Over at That Shelf, I took a look at how romance and the marginalization of Rose Tico are symbolically linked in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. You can read my full thoughts via the link below:
The Rise of Skywalker, The Death of Romance
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Published by Courtney Small
The founder of Cinema Axis, Courtney is a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic who can frequently be heard discussing film as co-host of Frameline on Radio Regent. Courtney has contributed to several publications including Leonard Maltin, That Shelf, POV Magazine, In the Seats, Black Girl Nerds, and Comix Asylum. He has appeared on ET Canada and Hollywood Suite's Cinema A to Z. Courtney celebrates diversity in cinema as host of the Changing Reels podcast and is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics Society, and the African American Film Critics Association. He is also a Golden Globes International Voter.
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Interesting. For me Rose was simply a bad character who brought nothing to the story. Tran was a delight and it certainly wasn’t her fault. I believe Johnson’s writing is to blame. Sadly she faced the juvenile abuse of a scumbag social media minority. That was disgusting and indefensible. But that still doesn’t make Rose a good character IMO.
I agree that the abuse Tan endured was uncalled for. I don’t think Rose was a bad character though. I thought she was more pivotal to The Last Jedi than say Zorii Bliss (who I enjoyed but gets upstaged by Babu Frik at every turn) or the other new additions are to The Rise of Skywalker. It would have been interesting to see them expand on the character of Rose. Work on the correcting the perceived flaws rather than letting Beaumont and Snap Wexley unnecessarily suck up all the air.
That’s fair. For me Johnson left her in such a weird place. But you’re right, this film didn’t seem too interested in trying to make her more interesting. In essence she received the Jar Jar treatment.