#nobody is saying that power corrupts yoda | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

darfeld · 1 month

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Ok so cringe is dead so here is my theory of the Force (tm). (No title because damn, it would be a bit much) Anyway, and first, I want to say that the following assume nobody in the Star Wars univers has any definitive answer as to what the Force is, what it wants, if it want something at all, and what it can actually do, etc... And neither does any author, myself included. Even when it was only George's Story it was a way to inject cool magic mixed with philosophy and spirituality, but nothing fixed in stone.

From the movie, I'll just use some basic stuff : - "You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship." -- Yoda, ESB The Force isn't just Life, it's everything, or existence. That's how the Force users can move rocks or spaceships. - The Force seems to favor life, peace, generally positive outcome for lifeforms in general.

I don't have a specific quote for that, but everybody who knows of the Force seems to think so, apart from darksiders.

- There is no "Light side", there is just "the Force"

The movies (at least OT and PT... I would have to check the ST) never mention a "light side". I know "light side" has been mentioned elsewhere, but I like the idea the Dark Side is a corruption of the Force and not really a part of it. Because it fit nicely with the fact that: - The Dark Side corrupts and destroy.

That's what it is actually good at. It corrupt the minds of its users and is whenever it is used it causes pain, suffering and destruction. And not "constructive destruction" like what you would do when you cut a tree to make fournitures, the kind that leaves radioactive waste in its pass. That's the entire point of Anakin's story, and of most darksider known to canon. Also, I don't think we know of any power which would be "light side" only. Vader can use any trick a Jedi can, and even the healing at the end of RoS can probably be done by any darksider who would want to consider it for whatever reason. So there you have it. Those are pretty consistent stuff through the canon, except maybe the light side stuff, but this seems to be more a thing people say to mark the opposition to the dark side than anything actually different from just "the Force", and people don't go "may the light side be with you" or something. The "light side" is the default, normal state of the Force. Does the Force have a will? Well the Jedi seems to believe so, and so does the gardians of the whills. If they're right, the Force point them at problem to resolve and count on them to so the actual stuff. It can apparently "see" possible futures and show them to people who are perceptive to it. It could also be that the Force is vaste power without sentience, only vague instinct of avoiding death and suffering because it is in all living thing and so it feels all living things. But then, there is the Mortis arc... I don't really like it's implication, but I can find a place for it in my theory. Imagine, if you will, that the Force IS sentient and intelligent. But it's the mind of all living thing present and past mixed together in a way that makes it impossible to understand, and also make it unable to understand more or less humanoid creatures. It needs proxys. And before it can make one universal proxy, people made there own mind about gods governing the supernatural stuffs they witness. The Mortis Gods are that : three manifestation of what people in the past though was the Force. So when they die in the Mortis arc, obviously the Force doesn't disappear, only those manifestations, that were long forgotten anyway. This also fit with the Force Ghosts : Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Yoda found a way to keep their persona in the Force, acting as proxy for the Force. That's why Obi-Wan tells Vador he will become more powerful than he ever imagine : He basically tells Vador "I will become the Force". Somehow the Force can't just Force choke Vader and the Emperor to death on its own, so that's too bad... The same thing kinda happen with Bogan and Ashla : At the start, they are just two part of the Force, theorized by some old Force users, possibly old Jedi. Bogan being associated with passions, strong emotion good and bad, and Ashla with peace, ease of mind, logic, etc... Turns out strong emotion can be manipulated and corrupted, so later Bogan is associated with the Dark Side, and Jedi focus more on Ashla or rather the value it is more associated with and become wary of Bogan. But Bogan is NOT the dark side, it's an important part of the Force. (like half of it)

The Jedi then became gardian of peace in the Galaxy. Taking only the least actions to achieve it, by fear of escalating conflicts and creating suffering. The trouble with that way of thinking is you can find yourself on the side of oppression in the name of peace. Seeing how the Galactic Republic is doing by the time Anakin flew off of Tatooine, this is a problem the Jedi haven't been good at dealing with. Anakin could have been the one to bring balance to the Force, not by ending the Sith and/or the Jedi, but because he is passionate, and he could have helped the Jedi see the injustices in the galaxy or maybe just force them to do something about them. (That is, if he got some basic sentimental and political education at any point in his life by anyone else that Sheev Fucking Palpatine)

So in conclusion the Force (tm) is an eldritch god that is literally the essence of the whole universe, it want most of all to not hurt and he tries clumsily to communicate with the beings inside him to try to not hurt. And the dark side is a part of itself trying to exist at the expense of the whole.

#Star Wars #The Force #It's just a Theory #A Force theory!!#sorry #long post

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shatouto · 3 years

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sometimes pro-jedi discourse is fun (because i adore the jedi) and sometimes it's just "how much longer can you try to blindly defend one person before you lose track of everything else in the argument"

#like cmon man your slippery slope is showing #I don't wanna put efforts into this because it's fucking space monks and fictional planets #i just wanna say that collective action and grassroots organization are a thing #and i know that shit is hard irl too but to 'take actions' doesn't always mean to embrace violence #and if you don't take actions in ANY way then you aren't taking actions #'peace-minded' is no excuse for procrastination #i don't blame the jedi or yoda for that matter but you defend them like they have no flaw #you keep saying 'nobody is saying we can't criticize the jedi' and then #every time somebody does (actually reasonably) you smack them down with pathos-filled arguments #im tired #delete later #anyway if you actually think one person presiding a group for centuries is a good idea #i have news for you #nobody is saying that power corrupts yoda #we're saying he's a boomer presiding over a bunch of millenials and gen z and do you see how well THAT can go?

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transmalewife · 2 years

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a jedi like my father before me

i fucking love this line, and i especially love how it is repeated in every movie. It changes slightly, it grows with luke, but it stays with him because this line is who luke is, at his very core. He's a hero, he's the strongest there ever was, he is a dumb blonde, the best pilot, but he is all those things because he wants to be like his father, because he cares and loves, just like anakin did. And just like Anakin did he said i will be a jedi when he was nobody on a hellish sandpit of a planet, and then he was.

And the best part is Luke said, to Obi-Wan's face, that he will be a jedi like his father, and then the crazy son of a bitch* actually did it. Boy got the all inclusive Skywalker experience. he fell in love and got married, he toppled a galactic goverment, he called obi-wan on his bullshit, he said fuck you, i'm gonna go save my loved ones to his master, he was the best pilot and greatest jedi. But unlike Anakin, he actually succeeded. He took on a Hutt and won (with Leia going one step further and killing the toad). Where Anakin and Padme were forced to negotiate with Jabba, tied up by diplomacy and the war, forced to protect a crumbling republic that was willing to make deals with slavers to transport their slave army, their kids just fucking murdered him!!! Luke didn't wait weeks to go save Leia, like Anakin did when Obi-Wan told him to put the mission before Shmi, he got in his spaceship and saved her. He refused to kill a sith lord. When Mace told Anakin to kill Palpatine, he refused. When Palpatine told Luke to kill Vader, he refused, and that's when Anakin finally turned on Palpatine, when he saw a jedi like him, a jedi worth listening to, a jedi giving even him a second chance. Because the best parts of both of them, what really made them the best jedi of their generations, are the parts that weren't jedi at all. They knew what was right, they cared for people not doctrine, they did what they knew was good and not what they were told to do. And one of them got the chance to actually do it, without the council, the threat of being expelled, without the rigid structure of a corrupt goverment and a stagnating order.

*I want to make it abundantly clear when i say bitch i mean Anakin. We do not disrespect Padme in this house.

I also love how he says it to the people who need to hear it most, and what it means to them changes way more than what it means to him.

he says "I want to learn the ways of the force and become a jedi, like my father." and Obi-Wan hears I want to be a jedi, like my father did. My father stood on this planet and said he would be a jedi before you ever even met him. he wanted nothing else than for someone to teach him. and now you're getting a second chance, old man, don't fuck it up this time

he says "Mostly because of my father, I guess" when yoda asks him why he wants to be a jedi, because his father is the only family he has left, the only connection, and he will hold on to that and let it guide him through anything. And yoda hears he is here because of anakin. This new hope, this bright and powerful boy would not exist if not for the child you almost sent away, who you called afraid and attached and dangerous, but still expected him to save the world. You are in this swamp with this boy because another boy decades ago lost your trust, but never his attachment, got married, and didn't get the help he needed when he asked you. It's his fault, but also yours. will you try to use this one as a weapon too? and yoda fails the test again. but then maybe he realises his time has passed and holding onto the past was his mistake. that someone who can hold his own against vader after two weeks of training, doesn't need any more, and that the best parts of both skywalkers were there from the start, and this one might actually have a chance to use them

he says "I'm a jedi like my father before me"

and Anakin hears it. "I will never join the dark side" Luke says, because despite the living proof in front of him he truly believes his father would not have joined the dark side. that he was the greatest jedi, and could have been so much more. that there is a world in which he didn't, and maybe it's this one. maybe he was made to, maybe the man he hoped he'd be when he was a child would never join, and this broken husk he is now is just a mistake, a creation of palpatine, that that childish dream of helping people is still in there somewhere and is still worth acting on.

