Rey's Lightsaber Prowess

[ericadawn16]

Since the film opened, people have loved turning Rey into a Mary Sue and saying how she's too good at everything. The biggest complaint is beating Kylo Ren at a lightsaber duel.

This morning, it came up on Tumblr:
http://cartaestilo.tumblr.com/post/140595389681/watching-again-the-trailer-for-the-dvd-release-i

"Watching again the trailer for the dvd release I just realized Rey totally pulls off Kylo’s trademark spin move during their fight!!! Look at her twirling unecessarily the saber! Could this be evidence of Rey learning Kylo’s skills from his mind? Force bond, perhaps? I certainly hope so"

I've been reading stuff like this for months but this morning, I read this and I snapped. I tried to be very polite and joke a little, but I snapped so I had to wonder...why? Why now? Why did it anger me so?

And I figured it out...the when was inevitable once I figured out the why...

When people take Rey's talent away from her and give it away, especially to Kylo Ren, it's ageist, classist and sexist.

Rey can't possibly be that good at a light saber because...

She's only 19, almost 20?

You're forgetting that she was left on Jakku at age 5 so for the most part of the last 14 or 15 years, she's had to fight just to survive...whereas Kylo didn't...
Rey is no different from an Olympic athlete who's trained all their life for an event.

She's only a scavenger from a desert planet with an unknown but most likely low level of academic education? And Kylo was raised in privilege with the best education the New Republic and First Order could provide?

Again, the harsh conditions forced her to find the weapon best for her; a quarterstaff which requires moves very similar to a lightsaber...Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary even acknowledges how her learned weapon skills are easily adapted to weapons she's never worked with before, like lightsabers. These aren't controlled sparring conditions either. She had to learn to hone fast reflexes before the other person could either win the fight or steal her property.
For those same reasons, she also learned many languages and read everything she got her hands on so she could always stay ahead.

She's only...a female?

Why else would someone insist that she learned the moves from Kylo's mind? Or has a Force bond with him enabling her to know everything he does?

If someone is a Reylo fan who craves special connections between them,fine.

But taking away Rey's hard work and skill to give the credit to a male? As if she's not capable and has to have some male as her Saviour?

That's disgusting.

And it makes me upset.

Comments

[ayebydan]

Agreed. People are also very quick to forget that Kylo's training came from dueling the other knights of ren and whataever Luke knew and Luke doesn't know much. I truly believe that the improvements of saber dueling in the prequels make sense. This was when many jedi passed down knowledge. Vader was hindered in his movement by being, well, android so Luke never had to learn more than that. He was a total newbie at this stuff. While Kylo and his opponents could practice a bit their knowldge is more likely to have come from fumbling through things described in books. And as you say, with nothing much on the line. Rey has been using her staff her whole life to survive and avoid being raped and such. She has practical knowledge. So I think this puts them on a pretty even stance physically. And the mental battle suggests she can match Kylo with the force once she understands it more. People cried out for a badass female Jedi, got one, and then they complain and ruin her. Drives me bonkers.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly.