second time. Knowing who he was under the mask made the portrayal interesting.

I lost count of the number of times Rey crashed the Falcon.

While I noticed this in the first viewing, it was more apparent in the second viewing (and really is a problem with cinema in general): While on Jakku, Rey would have worn the goggles and kerchief a lot more.

 

[Kor]

^ Yes, that was Unkar Plutt.
...which raises interesting questions about his role in the circumstances of Rey being stranded/hidden on Jakku.

Kor

 

[Turtletrekker]

She was a bit arrogant and didn't seem to much care for droids (or BB8 at least).

She turned down a small fortune to sell him to Unkar Plutt.

TFA Monopoly has Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker figurines, but no Rey.

 

[{ Emilia }]

She was a bit arrogant and didn't seem to much care for droids (or BB8 at least).

She turned down a small fortune to sell him to Unkar Plutt.

And she saved him from the scavenger who'd caught him in a net.

TFA Monopoly has Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker figurines, but no Rey.

Boggles the mind. Friends of mine told me about this the other after they got the game for christmas.

 

[Trekker4747]

It was going to be Luke's sister. Before Lucas decided to make Leia Luke's sister.

You take that back! Lucas had this all planned out from the very beginning! He always intended for Leia to be Luke's sister and that Luke happened to crush on his sister, sorta made out with her and most likely masturbated to her hologram from R2-D2 is just comedic irony!

 

[ancient]

I think Rey suspected that BB-8 might be important. She may not feel that way about all droids, but I'm sure she had some nagging suspicion that this particular droid is important and that she should keep it for herself.

She must be savvy enough to know that when someone offers you 60 muffins for a droid, it's probably worth at least 100!

 

[Trekker4747]

She was a bit arrogant and didn't seem to much care for droids (or BB8 at least).

Yep, didn't care for droids. Other than saving BB8 from the scavenger, telling BB8 how to be careful in the future, taking BB8 in for the night and helping BB8 finish its mission. Oh and turned down a large sum of rations/"payment" in order to protect BB8.

Yep, didn't care for droids at all.

 

[UssGlenn]

I think it's sexism that made them make Rey so flawless. Male characters with flaws are called 'Antihero', female characters with flaws are called 'Bitch'. If they had made Rey as bratty as Luke was at the beginning they would have been accused of making her a stereotype, and the writers knew this.

That makes as much sense as saying racism put Barack Obama in the White House. Rey was simply written as a strong character, a survivor, a scavenger, a loner, but not for the sake of feminism. If Rey had been a man, no one would blink and think, hey, that's a strong male lead! It's the viewer's interpretation that can be construed as sexist.

There's a report floating around the internet about a older version of the script where Rey is more unlikable and standoffish (logical, given her life). If true, it means they made a conscious decision to sand off her rough edges, and it seems likely to me that how the public would react to her as a female main character played a part in that.

Even without knowing anything about older drafts, This is a huge movie for Disney, they would be stupid to not consider every angle.

 

[Venardhi]

Shame about that, as I personally feel that Ridley really did well with those few "rough" moments they left her character. She has enough inherent likability that I have no doubt she could have pulled it off.

 

[Ithekro]

I don't recall Rey smiling that huge smile that Ridley has during the film. For someone that is a relative unknown, they found someone likeable and cute who can act and be believable in her actions.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

TFA Monopoly has Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker figurines, but no Rey.

Boggles the mind. Friends of mine told me about this the other after they got the game for christmas.

It doesn't boggle mine.

I wrote product copy for Force Awakens merchandise in the summer, months before Force Friday. The characters that Disney/Lucasfilm were putting forward as important were Finn and Kylo Ren, not Rey. Disney usually picks two or three characters from a movie and tells licensees that they're the important ones; that's why there was almost no Groot merchandise on the shelves when Guardians of the Galaxy came out, because he wasn't one of the characters they pushed on the licensees.

So when Hasbro was developing this Monopoly set, using the guidance Disney/Lucasfilm gave them on who they should use and spotlight, it's no wonder that the game contains the characters that it does. The lead time on merchandise is long; they couldn't have known, when the game was manufactured in the summer and went on sale in September, that Rey would be the film's important character.

I'm not defending or excusing Rey's absence from the game, merely explaining how it happened.

 

[Ithekro]

They did take a lot of effort to try to keep Rey's importance a secret. Yes she was one of the mains, but they used as much misdirection as possible (possibly unnecessary misdirection) to point at Finn as the main character, even with the lightsaber bits. Admittedly, Lucasfilm did similar for Attack of the Clones in hiding who's side the Clones were on, and the entire bit about Yoda having a lightsaber duel until the opening day.

Though they did kind of catch us instead about who Kylo Ren was instead, as the majority speculation was about "who is Rey?" that the idea "Who is Kylo Ren?" was of lesser importance. From the aspect that the story had to be about a Skywalker because that is just how these Episode stories are told. And we were told that much before the films came out. This is the Story of the Skywalker family. The question was, who is the Skywalker.

 

[Samurai8472]

If you're wondering how strong Daisy Ridley is, check out what she posted on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/6puNsxFE1e/

Deadlifting 176 pounds

 

[Ithekro]

Depending on how much kendo they have her do, the next few films may have some really awesome lightsaber duels. I sort of would like something that mixes the personal level of combat we see in the OT with the energy of the PT. Maybe not as fancy as the Anakin vs Obi-wan fight of Revenge of the Sith, but something with that sort of energy or pace going into a fight like those between Luke and Vader.

 

[sojourner]

TFA Monopoly has Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker figurines, but no Rey.

Boggles the mind. Friends of mine told me about this the other after they got the game for christmas.

It doesn't boggle mine.

I wrote product copy for Force Awakens merchandise in the summer, months before Force Friday. The characters that Disney/Lucasfilm were putting forward as important were Finn and Kylo Ren, not Rey. Disney usually picks two or three characters from a movie and tells licensees that they're the important ones; that's why there was almost no Groot merchandise on the shelves when Guardians of the Galaxy came out, because he wasn't one of the characters they pushed on the licensees.

So when Hasbro was developing this Monopoly set, using the guidance Disney/Lucasfilm gave them on who they should use and spotlight, it's no wonder that the game contains the characters that it does. The lead time on merchandise is long; they couldn't have known, when the game was manufactured in the summer and went on sale in September, that Rey would be the film's important character.

I'm not defending or excusing Rey's absence from the game, merely explaining how it happened.

So you're saying no one knew Rey was the film's main protagonist??? Yeah, Hasbro might be able to get away with that defense, just following orders and all, but I am sure at least a few at Disney knew and it makes everyone involved look a little embarrassing.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Yep. However it happened, it's a major oversight.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Hasbro responds to the Monopoly complaints...

According to Hasbro...

"(Rey was) not included to avoid revealing a key plot line that she takes on Kylo Ren and joins the Rebel Alliance."

Sounds pretty weak to me, but I'm guessing from what Allyn told us that Hasbro didn't really have much say in what characters were chosen to appear in the game.