And palpatine hears you're dead, bitch, because anakin skywalker turned the war around. he was the only jedi you needed to kill all the rest, and the one without whom you never could have won. He was the jedi who ended the separatists and the republic in one day, and he would eat this empire of yours for breakfast. as indeed he will, because if there is one part of him, of anakin skywalker the jedi, the chosen one, the hero with no fear still alive in that rotting carcass it's his love for his family, and he'll never let you lay a single nasty shriveled finger on me.

#wow this got long #star wars meta #luke skywalker #luke skywalker meta #star wars #anakin skywalker #mine

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gffa · 4 years

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Hi! Of course it’s all right, I’m always delighted to get even half a chance to talk about this stuff that I love so much!I will say, of course, there are few true concrete answers to any of this, even if word of god commentary lays out a direct answer, because several of the creators have spoken about how it’s important to maintain the sense of speculation and theorizing, as that was one of the things that was such a joy to them before they started making SW, too. As well as, you know, just the basic fact that everyone’s going to interpret things differently and that doesn’t make one more inherently valuable than another, as well as word of god commentary and, hell, even canon is only as meaningful to you as a fan as you want it to be!That said, I like the case I make for the things I’m passionate about, so I’ll make my case again because I enjoy doing it! We‘re always told that the Dark Side is evil and Light is good. But if you divide it like that, what does true balance mean? Fundamentally, light is good and dark is evil, that’s absolutely true, but the thing is that it’s never meant to be about a purity thing, but instead being about what you embrace as a worldview. Each one of us has both good and bad in us, the way you keep balance isn’t by exorcising the bad and then you’re good forever, but to every day keep making the choice to embrace the good. George Lucas explains the Force in, at its most basic terms, that the light is selfless (love, compassion, caring) and the dark is selfishness (greed, anger, hate, suffering). The only way to rise above the dark side is to discipline yourself against it. (George Lucas Explains The Force in a The Clone Wars writers meeting + transcription here) On the dark side specifically, how the Force works: “Once you become afraid that somebody’s going to take it away from you or you’re gonna lose it, then you start to become angry, especially if you’re losing it, and that anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. Mostly on the part of the person who’s selfish, because you spend all your time being afraid of losing everything you’ve got instead of actually living.” How Yoda explains how the dark side/the Force works in The Phantom Menace:“ Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.“ These are literally the same exact explanation, which shows us that, yes, Yoda and the Jedi are absolutely correct about how the dark side of the Force works! Another example: “In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless moreso than selfish. It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do. And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good. It’s a constant. And that’s what, really, Star Wars is about and what I think George wanted people to know. That to be a good person and to really feel better about your life and experience life fully you have to let go of everything you fear to lose. Because then you can’t be controlled. [….] These are the core things of Star Wars.” –Dave Filoni, Celebration Chicago 2019, Rebels Remembered Panel “Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is. [What must I do, Master Yoda?] Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” –Yoda, Revenge of the Sith “[Anakin] turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can’t let go of his mother; he can’t let go of his girlfriend. He can’t let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you’re greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you’re going to lose things, that you’re not going to have the power you need.” –George Lucas, Time Magazine These are also echoes of each other and the themes of how the dark side works in Star Wars, again showing us that the Jedi are correct in their understanding of how the Force works. And this is also what the Jedi teach: That you must face your inner darkness (your fears, your hate, your guilt, your anger) because it comes from within and it’s a lifelong thing. It starts with them designing their tests for younglings to move forward in their training by going to Ilum, where they will face the things they fear, the things they must overcome, to not become trapped in their mind.

It goes hand in hand with the Jedi’s bigger philosophy of understanding yourself and controlling yourself, that these things aren’t bad, but you need to get a grip on yourself (especially when you have these tremendous psychic powers and connections and can be influenced by outside emotions that you don’t even realize aren’t your own, as happens more than once in canon). Which is why one of the earliest lessons we see baby Jedi being taught is about meditation and understanding yourself, looking within to know who you are:

One more example: “All of my movies are about one thing. Which is the fact that the only prison you’re in is the prison of your mind. And if you decide to open the door and get out, you can. There’s nothing stopping you.“ –George Lucas (American Voices, 2015) “You-you said we would be trapped.” “Not by the cave you were, but by your mind. Lessons, you have learned. Find courage, you did– Hope, patience Trust, confidence, and selflessness.” –Jedi younglings + Yoda on Ilum, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “The Gathering” The Jedi teach that this is what they must guard against, must discipline themselves against: “Qui-Gon whispered, ‘The dark side?’ He knew it was a thing all beings carried within them, a part of himself he would learn to guard��against—the crèche masters had taught him all that.“ –Master & Apprentice, Claudia Gray “[The] only way to overcome the dark side is through discipline.” –George Lucas What do the Jedi mean, when they say „Trust in the Force“, and „May the Force be with you“? They’re blessings, basically! “Trust in the Force” is that the Jedi believe the Force will guide them, that if you can quiet your mind enough to hear its whispers, it will guide them into the moment and direction they’re meant to be in. Many times, they cannot possibly know the Force’s plans, so they kind of just have to shrug and go, “Well, we’re limited mortal beings who cannot possibly have an omniscient point of view like the mystical energy field that we can tap into a small fraction, so if you don’t know which direction to go, all you can do is trust the Force to guide you.” And “May the Force be with you” is the similar, that they’re saying “good luck” and that they hope the person has good fortune in whatever they’re going to go do. Are they always just talking about the Light and totally disregard the Dark? I would say they’re definitely not disregarding it, because the dark is part of everyone, it’s a lifelong challenge to overcome it, it’s not a one-and-done thing, but that doesn’t mean they embrace it. Nor does it mean that temporary, momentary emotions are the same thing as embracing the dark side–we see Jedi having darker emotions all the time and nobody’s like OH SHIT I HAD A NEGATIVE FEELING, I’M A BAD JEDI. No, they just don’t let it control them and don’t act based on those feelings. For example:

Negative emotions! Worry, anger, sorrow! All from “perfect” Jedi characters! Characters who are Jedi Masters and who believe incredibly strongly in Jedi principles and teachings! And not once do any of them say, oh, shit, no, I’m not allowed to feel that–instead they express their feelings, but do not let those feelings control them. They do not embrace the darker emotions, but instead face them and then let them go. What would be the fundamental difference between how a Sith like Sidious, a sort of grey Jedi, like Ahsoka, and someone who tries to be the perfect ideal of a Jedi, like Obi-Wan, use and see the Force? It’s all about how you approach it, basically. The dark side is not sustainable, the dark side corrupts, it cannot be balanced with the light, Matt Martin of the LFL story group explained that that’s one of the things George Lucas was very clear on and thus why “Gray Jedi” can’t really be a thing! If someone tries to embrace the dark along side the light, eventually they will fall into the dark. (Mystical, immortal creatures don’t count.) But momentary anger and upset and fear and selfish impulses are normal, so the goal Jedi strive towards isn’t the eradication of these things, but the honing of the skill to let go of them. (As “letting go” is a theme that’s rewarded in the word of god commentary and in the narrative, such as Anakin letting go of his hate and rage and doing something selfless is what allows him to become a Force Ghost, the only way to achieve that is through selflessness, the dark side cannot do it.) Ahsoka, for all that she isn’t a Jedi later on, who probably allows herself more darker impulses before she lets go of them, because she doesn’t have the same weight of granted authority over others placed on her, is still very much a light side user, she’s not gray at all! Same for Qui-Gon, while he’s something of a maverick, he very much adheres to the light side of the Force. As for Sidious and other dark siders, the Force is the Force is the Force, it’s all about how you use it. While there’s a certain element of how this can manifest in external ways (ie, certain places are stronger in the dark or the light) that press down on the person from the outside, in using the dark side or the light side, it’s about how you approach it. Do you do so with selfless intent? Then you’re on the light side. Do you do so with selfish intent? Intending to hurt people, embracing the pain and suffering you can psychically or internally feel? Then you’re on the dark side. It’s about how you choose to act on the things inside you, what you choose to hold onto and what you choose to work towards letting go. "Knowing that the film was made for a young audience, I was trying to say, in a simple way, that there is a God and that there is both a good side and a bad side. You have a choice between them, but the world works better if you’re on the good side.” –George Lucas The light is about how your feelings should be cherished, but you cannot let them rule over you, because you’ll hurt people. Like Ezra getting so afraid when the Grand Inquisitor threatened Kanan, that he caused the fyrnocks around him to attack and could have really hurt someone. Like Padawan Dooku cannot tell his own feelings from what he thinks is an external source of the dark side in Dooku: Jedi Lost. Like Anakin gets so angry in a training session that he literally brings the training room’s ceiling down on them before Yoda saves them, because he couldn’t control himself in Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure. Like Obi-Wan says in The Clone Wars, it’s not like (romantic) feelings aren’t allowed, they’re natural. But he senses a deep well of rage in Anakin and he needs to face that and deal with it. The Jedi are about, “Get your shit together because, when you have level 100 psychic abilities, you can hurt people, so you have to get a grip on that. Because the dark side lies, it twists things, it lingers in your head and poisons your thoughts, it’s not a reliable narrator.”

