I’ve been thinking a lot about the scene where R*se tases Finn for apparently “”””deserting””””, and aside from the gross violence of that scene, it really just doesn’t make any sense.
For context, in the Rebel Alliance during the OT, it’s made clear that allies can come and go at will. In ANH, Han escorts Luke, Leia, and the droids to the rebellion, and then his job is done. He’s paid, thanked, and sent on his way.
Granted, Luke and Leia give Han shit about leaving, but they do so because they think he’s selfish, and they’re feeling abandoned in their hour of need. Their protests against Han leaving are personal, and they don’t invoke military protocol to make him stay (hint: because that protocol doesn’t exist.)
The Rebellion leadership doesn’t even comment on Han leaving. As far as they’re concerned, Han did them a favor, and now he’s leaving. Simple as that.
Even when Han does return in time for the events of ESB, you literally see a rebel leader saying something like, “Don’t you have debts to pay off? Isn’t it unsafe for you to be here?”
So again, Han is clearly considered a free agent by the rebellion. He’s an ally, not a soldier. And do you wanna know why? (Come closer, because this is the important bit): the Rebellion, unlike the Empire, doesn’t conscript soldiers. That’s a basic, common sense tenant of their mission, and is clearly demonstrated in both the OT films and associated novels.
One more example: after blowing up the Death Star, and helping the rebels on Hoth, Luke goes off on his own to Dagoba. It’s clearly an unsanctioned mission and he probably didn’t tell anyone where he was going, for safety reasons. Yet no one says a word against him. Again, as far as the Rebellion is concerned, Luke stopped by to help out, and then went off on his own.
Why then, when Finn does the same thing, is he considered a coward and a deserter? (I mean, I realize the reason is “racist writing,” but I still want to break this down a bit.)
In TFA, Finn saved the Resistance. He made the destruction of Starkiller Base possible by getting the shields down, and then faced down Kylo Ren.
Afterwards, Finn’s injured and taken to the Resistance medbay to heal. If we use the logic of the OT Rebellion (or literally any non-fascist logic) Finn was brought back to the Resistance because of medical necessity, and he would be free to leave upon waking.
Finn never joined the Resistance before he was knocked unconscious on Starkiller Base. Like Han and Luke, Finn agreed to help with a single mission, and he did. He fulfilled his promise, and in return, the Resistance provided medical aid.
In the same situation 30 years beforehand, Luke woke from medical treatment on Hoth, left the Rebels to seek out Yoda, and no one said a damn thing.
So anyway, if you want to claim that Finn is a coward or deserter for trying to leave, you’re also claiming that the Resistance conscripts soldiers in their sleep. Finn never swore his allegiance to the Resistance. Since conscripting soldiers goes against the core values of the Rebellion, there is zero (0) reason to think that Finn owes the Rebellion anything when he wakes up. He saved their asses, and they in turn provided emergency medical aid. That’s it.
(Also, since R*se has clearly heard of Finn and worships him as a hero, she damn well knows this, so her violent actions can’t be chocked up to ignorance/unawareness.)
tl;dr the Resistance doesn’t conscript soldiers, and Finn never consented to join them. Therefore, he wasn’t a coward or deserter for trying to leave (to save his best friend, I might add.) He was a civilian, waking on a military base, and then exercising his right to leave. Finn is amazing and brave and he always has been. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
I thought it was obvious that the whole traitor bullshit had nothing to do with the actual resistance and everything to do with Rose’s perception of reality and grief being badly written.
Aah interesting. I mean, I picked up on that a bit, but like you said it’s badly written, and the unnecessary violence just sort of…overrode everything else in that scene for me. Also, I thought Rose was officially stationed there, since she’d been doing it all day? I might be misremembering though, since I’ve only put myself through the pain of that movie twice.
On top of that, though, later on, Holdo publicly (and disdainfully) calls Finn a “stormtrooper,” right? Which, while not strictly calling him a deserter, is a far cry from how we saw Leia treat Finn in TFA – calling Finn brave for leaving the FO, and for saving Poe’s life.
Kind of a tangent but it’s so, so unfortunate that we went from that kind, perceptive Leia who supported and encouraged her troops, to Holdo disrespecting Finn and Leia slapping/stunning Poe.
But yeah I definitely see where you’re going with that, and if it had been written and played out differently (w/out the cartoon violence against Finn) it might have worked. Like, Rose’s grief could have been a really powerful catalyst for her story, so it’s unfortunate that her characterization was so inconsistent. I long for the Rose that we might have had, in the hands of a better writer.
yeah it’s definitely grief driven, but still poorly conveyed and just a terrible idea. outside of this really over the top and unnecessary display of violence towards finn, her feelings about paige are barely acknowledged at all.
ex. you have this bad reaction to a pretty innocuous statement
and here it’s explicitly stated that her anger stems directly from grief over paige.
it also establishes that some unknown officer issued orders to “stun any unauthorized personnel near the pod bays.” which is preeettyyyyy relevant to your original point, that finn never signed up for and resistance and even if he had, is still his own person and has the right to choose if he stays or goes because the rebellion and in theory the resistance also doesn’t operate like that. it’s also worth mentioning that other canon media DOES portray the resistance as an organization that recruits are free to leave if they choose (ex. the in newest join the resistance book, one of the characters is considering leaving to return home because she is homesick, and it’s clearly shown as something she is totally free to do)
space 