Something that I feel like gets overlooked with Finn’s arc is that over the course of the movie he’s become personally invested in the Resistance. He’s on board. So much so that he’s willing to die for the cause—a message that boys/men especially, get drilled into their heads

this bizarrely glorified self sacrifice. Die the hero! “There were heroes on that mission.” “Dead heroes.” Rian went fully against that & had Rose stop him. His life is worth more than some western glorified death. He’s a young man with his whole life ahead of him.

It’s such an important message that I feel like gets overlooked. He was completely selfless in that moment, willing to sacrifice everything for the Resistance but he’s saved from that death by Rose. Yes there are things worth dying for but ther are greater things worth living for

Even with the reaction of many after the movie that wanted that death for Finn—that hated Rose for intervening is evidence of how romanticized that kind of ‘sacrificial death for the greater good’ has become in western media

Anyway, thank you Rian Johnson for showing boys they are worth more than dying for a cause or being a martyr. Finn’s TLJ arc continues to inspire me and I’m amazed to still be finding depth in The Last Jedi’s themes 2+ years later.