#jedi order #obi wan kenobi #mace windu #yoda #qui gon jinn #depa billaba #dark side #light side #the force #meta #long post

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jbk405 · 4 years

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The worst retcons in Star Wars

While I’m riding high on the finale to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (No I am not crying....I cried it all out last night) I have decided to compile a list of the worst retcons to the Star Wars franchise.

Why? I dunno, I’m a crotchety old nerd who likes to complain about decades-old stories. Do I need another reason?

In no particular order:

Making Emperor Palpatine a Sith

It’s been 21 years since The Phantom Menace came out, so for an entire generation of nerds he’s always been “Darth Sidious”, but we old-timers remember that for the 22 years before that there was no connection between the Emperor and the Sith. The term “Sith” itself was present from the earliest iterations of the first film and was used in some promotional materials and tie-ins and toys, but it was solely connected to Darth Vader as a Dark Lord of the Sith. The Expanded Universe built a specific philosophy and history around the Sith as a concept, not just as a catch-all term for darksider, and that history explicitly didn’t include the Emperor. There was even hate and schism between the Sith and some other Dark Side philosophies, and even those who didn’t use the Force at all. In The Truce at Bakura, an EU novel that began the day after Return of the Jedi, an Imperial governor initially dismisses the Rebels’ claims that the Emperor is dead as propaganda until they say that Vader is the one who killed him. That he believes, and even says how foolish it was for the Emperor to have trusted a Sith.

Even without going into what Dark Side philosophy the Emperor did follow, having Vader as a Sith and the Emperor not helped flesh out the universe by showing that even amongst the totalitarian despots there were different factions. Just like Hitler and Mussolini each had their own brands of Fascism, they can work together while still being distinct.

Introducing the concept of the Chosen One

People often forget that Darth Vader wasn’t the main antagonist of the original Star Wars film, Grand Moff Tarkin was. Vader filled the role described as “The Dragon”, the enforcer and primary legman, and the threat they had to bypass so that they could destroy the real threat. He was a lackey. A cool lackey absolutely, who grew into the primary antagonist in The Empire Strikes Back, but still a lackey. And despite how cool and badass he is (And don’t get me wrong, he is a fantastic character and one of the best villains in history) there’s nothing “special” about him within the context of the Jedi and Force users in general. He does not have any significant advantage over Obi-Wan Kenobi in their duel and is obviously completely unprepared for Kenobi to become One with the Force at his loss (And it is debatable if he even “won” at all given Kenobi’s deliberate self-sacrifice). When he and Luke duel in ESB he definitely has the upper hand throughout their entire fight, but only as somebody with more experience and training, not because he is Magically Superior. By the time of ROTJ Luke has even surpassed him despite only three years of experience.

In the Original Trilogy Vader is portrayed as a dangerous, powerful, and skilled opponent, but never as somebody POWERFUL. Never as somebody whose strength or control over the Force is legendary, who is heralded in prophecy. Yoda performs feats with the Force that Vader never comes close to equaling.

To go back and say that actually his affinity the Force is the greatest that the Jedi have ever seen, even greater than Yoda himself (BTW, I’m including the midi-chlorians under this header) makes no sense. To say that he was the Emperor’s #2, helping run the entire Empire right from the moment of its founding, contradicts the original film itself where he was lower on the chain of command.

Darth Vader, and by proxy Anakin Skywalker, was a good enough character without trying to shill his background all to hell.

The impending threat of the Yuuzhan Vong

I’ll be upfront, I never liked the stories with the Yuuzhan Vong in and of themselves (When they started coming in is right about when I stopped reading new EU material). The New Jedi Order just didn’t grab my attention. But what really riled me up was the way the EU tried to backfill the Vong into the franchise history by saying that the entire rise of the Galactic Empire was to prepare for their arrival. That Palpatine knew they were coming, and since the Republic would have been incapable of standing against them he took over so that the galaxy could present a strong, unified front against them.

This is something I actually see a lot of in fiction, and it pisses me off each time: The evil despot actually had noble goals because they knew of an even greater threat and they needed to take control in order to deal with it, because a dictatorship gets things done. You even see this in real life when people try to say that for all Hitler’s faults you have to respect that he made Germany a powerhouse that was this close to conquering the world, and that Mussolini made the trains run on time. Not only are these examples patently false (Nazi Germany never was “this” close to winning the war, and the trains never did run on time in Italy), but they come with the tacit endorsement that maybe their evilness would be worth it for the benefits.

The Galactic Empire explicitly wasn’t a Super Efficient Society. We saw time and again how wasteful the Empire was with its resources as it squandered them on inefficient superweapon after superweapon, how it laid waste to planet after planet for the purposes of propaganda. The Empire was so inefficient that it was able to be toppled by a ragtag band of rebels who had nowhere near the resources, population, wealth, or control it had. If the Empire couldn’t even defeat the Rebellion, just how was it supposed to stand against the Vong? And if the explanation is that the Emperor had been seduced by his own ambition and forgotten his original “noble” goals, why would other characters who knew the truth have gone along with his wanton oppression even after his death?

Trying to give the Empire a “reason” for existing was self-contradictory and borderline offensive.

Having the Clones fight for the Republic

I’m very much in two minds over this one, because as bad as the original retcon was other creators have managed to turn it into genius (Looking at you Clone Wars and The Clone Wars). But I’m nothing if not petty, so...

The Clone Wars were one of the eras that had not been discussed in great detail in the EU before the Prequels came out, instead only being vaguely alluded to. George Lucas was already talking about making more movies and they didn’t want to contradict what was to come. But even with only those vague allusions, it was established that the Clones were the bad guys. The Clonemasters were regarded monsters who unleashed hordes upon the Republic like a swarm of locusts or a plague. The Clones themselves were often unstable, and regarded by the populace as soulless duplicates overwhelming the galaxy. The clones were held in such fear by the populace that Mara Jade -- an Old Empire loyalist (Sort-of) -- decided to switch from passively assisting the New Republic because her boss told her to to actively assisting them at the thought of the Empire starting the Clone Wars again.

Even the name of the conflict implies that the Clones were the enemy: People don’t name a war after their own soldiers. The Droid War, Separatist Secession, Clone & Droid Conflict, Jedi Aggression, etc. all would have made more sense for the war as depicted.

Getting into philosophy, the idea of cloning soldiers expressly for war is morally abhorrent. It’s mass slavery. And I am far from the first person to point this out, but that aspect is not even mentioned in the Prequel films. The Jedi accepting this clone army is repugnant, and some people have used this to show that the Jedi Order was already corrupt at the time of the rise of the Empire, but this wasn’t explored at all in the films that introduced the clones as the Grand Army of the Republic.

Getting into just simple common sense...HOW FUCKING DENSE DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO JUST ACCEPT A MYSTERIOUS ARMY THAT APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE?!?!

That makes no sense. It never made sense. The idea that nobody in the Republic, from the government to the military to the populace at large, questioned the very existence of the clone army....it was too much. The exploration of just how ridiculous this is made for great fodder in The Clone Wars, but only because they had to paper over the GIANT GAPING CHASMS that the concept created.

Making the Jedi a cult

In the old EU, the Jedi of the Old Republic were described as allowed to have families, even being encouraged to do so. They were allowed to pursue lives and interests and careers outside of the order itself, and didn’t need to forsake who they used to be. The Jedi Council didn’t have legal authority over the lives of its members, and didn’t try to mandate personal lifestyle.

People started training in their teens when they were old enough to at least understand the concept, and if they were taken as children it was in unusual extraneous circumstances.

While there were Jedi customs, and Jedi Codes, and they had rules and regulations to follow, but they addressed how they should act as Jedi. They didn’t care what kind of clothing you wore.

Starting with The Phantom Menace, Jedi were taken at such young ages to begin their training that they could not give any consent to their enlistment, nor were they offered any alternatives when they had grown up and may be able to decide for themselves. They are indoctrinated into a singular Jedi philosophy, not allowed to even debate the dogma of the Council without ostracism, let alone actually defy it. The Jedi Council unilaterally makes decisions for the entire Order galaxy-wide without any apparent method for dissent or appeal, or any devolution of authority.

Taking (Abducting) children as infants, not allowing them any contact with their families, mandating an isolated ascetic existence...the Jedi Order became a cult.

That’s a cult, plain and simple.

These changes didn’t make the Jedi “complex”, didn’t make the conflict “shades of grey”, they’re just creepy and nonsensical.

