Originally Posted by
taozen
I am glad this thread was created. Finn oh Finn.
First of all I want to say that John Boyega nailed this role. He was great in his performance and had great chemistry with every character he interacted with in the movie.
But let talk about Finn. Before I get into my thoughts about the character, it is interesting to see how different groups interpret Finn. Or more specific, one group in general sees him differently. I listen to a lot of podcasts especially ones that focus on scifi and fantasy media. And all demographics seem to enjoy Finn as a character with the exception of some members of one group, black men.
But why have so many black men expressed so much displeasure in the characterization of Finn. I think it stars with how they marketed The Force Awakens. In the first full teaser trailer you hear the voice over about an awakening in the force and you the first face you see in Finn. You also see that he has been raised to do one thing, fight, but now he has nothing to fight for. Later in the first trailer you see Finn welding the lightsaber and one can assume that he will weld the force. You do not see any other protagonist welding the saber. Now I have to say that any true fan of Star Wars that watched the marketing knew that the Rey character was designed in the mold of Anakin and Luke in location and dress. But back to Finn. Finn's TV spot was marketed on shows like Empire welding that lightsaber. Hey, only Force sensitive individual weld those but I saw the expression on Finn's face and his combat style and I had my doubts. But I was hopeful.
So what I hopeful for? A young black protagonist in a scifi film franchise. Why? BECAUSE THERE ARE NONE! NONE? Yes sir, none. So many men in the black nerd culture have been craving a black young black male hero. And with those trailers you get the impression that Finn was going to be that character. Why? Because he was welding the lightsaber. I even told my girlfriend, that I knew that Rey was going to be a Jedi. If Finn is not then I was going to be upset and if he dies in the film then I was not going to watch any other episode in the franchise. She was shocked because she knows how much I love Star Wars. But I digress. It looked as if in Finn were going to be that character. I am a black man and I showed the first trailer to my nephew who is black and latino (just like Miles Morales). When my 16 year old nephew saw that first full trailer, he mouth was wide open in awe. Because he saw Finn with that lightsaber and that trailer was incredible. He even said that he had never seen that before. Why? Because there are no young black male protagonist in scifi action movies. NONE! He was extremely excited. Hell I have a difficult time finding scifi/fantasy novels with a black male protagonist. They are extremely rare. So my point is with the marketing most people who are just causal fans thought that Finn was the protagonist. I have to say that with all the marketing I thought that the story was going to be about the badass pilot (Po), the badass Jedi(Rey) and the badass soldier (Finn).
Those were the expectations based on the film's marketing. Now the Film presents a different Finn. The marketing was to hide that the true protagonist of the film was Rey. There was none showing her with a lightsaber. Keep in mind the marketing of Rey to women was huge. One only had to watch some of the ABC shows like Grey Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder. Ray was all over the place smashing people with that staff o hers. Star Wars fans have always been males in general. You know they were going to show up in droves to see the film. So how could they bring women to this movie? Put in a female protagonist and market the hell out of it. And it worked like a charm.
Now back to Finn. Finn's characterization bothered a lot of black men. When I was watching the movie and when they described Finn's past of being taken, having no name and being programed to follow orders I thought he was basically enslaved. Then every time Finn had a climatic confrontation, he lost and ended on his back with someone standing over him. It happened with Rey, the Storm Trooper and with Kylo Ren. To many it just shows the only black character of significance in the film losing all of his significant battles. Not only that he is the comic relief in the film. He is extremely likable. A lot of people see Finn as a side kick character to Rey who is the protagonist. Why? Because Star Wars is all about Jedi. Also we should not be surprised since Star Wars is all about the Skywalker clan. It is about their story.
So much of Finn's character embodies tropes that many people are so tied of seeing in Black males. The comic relief side kick. The side character whose story just serves the protagonist. And that is what Finn does. Many people in this thread have expressed how Finn overcomes his fear and finally stops running to finally fight. He does so. Why? Because Rey is kidnapped. That is his turning point in the film which happens at the end of the second act. He does not do so to defend himself. He does so for another character that he is head over heels for. You really see his feelings when he sees Rey being carried by Ren. He sprints towards the First Order screaming for Rey. When he finally meets up with Rey what does he say to her. He says, "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" That Finn is totally in love?
Most of the time when Finn tries to save Rey he comes up short. She saves herself. From the scene on Jakku when she is attacked by those men attempting to steal BB-8 to the scene on Starkiller Base. She escaped using force persuasion. His character is neutered as he basically serves the film's protagonist. In the climatic scene when Rey is knocked unconscious he faces the most feared character of the First Order. He lights the saber again to defend Rey and comes up short. He is severely injured. Then you have the scene in the movie that received the most cheers. When the saber flies by Kylo into Reys hand, the theater cheered so loudly. And that happened the 3 times I have watched the movie. That scene is set up for Rey to finally accept her destiny.
The interesting thing is that the only group that seems to have a problem with the characterization of Finn are some Black male geeks. I think that the reason is that we are hungry, no starving, for a black male scifi hero which we have not seen in a long long time. I read an article with Cathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm and she basically said that you are going to see female representation in these films. And you can see it in this film. The marketing and casting were brilliant. The Hunger Games series proved that a women can lead a scifi franchise that is a huge success. So with Daisy Ridley in the lead role, it will pull women to this goliath of a franchise and the record breaking revenues proved it worked. Tons of women in numerous podcasts have spoken emotionally about how important a character Rey is. How she was strong. How she did not need to be saved. How she was capable. Keep in mind that many people saw the opposite in Finn. He was defeated 3 times throughout the film. He had to be saved more than once. And his story just serves the character of Rey. Finn in the film was not the hero we were looking for.