Kylo Ren: Mentally ill or just entitled?

[ljwrites]

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is often held up in fandom as an example of a mentally ill abuse survivor whose prospect redemption is said to be an inspiration and hope for fans who are mentally ill and/or have survived abuse. (I have talked before about fandoms' tendency to project marginalized identities on white guy characters.) His bouts of rage seem to be a major basis for this assertion, with the reasoning being that no one would be that irrationally angry if they were sane/neurotypical. His uncontrolled temper, these fans say, must be a sign of trauma, or borderline personality disorder, or some other neurodivergence.

Or maybe it's a sign of a deeply entitled and abusive person?

I don't dispute that Kylo Ren could be mentally ill; mentally ill/neurodiverse people are people like any other, and can be evil like the neurotypicals can. We really need to decouple marginalization from any assumption of personal virtue, but that's another subject. I believe Kylo Ren very likely suffers from Perpetuation-Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS), i.e. trauma from his own crimes much like the Einsatzgruppen death squads who had high rates of alcoholism, desertion, and suicide.

What I take exception to is the idea that there is no explanation for Kylo Ren's rages other than mental illness/trauma, or that his atrocities and abusiveness are the results of mental illness. Both his outbursts of temper and his violent actions are explained far more simply by a more prosaic cause: A toxic belief in his own entitlement to whatever he wants.

Lundy Bancroft's 2002 book Why Does He DO That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men tells a little fable to illustrate the abusive mindset. It is the story of a boy who is told from childhood onward that a beautiful piece of land at the edge of town was held in trust for him and he would come into possession of it when he is grown up.

However, as he grows into a man he notices other people hiking or picnicking on "his" land, and, when he tells them not to come onto the land without his permission, they refuse to leave and actually insist the land is public property. Increasingly frustrated, the young man escalates to screaming and swearing at the trespassers and even resorts to violence, booby-trapping the land and shooting at people who were not frightened away. This leads the townspeople to conclude that the man must be insane.

Of course, it turns out the land is indeed public and the man had been mistaken about his claim to the land all along. He gradually and painfully comes to accept that he had been misled and was lashing out from a false sense of entitlement.

Bancroft told this fable to illustrate how men's culturally ingrained sense of entitlement to women's love, bodies, and services leads some of them to become abusive. His point was that while these actions may seem to be the result of mental illness because they seem so irrational, the real problem with abusive individuals is not a psychological pathology but rather wrongful beliefs and values. Though mental illness can co-occur with abusive behavior and may sometimes exacerbate violent behavior, mental illness is not the root cause of abuse; entitled beliefs are.

Other types of entitlement work similarly, of course. If you are acting out of a set of beliefs that do not accord with reality, you rage at being thwarted in your entitlement may seem insane but is not actually the symptom of a mental illness. You are perfectly rational in your version of reality where your beliefs hold true: if you do have the right to a woman's love just because you fancy her, then her withholding her love and sex is in fact a violation of your rights that would justifiably make you angry. If you do have a right to deference because of your race, then people of other races not kowtowing to you would be a genuine affront. If you do have a right to know all the details of a total stranger's personal medical conditions that are not relevant to your work or interactions in any way, their failure to disclose would be a valid source of frustration.

None of these beliefs have any basis in reality, of course, meaning your anger at people asserting their boundaries and dignity is entirely baseless. If you rage at and berate them trying to get them to comply with your unjustified demand, that's not you being mentally ill. It's just you being, to use the clinical term, sort of an asshole.

Kylo Ren's seemingly irrational outbursts of anger can be understood in the same way, as can his destructive actions. He murders unarmed prisoners in his very first appearance because he wrongfully believes he has the right to take the lives of innocent people who pose no threat to him or anyone. He tortures Poe and Rey because he believes he has the right to take whatever he wants (sound familiar?) by any means, no matter what it does to a person's mind and body. He throws an adult tantrum when Finn throws a wrench in his plans because he believes someone like Finn, a mere cog in the machine, has no right to thwart someone like himself who is so superior, destined for greatness.

The consistent theme in Kylo Ren's canon character and story is not abuse or mental illness. What drives him is a toxic sense of entitlement to what he wants at the expense of others' lives and freedom. Whatever abuse or mental illness he may have suffered are at best contributing or escalating factors, because hey guess what! While abuse and mental illness don't turn people into saints, see above, they also don't by themselves turn people evil either and in fact that's a pretty ableist belief!

This widespread headcanon, held with the fervor of canon by many, that Kylo Ren is a sick and mistreated victim and not an entitled man with evil beliefs, can be understood to be part and parcel with the medicalization of white criminals in particular. People can have all the headcanons they like, obviously, but too often these popular fan theories are reflections of real-life biases because fandom is a part of society.

