captain marvel’s “my name is carol” > the rise of skywalker’s “and i am all the jedi. a thread.

i don’t like comparing female heroines because dudebros already do it relentlessly, but both scenes that take place in the final act are scarily similar- and disappointingly different.

let’s take on captain marvel first. the supreme intelligence tells carol is nothing, only human. she has no true power and she should just submit. but, now knowing her identity and getting power from knowing who she is finally, she declares “my name is carol.”

“my name is carol”= i am carol, and THATS WHY I AM STRONG. because i am ‘just human’. she didn’t need to be vers to be powerful, she just needed ownership of her identity. her saying that then completely destroying the supreme intelligence links her power to her and ONLY her.

now let’s take on tros. palpatine tells rey she’s nothing, just a scavenger. rey, after hearing all the voices of the jedi, declares she is “all the jedi” and defeats palpatine.

now. there’s nothing wrong with theorietically, with rey finding she’s not alone against palp. but there’s something lacking when it comes to her declaration. it lacks the emotional and dramatic weight compared to captain marvel’s. especially in light of jj’s comments.

she’s just a vessel. she’s a vessel for the jedi and their power. this once deeply personal arc of identity and her taking ownership of her own power is reduced with this line. palpatine tells her SHE is nothing, SHE is just a scavenger.

this isn’t time for a group project. it’s time for her to stand up and say ‘I am Rey. And I am powerful’ not that she’s all the jedi. in my opinion it’s faux empowerment and why it doesn’t hit as well or as hard as carol’s statement. If you wanted rey to win, make REY win.

this trilogy should have never been a fight between the sith and the jedi (again). this trilogy should have aligned more with captain marvel- a trilogy about identity and agency. the struggle should have felt personal. man v self, not man v man.

maybe the “all the jedi” line would have worked if rey CARED about all the jedi, about obi wan, anakin, mace windu and the the “four female jedi”. But she didn’t. It has always been HER story. like captain marvel was always carol’s story.

anyway, for this to truly be a win for rey, rey had to win. not all the jedi. “just rey”. which is why the final showdown falls flat and why it lacks any of the emotional weight captain marvel’s declaration. it’s a hollow end to the heroine’s story.