**Post may contain spoilers in you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens Yet... You have been Warned**
So far, I've seen 'The Force Awakens' twice, now. As I sat wrapped up my second viewing of the widely anticipated film, I started contemplating Kylo Ren, and where he sits in the lengthy history of the notable villains which make up the Star Wars universe.
So far, I've seen 'The Force Awakens' twice, now. As I sat wrapped up my second viewing of the widely anticipated film, I started contemplating Kylo Ren, and where he sits in the lengthy history of the notable villains which make up the Star Wars universe.
Let me clarify first off, I'm not well versed in the canon of books beyond a superficial knowledge. This is coming from a filmic perspective... Just putting that out there....
Moving on....
There’s been a lot written on Kylo Ren as a character in the little over a week since Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the young villain has proven to be quite a divisive figure in the newly expanded Star Wars Universe. In the ever opinionated social media/blogosphere, Kylo Ren has been the object of awe and excitement, or vitriol only reserved for Jar Jar Binks, or Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker.
What struck this writer as interesting is how human actor Adam Driver’s portrayal of Kylo Ren was. Perhaps it is the old film student in me which wonders, is this at the root of some of the ambivalence surrounding the character. He’s surprisingly relatable, especially when looked at against the other Star Wars villains.
Let’s look at some of the other villains which populate the universe. Darth Vader is pretty much the ultimate villain in the history of pop culture, ranking right up alongside the likes of the Joker and Lex Luthor in terms of recognizably. By episodes 4-7, by the series own admission, Darth Vader is “...more machine now than man.” The recognizable (and dehumanizing) black suit is the only thing keeping him alive.
It seems interesting that roughly halfway through the film, Ren takes off his own mask (seen above), and through any of the film’s climactic moments that we see not the scarily intimidating force user Kylo Ren, but the openly confused and insecure twenty-something under the mask. He could almost be the fanboy next door. If the Dark Side is powerful enough to pull someone out from probably the biggest resistance family in the universe, who else could they sucker in?
There’s a long history of villains in the Star Wars universe: Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, General Grievous and Count Dooku are just some of the names which come to mind. Looking at all these characters, the similarities to Vader (and how Ren stands out in opposition) remains constant. In this group, we have aliens, robots and force using senior citizens.
There is much more yet to be written on this topic, but when looking at the scope of villains across the canon of Star Wars films, Kylo Ren stands out as one of the most relatable, and therefore frightening villains to come out of this franchise.
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| from Bleeding Cool |
Let’s look at some of the other villains which populate the universe. Darth Vader is pretty much the ultimate villain in the history of pop culture, ranking right up alongside the likes of the Joker and Lex Luthor in terms of recognizably. By episodes 4-7, by the series own admission, Darth Vader is “...more machine now than man.” The recognizable (and dehumanizing) black suit is the only thing keeping him alive.
It seems interesting that roughly halfway through the film, Ren takes off his own mask (seen above), and through any of the film’s climactic moments that we see not the scarily intimidating force user Kylo Ren, but the openly confused and insecure twenty-something under the mask. He could almost be the fanboy next door. If the Dark Side is powerful enough to pull someone out from probably the biggest resistance family in the universe, who else could they sucker in?
There’s a long history of villains in the Star Wars universe: Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, General Grievous and Count Dooku are just some of the names which come to mind. Looking at all these characters, the similarities to Vader (and how Ren stands out in opposition) remains constant. In this group, we have aliens, robots and force using senior citizens.
There is much more yet to be written on this topic, but when looking at the scope of villains across the canon of Star Wars films, Kylo Ren stands out as one of the most relatable, and therefore frightening villains to come out of this franchise.
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