Comments

[gingicat]

Yes.

[asya_ana]

After the latest movie, I remember walking away thinking he was the perfect embodiment of today's alt-right bro. Mary Sue also pub'd an article on this https://www.themarysue.com/why-kylo-ren-is-the-perfect-villain-for-the-age-of-the-alt-right/

Of course, the tensions here aren't mutually exclusive.

[ljwrites]

I love both that article--JJ Abrams said essentially the same thing when he said the FO were inspired by neo-Nazis--and how mad the Kylostans are in the comments XD

[redrikki]

When I saw TFA in the theater, I loved Kylo Ren. I thought that, like the bad guy in the new Ghostbusters, he was the perfect villain for our age: the angry entitled white male. Then I went on line and discovered that there were entire contingents of fans who genuinely loved him as a hero. WTF?!

You brought up the medicalization of white criminals and, in the wake of the Christchurch shootings, it's relevant once again. Already folks in the American media are tossing around words like "lone wolf" and "deranged." Some Australian paper actually described him as having been " angelic " as a child. He's a fucking terrorist who is part of a wider terrorist ideology of murdering black, brown, Muslim, and Jewish people. When was the last time a brown terrorist was described as lone wolf, let alone as an angelic child? Even black kids murdered by the police don't get to be angelic.

Fandom's obsession with painting Kylo Ren as wounded, neurodivergent, abused, or otherwise not fully responsible for his behavior isn't problematic in and of itself, but taken in the context of the wider culture, it paints a disturbing picture of how we as a society relate to white men.

[minoanmiss]

This essay made me cheer and this comment made me cheer even harder. Well said, both of you.

[ljwrites]

YES to all this. By itself the Kylo woobification is a bit ridiculous but harmless, but the problem is that it's not just fiction. It's a reflection of real-life trends, and thus worth examining and pulling part.

Also I'm glad I didn't follow up on the media coverage of the mosque shootings too closely, because the few articles I saw in the immediate aftermath unequivocally called him a terrorist and didn't mention his name. I'd like to keep it that way in my head at least.

[lb_lee]

I haven't read your post yet, I just wanted to tell you that I was listening to a metal remix of Sephiroth's song from FF7 when I scrolled to this post, and your cranky mood icon kinda meshes up with the song so it looks like your icon is headbanging to the music.

That is all. Now we will read.

--Rogan/Sneak

[ljwrites]

Haha, that does fit!

[lb_lee]

Okay, now I've read.

An old roommate of ours had a saying, "Chronic Assholism is not in the DSM." It sometimes comes to mind whenever I see stuff like the woobie-fication of dirtbags.

Like yeah, sometimes mental illnesses impact your ability to interact with the folks around you. But being a total asshole, all on its own, is not a sign of mental illness. Sometimes, you're just an asshole.

--Rogan

[ljwrites]

I've said the same thing too, "asshole is not a mental illness." Seriously assuming someone's sick just because they're an asshole is like... textbook ableism against mentally ill folks o_O

[raisedbymoogles]

KR's popularity/woobiefication was so predictable you could set your watch by it. A) the writing and Adam Driver's performance was spot-on, he's compelling and human and more charismatic than that face has any right to be, and B) Kylo Ren is EVERYfuckinwhere, that violent entitlement is in everyone's brother or boyfriend or dad, and yes I'm picking on cis men in particular but let's be real there are cultural reasons for that. Like, if that's the cultural smog you grew up with, how could you NOT see Kylo Ren as a misunderstood antihero/Rey's true love?

(just gonna pause to gag here.)

I've seen questions about whether Fight Club was a successful movie or not given how Tyler Durden has a cult following of misogynist assholes despite that being the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the creator was trying to have happen. I think something similar could be asked of Kylo Ren and the Empire/First Order in general. I guess I think that audiences will take what they want out of their media. I mean, I don't think creators should be obliged to make their villains ugly or bland so no one will want to emulate them. There is no film or filmmaker 'good enough' to have a significant number of people walk out of the theater going 'oh my god, I've been the bad guy all along! I must Change My Ways!' (or indeed 'oh my god, everyone male-adjacent in my life is Just Like That, I'm going to go join an all-woman commune and leave no forwarding address'). They just take what they need to fit into their existing narrative.

I don't know what the solution to that is, tbh. :/

[ljwrites]

Yeah I think everyone knows a Kylo Ren, often in their very close friend and family circles or even in themselves. I recognize Kylo Ren in my emotionally abusive dad, and so I get seeing him as sympathetic on some level--goodness knows I have mixed feelings about my own dad lol. The part that wigs me out is where they go from that sympathy to seeing him as a loving and non-abusive character, because hell to the no.

