Star Wars: Rey & Kylo Ren’s Kiss Ruined Both Their Character Arcs

gamerant.com:

While there were problematic elements with all the Star Wars films that were made since Disney acquired the franchise, the most complaints were raised about the final movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Several moments in this film didn’t seem to fit the world or felt too forced and cheesy to audience members. One particular scene involves the romance between Rey and Kylo Ren.

The negative feedback for this final film led to fans viewing it as a disappointing “conclusion” to the storyline, as it left viewers with more questions than were answered in the film. Mainly, why set up a romance so late, considering the final movie is the only film in the series that explores a romantic connection between Kylo Ren and Rey?

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In response, Disney and Abrams have denied that this kiss was romantic, insisting that it was more of a familial relationship and that the kiss was a kiss of gratitude instead of romance. Nonetheless, there’s no denying that the way it was performed and shot felt romantic, which is essentially what made it unsuccessful. There was no prior ground for setting up a romance between these two, which made the kiss stand out as feeling unnatural and forced.

While many fans were not pleased by the kiss or what it brought (or didn’t bring) to the story, several were not surprised to see it. In fact, many Star Wars fans directly attribute the kiss to very specific and commonly used Disney formulas. Many of these fans believe that creators are trying to pass the kiss off as “gratitude” or an expression of Platonic love as a means of creating excuses for choosing to include the kiss, after the audience response was less than thrilled about it.

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