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not all tears are an evil

@niennathegrey / niennathegrey.tumblr.com

b • she/her, 21+ • homely and awkward • sidebar icon & header by @perfectopposite
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kasiopea-star-wars

Happy New Year Reylos! I have a preview of part 12 for you. I know, I know it's not a happy moment for Ben, but I can promise you he will be happy and at peace in my story. But first he must address his past (it took me long but I struggled to capture him as I see him in my mind in this particular and hard scene)

#BABY BOY!!!#🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭#Ben Solo
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allgirlsareprincesses
bigwhispersmusic asked:

Do you think that Rey's story (excluding episode 9 'cause that was a shitshow) could be interpreted as a Cinderella/Ash girl story?

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allgirlsareprincesses answered:

I hope you realize asking me this is like throwing chum to a shark 😈. But the short answer is yes, to a point.

The long answer is more complicated, so to begin with, let's consult the Cinderella bible:

According to the Aarne Thompson Uther Index, there are five primary motifs to a Cinderella tale:

  1. Persecuted heroine, usually by family
  2. Help or helper, usually magic
  3. Meeting the prince, usually with true identity disguised
  4. Identification or penetration of disguise, usually by means of an object
  5. Marriage to the prince

Rey is abandoned by her family, which is a form of persecution, and harassed by the inhabitants of Jakku like Unkar Plutt. Thus she clearly fulfills the first item.

As for meeting a helper, there are several for her, including Han Solo, Maz, Luke, and Leia. Any or all of these may be considered fairy godparents in the way that they offer her wisdom and material help. Further, except for Maz, they all die in the course of the story, which is consistent with many Cinderella tales in which the helper dies and their bones continue to offer wisdom and comfort to the heroine.

Next, meeting the prince. I mean

Image

To the extent that Rey is "in disguise' here, it would be the extent of her force powers, her destiny as Ben Solo's dyad mate, and her role as the heir apparent to the Jedi (chosen by the Force to wield the legacy saber), all of which are obscured from Kylo Ren when he discovers her in the forest. Further, she is grimy and covered in desert sand, similar to how Cinderella is smeared with ashes that hide her true beauty.

So now an object penetrates the disguise. This is obviously the Skywalker lightsaber, which reveals Rey to be everything listed above, especially when she calls it to her on Starkiller Base, and again when she wields it on Ahch-to.

And lastly, marriage to the prince. As many others have pointed out over the years, Rey and Ben have almost too many symbolic marriages to count in the course of the sequel trilogy. They're extremely married, the Force said so.

BUT WAIT! Go back and look at that list again. Who ELSE fits all those criteria?

GIF by durrandcn

It's our boy! Consider:

He is indeed persecuted by family, most notably when Luke momentarily considers killing him.

Ben's helpers are both dark and light, as Snoke/Palpatine guide him in the dark while Luke guides him in the light (poorly). But note again what I said above about the bones of the mentor continuing to offer guidance and comfort after their death. Who should appear at Ben's lowest hour but his departed father, Han Solo? With a message of love, acceptance, and encouragement, Han's memory (because in fairy tales, bones contain memory) encourages Ben to at last cast off his beastly skin and become who he always was.

Next, meeting the prince/ss in disguise. He's wearing a literal mask when he meets Rey, so yeah.

An object penetrates the disguise? Rey slashed his face with the legacy saber, thus symbolically peeling away his mask. And I've argued before that the stabbing in TROS (which I still HATE, btw) is another cutting or burning away of the beastly skin.

And lastly, marriage to the prince/ss. As previously stated, that happened. Many times.

So yes, the Sequel Trilogy can definitely be considered a Cinderella story, with but one glaring issue: Cinderella's husband usually doesn't die at the end. But that's another topic that's been done to death, so let's all just read some more fanfic and forget about it. 👑 Thank you for the ask, this was fun!

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#I've missed this kind of meta post TROS 🥺#Rey#Ben Solo#Reylo#Reylo meta
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enjoyallneednothing-blog

Star Wars Music on Instagram Challenge!

There is an Instagram page I absolutely adore called @starwarsmusic - I highly recommend following this account. The owner of the account decided to do a Music Analysis Writing Competition, so of course I want to participate!! 

The above piecess are the ones that are off limits. I have decided to analyze & write about “THE SPARK” from THE LAST JEDI. 

