Finn as a cult survivor

[ljwrites]

One of the criticisms Finn's writing has received is that he recovers too quickly from a lifetime of brainwashing by the First Order, and is overall written as too well-adjusted to be a victim of lifelong abuse.



It would take too much space to go into all of the ways Finn is still visibly traumatized in TFA and also TLJ, but I'd like to focus on one way that Finn has emphatically not recovered with lightning speed from brainwashing: The major moment in TFA that can be interpreted as Finn showing cult survivor behavior, that is, his speech to Maz and the others that there is no fighting back against the First Order and they all have to run.

In the comment that inspired this post, talewisefellowship excerpted a passage from Combatting Cult Mind Control that talked about the duality that can take place in cult members:

[W]hen dealing with a cult member, it is extremely important to always keep in mind that he has two identities. . . . One moment the person is speaking in cultic jargon with a hostile or elitist know-it-all attitude. Then, without warning, he seems to become become his old self . . .

Compare this to some of Finn's lines in the cantina scene:

There is no fight against the First Order! Not one we can win.

You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll slaughter us. We all need to run.

To be sure Finn is speaking here as a former member of First Order, not a current one--but the certainty of the First Order's invincibility is very much a part of him in this early period of his escape, even if his conviction in it as a force for good no longer is. Cults are frequently about certainty in an uncertain world, and he shows that in spades here, though as a person who is caught on the wrong side of that certainty.

Not only can the audience see this shift in gear, the characters can see it too. Look at Rey's reaction here. She and Han both give Finn a look when he starts talking in this way, indicating they've noticed a change in his behavior. While Han is too jaded/experienced to show much consternation, Rey is increasingly agitated at Finn's change in demeanor and shows it.



To be sure part of her shock and upset is because she still thought of him as a Resistance fighter at this point, but the thing is, he was so convincing to her in that assumed role. He had been brave and skilled in fighting and running from the First Order, yet still showed caring and compassion. He was good at thinking on his feet and never gave up even in impossible situations. There had been nothing to suggest that he was, at heart, despairing of the fight and so certain of the First Order's victory.

Yet here he was, telling her with eerie certainty that the fight was hopeless and they all needed to run to save themselves. It must have seemed like the guy she got to know and had fallen for in such a short time had turned into a completely different person.

Even Maz comments on the change, if you take the novelization into account. After Finn's first outburst about the futility of fighting the First Order, she says:

I'm looking at the eyes of a man who wants to run.

In Chapter XIII of the novelization after Kylo Ren took Rey, however, she says:

Oh wow... I see something else now. I see the eyes of a warrior

This passage also describes Finn out of breath, tears glistening on his cheeks as he gasps to Han, "He took her!" I am going to die of the feels right now thanks

These reactions and lines of dialogue strengthen the case that Finn's pivot from a kind of calm despair back to a willingness to fight isn't inconsistent writing, but rather symptomatic of his being a survivor of the mind control cult that First Order indoctrination was for Stormtroopers like him.

Comments

[redrikki]

There's a tendency in fandom to imagine Finn's childhood as some physically abusive horror show where he and his fellow recruits were beaten into compliance, but you make an excellent point. He wasn't raised by abusive parents, he was inducted into a militarized cult and that effects his recovery process.

[ljwrites]

Physical violence is certainly a part of the arsenal for abusive groups like The First Order, and is a terrifying prospect because there is no recourse and no way out. I think the smarter abusers and groups keep it as a means of last resort, though. There was no sense in physically mistreating/injuring their valuable fighting force if they could be made to obey by other means. And there were plenty of other means to keep them in line.

[redrikki]

Exactly. The whole idea behind indoctrination is to build loyalty. Random violence doesn't do that and it diminishes the troops ability to fight. I can see violence being directed at problem individuals in a very public way so as to send a message about who was in control, but I can't imagine random beatings. howtowfightwrite over on tumblr has done a bunch of posts on abusive training scenarios and children raised for combat and they tend to inform how I imagine Finn's upbringing went.

[gingicat]

Well said.

[ljwrites]

Thank you!

[minoanmiss]

*rolls around in your glorious meta*

[ljwrites]

Yay!

[rose_griffes]

Yeah, I think many fans often dismiss of Finn's trauma by shuffling his words and actions under the "cowardice" column rather than the "recovery from decades of brainwashing & life under an authoritative regime" column.

(Much like fans often forget that Maz was talking to Finn when she says that line about "the same eyes in different people".)

[ljwrites]

It's extra hilarious because the people who dismiss Finn's trauma and call him a coward tend to be the same people who pull out every excuse for actual murder and imagine that it's Kylo Ren, not Finn, who is recovering from a lifetime of brainwashing by a totalitarian dictatorship.

