STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS - Can we talk about Finn?

[JaggedFel]

Hmm. Thanks for posting. The final film is more ambiguous. Interesting that it was supposed to be him hearing the beam yet neither Idantho nor Quiggold seem to react. Hopefully a potential director commentary will clear things up.

They wont they need to string black fans along for at least another movie...they will probably make Finn a cyborg or keep as useless comic relief sidekick (and reduce his screentime)...do I want him to have the force sure do I think he will after this hell no.

[simbob4000]

They wont they need to string black fans along for at least another movie...they will probably make Finn a cyborg or keep as useless comic relief sidekick (and reduce his screentime)...do I want him to have the force sure do I think he will after this hell no.

I mean, yeah, sure, why wouldn't they? They're clearly doing all this stuff to mess with black people.

Let's just hope they make Finn as uninteresting as Rey was in this movie. Every night since I've seen The Force Awakens I've just been prying they take the best character in the movie, and make him suck a much as Rey.

[JaggedFel]

I have no doubt Rey will get a better arc or at least that KK and LucasFilm have a vested interested in trying to give Rey a good arc...I have serious doubts they have the same interest in doing so for Finn and not making him suck when it comes to skills.

To answer the point, I rather a character start in a Space Fantasy movies with a strong set of skills that can be developed and some coolness then to start as incompetent as Finn does with a "good arc"

[taozen]

Boyega said in a recent interview that Episode 8 will be darker and his role will be more physical than in TFA. He said that he will be in the gym in order to get in better shape.

So it looks as if Finn will be getting more action in episode 8. Hope they allow his character to grow and transform. My guess is that Finn and Poe will have a one mission and Rey/Luke/Chewie will have another. Then Rey and Finn will reunite at the end of 8 or in the middle of 9.

[simbob4000]

I have no doubt Rey will get a better arc or at least that KK and LucasFilm have a vested interested in trying to give Rey a good arc...I have serious doubts they have the same interest in doing so for Finn and not making him suck when it comes to skills.

To answer the point, I rather a character start in a Space Fantasy movies with a strong set of skills that can be developed and some coolness then to start as incompetent as Finn does with a "good arc"

He's the movies Luke Skywalker, although the movie as more than one Luke Skywalker, but he starts about as incompetently as Luke does. He also does start the movie with a set of skills.

Finn didn't need more skills. Rey could have done without being prefect at everything, but Finn didn't need to be more awesome too. The character was great, he's really the best of that whole group we run into in the movie. They probably should have had a beat up ol' drunk Han Solo that they come across on Jakku be the person that flies them off planet; would have introduced him earlier, shown him in a lower spot, and not have given Rey one more thing she's better than everyone at.

[TheVileOne]

The movie's Luke Skywalker is clearly meant to be Rey.

[simbob4000]

The movie's Luke Skywalker is clearly meant to be Rey.

It's both, clearly, very clearly. Finn is Luke Skywalker. Rey is also Luke, but she's also Han and Leia too. Poe is also Han, and he's given something Leia does at the start of Star Wars...but that's where his Leia stuff ends.

[TheVileOne]

It's both, clearly, very clearly. Finn is Luke Skywalker. Rey is also Luke, but she's also Han and Leia too. Poe is also Han, and he's given something Leia does at the start of Star Wars...but that's where his Leia stuff ends.

I'm thinking no. He's not Force sensitive.

[simbob4000]

I'm thinking no. He's not Force sensitive.

I'm thinking you're not looking at the right thing. He isn't Luke because he's Force sensitive, his story is Luke's. Just like Luke he also is looking to escape his old life. Luke and Finn are both characters who come upon someone that allows them to do the thing they want to, but up until that point couldnt, do. Luke doesn't want his life as a moisture farm, Finn doesn't want his life as a Stormtrooper. They're also both in these places they don't want to be because as baby's they were put where they are.

