Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Chirrut Îmwe and Faith Expression

(via moviepliot)

I love Star Wars. Other than Harry Potter, it is probably one of the things that has most influenced my young nerdy life. As a young religious girl I loved the idea of the Force and the Jedi and how their faith in the Force gave them power. Then, like many people, I was dismayed over how the Force and the Jedi were portrayed in the prequels. Maybe it was because of my own issues with my faith, but I very much disliked how overly regimented the Jedi were shown to be and how it seemed to take some of the mystery out of the Force. With the most recent movies, like The Force Awakens and Rogue One, all of the things that I loved about the Force and the Jedi in the original movies were back, and I have to say that Chirrut Îmwe is one of the absolute best examples of someone of faith that I have seen in a long time. And more specifically, it was great seeing a beautiful faith expression that was more reflective of Buddhist and Taoist beliefs.

Fanfiction Fridays: the sharp edge of survival by with_the_monsters

Massive spoiler alert: everyone dies at the end of Rogue One. (That’s okay to say now, right?) The rebel crew, after a long-fought battle on Scarif, get the plans for the Death Star out to Leia Organa, but are all killed in the destruction of the planet. It makes sense from a storytelling perspective; if Jyn, Cassian, and everyone else were good enough to survive Scarif, it wouldn’t make any sense if we didn’t see them fighting alongside Luke and Leia in the original movies. So they had to die. However, if you, like me, left the movie asking yourself “did they really have to die, though???” today’s fanfic is for you.

(via comingsoon)

Trailer Tuesdays: Some Nonromantic Faves (Just in Time for Valentine’s Day)

Howdy, readers!

As usual, our yearly Valentine’s pairing extravaganza will be showing up later today. To balance out that romance-filled spectacle, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite feminist movies that don’t have strong romantic messages for the not-so-romantically-inclined to curl up with on this fine Tuesday night.

This is how people watch movies, right? (via videostereo)

Hit the jump to find out what we picked, in no particular order!

Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Thus Far

(via slashfilm)

The part of me that’s a Star Wars fan has been in overdrive these past few months. With the release of Rogue One, the new season of Rebels, and Carrie Fisher’s death, I’ve been having all the feels. Due to health reasons, however, I actually fell behind watching Rebels this year, and I didn’t manage to get caught up until recently. I’m still not happy that my favorite character Ahsoka Tano is gone from the story, but she has never been the only reason I watched the show. There are still plenty of good things about Rebels to go around, and at this point, if you’re a Star Wars fan and you haven’t been watching the show, you need to.

Rogue One: Many Bothans Died to Bring Us This Movie

“So this proves that, if you whine about a plot hole enough, Lucasfilm will eventually make a movie to fill it,” my friend said to me as the Rogue One credits began to roll. She had a point; while Rogue One was an enjoyable movie, if asked what it added to the franchise, the only hard and fast answer is “an explanation as to why the Empire’s superweapon had such an easily exploitable weak spot”. Ultimately, while Rogue One was a good movie with many strong emotional beats, it never quite made it to great.

Spoilers for everything below the jump!

Trailer Tuesdays: Rogue One Redux

It’s been about six months since the last time we reviewed a Rogue One trailer. Since then the hype has only grown, and December 16^th can’t come fast enough. What we have in the meantime is this second full-length trailer.

This one reveals a bit more, but what it reveals has left me with mixed feelings.

There Are No Women of Color in the Galaxy?

Readers, life is great! The Rogue One trailer was cool, Captain America: Civil War was awesome, and there is a brand new set of Splatoon based Amiibo. Included are a set of the Squid Sisters who are very adorable, and a recolor set of the original girl, squid, and boy. Imagine my excitement when I saw that the new palette for the boy was a Black Inkling! I was incredibly hyped. But then as I looked back at the girl Inkling, I made an unfortunate observation: there is a striking lack of women of color in a lot of our media.

Trailer Tuesdays: Star Wars: Rogue One

It’s been ten or so days since the trailer for Rogue One first dropped, which means I’ve had time to cycle through a full circuit of emotions.