#Star Wars #Retroactive Continuity #Retcons #Original Trilogy #Expanded Universe #Prequel Trilogy #Clone Wars #The Clone Wars #Sith #Jedi #Jedi Order #Clone Army #Yuuzhan Vong #Cult

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anghraine · 4 years

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“the jedi and the sith lord” - chapter seven

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Last chapter:

“But what would you call yourself, Miss Lucy?”

Kavashti, thought Lucy, though she’d almost never even heard the word, only the Basic equivalent.

Freeborn.

On Tatooine, or at least the part of Tatooine that she knew, freeborn didn’t mean just anyone free from birth. It referred to the ones who would have been born into slavery, if luck had not intervened—the children of freed slaves and of slave families. Among the people Lucy had known, it was as often an insult as not. But Beru said that kavashti was a term of honour and joy among the Alsarai.

This chapter:

“So Senator Amidala was … some unknown species?”

Tisix turned its head to stare at Tuvié.

“Nobody said I couldn’t tell her,” she said.

“Hmph. Well, all reports list Senator Amidala as fully human. The most likely explanation is that your other genetic contributor is the responsible party.”

chapters: The Adventures of Lucy Skywalker– prologue, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter nine, chapter ten; The Imperial Menace–chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven; The Jedi and the Sith Lord—chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six

Darth Vader knew the truth, even without the helpful prompting of the Force.

Jerjerrod was plotting against him. Probably Varti, too—they were friends from their Academy days and had always operated in tandem. But Varti could cover up his emotions; Jerjerrod exuded schemes.

The Force did not, however, tell him the form that the schemes would take. Vader could stay on guard, but he always did that. Otherwise, he could see no way to prepare, except preemptive action. And Jerjerrod was a favourite of the Emperor. Vader could hardly just walk in and choke him or slide his head off, despite the temptation.

His jaw, one of the few parts of his body in good condition, tightened.

On top of that, Lucy had proven completely intractable. He had not seen the flaw in his plan to convert her to the Dark Side until too late.

He had no idea what to say to her.

Certainly, he’d tried to explain some part of the necessity to her, but he didn’t sound convincing even to himself. In retrospect, he’d recalled that it had taken Palpatine—sly, smooth-talking Palpatine—ten years to turn him. At her age, he’d have seen no more clearly than Lucy. But he knew perfectly well that, in this respect, he didn’t possess Palpatine’s abilities. And he didn’t have ten years. Palpatine would insist on her death long before then, even if (when) they crushed the Rebellion.

And Vader needed her strength to help defeat him and finally, finally bring true order to the galaxy. Anything else was intolerable. Yet he could see no way forward.

At least her eyesight was returning, however slowly; she didn’t need it, least of all with the Force as her ally, but he doubted she could accept that. And he’d felt her grasp at the Force. Not the Dark Side—she’d blazed like the suns—but at least she’d listened on that occasion. It was a step forward.

It had to be.

Meanwhile, there was the matter of Padmé. He rarely thought of her in his conscious hours; he couldn’t afford to. Even in death, she was his vulnerability. But it was natural that Lucy would think of her.

For a fractional moment, he’d thought of telling her something—nothing that would expose his weakness, but something. The Larses hadn’t known her. Obi-Wan had, apparently, disclosed nothing; Lucy hadn’t even known that Padmé was her mother.

Familiar fury stirred in him. Obi-Wan had filled her head with lies about the Jedi and the frail Light Side, placed Vader’s lightsaber in her hands, but couldn’t spare a word for Padmé?

Vader supposed Obi-Wan couldn’t have known how delighted Padmé had been with the pregnancy, how much she’d looked forward to Lucy, ignorant of the fact that her daughter would never know her. But he had called himself her friend.

Of course, Vader knew how little Obi-Wan’s friendship was worth. Still, he’d been surprised. But perhaps he shouldn’t have been. A daughter should know something of her mother, but no doubt Obi-Wan considered that dangerous attachment, as the Jedi had thought of Shmi. Or maybe Padmé’s memory simply hadn’t suited the end he hoped to use her for.

It hardly suited Vader’s, either; he was honest enough with himself to know that Padmé would have been even more horrified at Lucy turning to the Dark Side than she’d been when Vader did it. But Padmé hadn’t understood. She was too blinded by the Republic and Obi-Wan’s lies—or duplicity, anyway. If she’d lived, she would have come to see the truth. They could have ruled the galaxy as a family.

Well, they would, even if it was only him and Lucy. They would overthrow the Emperor and cleanse his corruption and wasteful displays of power. They would rule as father and daughter.

They would.

Lucy didn’t encounter Vader for three days after she’d asked about her mother. It turned out that he’d left again on some Imperial business. Tuvié thought it had to do with some power struggle he was enmeshed in, but Lucy couldn’t help fearing it spelled some new disaster for the Rebellion. For all the dread and aggravation of his presence, it at least meant he was here and not up to trouble out there.

But she could hardly do anything about when and where he chose to take himself. The understanding should have brought her more acceptance than it did, but she felt more and more restless. She was here on the inside, and seemed relatively secure from harm. She should be doing something. Leia would come up with something. Han would at least get up to trouble instead of playing nice. It felt almost like a betrayal of those who’d died or suffered at the Empire’s hands to trot around without protest, eating fine meals and draped in fine clothes.

Keep your eyes and ears open. Find out everything you can. Be ready.

Lucy calmed a little. All right. All right. She had to think of it as—as an undercover mission, of sorts. She’d never done anything like that; it wasn’t exactly in her skill set. But she had an idea of what they were like. Her job was to maintain her cover. She could do that. Leia would understand.

Force, she missed her. She missed Han, too, and her squadron, and her friends, and in a different way, Yoda. But Leia most of all—Leia’s sharp tongue and stealth gentleness and unflagging strength and decisiveness.

I can be strong, like you, she imagined saying. What would Leia tell her?

You’d better be.

Lucy smiled and opened her eyes to the second day without Vader. She blinked rapidly; the shadows had resolved into colours and shapes, if blurry ones. The walls were a sleek white, and almost everything else bright silver-grey. It looked a bit sterile, but at least not actively menacing; she’d rather expected Imperial colours.

Lucy let her gaze travel across the room. The wardrobe was even bigger than she’d realized—but then, it probably had to be, to contain all of Padmé’s clothes. But actually, everything was bigger than she expected, including the room itself. There was a long table lining the wall by the fresher, a round one on the opposite side of the room, and both left large amounts of space around them. Lucy stared up at the arching ceiling. What was the point of all this? Was it really just some hamfisted attempt of Vader’s to lure her over?

“Good morning!”

Lucy looked over at Tuvié, curious to actually see her, even with fuzzy edges. She almost matched the room—Lucy could make out a steely grey frame, deep blue plating, and where visible, pale prosthetics. She looked rather like a protocol droid, a replica droid, and a medical unit fused into one.

Lucy squinted. Tuvié had something odd about her waist. A belt? And two longish, narrow objects hung from it on either side. They seemed to have handles. Were those knives?

“Uh,” said Lucy. “Good morning. How are you?”

She winced as soon as she’d said it.

“How nice of you to ask! All my processes are operating at optimum capacity, Miss Lucy. You needn’t concern yourself with any dangers, if there were any here! Which there are not!”

“Right. Thanks,” said Lucy. More brightly than she felt, she said, “I can see! Not perfectly, but things are just a bit blurry.”

“Your processes are almost optimal as well? Wonderful!” Tuvié said promptly, with no sign of the dismay that had touched her earlier. “You must be very happy.”

“Well, um.” Lucy didn’t like lying, even to Vader’s droid. “It’s a big relief.”

She prowled about the castle that day, calculating distances between halls and rooms, taking in the mingled stone and metal grey of the walls and floors and high ceilings. It looked like … well, a fortress, much more than her bedroom or the blandly decorated dining hall. The practice room she’d visited was, she now realized, further away than she’d guessed, and very much bigger, with even higher ceilings than her bedroom and a long stretch of empty space. At the back, however, platforms hung at varying heights in the air, presumably suspended by something. Maybe for some kind of climbing exercise, though she could also make out something that looked like rungs along the walls.

Lucy strode over to peer at the equipment case, her nose almost touching the glass—if it was glass. Padded armour and various mechanical devices, but nothing more helpful than that. They seemed even blurrier than everything else, though. Cautiously, she ran a finger along the edge of the case; the finger came away dirty. The floor felt dusty, too. Whatever its purpose had once been, it appeared that nobody had used this place in a long time.

The next day, her vision had completely sharpened. Tuvié definitely carried knives, and a blaster, and Lucy suspected she knew very well how to use them. Did she do double time as an assassin, or simply a guard? The former was very difficult to envision, of course, but—well, either way, Lucy suspected Threepio would be horrified at this sort of stepsister droid. Lucy herself couldn’t help feeling a little impressed.

As soon as she told Tuvié that she was fully recovered, the droid in question all but dragged her off to see Tisix—a standard medical droid—who poked and prodded at Lucy’s face and even took a blood sample. Lucy didn’t like the idea of the last, but couldn’t see any way to refuse, and from their comments when she’d first woken, suspected they already had a sample anyway.

