Thread by @Reyllos

Women love Kylo bc the ST is being filmed based on a female point of view and Kylo is (it seems) the/a love interest; He's being written and filmed as such

They focus on his hair, his eyes, his lips more intensely than any other character. They man was shirtless, Merlin's sake-

"Camila, you're crazy"

Sorry to break it down to you, but he's the ONLY character that actually got a "she's all that"(*) moment in ST - even tho Finn and Rey had the same opportunity to take off their "masks" and wow people with their good looks, this only happened with Kylo

(*) "She's all that" is a 90/00's movie back at that time we had a lot of classic romcoms and it was fairly common to have the love interest to either show up and wow the main character (and the audience) with their beauty OR to have a make-over and, again, wow everyone

(it's seriously the same reaction BUT OKAY)

in case people still think i'm tripping when I'm say this is faily common ("whatever it takes" and "princess diaries")

i know what some people are thinking,Rey also had a "she's all that" moment when she grabbed the saber and Kylo (+the audience) were awed. But I don't consider it as *that* exactly bc that scene had the purpose to show Kylo (+the audience) was mostly awed at Rey's Force abilities

- while on "she's all that" moments the scenes are to specifically show one of the characters find the other attractive and period.-
Reylo-wise the different semantics between the two scenes doesn't matter that much cause you get a romantic-attraction-awed vibe from both

But in the terms of stablishing Kylo is being filmed as a love interest (PS: OF freaking COURSE, that's not all he is), it is important to notice the difference between the scenes because we never had a moment where the movie tried to tell us Rey, Finn, Poe, anyone are beautiful-

But we had one for Kylo. And only Kylo.
(i'd even argue we kinda had two when Rey asked Kylo to put something on when he showed up shirtless)

Plot wise... I know people might be mad at me, but it's quite simple to see it. From the main character point of view, which is Rey (which gives the story a "female gaze"), Kylo is the mysterious handsome new guy with a shady past and a tortured soul. Does this ring any bells(*)

(*) NO, i'm not saying Han is only a love interest as I'm not saying Kylo is only a love interest either. Characters are complex and have several stories WHICH INCLUDES ROMANCE, thank you.

NO I'm not saying all these characters are the same (far, far from it) I'm saying -

there are certain plot and character arcs that have similar structures and are used on several stories for the same purpose. A hero arc, anti hero arc, villain arc, all of them have similarities even on different stories (which have different audiences too) but they follow-

certain patterns that will be identified by the audience (even if subconsciously). Based on those patterns the audience- of targed groups of the audience- will have an expected reaction to it. When we see a hero fall we naturally hope (and know) they will rise again-

When we see a volatile character falling under their metaphorical acid rain, we expect them to become a villain. When we see the mysterious handsome new guy the main character stares a lot at, we know they'll be the or a love interest.

All this crazy long rant was to say, it's no accident people are so attracted to Kylo. It's not, unlike some believe, a mob insanity of people having a "kink for murderers" (ask how many people are attracted to Snoke, Palpatine, heck even the Hux even tho Domhnall IS a pretty guy

I ASSURE you there are not as many people attracted by them as they are too Kylo. Well, aren't they villain/murderers too? Doesn't Hux look ~cute in his first order outfit while yelling to kill people?)

And it's not even insane some people don't even realize this very strong message behind Kylo's story and cinematography.......... because they aren't the target audience that WOULD understand it. They aren't attuned to the "female gaze"/POV of the sequel triology

They are expecting Leias (in golden bikinis...), Padmes (even tho, let's note Anakin also had a lot of the elements of this thread) because all the other Star Wars were filmed with a male main character, a male point of view.
And it's okay, stories have different points of views

But what people need to understand NOW is that this fundamental part of the story changed. The story isn't being told the same way, because it's being perceived by a different kind of character - it's being TARGED towards a different group in the audience(*)

I mean, how many new female Star Wars fans we have now after ST? This isn't just because a woman is the main character- as an isolated factor-it's bc the entire story is being told and viewed with a more feminine gaze(the Kylo situation being one example of it, not all of it btw)

(*) This is not to say they don't care about all groups, and old groups, of course they do. But you can tell Lucasfilm and Disney are trying to reach a group of the audience they struggled to understand with Star Wars: the female audience - And it's working(!!)

What I'm going with this is that as much as people want to think women are caught up in group insanity while feeling attracted to Kylo, they are failing to see this is (as it seems) EXACTLY what the movies want. They WANT them to be attracted to him.

And the other groups that watch the movies only because of the Sci-fi stuff, the battles, heck, the women characters (?), of course they don't get it. Of course they aren't affected by this subliminary (or not so subliminary tbh) part of the story-

Because, sometimes - most times - they can't relate 100% to this feminine side narrator. Bc they would never in a million years be attracted to Kylo, even if it was any other actor, because it's simply not the kind of thing that attracts them. It's not who they are.

(This is not to say ALL women should be attracted to Kylo, btw, I'm saying a huge group of them has the same feeling towards him because that's what the story seems to be targeting - doesn't mean everyone agrees or has the same taste.)

This thread got so big I had to post it before the conclusion:

While I'm not going further to analyse what this view of Kylo means for the PLOT (i.e: Reylo) I'm saying that, no matter the reason, Kylo is being painted as an attractive character, even if some people don't see it