Star Wars (again): Finn and romance
While I am definitely in favor of Finn having a romantic ending in Episode IX, it's not without some pitfalls. I've said before that I think there are two likely romances in store for him, so here's a quick rundown on the problems they pose.
Finn x Rey endgame:
- Rose ends up as the temporary love interest, an obstacle: a role that gets assigned to women of color far too often, only to have the 'right' women be white.
- Bigger possibility of Rose getting sidelined within IX.
Finn x Rose endgame:
- The buildup for romantic finnrey in VII turns into another example of Finn's story as bait-and-switch. (Before people try to argue that there was no romantic buildup: 1, 2, 3 - read those first.)
- Increased chance of Finn getting sidelined (again) in IX.
Endgame Finn x Rose also makes it more likely that the Force storyline remains completely unconnected to any of the characters of color (still, again)... barring something else, like force-sensitive Finn, or using Naomi Ackie’s character in the Force storyline, etc.
Even with the pitfalls (and there are more, I just went with the most obvious ones for each pairing), I think it would be worse to have no romantic conclusion for Finn. We've had two movies now where his onscreen interactions hinted at romance; to ignore that would be a disservice. Especially since dark-skinned black men in big budget and franchise films don't often get to have an important romance written as part of their story arc. They’re either alone, or they have an established relationship going into the story.
What about you? Any thoughts about how romance might happen in episode IX?
Posted at Dreamwidth: https://rose-griffes.dreamwidth.org/300898.html. Comment where you wish.