“You seem to have fully recovered your sensory capacities,” Tisix reported. “Your test results are within normal ranges for a female humanoid adult.”

Lucy hesitated, remembering Tuvié’s strange insistence.

“What do you mean by humanoid?” she asked. “I mean, what species does the bloodwork turn up, if I’m not fully human?”

Tisix gave a thoughtful clack. “None on my records. But the divergence is quite slight—”

“Right, right.” Lucy paused. “So Senator Amidala was … some unknown species?”

Tisix turned its head to stare at Tuvié.

“Nobody said I couldn’t tell her,” she said.

“Hmph. Well, all reports list Senator Amidala as fully human. The most likely explanation is that your other genetic contributor is the responsible party.”

Anakin? But he was Alsarai. Wouldn’t Beru have said something, if they weren’t human? In fact, Lucy was pretty sure Beru had described them as human. Had she just not known? But maybe Anakin’s father, or what went for a father in his situation, had been some near-human. Lucy didn’t know anything about her grandfather, though she didn’t have the impressed that he’d been Alsarai.

She supposed it didn’t really matter. At least, it didn’t change anything about her situation here or in the Rebellion. Lucy nodded at Tisix, and after a few more questions about her tests (she still didn’t know what the hell midichlorians were, except that she had a lot of them), let Tuvié lead her away.

There was still plenty more of the fortress to explore, but Lucy thought she’d seen the most relevant locations. She frowned to herself as they walked; she couldn’t just wander aimlessly around forever.

“Did my mother leave anything, um, maneuverable?” she asked. “Clothes-wise?”

Tuvié looked at her. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“It’s hard to move around quickly in these,” Lucy said, gesturing at the stiff blue skirts of the current work of art she wore. “Or to do much of anything other than walk. Did she ever wear anything ordinary?”

“Hm,” said Tuvié. “I don’t know about ordinary, but we’ll see what I can find.”

There wasn’t much, but in the back of the wardrobe, Tuvié dredged up a high-collared tunic and soft pants. Both were very pretty and the material still seemed alarmingly fine, but Lucy suspected it was the best she was going to get. She changed her clothes, aided by a muttering Tuvié, and headed out to the practice room.

Now she could see that the place was, indeed, all but abandoned, with a thick layer of dust over virtually everything. Dirt and indistinct clutter had formed into small piles throughout. But the place would at least give her the chance for some exercise. Especially those platforms, if they didn’t collapse right under her. Lucy ran the length of the room and clambered up the rungs along the side of the wall, then leapt from the wall to the nearest platform. It wasn’t that far, but she almost missed the jump. She’d definitely gotten out of shape.

“Oh, Miss Lucy, be careful!” called Tuvié. “I don’t know what Lord Vader would say if you fell!”

Good riddance, probably. But Lucy suspected Tuvié was quite capable of following her anywhere she chose to go. She reached for the filaments of the Force she could manage and took a running leap back towards the wall, climbing down.

“I think I need to spend more time here,” she said, a little breathless.

“Well, all right, but—”

Lucy tripped. Looking down, she saw that she’d walked right into one of the piles. She shook her feet out of the dirt, a long, narrow stick flying a short distance away.

Tilting her head, she examined the stick. Maybe—

She walked over and picked it up. It was about the weight of her lightsaber, if distributed a little differently. Swishing the stick in the air, she smiled, then stabbed it forwards. This should work just fine.

“Miss Lucy?” said Tuvié, hurrying over. “What are you doing? Someone really should clean up this place, but it’s been so long—you shouldn’t do it, anyway—”

“I’m not,” Lucy said. “I just need to practice.”

Tuvié’s optics flickered as she contemplated the stick. “I do not see how this item enables you to practice anything.”

“It’s a bit like my lightsaber,” said Lucy.

She settled into the first stance Obi-Wan had taught her and moved forwards into the next, swinging the stick up as if she could parry an attack without it. Nearly tripping again, this time over her feet, she frowned. She still wasn’t doing it right.

“Your … lightsaber,” Tuvié said blankly.

It occurred to Lucy that she probably shouldn’t have mentioned that to Vader’s droid. She had no idea how much information he chose to share with Tuvié, but it certainly didn’t seem too extensive. Apparently, she hadn’t known this much.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it now.

“I used to have one,” Lucy replied, and tried to shift stances again. That time, at least, she avoided fumbling, even if it wasn’t perfectly seamless.

“I don’t understand,” said Tuvié. “Aren’t those the weapons of Jedi traitors?”

Lucy’s grip on the stick tightened.

“Vader has one,” she said. “He’s a Jedi.”

“Well, yes, but … that’s different.”

“How?” said Lucy, trying to dart forwards with a wide sweep. Her feet fell into place, but she nearly dropped the stick.

“He’s not like the others,” Tuvié said, sounding genuinely troubled. “The Jedi were corrupt and faithless. He had to help root them out to keep them from sabotaging the security of the Empire. He believes in their—oh, I forget the word. All this Force business. But he would never betray the Empire!”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t,” said Lucy. “It’s just—”

She didn’t know where to begin. Especially considering Tuvié’s knives.

“My lightsaber was my father’s,” she said at last. “It was—it was all I had of him. He died when I was a baby, like my mother.”

Tuvié gave a soft whirr. “Oh. I see. It was a … oh, I’m wretched with word retrieval today. A sentimental object you inherited?”

“Yes,” said Lucy, not feeling the need to tell her that she’d gladly used it on any number of occasions in the fight against the Empire. “ It was painful to lose it, so I’d rather not talk about it any more. I’m going to run some more. That all right with you?”

“Of course, if it makes you happy!” said Tuvié, thankfully restored to her usual tones. “I shall observe! And make sure there are no unauthorized observers!”

Lucy exhaled, forcing herself back into something dimly like Jedi calm. “Thanks, Tuvié.”

She kept practicing, feeling more human—ha!—than she had since her arrival. Maybe even before. Dagobah had been wild; this room was carefully designed for its purpose, if faded and grimy by neglect. Still, she replicated her exercises as well as she could under Tuvié’s fretful eye, stretching, exercising, taking off her boots to run over decaying mats and somersault into the air, and clambering up any surface that allowed it. She thought she was getting a little better at the lightsaber exercises, too, though of course it was hard to tell with just a stick. Tuvié found those ones particularly baffling, though Lucy managed to avoid explaining herself.

When she felt particularly strong-willed, she settled down and tried to commune with the Force, ignoring Tuvié as well as she could. Sometimes it slipped away from her all over again, but now and then it came readily to her grasp, feeling almost comfortable, like sitting with a good friend. Lucy even laid down on the dirty floor sometimes, sending a quiet apology to her mother’s undoubtedly well-dressed spirit as she let the Force flow quietly through her, her eyes fixed on the ceiling or the windowed platform near the top of the room.

You are never alone in the Force.

It always came as a relief and something of a comfort, though it wasn’t the same as someone she could talk to. There was Tuvié, but she always had to be so careful of what she said, and—she wished Obi-Wan would appear, or the monk, or someone who could guide her. Sure, she was old enough to stand on her own feet, but she was also a prisoner of Darth Vader. She wished she could trust someone, anyone.

But at least she had the Force with her now to strengthen her reflexes and her resolve.

Sometimes.

On the fourth day from Vader’s latest departure, Lucy was standing on her hands, eyes closed as she strained to see anything through the Force, when she felt a familiar sharpness in the Dark Side. Well, she wasn’t going to interrupt herself just because he’d shown up somewhere in the castle. It was his castle; he might be anywhere in it at any time, and with or without him, she had to keep practicing in any way she could.

She was proud that she managed to maintain her position when the door slid open, even with the sudden menace of his breathing. Yoda would be proud. Maybe.

“There you are,” Vader said.

Lucy opened her eyes. He didn’t look nearly so intimidating upside-down.

“Here I am,” she replied, and launched herself to her feet, flipping her braid back. “Is it Dark Side o’clock?”

She suspected his next breath might have been a sigh.

“What are you doing here?”

“You’re going to have to answer that one,” Lucy said, bending down to pull her boots on.

“In this room,” he clarified.

She shrugged. “Exercising. It’s pretty good for that.”

In her ears, her voice sounded almost conciliatory. Ugh.

“I have not used it in many years,” Vader told her.

“I noticed,” said Lucy.

Before he could reply, if he meant to, Tuvié clattered over. “My lord! Excellent news!”

Vader’s mask turned towards the droid. “Yes?”

“Miss Lucy’s optical abilities have entirely returned! I took her to Tisix and Tisix’s tests all came back positive!”

“Excellent,” Vader said.

Lucy nearly shivered.

“Also—if I may—I have a request, sir,” said Tuvié, sounding deferential but not really intimidated. “May I have the use of a contingent of cleaning droids? I am not at all suited to the task.”

“What task?” Lucy and Vader both said.

Lucy scowled.

“Why, this room!” Tuvié said, looking from one to the other. “If Miss Lucy means to keep using it, and all information suggests that she does, I do think it should be hygienic. It wouldn’t do for her to damage herself in some way!”