I agree there's no easy answer to questions of framing, and there's only so much creators can do to influence audience reactions. I mean the entirety of transformative fandom is pretty much based on lack of creator control over audience reactions, a fact that is often celebrated but isn't always some kind of progressive victory like fans seem to think it is. Much as large swathes of fandom hate to hear this, in many important ways fandom is less progressive than the media it's based on. Kylo Ren woobification is a case in point.

I think in the end no one can be 100% successful with all audience members when it comes to framing. Heck, some people came out of Mad Max: Fury Road thinking Immortan frickin' Joe was a hero. I think the best one can do is try for clarity and try to cause no harm; for instance a common pitfall of works that purport to be against the abuse of women is that they portray the abuse in titillating ways, a trap Mad Max didn't fall into which makes it a framing success in that sense.

[rose_griffes]

What I take exception to is the idea that there is no explanation for Kylo Ren's rages other than mental illness/trauma, or that his atrocities and abusiveness are the results of mental illness.

YUP. It's fine if fans want to interpret Kylo Ren's actions this way, but when that is made the only option, and you're a terrible ableist person for not having the same interpretation, it gets... frustrating.

This was a solid write-up; thanks for making it.

[ljwrites]

EXACTLY. What irritates me is not that they have their theories and headcanons, but that they take others to task for not subscribing to their theories.

Kylo's narrative is driven by the trauma of his past

[gettinggreyer]

Okay, before I say anything I will acknowledge that I am a major fan of Kylo’s character and that I personally interpret him as mentally ill, in part because of my own struggles with mental illness which I saw represented in Kylo’s turmoil and rage in The Force Awakens when I first saw the movie in theaters several year ago. I do think that toxic masculinity and entitlement, though I think sense of superiority is a slightly better term for it, are core parts of Kylo’s character, but I also find your analysis to be a bit of an oversimplification. Kylo is, without a doubt canonically, a victim of abuse--much like his grandfather, Anakin was. And while that doesn’t excuse his actions, it does provide context for them and context is important, especially in a franchise like Star Wars that regularly redeems villains like Darth Vader.

It has been stated by Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, JJ Abrams, and Rian Johnson that Kylo Ren--or Ben Solo, as he was known then--was neglected by his parents who were often too busy with other matters to give him attention. And Snoke preyed on Ben when his parents weren’t around.

“If you really imagine the stakes of him, in his youth, having all these special powers and having your parents kind of be absent during that process on their own agendas, [being] equally as selfish,” said the Girls star. “He’s lost in the world that he was raised in, and feels that he was kind of abandoned by the people that he’s closest with. He’s angry because of that, I think, and he has a huge grudge on his shoulders.”
Adam Driver, The Secrets of The Force Awakens

“It’s more than just having a ‘bad seed’ as a kid. Snoke had targeted this kid and knew that this kid was going to be incredibly powerful in The Force and wanted him as an ally So this mother and father had a target as a son, someone who’s watching their boy, and these parents aren’t there enough to guide him.”
J.J. Abrams, The Secrets of The Force Awakens

Kylo was neglected by his parents and betrayed by his uncle. That is a key part of his character and the fact that Snoke preyed on Ben’s loneliness and isolation, that he “targeted” him shouldn’t be ignored. The reason so many people interpret Kylo as mentally ill or an abuse victim isn’t just a result of projection, it’s because it has been intentionally placed there in the narrative.

Which makes sense considering how Kylo’s story very much follows Anakin’s, albeit in a different way. The Prequel Trilogy clearly depicts how Palpatine manipulates and slowly grooms Anakin, pushing him away from the other Jedi, fostering mistrust between them in order to isolate him. Palpatine groomed Anakin and this becomes more apparent in the Expanded Universe (the 2016 comic miniseries “Obi-Wan and Anakin” does a great job of depicting Palpatine’s grooming). And Kylo was groomed in a similar manner.

Kylo wants to “let the past die.” He wants to destroy those who hurt him, which in his mind is the family that he perceives to have abandoned him and the uncle that betrayed him. It isn’t “entitlement” that drives this action, it is very understandable anger, loss, and pain towards the people who were supposed to protect him and then failed him. Kylo’s family failed him, just like the Jedi Order failed Anakin--they tried, but it wasn’t enough.

That doesn’t mean that Kylo isn’t responsible for his actions, but it does provide important context for them. And in the Star Wars franchise where George Lucas famously said, “I like the idea that the person you thought was the villain is actually the victim, and that the story is really about the villain trying to regain his humanity,” it isn’t a surprise that so many people are calling for Kylo’s, the last Skywalker, redemption.

