The Importance of symbolism and visual poetry: the force awakens

One thing I cherish about Star Wars are the lightsaber battles. The original trilogy may have dated effects and the prequels over-utilized CGI and the green screen, but the sequels definitely had the perfect combination of grounded realism and updated special effects. I am here to today to analyze my personal favorite lightsaber duel from Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the next part of my little sequel trilogy appreciation month. This one pits Kylo Ren against Rey for the very first time in a freezing backdrop, and although as an action sequence it looks incredible, there is some deeper meaning that I have come to discuss. If readers aren’t aware of this fight, it takes place right after Finn is injured by Ren and Rey finally takes the lightsaber to defend her friend.

So, like I mentioned, Finn has been defeated by Kylo Ren, and is currently laying down injured and bleeding out from a lightsaber wound. Kylo Ren, also injured from Chewie’s weapon, attempts to use the force to acquire Luke’s saber and escape. Unexpectedly, instead of coming to him, it flies directly to Rey, who was using the force as well. This is somewhat of a callback to the interrogation scene between the two in which Rey discovers Kylo’s true weakness, failing to meet the legacy of Darth Vader. Kylo, already flustered that she realized this, cannot even overpower her when it comes to using the force. The first weapon of Vader does not call to him, rather Rey, and it absolutely infuriates him. Enraged, the two begin their fight. As we can see with Rey’s facial expression as she takes up the lightsaber, this moment plays as another callback of sorts to when she refused to even go near the saber when Maz Kanata told her to take it. She is conquering those fears despite her reluctance, and much unlike a Jedi, she goes right on the attack. Ren, on the other hand, seems to be toying with her almost, curious to see the potential without attempting to kill. Then, something ticks inside him, and he almost rages with destruction, constantly trying to throw Rey off of her balance with his saber techniques.

Then, Kylo has nearly defeated her as he gets their lightsabers locked together as Star Killer Base begins to crumble, splitting the landscape in two as Rey gets pushed closer and closer to the edge. Then, as a last resort of some kind, Kylo says: “You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of the force,” which is an interesting line. Why wasn’t it “I can show you the ways of the Dark Side?” I interpret this as more Kylo talking to himself. For one, he is in no shape or form capable to be a teacher or master, and second of all, it seems like this is in his own self-interest. He wants to discover all there is to know about both the Light Side and the Dark. When Kylo mentions the word “force”, Rey taps into her abilities, closing her eyes, relaxing, letting the force flow through her body. Although on the surface it seems like she’s simply defending herself, look closely at her facial expression. It’s full of hatred and violence rather than fear, and it brings to question whether she was tapping into the Dark Side of herself to survive. This is only one interpretation, however, but an interesting one.

From here on out Rey is fully on attack mode, slashing at Kylo left and right, back and forth, never letting up. Kylo Ren is now fearing for his life, stumbling backwards and trying to maintain balance. She has clearly tapped into something more powerful than himself, and it shows. Eventually Rey gets a nice, clean stab at Kylo’s arm, giving him yet another wound to worry about as he keeps struggling to fight. As Kylo can do nothing but block, Rey attacks and kicks him down. In this moment, her facial expression and body language almost seems like she is a predator hunting prey, which in this case is Kylo. She grits her teeth like a tiger, and circles the fallen Ren. Kylo, nearly defeated, gets up for one last rodeo with a misguided attack, to which Rey easily blocks. Next, we get possibly the most iconic shot in the entire movie where it depicts Rey holding Kylo’s saber, and Kylo doing the same to her’s. Cinematographer Dan Mindel then cuts back to an establishing shot so that audiences get the full picture. Both JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson have stated that Kylo and Rey are like two sides of one protagonist, the dark and the light of one force. Here, it’s almost like the two are Yin and Yang, and this is a visually gorgeous way of depicting the light and the dark. However, to break it all up, Rey fiercely brings her lightsaber up and gives one final blow to Kylo, defeating him. In the novelization of the movie, Palpatine’s voice tells Rey to finish him off, fully turning her to the Dark Side for just a moment. This is a solid connection to The Rise of Skywalker, and makes his sudden return a little less out of left field. However, before this could happen, the force intervenes, and she rushes back to help Finn.