Lucy glanced at a nearby pile of debris.

“I don’t think dirt is a major risk to my life,” she said.

“Do as you wish, F-2VA,” said Vader indifferently. “And stay here. Lucy, you will come with me.”

She really didn’t like following orders from Vader, and certainly without protest. But she also didn’t want to risk herself over something stupid, either. Her scowl deepening, she followed Vader out of the room.

“Your connection to the Force is stronger,” he said, slowing his stride. “Good.”

No thanks to you, she thought.

“To the Light Side,” she told him.

“Yes,” said Vader. “That would be difficult here. It is a credit to your strength, if not to your sense.”

Lucy’s jaw clenched.

“Once you see the necessity of turning to the Dark Side, you will make an impressive Jedi,” he went on.

She tilted her head back to stare up at him.

“Are you trying to flatter me into turning?” she said. “It won’t work.”

“I am explaining the situation,” said Vader shortly. “If you were not so blinded by Obi-Wan’s false teachings, you would see the truth—and your value—more clearly.”

Lucy wasn’t about to tell him about Yoda. Instead, she replied,

“I know my value.”

Vader turned down a familiar hall—the one that led into the room where he customarily received her. Now, his steps quickened, and she had to nearly run to keep up.

“I think not,” he said. “Not to its full extent.”

She decided there wasn’t any point in arguing with him. It wasn’t like she’d ever get through to him, anyway. Or like there was anything to get to, at this point. She withdrew into sullen silence until he turned into the main room, and the door shut behind her.

Lucy glanced around the room, now that she could see it. It was large and extremely stark, with metallic grey walls, a handful of metal chairs, and a small metal table dwarfed by the rest of the room. It also had a barred window that let in a shaft of faintly greenish sunlight. If anything looked unhygienic, that was it.

Vader gestured vaguely at one of the chairs as he strode over to the window, his armour gleaming and his gloved hands locked behind his back. Lucy, determined to avoid obeying every command, folded her arms and remained standing.

“Let me be clear with you,” he said. “I told you when you first woke up—”

“—first got captured—”

“—that we have a common enemy,” said Vader tightly. “This remains true. Surely you, of all people, understand that the Emperor must be overthrown.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. She’d wondered if he meant that, but—

He would never betray the Empire.

“Somehow I think I understand it a little differently than you,” she said. “You were on the Death Star!”

“I was commanded to be,” said Vader. “It was Krennic’s and Tarkin’s project—a waste of resources that pretended to power that only the Force possesses. This is why the Force guided your destruction of it.”

Her jaw nearly dropped. What?

She wiped her bewilderment off her face just in time. Vader turned around, the mask directly facing her.

“They, however, were only tools of the Emperor’s vision,” he said. “That is the kind of waste, of useless and destructive displays of power, that he indulges himself in. The galaxy needs real leaders to take command. To resolve this conflict and bring peace and order.”

Lucy felt like she’d just entered some alternate reality, everything twisted just that bit from what she thought she knew. This must be a trick, though she felt no deception in the Force. Maybe it was what he told himself. Or … it wasn’t wrong, exactly, but not … he couldn’t understand, not really.

“And you think that leader should be you?” she asked skeptically.

“I said leaders,” said Vader. “Regardless, the Emperor’s strength in the Force is such that I cannot defeat him alone, and neither can you. Even together, we will never be strong enough unless you turn to the Dark Side. It is stronger—”

“No, it’s not!” she protested. “It’s just easier—”

“Have you touched it?” said Vader. “No. You only know the Light Side. Palpatine only knows the Dark. I, alone, know both, and I know the Dark is stronger. You will never defeat the Emperor without it. The good of the galaxy rests on your choice.”

Lucy swallowed.

“The longer you cling to this foolishness, the more the galaxy suffers,” he added.

Her heart ticked in her ears. He’s wrong, she told herself. Yoda had explained it. He had to be right. Vader didn’t understand.

At least, she hoped he didn’t.

“Maybe some of all that is right,” she told him. “Some. The Emperor has to be brought down, sure. But the Dark Side is evil. You can say what you want about the good of the galaxy and all that. Good can’t come from evil.”

He said, “You yourself are proof of the contrary.”

More troubled than she’d admit, Lucy shook her head wildly.

“Me? No, I’m—I don’t care what you think you know about me. You don’t know anything!”

For a long moment, he just stood there, the mask appearing to consider her. Then he moved forward.

Her skin prickled; she had nothing and no one to protect her, no weapon, no anything. Lucy rocked back on her heels, every instinct telling her to run, or at least to back away. It took all her self-command to root herself where she was, as a Jedi should.

“I think,” said Vader, “that you have forgotten what you come from, kavashti.”

Lucy had been startled and overjoyed to hear Alsaraic from Threepio. Now, she could feel only horror. Had Tuvié—but she hadn’t told her that word, she—how—had he known an Alsara, like Threepio must have? But he wouldn’t be old enough—and why would they—unless—unless he was Alsarai himself. But that wasn’t possible, surely. They were gone, she’d always been told that, they—

In the turmoil of her feelings, a familiar sense of quiet affirmation grew. She wasn’t the last of her people. There was another, living still.

Darth Vader.

#anghraine's fic #the jedi and the sith lord #rule 63 #genderbending #tisix #tuvié #/#//#///#////#lucy skywalker #luke skywalker #anakin skywalker #star wars #long post #speaking of things i've been planning for a long time!

13 notes · View notes

roxannepolice · 5 years

Note

Long asks anon again, here to offer my opinion on the current wank. Rey as a character is rather blatantly breaking sw story rules and nothing is going to get SFF fans hackles up like rule breakage. This is root of both the MarySue accusations and current wank. Rey has a tragic backstory thats doubling as the only failure she can call her own. But its a) damn near entirely offscreen and b) serves as convenient justification for why shes competent at near everything that comes up.

Reys instantly good at the force because of a convenient force download that to the best of my knowledge only occured in the noncanon KOTOR II and quite frankly cant blame most of the general audience for not getting because without prior knowledge or the novelizations why would they? She has darkness in her but as so far used and touched it consequence free and its almost entirely symbolically externalized on the Kylo (and in SW symbolism is Real in a way it isnt in other narratives) Shes strong in the force because Light rises to meet Dark but to quote the current crop of movies ‘thats not how the force works) or at least thats never how it worked before. Shes the first SW protagonist to go behind enemy lines and come out with both hands in the second movie. For ppl wondering how come Luke and Ani never get labeled MarySues, this is why, they got thier asses handed to them, Rey hasnt. There /is/ something /off/ in Reys story, and ppl pick up on it. if you can make a post (w/ over 1k notes!) about how great it is that a character meant to prop up 7hrs worth of movies has little to no character development to go through, somethings off. If multiple ppl can make posts about how its neat Rey can tap into the darkside (still characterized as evil in ST) consequence free (with some quite frankly stupid justifications, 'shes disciplined’ really? jedi lacked a lot of things thats not one of them) somethings off and again, if the only failure your main heroine has is /entirely retroactive something’s off/. If the story were getting with the is the story most ppl think we are, a 'female empowerment’ (i dont feel particularly empowered by being told I have an equal chance at being a deus ex machina but ok) than well, her story is over and theres no need for IX (hell it could have been over in TFA, most ppl assumed she had accepted her place as the future jedi in that one) and no need for reylo The ST was always gonna deconstruct all that came before it purely by virtue of being a sequel. The tragedy of anakin skywalker is now a farce, the happy ot ending now a tragedy, and the mythopoetic structure shot to shit in the name of serialization and perpetual warfare. this stand true for all the sequel characters including rey and ben. the only question is are we going to get anything out of it? I compare it to home renovation. You can knock out a wall and the walls gone, but new opportunities arise. With Benlo, I’m reasonably confident that there will be at least some attempt to take advantage of the new space. With rey and the resistance kids? not so much. it just feels like they knocked down a blue wall to rebuild it as pink one and at the point it just feels like a waste of time because ive seen this before. Ive seen pure cinnamon roll desert orphan reform jedi order If this was all youre going to do that the fuck was the point? which circles around to my problem with team good guy this go around and That Scene. JJ twisted the story into a pretzel to justify the winners of the last round being the underdogs again and then rian twisted so much further the storys head may as well be up its own ass. And then at the very end he shoots it all to shit and rushes to reassure us its all gonna be okay. He removes the entire point of the underdog trope /the tension that comes from the fact that they might lose/. I mean there wasnt a whole lot of that to begin with already but really? So theres no tension that Reys gonna win so her journey feels frictionless, and theres no question where shes gonna end up so full offense why give a shit? Thats where the whole 'can rey lose a fight?’ thing comes from. Ppl want conflict in her arc to justify its existence and give us a reason why this her story to begin with. if the only character going through growth for all three movies is ben, if the only characters whos fate is up in the air is ben, and if all the tension in the reylo relationship comes from ben, then why is this /reys story/? why not just make it about the character actually driving all the drama and thus, the story? As a final thought, im going to add that having Kylo be aware and insecure that hes never gonna be as Iconic as Vader was a great story choice, regardless of where ends up. Current Rebels, on the other hand, seems to have not gotten the memo that they are never gonna be as iconic as Original Rebels, and the story itself seems to being trying to sell them to me as being better. Rey is Luke but better, Poe/Finn are Han wo the smuggler grit, and id be lying if i said it didnt piss me off.

