![]() ![]() He personally kills and orders the deaths of innocent civilians (after Captain Phasma asks him what to do about the villagers, suggesting that gratuitous mass slaughter is not necessarily standard practice, even in the First Order). Moreover, the narrative does not take pains to downplay the visceral evil of these acts. He is portrayed as sympathetic due to his deep internal conflict and through his status as the son of two beloved Star Wars heroes, but he also violates the setup of the “enemies to lovers” trope in that he is shown as committing acts that could be deemed unforgivable by the audience. Elizabeth falls in love with him once she sees all that he has done.īy contrast, Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens is clearly presented as a villain (in both appearance and action). Darcy goes above and beyond to take care of Elizabeth’s family and corrects his mistake when he realizes why Elizabeth is angry with him. The Beast saves Belle from the wolves and their conflict resolves and their romance begins. ![]() Typically the conflict between the characters resolves when the character that was in the wrong, or believed to be in the wrong, proves themselves to be heroic or otherwise of good moral character. Often the character don’t like each other due to some misunderstanding (Pride and Prejudice) or a character flaw on the part of one or both of the characters, such as selfishness or a temper (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast). When the conflict between the characters isn’t of a violent nature it is sometimes the case that neither characters is portrayed as committing any truly evil act. ![]() This is why Catwoman is a jewel thief, not a mass murdering terrorist, and why Mara Jade is part of a criminal gang when Luke first meets her, not an Imperial agent. Making the audience despise the “evil” character initially is counter productive to that end. The story creators want the audience to eventually like this character and see them as an acceptable (through the lens of current social morals) love interest. Typically when either of these tropes are used and one of the enemies is portrayed as heroic while the other is portrayed as being villainous, the “evil” character is portrayed as being morally grey at worst and is never shown in the story doing anything that the audience would be likely to consider unforgivable. Such is sometimes the case with James Bond and his femme fatales and the titular characters in Mr. It is also quite common, when the “enemies to lovers” trope is used, for both of the enemies to be portrayed as being equally morally gray, just positioned on opposite sides of the conflict. The villainous character is usually set up in such a way, either through portrayal or background, to inform the audience that they should not be seen as “pure evil” a la, say, Emperor Palpatine in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Often the villainous character is of a similar age and, in the enemies to lovers trope, typically of opposite gender as the protagonist. Though it must be remembered that in mainstream, published fiction, “enemies to allies” and “enemies to lovers” are not interchangeable tropes, just as two characters who may be easily written as friends are not necessarily set up in a way that allows for structurally-logical romance.īoth the “enemies to allies” and “enemies to lovers” tropes are set up through the inclusion of two equally antagonistic characters or a heroic character and a villain/antagonist. As such, it is unsurprising that fans have debated the use of these tropes in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. “Enemies to allies,” and its popular counterpart, “enemies to lovers,” are extremely common and popular story tropes. The comparison will show whether their relationship, as presented in canon, is in agreement with or in violation of the trope. Here we examine how the “enemies to lovers” trope is used in modern popular fiction and compare and contrast it with how Kylo and Rey’s relationship is presented in the Force Awakens. In such cases, the surrounding context of the story and structure, as well as an understanding of how such tropes work and – significantly – why they work, should be given special consideration. However, various tropes are similar enough in essential elements that they are easily confused or misidentified (sometimes by design). While badly-written tropes can come off as “cliche,” the most common fiction tropes are so popular, and are relied on so heavily, because they have a fundamental logic to them that the creators know most or much of the target audience will grasp instinctively. Tropes serve the function of signaling story elements to the audience and of providing shortcuts to understanding said story.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |