I've made it no secret that I'm NOT a fan of Reyloy (Rey and Kylo Ren) and I honestly hold that, at the time of this writing, that the relationship is just badly written with a LOT of cliche writing that feels lazy and poorly thought out. Case in point, Rey's sudden and out of nowhere desire to redeem Kylo Ren.
No seriously this has zero buildup in The Last Jedi, in one scene "I hate you! You're a Monster" one or two scenes later "But He Can Be Redeemed!!!" She even starts call him Ben as if that's the name she's known him by. Honestly this comes off as "I can Fix Him" Bulltship that you get in a cheesy Teen Romance novel only it's a romance between a school shooter and one of the people related to his victims. It's made worse by Kylo's "Redemption" which boils down to "I don't want to be evil anymore" based on a single act of kindness. This equally comes out of nowhere and given how little Kylo does in the finale it will NEVER go anywhere.
Thus we come to Rayaari (Raya and Namaari) from Raya and the Last Dragon. This pairing... has its issues. The most notable being Namaari betraying Raya's trust on two occasions and saying that Raya is just as guilty of Sisu's death as Namaari is. Let's go over that last point, that's just wrong.
It doesn't matter if it was said in a moment of confusion and anger or Raya put her trust in Namaari and that trust was betrayed. Namaari saying that is wrong. BUT! It should also be noted that when Namaari betrayed that trust she was clearly conflicted on doing so and her first instinct after seeing Sisu in the middle of the film was to go to her mother and try to convince her to work with Raya.
Here's the problem with Kylo's "Redemption" it's never set up. He shows no regret for what he does or who he hurts, NEVER tries to help anyone but himself and spends most of the Trilogy hurting Rey or those close to her and expects THEM to Apologize to HIM for imagined slights and given how quick Rey was to attack Luke and how she wanted to redeem Kylo gives the impression that the film is siding with him. It's not but there's again we're given no reason why Rey would want to redeem him other then "Fan of the Original Trilogy".
Contrast this with Namaari, her main goal is to help her tribe, she shows respect to the Dragons for no other reason then her respect and admiration for them and when she figures out what Raya is doing and that Sisu has returned she WANTS to help. Remember that she says that "Sisu can fix our mistake", THAT'S how she sees it. She knows this is her fault and she wants to make it right and when pressured into doing the opposite she's terrified at the idea and WANTS to be talked out of it.
That doesn't makeup for what she said to Raya later but it's clear that she knows who's to truly blame and she's willing to redeem herself.
Now that's all out of the way let's talk about Raya and Namaari's relationship throughout the film. I don't agree that the filmmakers were trying to only imply that Raya and Namaari were romantically interested in another for LGBT brownie points. The only creator of the film who has said as such is Kelly Marie Tran who voices Raya but as far as I know the Directors, Writers and Producers haven't said anything of the sort.
But they clearly know of it at this point as while they haven't teased the ship at all Rayaari is the single most popular ship in the fandom of RATLD so they've not done anything to counter this view and with The Owl House being such a success, (to the point that they've all but openly apologized for cutting the show short) and their attempts to be supportive of the LGBT community (to the point that they're now in legal trouble for saying as such because some people are still idiots) I wonder if they will go ahead and make Raya the first openly gay Disney Princess?
If that was the case I would want a sequel (preferably a TV or game series) to fully develop said relationship. First and foremost Namaari MUST Apologize for what she said to Raya and needs to save her life SEVERAL times while asking for nothing in return.
I personally do think the two are in love and let's be honest their relationship isn't the most fucked up in the Disney Canon. Please remember that Triton from The Little Mermaid was abusive to Ariel and he never truly apologizes for destroying his daughters collection of human artifacts or takes back what he said about Humans. Sure he turned his daughter into a human but does that truly make up for what he did?
The Beast uses Belle's father as leverage to make her stay with him and Merida poisoned her own mother to try and get her to change her mind.
I don't want a sequel to ignore the issues between Raya and Namaari but rather to show the two, mostly Namaari, trying to make amends for past mistakes. I like would love a episode/mission that has someone trying to kill Namaari, one who lost their family during the 6 years of the Druun but is not limiting themselves to just targeting Namaari but anyone from Fang (Nmaari's tribe).
Revenge can be understood but this person is just lashing out against anyone who they can reach and Raya has to defend Namaari from this person because she knows she's trying to turn things around and moving forward require to let go of revenge.
I know this is kind of an odd place to end Pride Month but it is reflective of my own personal state. While things have gotten better in terms of the treatment of the LGBT as shown with the Review Bombing of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, The Owl House and Warrior Nun getting cut short and a few other things I just don't want to talk about we still have a long way to go before things are better.
Hence why I'm talking about this couple because it's all about overcoming past hate and moving on which Raya and Namaari manage to get started. Honestly Raya and the Last Dragon could have been Called Raya and the Princess of Fang give how the film is really their story and one I would like to see continued.
Again it has issues but no more so then other relationships in the Disney Canon and it's a HELL of a Lot better then Reyloy.
*SE Gamer Style by phpBB Styles
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Limited