Long asks anon to kick down ur door again, AND ANOTHER THING. SW is a lotta things. Subtle aint one of them, and St hasnt changed in that regard. If you have to debate it chances are either a) ur arguing counter to the text in which case mor power to you but not really helpful for predictions or intended meaning or b) /it aint there. A bunch of ppl didnt like anidala, but nobody doubted we were supposed to think they were in love by the end of AOTC, bunch of ppl didnt like poes arc, but no one doubts he fucked up by not listening to holdo was the intended take away. Which brings to rey and flaws or lack there of. Were told rey has flaws but she has yet to suffer any real consequences from them with the exception of The Damn Parentage Wank, which again, pulls the double duty of making her hyper competent at everything. Because rey has no consequences for her flaws, from a story function pov there aren’t any. If rey did have a flaw to overcome, we would all agree what it was

Now won’t you all just look at this beautiful, spot on rant which has been lagging in my askbox since the last time Rey’s flaws or lack thereof were the discourse’s focus (November, I believe?) and suddenly became a thing again, courtesy of Tweetgate. I think you really summed up the crux of this debate wonderfully, anon.

I particularly agree with the part about Rey not getting narratively punished for whatever flaws we’d like her to have (great point about returning from behind the enemy lines with both arms still in place), when SW don’t stay away from allowing characters to get “punished” even for otherwise applaudable features - vide Padmé, whose idealism is what Palps manipulates into gaining more power (this is why Padmé will never come off as a Mary Sue or too perfect, btw). But I’ll say even more - Rey doesn’t even get called out on her flaws, except for by Ben, who’s mostly dismissed as a baddie like Palpatine saying Luke was foolish to rely on his friends. Let’s just consider one thing - both Anakin and Luke get called out on their flaws by Yoda (Anakin repeatedly and by lots of other people for that matter) whereas with Rey, the same grumpy-yet-jolly senex pops up from the afterlife to further inform us what a great jedi material she is.

TBH, I have a very cynical theory as to why Rey is being pushed as the main character while it’s difficult to deny that it’s Kylo Ben who does all the plot heavy lifting. I’m pretty sure Ben’s arc was the first one DLF thought out (and the big question is, was it the only one they thought out) and only later on decided to make Rey the main character, which also involved much less spontaneous writing. Mind you, it’s not as if benepemption didn’t have a manufactured subtaste to it, but with Rey’s heroine’s journey stiff structure occasionally substitutes any in-world explanations of her actions (this is why I have to hope renperor has some narrative purpose rather than happening because lovers need to be separated and anti-hero needs to achieve what he wanted in 2nd act). I feel as if whatever potential her character had (and hopefully still has, pending IX) got smothered by layer upon layer of making her likable by everyone, which largely relied on negative characterization: she’s not helpless, she’s not too naive, not cynical, not too emotional, not too emotionless, not morally corruptible, not anything you’ve ever complained about regarding any SW character, not falling for the bad boy, not not not - and in the end it’s kinda difficult to say what Rey is like and while the goal of making her widely likable was achieved, it also made it almost impossible to view her as loveably flawed/annoying like the classic characters. And on top of all this is the matter of making her a nobody just like you!, as DLF appears to say with uncle Sam’s gesture (which also kinda assumes the existence of a Star Wars fan as some uniform entity? because if you identify with her, good for you, I just don’t understand why the franchise assumes I’ll identify with her by the grace of being a SW fan alone), because, as you excellently put it, the message here is that everyone can be chosen by God - which again, it’s not as if the saga ever contradicted this, so why the hell make a case of it? I can’t agree that it’s made into Rey’s flaw, though, imo her low birth only serves to further frame her as an oppressed virtue. And I definitely agree regarding too much of her growth being left off-screen, or before the story ever begins. The problem here isn’t even that it is left off-screen (it’s not as if we had huge insight into any of the pt or ot characters) but rather that her characterizations is left off-screen while being depicted as at least untypical (unique to put it bluntly) for her situation (same goes for Finn). A hopeful, kind person growing up on her on her own in slavery under a nicer name is a rarity and DLF makes a case for it being a rarity - and this sparks up curiosity in her past, as if market pandering to Re/sky wasn’t enough. So from this pov her un-reveal being frustrating isn’t just a case of not wanting to love her or her self only a potentially deeper psychological question getting answered with well, light.

I should add, Ben’s arc feels like the most spontaneous one (though Finn’s may yet be a masterpiece) and he’s the one to admit his fear of not living up to Vader’s legacy, because I think he’s the character serving as the creators’ vessel, more or less like Luke was Lucas’ avatar in ot. In his fear regarding Vader’s legacy one can feel Disney’s fear due to having bought popculture’s holy grail and not being entirely sure what to do with it. On this background, Rey (a literal scavenger of OT’s pieces) and rebels 2.0 repeatedly blessed by Leia come off as what DLF would want to be. And the result is that the character which was supposed to be Vader 2.0 proves the most original and surprising one, whereas “breaths of fresh air” come off as room aromatizers with “fresh” written on them.

And as far as the plot being bended into a pretzel and then disappearing up it’s own ass, well, a part of me is still hoping that taking virtually the same villains as before is a mythological-psychoanalitical metaphor of a nigredo repeating itself until the unconscious gets accepted by the conscious…. but, tbh, as the leaks flow this hope is withering.

#asks #cleaning up the askbox #long asks anon #sw negativity #let rey free from the corset disney

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cienie-isengardu · 6 years

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Well, the great difference between the Jedi and the clones is that while Jedi indoctrination makes for mitigating circumstances, they are still held personally responsible. Yes, the narrative may skirt around these issues, but it still brings them up - Slick calls the clones slaves, Barriss criticizes Jedi's part in the war, otoh Miraj argues that the Jedi themselves are akin to slaves etc. But the clones are blameless. They did not turn against their buddies and slaughter them with a clear head

2/2 to the audience it also feels different to slaughter a complete stranger or a passing aquaitance as opposed to a friend. In spite of all else, how could fandom not hate Wolffe and co. if they killed Plo for no reason than because a superior ordered it? As for the comparison to Kenobi, as opposed to clones he had very good evidence of Anakin’s crimes. If he had any doubt, it disappeared when Anakin strangled Padme. He might not wanted to be the one to deal with it, but there was no one else.

Firstly, I’m sorry it takes me so long to answer, I had really tiresome two weeks at work and couldn’t reply earlier. Also, I lost my first draft of the answer and needed to rewrite it entirety, so sorry in advance for possible grammatical mistakes and so on.

Secondly… Well, I’m not so sure if Jedi were truly held personally responsible in The Clone Wars animated series - yes, TCW’s narrative brought the issue few times, but never really addressed them in a way that made me feel the Jedi actually were forced to think over what happened. Slick’s accusation was pretty fast dismissed, because he was the traitor and “disappointment” and it was his selfish doing that killed so many clone troopers in the process. Barriss would never be brought to trial at all (and thus never openly criticized Jedi Order), if not for Anakin and Padme, the only people willing to prove Ahsoka’s innocence. But did Jedi Council take any blame for the whole fiasco? Not really. They just washed their hands of both Barriss and Ahsoka. Anakin & Plo were the only one who bothered to say “sorry” to Ahsoka, but rest of Council acted as it was the Will of the Force or her Jedi Trail and were now kind enough to allow her come back. In the end, Ahsoka’s departure was about how she couldn’t trust herself since Council didn’t trust her than how they failed a child in their care. I don’t know what happened to Barriss after trial (and since that was public thing, I doubt Jedi could sent her to their own top secret Ghost Prison), but did any Council member or the girl’s master even get involved afterwards? I don’t remember anything like that. Barriss’ words had merit but are easy dismissed - she is terrorist whose action killed innocent people. If she cared so much how Order changed for worse, why she used violence or did not speak about that in more civil way? How she can criticize Jedi when she alone put bombs and killed people?

And the queen Miraj? She was the “bad one”, so why Jedi (or audience that is supposed to cheer up for Jedi) should care for her claims and screwed up ideology/POV? She enriched on human trafficking, allowed to torture, abuse and dehumanization of captured people - what she really knew about Republic and Jedi corruption, if she alone wasn’t saint? Did she really meant that or did she just messed up with Anakin who was forced to obey her, otherwise dear to him people would be hurt? Or Asajj, who by most of time mercilessly killed people and never questioned Dooku’s evil orders until he betrayed her? See, the problem with accusations coming up from the bad ones is that, those characters do not have any higher moral ground to pass judgment or criticize anyone. I admit I didn’t watch TCW for a long time, so I may missed some more important moments (the padawans left behind, for example). But at the end of day, Jedi are the heroes and rescuers, even when some groups didn’t want to be bring into their military conflict. The villains may have valid points, but it’s easy to dismiss them. TCW did not bring criticism for Jedi from the good guys and for most of time, I feel like all accusation only reinforces Jedi false belief how flawless they were.