Hey @ashesforfoxes by the way, am I right you wanted a meta on this scene?? 

GIF by thatlittlesoything

This is an absolutely incredible scene as we all know, and the music adds so much to the storytelling through JW’s careful and brilliant layering & transitioning between key themes. The cue begins with dark, menacing low strings and a mournful, plaintive line on the bassoon, as Connix & D’Acy tell Leia that the signal has been received, but no one is coming. Leia processes this information - “We fought til the end” - as beautiful low horns play a stoic theme appropriate for her acceptance of the situation. It comes to a resolution as she says “The spark…is out…” 

Yet almost immediately after saying this, and hearing the theme on the horns resolve, something changes in Leia’s expression and body language. Immediately as her eyes lift, sensing Luke’s presence through the Force, the music also shifts, questioning woodwinds leading to shimmering harp, slightly dissonant woodwinds, and a beautifully mysterious line in the high strings underscoring Luke’s dramatic, hooded entrance. 

As we see Luke’s face, there is a brief statement of The Force theme in its classic French Horn instrumentation, which almost immediately transitions into the classic “Luke & Leia” theme from Return of the Jedi. Here, the theme is played in gorgeous rich, warm tones by the cellos - it sounds like a human voice, and sits beautifully underneath their dialogue, supporting it without intruding upon this heart-wrenching moment. It’s delicate, but the theme is so incredibly evocative and emotional that the scene needs nothing else. The phrasing is expertly done so that the theme fades away as they reach their hands out to touch. There is then a beautiful little piece of transitional scoring in the strings. and a moment of emphasis on Luke’s eyes - we don’t realize it until a moment later, but this is when he is putting the dice into his sister’s hands. 

The music seamlessly transitions into Han Solo & The Princess, or Han and Leia’s love theme. I tear up every single time I watch or listen to this moment - “no one’s ever really gone.” Bringing the theme associated with Han back at this moment immediately underlines the fact that Luke isn’t just talking about Ben Solo, but reminding Leia that the good and beautiful things about her husband live on in their memories, and in her son as well. 

GIF by forcegif-deactivated20181223

The music shifts again after Luke kisses Leia on the forehead, beginning a march-like rhythm and three note rhythmic motif that may sound familiar, due to the descending minor third (giving us Imperial March/Vader’s Theme vibes.) You’ll notice that this shift happens while the camera is still lingering on the shot of Luke and Leia together, framed by the light behind them. It DOESN’T change on the cut - how on the nose would that be! It’s much more dramatically interesting to start this new theme and new direction of the drama as though we are inside’s Luke’s head, as he has said goodbye to his beloved sister and is ready to perform his final act of heroism, bravery and sacrifice. 

As Luke leaves the cave and begins walking out to face Kylo and The First Order, the theme is traded off throughout the orchestra as the rhythm becomes more subdivided, dynamics increase, and tension mounts to an almost unbearable level, with Kylo Ren’s shuttle hovering menacingly and Imperial walkers lining up. One of the most iconic shots of the entire movie is punctuated by a piercing moment of high strings and swelling brass, before the relentless rhythm returns. 

Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, lists this moment as his favorite from The Last Jedi. 

“After giving Leia a souvenir of Han Solo—another wordless exchange, conducted via leitmotif—the ostensible Luke marches out onto the salt flats of the planet Crait, which, in one of the film’s many inspired visual strokes, turn crimson red when stepped upon. Williams is no minimalist, favoring quick harmonic motion in his music, but here he fixates on an F-minor chord, with a three-note figure—F, C, A-flat—ricocheting around the orchestra. When Luke inexplicably survives an all-out Imperial barrage, the motif returns, banged out on the timpani. The dramatic soprano Christine Goerke was not the only person who thought here of the Agamemnon figure in Richard Strauss’s “Elektra.” Agamemnon haunts that opera from beyond the grave; likewise, Luke is not actually present on Crait, instead appearing by long-distance Force projection. All that darksome, epic music is swirling in Kylo Ren’s conflicted mind.”

Everything about the music in this cue is precise and intentional, yet it is the skill and mastery of John Williams on full display that makes it all feel so natural and inevitable, as if there was no other music that could have ever existed accompanying this highly significant scene in the film. It’s truly one of my favorite moments of musical drama that JW has ever blessed us with. 

#Star Wars#Star Wars meta#SW: TLJ#bringing this back for a friend
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