Kylo is a villain. I do very much think his explosive anger is in some ways a commentary of toxic masculinity, as Kylo is obsessed with suppressing the Light and feels shame for feeling compassion (men are encouraged to be stoic and unemotional) and instead he attempts to only feel negative emotions (such as anger). I do really love how this ideology of his makes him so unhinged and vulnerable, since I do think that in many ways Darth Vader fulfilled an almost ideal masculinity with his cool stoicism, but a lot people forget that Darth Vader was in constant pain because of his adherence to the Dark Side (could be seen as toxic masculinity).

Darth Vader may have seemed cool and badass, but beneath the mask he was as broken and unhinged as Kylo. Kylo’s pain and torment is more obvious, it's a deconstruction of the idea that the Dark Side, that the suppression of positive emotions and the embracing of the negative, is a position of power because Kylo’s anger often makes him more vulnerable and helpless. His anger leads him to fall into Luke’s obvious ploy allowing the Resistance to escape and his most successful action, killing Snoke, occurred when he was (1) calm and in control and (2) fighting to protect someone he cared about (since he does genuinely care about Rey).

I think there are a lot of ways to look at and analyze Kylo’s character. The lense of gender and toxic masculinity being a very major one imo, but I also think that Kylo as a survivor of abuse is another lense to see him through. I think you need to look through many lenses to get the full depth of his character. The suffering that Kylo lived through in his childhood is what drives his evil actions in adulthood, which is a very common theme in Star Wars. It doesn’t excuse his actions of course, but it is important part of him to examine. And I think to only look at him through the lense of entitlement and toxic masculinity leads to a vast mischaracterization of who he is and what drives his actions.

Re: Kylo's narrative is driven by the trauma of his past

[ljwrites]

Hi, great to see you here! In response to your points, I never said that Kylo Ren wasn't mentally ill or abused, in fact I acknowledged that possibility near the start of the essay.* My central thesis is that whatever mental illness and abuse Kylo Ren may have suffered did not make him evil, his beliefs and choices did.

I disagree strenuously with your argument that KR's evil was driven by mental illness/abuse, however. The evil acts he committed were his choice, and his choices like his emotions are based on his beliefs. Anakin, like Kylo, chose to cope with the pain of his experiences through entitled and evil beliefs; that he was entitled to kill innocents including children to assuage his rage and fear, that he had the right to control Padmé through violence if he deemed it necessary. Those beliefs and acting on them are what make Anakin and Kylo evil, not abuse or mental illness in of themselves.

In fact, the role of choice is made all the clearer because we have a different character who was abused and groomed his entire life but made very different choices, namely Finn. I believe this is why Kylo hates Finn so obsessively: as I have said before, Finn takes away Kylo's excuses. Kylo's parents didn't pay enough attention to him? Finn was taken from his parents as a child, and not even with the faintest veneer of consent or goodwill that existed in Anakin's case. Kylo was groomed by Snoke? Finn was enslaved and brainwashed his entire life by an organization dedicated to the purpose and by people he was forced to rely on. Kylo was traumatized from his experiences? Finn's entire story in TFA was about trauma, though interestingly enough fandom calls it cowardice in his case.

These two characters' stories show that where heroes and villains diverge has nothing to do with the amount of abuse or trauma they suffered but has everything to do with the choices they made. Finn never lost his belief in the fundamental value of other people despite being actively discouraged from such empathy. Kylo Ren decided that people have no intrinsic value outside of their use to him, despite his parents and their friends doing their best to instill very different values in him.

Also I personally get kinda icky about Kylo's supposed real caring about Rey, because it reminds me of someone in my own life who berated me, tore down my sense of self-worth, and thought he had the right to be violent with me if I defied him. He insisted despite all this that he really loved me, that he was the only person who truly loved me (sound familiar?), and believing him that this is what love looks like kept me messed up for decades.

So what if Kylo Ren as a subjective feeling really cares for Rey? It's a caring that entails the belief that she deserves no respect and can be killed if he's angry enough at her. I'm very sure that my abuser cares deeply about me, too, but it's not real love or caring if it's divorced from respect for me as a person.

Incidentally my abuser also has genuine issues with anxiety and trauma that he turned around and used as a way to manipulate me, so I am actually very aware that abusers can also be mentally ill and no, don't think it's an oversimplification to say that abusive people become that way through their wrongful beliefs and not their emotional issues. Plenty of people, including me, have issues with abuse and trauma, but those issues don't turn them abusive. Abusive and entitled beliefs do. People may take on abusive and entitled beliefs as a response to their trauma, and that is a choice they make and not something that is done to them.

* I have a separate essay where I read him as an abuse victim who chose to be an abuser in contrast to Finn, an abuse victim who chose to break out of the abusive dynamic altogether. I should port that one over from Tumblr, since these Kylo Ren posts are generating some interesting discussions.