Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the seventh film released in the Star Wars saga and the first film in the sequel trilogy. It was written by Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk, directed by J.J. Abrams, and released in the United States on December 18, 2015. The main cast included characters from the original trilogy and introduced a younger generation of characters: Rey, Poe Dameron, Finn, Kylo Ren, and the robot BB8. 
==Fandom==
===Shipping===
Immediately following the release of the film Poe Dameron/Finn was the most popular ship, receiving mainstream attention and accounting for the most works on Ao3. As of 22/12/2015 there were the following works on Ao3; Finn/Poe(103),Reylo (73), Finn/Rey (48) Kylux (39), Poe/Finn/Rey (34) Leia/Han (18) according to this article, Which Star Wars Couples Are People Drooling Over? The Force Awakens Fan-Fiction Power Rankings, accessed on 17/02/2018. Other ships appearing immediately after the release of The Force Awakens and listed in order of works produced at that time, include, Rey/Kylo Ren, Finn/Rey, Kylo Ren/Hux, the poly ship Poe/Finn/Rey, and rarepairs like Luke/Poe and Luke/Rey.
Many fans also headcanon Rey as a lesbian and ship her with Jessika Pava.reyva tag on Tumblr
Kylux and Reylo were both in the top ten ships reblogged/discussed in 2016 on Tumblr, with Reylo at number 10 and Kylux at number 9.2016’s Top Ships
As of December 2017, Kylux (Kylo Ren/Hux) had risen to become the most popular ship in this fandom, followed by Reylo (Kylo Ren/Rey) and then Stormpilot(Poe Dameron/Finn).How to tell Kylux from Reylo: a primer on The Last Jedi fans’ favorite couples(18 Dec 2017, accessed on 17/2/2018. Following the release of The Last Jedi, all three of these pairings saw a spike in interest and number of works produced, with Reylo seeing the most substantial increase, but the ship rankings have not changed. As of 17/2/2018, the following number of pairings are found in the Star Wars tag (for comparison with previous link) on Ao3; Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren (7946)
 Kylo Ren/Rey (5058)
 Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (4801)
 Poe Dameron/Finn (4793)
 Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (3146)
 Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso (2808)
 Leia Organa/Han Solo (2711)
 Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi (2153)
 Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker (2071)
 Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker (1707)FFA discussion
There has been much discussion about why the slash pairing of the two male protagonists, Finn and Poe Dameron is not the most popular pairing in this fandom, as is generally the case in most fandoms. See below for more details.
==Racism In and Outside The Fandom==
It was announced in early 2014, that John Boyega was cast in the Star Wars sequel trilogy but very little was known about his role. Following the release of the teaser trailer in November 2014, some fans expressed outrage that the film featured a black Stormtrooper. The character at the time was unnamed, but would later turn out to be Finn, one of the two major protagonists in the film. 
* ‘I’ve seen a lot of talk about the #blackstormtrooper outrage, but not a single example of anyone complaining’: The Force Awakens, canonical fidelity and non-toxic fan practices, by William Proctor, an academic article examining the use of #blackstormtrooper on Twitter, following the release of the teaser trailer.
John Boyega responded to the controversy following the release of the teaser trailer on Instagram. In a since deleted post, he thanked fans for the love and support, fanmail and fanart; adding "To whom it may concern... Get used to it. :)"BBC Image of John Boyega instagram post 
[Insert negative commentary from fans and also actor interviews discussing]
In October 2015, immediately following the release of the first trailer, the #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag appeared on Twitter with some claiming that the film was anti-white propaganda.Twitter post #BoycottStarWarsVII, 16 November 2015. There is almost definitive evidence that the hashtag was a 4chan prank designed to provoke controversy, and most of the tweets that made this hashtag trend were criticizing the tag. So #BoycottStarWarsVII is trending on twitter. Does anyone know why? discussion in r/StarWars on Reddit, 19 October 2015.The Real Story Behind BoycottStarWarsVII is about normalizing racism, HoustonPress article, posted 21 October 2015. Still others were quick to point out that even if this was a prank, it didn't negate the existence of racism in the fandom. 
Shortly after the film was released one fan explained: 
However, many other fans embraced the introduction of a character of color and had high hopes that this would be reflected in the fanfiction. [Insert discussions]
In fact, TFA introduced two characters of color: Finn and Poe. Soon slash fandom began writing and posting fanfic under the Stormpilot pairing name. [Insert discussions of the early stats about numbers of fanworks posted to AO3].
In the months that followed, however, other pairings, both slash (Kylux) and het (Reylo) became popular, leading many fans to attribute this to racism in fandom. Kylux is considered a Two White Guys ship because both are secondary characters and Hux in particular has little screen time and is not very fleshed out.