[TheVileOne]

I'm thinking you're not looking at the right thing. He isn't Luke because he's Force sensitive, his story is Luke's. Just like Luke he also is looking to escape his old life. Luke and Finn are both characters who come upon someone that allows them to do the thing they want to, but up until that point couldnt, do. Luke doesn't want his life as a moisture farm, Finn doesn't want his life as a Stormtrooper. They're also both in these places they don't want to be because as baby's they were put where they are.

I think you are trying too hard to force a connection between Luke Skywalker and Finn because some people are maybe upset with how his role turned out in the plot, and he didn't turn out to be a Jedi or Force user.

[Totoro Man]

I think you are trying too hard to force a connection between Luke Skywalker and Finn because some people are maybe upset with how his role turned out in the plot, and he didn't turn out to be a Jedi or Force user.

if all you're doing is looking at whether Finn is a Force user or not then of course you won't see the connection.

in terms of narrative arcs, though, simbob has a pretty compelling argument:

Finn meets somebody (Poe = R2D2) that helps him escape his life as a stormtrooper. Finn later meets another person that helps him put that life behind him completely (Rey = Obi Wan. yeah, it's not an exact parallelism, but the plot function/relationship is similar.). he later goes to rescue a woman who might hold the key to the forces of good prevailing against the odds (Rey, again. she replaces Leia from the 1st film). he also witnesses an older, wiser man who he respects get killed (Han Solo) and helps participate in destroying a super-weapon. just because it doesn't directly parallel Luke's journey at every plot point from the first film doesn't mean that their narrative arcs aren't very similar.

by contrast Rey is desperately clinging to her old way of life, waiting for people who will never return. in this sense, she has to be forced out of her situation by the intervention of other characters and circumstances. in this respect Rey is actually more like Han Solo than Luke Skywalker (once you eliminate the sensitivity to the Force). she even tries to back out of the situation just like Han Solo did in "A New Hope". (of course, Finn tries to run away too)

I like the idea of them fleeing with Solo and Chewie from Jakku. it would have made more sense to have Han & Chewie do all of that stuff than to give us two complete rookies defeating a pair of veteran tie-fighter pilots. what's done is done, of course. since the Resistance was already looking for the map to Skywalker it would have made sense that Han was somehow involved in an important mission to relocate a long-since-missing old friend.

[TheVileOne]

You lost me at Poe = R2D2.

[Totoro Man]

LOL. okay. I'll try to explain myself better.

R2D2 and Poe are both minor supporting characters that act as catalysts for change in the life of major characters. they are agents of introducing new conflicts into the lives of otherwise insignificant people within their narrative world.

when Luke finds R2D2 he's just a lowly moisture farmer on Tattoine. however, once he acquires the droid it is inevitable that he will come into conflict with the Empire. R2D2 introduces Luke to the world of the Rebel Alliance and puts him at odds with the Empire.

when Finn helps Poe he starts as an essentially nameless stormtrooper. stormtroopers were among the most disposable characters in the Star Wars universe. by taking off his mask, helping Poe escape, and helping deliver the map to Skywalker to Leia he sets himself irreversibly on a course as an enemy of the First Order.

in terms of the opening plot mechanics, and how the characters move the overall plot, comparing how R2D2 transform's Luke's life to Poe changing Finn's life is not that far-fetched.

[simbob4000]

I think you are trying too hard to force a connection between Luke Skywalker and Finn because some people are maybe upset with how his role turned out in the plot, and he didn't turn out to be a Jedi or Force user.

I think you're trying too hard to not see something that's clear as day. It has nothing to do with people's reactions, this was somethings I noticed as I was watching the movie, which was before I saw people complaining about Finn. Finn is the movies Luke. But Luke has been split up between two characters, the other being Rey, who also happens to be Han and Leia. Finn being Luke has nothing at all to do with being a Jedi or using Force powers, it has to do with how they want a different life.

[Totoro Man]

Well, at least Finn didn't get dismembered while using the notorious blue lightsaber like its two previous users did.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

LOL. there's still time for that to happen in the second movie! if they did it in the first film that would be breaking with tradition. ;-)