[loopy777]

While I think there's something that can really be done with the idea of Finn as a cult survivor, I'm not sure we really need to reach that far to explain that scene? From what we've seen of the First Order, they do have enough power and reach to get to anyone anywhere. And considering how easily Han detected the Falcon and got to it once it was activated, the galaxy is not an especially small place for people trying to hide. (Which is one of my complaints about TFA.) Finn's assessment is accurate. If anything, the explanation needs to be why he's willing to go against the FO to save Rey, but that's an easy one, because it's Love.

Personally, I've never bought that Finn is inconsistent in any way. He has Fight Or Flight reactions, wanting to avoid violence when he has a choice but reacting capably when he or someone he's very close to are pulled into a fight. He goes to extremes, but that's consistent across all facets of his character. He loves quickly and deeply, and he hates with passion; he fights with all he has, and he runs fast. I think that also plays into how the movies portray him, swerving from giving him real nobility but also slapstick comedy. (But the slapstick something I wish Abrams hadn't added to Star Wars for any of the characters, as it's not stylistically consistent. But then, Abrams's camera work was also very Not George Lucas.)

It's a shame neither of the movies has done anything with putting Finn on the Jedi path. TFA diverged him from that in its final act, so we don't get to see his personality put to use in that way. Ah, well. Maybe IX will come with something at the last second.

[ljwrites]

As they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. On the flip side, just because they're out to get you doesn't mean you're not paranoid. Finn was of course right about their being already recognized, possibly even about the First Order's inevitable victory given the events of TLJ. That doesn't mean he isn't heavily traumatized. Finn has intimate knowledge of the FO and he is heavily damaged from the experience, which are not mutually exclusive statements since he has gained that kind of knowledge of the FO by being victimized by it.

That said, my argument was not that this scene necessitates reading Finn as a cult survivor to make sense, hence the expression "can be interpreted as Finn showing cult survivor behavior" (emphasis added). That is, the specific ways he presented himself as he gave his assessment of the FO's capabilities, and the way others reacted to that presentation, seem to dovetail with what has been observed about cult members. All that is really required for that interpretation to stand is that it accords with and does not contradict what we see in canon. The fact that his tactical assessment is more or less accurate--though hopefully not ultimately, or Episode IX will be a depressing movie--is not a contradiction but an additional explanation in my mind.

I think you make a good assessment of Finn's character! I still hold out hope for some kind of Force-sensitive Finn; I really need to port over my speculative essay about Force-immune Finn. That and a Stormtrooper rebellion are my favorite speculations for IX.

[loopy777]

Ah, okay, I guess I was thrown off by the criticisms you mentioned in the opening. I've seen a lot of discussion, even from fairly intelligent people, that call Finn's characterization a mess, but I just don't get that. Granted, his specific subplot(s) are a bit muddled in what I think they're trying to show, but his character has never been unclear to me, and I've found the overall reaction frustrating.

[lb_lee]

Goddammit LJ why you gotta make me care about the sequel trilogy. I was so not interested and here you come along being like "HAVE I MENTIONED CULTS" and dammit LJ, stop making me care!

...also I recently ran into stuff about how maybe the universe NEEDED the "firm hand" of the First Order, and god, it just made me want to pour bleach into my head. It was the creepiest fascist-y sounding stuff I'd seen and ugh!

[dhampyresa]

I recently ran into stuff about how maybe the universe NEEDED the "firm hand" of the First Order

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow. That's fucked up

[lb_lee]

It was actually way worse than that. I can't really get into it, but suffice to say this person was very... metaphysical about it.

And the way they acted made me feel... well, I found myself thinking, "If Adolf Hitler adored queer kinky poly folks, you would've signed up without a second thought, wouldn't you?"

[ljwrites]

Does that mean I shouldn't link you an essay on the Jedi as a cult? Anyway it's not my fault it was Jack who brought up Finn possibly showing cult victim behavior! *hides*

That kind of Hot Take seems to be of a kind with Kylo Ren stans speculating that he will be a just and benevolent leader ruler of the galaxy and I'm like oh honey, no.

[lb_lee]

The funny thing was, this person HATED Kylo. They were a HUX stan.

(By the way, where did the whole stan term come from, do you know? I see it around, it seems to mean "sycophant fan" but I don't know if that's correct or where it came from!)

[ljwrites]

If anyone is more terrifying than Kylo stans it has got to be Hux stans.

I think it's a portmanteau of stalker + fan!

[lb_lee]

I am so perplexed by Hux's fandom. I mean, I know why, but still, for real, WHY.

...man, that just makes it creepier. Thanks for the explanation though, Googling "stan" was so not going to work...

--Rogan

[dhampyresa]

You make an excellent point.

[ljwrites]

Merci beaucoup!