[Insert examples of the discussion]
*Your Vagina is a Bigot; My Vagina is a Saint an AO3 meta essay written by Franzeska, dated April 25, 2016
*So What's Been Going On In Star Wars Fandom Lately? tumblr post by destinationtoast dated April 26, 2016
*Why Isn't Stormpilot Remaining Popular, an AO3 meta essay written by Franzeska, dated April 27, 2016
*Fans Of Colour Are Not To Blame For Fandom's Erasures: A response to That Meta by rukminipande in response to Franzeska's meta, dated May 2, 2016
Fans pointed to destinationtoast's statistical analysis that showed the growth of a white male/male pairing as evidence of fandom racism:.
Some of the racism was explicit:
[Insert examples of explicit racist fic, art, prompts]
Example Fic Comments: In November 2015, one fan received the following comment on her crossover Star Wars fanfic featuring Finn and Nick Fury from The Avengers:
Example Challenge Prompts: In April 2016, one fan wrote:
Example Fic: See 
See also: 
Example Art: In early May 2016, one man posted a gif of a Stormtrooper beating a black man while yelling: "Stop Resisting" using elements from the movie. While the gif only received 200 tumblr notes, the image was mentioned by several fans dsicussing fandom racism on tumblr. See 
Even months after the release of the film some twitter users continued to comment negatively on the actors' twitter feeds when pictures of Finn and Rey holding hands were posted.
==Fanwork Examples==
===Fanfiction===
* a reylo fic by treezie is the fic with the most Kudos on Ao3. It was posted immediately after the release of The Force Awakens and consists of one sentence literally trashing the Reylo ship.
* have you heard by preadi, "I heard FN-2187 was a Stormtrooper." Finn sparks a revolution. (Poe Dameron/Finn, Finn/Poe/Rey)
* the coat thief by Gretahs is a retelling of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from BB-8's point of view. (Poe Dameron/Finn, can read as pre-Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey) (2015)
* Interstellar Transmissions by LovelyThings, ricca_riot, Rey’s interrogation at the hands of Kylo Ren triggered an awakening in the Force, as well as an unwelcome bond that links them across the galaxy and grows stronger every day. An accidental encounter alerts Supreme Leader Snoke to the existence of this bond and he orders his apprentice to capture the girl and bring her to him. Sometimes it's not the big speeches that redeem people, but the actions you inspire them towards. Former PWP, now full scale adventure. (Reylo)
* Children, Wake Up, a Kylux series by Hollycomb. Ao3 Link
* The Story of Finn by LullabyKnell (AO3 link). The only thing Stormtroopers own are stories. The story of FN-2187 sparks a quiet revolution. (2015-16)
* Triptych by antistar_e - The very (very) long road home for Kylo Ren, formerly Ben Organa.
* No End to What We Can Be by whiteraven1606. Poe and Finn should have had a discussion about the size of a Stormtrooper squad. Not that Poe would have gotten in less trouble if they had. Poe and Finn help a squad of tiny Stormtroopers become tiny ex-Stormtroopers who have joined the Resistance. (2016)
* Thwarted by Perry Dowling. (Rey/Kylo Ren) The endless abyss that is Kylo Ren in love. (2016-2017) 
===Fanart===
* Poe, Finn, Rey & BB-8 by Myisha
* Star, Sword and Sorcery Wars by rosy-Clockomaton
* New Years Resolutions by randomsplashes
* Stars War by lemonteaflower
* How people see Kylo Ren by randomsplashes
* Fem!Kylo Ren by beckyalbright
* Ben Solo - What might have been by Erik-Maell
* Star Wars Past and Present Portraits by daekazu
===Fanvids===
Many fanvids made that aren't based around a ship, use clips from across the previous two Star Wars trilogies alongside clips from The Force Awakens. 
* Star Wars ◆ Ready Aim Fire (Imagine Dragons) Fanvid
* star wars || all my friends are heathens
* ► Han & Leia | Some Things Never Change
* Star Wars || Warriors
* The Force Awakens Tribute - The Father's Sins
==Fannish Resources==
* The Force Awakens fanworks on Archive of Our Own
* Star Wars fanworks on fanfiction.net
* Stories tagged theforceawakens on Wattpad
* Episode VII The Force Awakens on Wookieepedia
* tfa_kink, a Dreamwidth kink meme
===Tumblr===
* The Force Source
* FuckYeahReyandFinn
==Meta/Further Reading==
* by Abigail Nussbaum (2015)
* Star Wars, queer representation, and the mainstreaming of slash (2016)
* Fansplaining: Trash Ships and Fandom IRL
==References==
*Episode 7: The Force Awakens