(Felicity Jones)
Ph: Film Frame
©Lucasfilm LFL
Rogue, introvert, daughter – Jyn Erso embodies the modern woman. Her story mirrors our stories. Her journey speaks for our journeys as women, as humans. Her maturity comes from a desire for redemption. She checks out and then back in.
Jyn is one with us, and we are one with Jyn.
For Jyn, the world felt out of her control. Survival alone drove her actions. Checking out and focusing on herself seemed the best way to live. She was abandoned by those upon whom she relied.
Her mother chose her father.
Her father chose the Empire.
Saw Gerrera chose the Rebellion.
Jyn was alone. Jyn believed in herself and no-one, or nothing, else.
Many of us feel the same way. Somewhere in our lives, we were abandoned. Perhaps, an ideology abandoned us, perhaps a family member. Perhaps a lover or friend. However, nearly everyone has been abandoned. Perhaps this was in the past, perhaps the present.
Meanwhile, the world explodes around us.
As the world burns, we drop to our knees, paralyzed by emotion. Crying because we finally see our way to redemption.
For all those years, we checked out, fought only for survival, shunned the world because we felt abandoned. For all those years, we felt the hopelessness of being alone, no one or nothing in which we could believe.
Just like Jyn, we realize that we must atone. In that one moment, as the world explodes around us, we are dragged back into the fight. We don’t run towards it willingly. Frozen with the realization that all we have ever known was a lie, we must wake from the nightmare of denial. We have to walk further into the darkness before we can see the light.
There will be people who will try to stop us. Those with power over us may not support us. They may doubt us. They may tell us that our reasoning is incorrect.
To those people, we must say: we are Rogue.
We must seek the truth. We must promote the truth. We must be willing to resist those who would tell us that we cannot by proving that we can.
Jyn’s story is our story. Perhaps your darkness is depression or anxiety. Perhaps your darkness is abuse. Perhaps your world burns for other reasons.
We must fight these darknesses. We must rebel. We must be the Jyn Erso of our own worlds. We fight to bring down the Death Star of lies. We must put ourselves in the path of our enemies. We must be willing to sacrifice our comfort for the greater good through words, experiences, or actions. We must educate, engage, enact.
Like Jyn, we must seek the truth. We must fight for the truth. We must rebel.
Like Jyn, when the end comes, we must not turn away from it. We must stare into the light, even as it overwhelms and attempts to destroy us. We must be stronger than the forces of darkness trying bring us down.
Rebellions are built on hope.
And in this, we must be Jyn.
We must rebel. We must be the harbingers of hope.