I mean that. Yoda, Plo and Shaak Ti may gave clones pep talk, but they would send them on suicidal mission without any remorse or doubt, if that was for the greater good. Saving son of Jabba the Hutt is the best example. Does anyone hold Jedi responsible for letting behind slaves in need, when they actually made a deal with slaver? Not really.

Or did any senator (citizen of Republic) even once asked why Jedi will not pay themselves for clone army whose creation they ordered without the senate’s knowledge, when republic budget was discussed? Did anyone asked how out-of-nowhere, there is a full army ready for a war? Did we even see Yoda to explain any Jedi matters to non-Jedi person (senators?) at least one time? Or being questioned by anyone? Not really.

That said, in some sources (usually Legends) Jedi were forced to rethink their choices or were blamed for things that went wrong. Like senator Ask Aak, who blamed Jedi for another lost battle and even questioned not only their ability, but the desire to defeat Dooku. Still, Jedi weren’t hold responsible nor their mistakes weren’t publicized (“Whispers of names that the Jedi would like to pretend never existed. Sora Bulq. Depa Billaba. Jedi who have fallen to the dark. Who have joined the Separatists, or worse: who have massacred civilians, or even murdered their comrades.” [RotS novel]). They did not apologized for action of Jedi who fell to Dark Side. They did not answer to senate or court the way average citizen would be forced to.

Let me quote fragment from Order 66 novel, between ARC troopers and Jedi master Zey that I think sums up pretty much the different idea of obedience:

“They killed us … They killed us all … Why?” […]

“Orders,” Ordo said. “You never read the GAR’s contingency orders? They’re on the mainframe. I suppose nobody thinks contingency orders will ever be needed.”

Zey leaned panting against the door frame as if he was about to collapse. “But why?”

“Because,” said Maze’s voice from outside the doors, “it’s neither your right nor your position to decide who runs the Republic. Who elected you?” […]

“Maze, what are you going to do now?” Ordo asked.

“I’ve never disobeyed an order,” said the ARC captain. Zey didn’t seem to have the strength to turn and look at his former aide, just shutting his eyes as if he was waiting for the coup de grace. “What am I supposed to do? Pick and choose? That’s the irony. The Jedi thought we were excellent troops because we’re so disciplined and we obey orders, but when we obey all orders - and they’re lawful orders, remember - then we’ve betrayed them. Can’t have it both ways, General.”

[…]

“I really must be going, General,” Ordo said. But he had to know. “Just tell me, is it true that Windu tried to depose the Chancellor?”

Zey raised his head all anguish and agony. “He’s a Sith. Can’t you see? A Sith! He’s taking over the government, he’s occupying the galaxy with his new clones, he’s evil…”

“I said, is it true?”

“Yes! It was our duty as Jedi to stop him.” “What’s a Sith?” Maze asked.[…[

“Like Jedi,” Ordo said “only on the other side. Mandalorians fought for them thousands of years ago, and we got stiffed by them in the end. We got stiffed by the Jedi, too. So, all in all, it’s a moot point for us.”

“Palpatine’s probably the one who had you created” Zey said. He was lucky he was still breathing. Ordo wasn’t sure why Maze hadn’t just slotted him. “Why couldn’t you see what he was?”

“Why couldn’t you sniff him out with your Force powers?” Ordo asked. “And why the shab did you never ask where we came from?”

Jedi Order was politically untouchable organization until now. Jedi matters were only for Jedi. The outsiders didn’t have much to say about that nor could put them on public trail (Ahsoka was a special case). Jedi ruled themselves on their own way. But the moment when Mace Windu and Council members attacked Chancellor - a legally elected leader - this changed everything. We know why they did so, but for average citizen of Republic? This was just coup. No one cared for Sith or Dark Side of the Force. Council tried to take control over Republic and so all Jedi paid the price. It’s unfair and cruel, especially for all children killed in Temple and padawans who suddenly lost their masters and friends and remained alone in the cruel galaxy. It’s unfair for all those Jedi that never had anything to say about Order politics or Yoda/Council decisions. But they paid the price and since then Jedi were blamed for everything bad that happened or forgotten for good. But to that point, Jedi rarely were hold responsible for their crimes or ignorance. And TCW made it quite clear, all bad things happened because of Sith’s doing or Jedi who fell to Dark Side or corrupted politicians & greedy people or mad scientist and so on.

But at the same time, clones weren’t blameless. Jedi blamed clones for “betrayal” when troopers suddenly followed someone’s else (legal!) orders. Some people actually don’t think that much about reasons behind clone action, because they don’t see them as human beings. Clones were breed to war and obedience, so it’s easy to dismiss their feelings or beliefs or inner pain, if they really didn’t like Order 66 but still did as were ordered.

I saw Revenge of the Sith in cinema in 2005, way before knowing that much of clone wars era, but even then I didn’t hate clones. For sure I don’t blame them now. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind seeing someone shooting down Yoda for sure. In a way, Jedi had a chance to save themselves during the three years of war. They could dig and dig all the mystery of clone army yet they never did much about that. They took clones (and their obedience) for granted and that was used against them.

Kenobi had a solid proof of Anakin’s crimes. And you know what he still said to Yoda then? I will not kill Anakin.

Despite everything that Skywalker have done, Obi-Wan didn’t want nor feel to be emotionally ready to kill Anakin. And yet he did what Yoda ordered him; he used pregnant woman to get to Anakin (and revealed himself in the worst moment, really). But the worst part of that? He shouldn’t be sent after Anakin. Skywalker should be stopped faster than later, yes. Should be brought to justice, YES. But Palpatine was the biggest threat then. Yoda shouldn’t be so fucking arrogant to think he alone will kill Darth Sidious, when Mace Windu and three other members of Council get killed in less than, like what? Two minutes? And since Yoda felt death of Jedi in the Force I pretty sure he could put all pieces together how quickly they died. My point is, Skywalker fall to Dark Side was important stuff to deal, but death of Palpatine should be prioritized over everything else. Too sure of themselves [Jedi] are. Even the older, more experienced ones. Yeah, shame Yoda never thought he may be the most arrogant one. And to the end of his life, Yoda had never been held responsible for that arrogance, while hundreds of Jedi paid the ultimate price.

#star wars #jedi #clone troopers #order 66 #my answers #my rant #yoda #anti yoda #more likely #sorry it took so long #to answer

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i-gwarth · 6 years

Text

The Last Jedi: themes of change, cycles of renewal, and bitching about lore

Spoilers included

Ok, so I was going to give this a bit more time, maybe watch the movie again to see if I caught all the details, but then I started seeing all of these reviews on Youtube from ostensible Star Wars “fans” that just... miss the themes of this motion picture by an enormous margin. So I’m going to tell you what it’s all REALLY about. And you can trust me, because I have a small blog on the internet and write long unwieldy sentences.

Here’s what I’m going to start with: AngryJoe begins his spoiler review by complaining about the death of Leader Snoke. About how he wanted to know about his origins, his powers, his damn rings. Joe asks “where were the lore masters” when this scene was written. And like... I admit I too was curious about Snoke when I first saw TFA. But here’s why I think clinging to that is wrong: as TLJ moved on with its own scenes I realized more and more that Snoke was an utter irrelevance. A red herring, a nebulous and powerful “evil presence” to kickstart the plot.

Nobody important. Film wasn’t about him in any way. And so of course he would die halfway through the film in a way that echoes the deaths of both Palpatine and Darth Maul (as always, the history of the Star Wars galaxy rhymes, and the past is echoed into the future). Just like Palpatine, he dies in the same movie that he makes his first “real” appearance in, at the hands of his own apprentice, whom he had derided and openly mocked in front of someone said apprentice clearly cared about. Hell, he even outright states he cannot be destroyed; if that’s not a dead giveaway I don’t know what is. We find out just as much about the Supreme Leader in TLJ as we did about the Emperor in ROTJ. Which is to say, no more than we need.

Again, this story was never about Snoke. He was a literal relic, physically and metaphorically left over from the old days. The new trilogy is about a new generation of heroes and villains inheriting things from the old guard and fumbling and making their own mistakes as they become independent and try to understand their role in this next chapter of history.

Rey’s parentage reveal is another thing that bothers a lot of people, who are more preoccupied with lore and the mechanical intricacies of a fantasy space opera than with the characters the entire story is built around. Of course Rey is a nobody, daughter of drunkards on Jakku. She’s not a Skywalker or a Kenobi or whatever. Because, again, this trilogy is about releasing yourself from the past. Kylo Ren sees this as “killing the past”: first his parents, Han and Leia, then his mentors, Snoke and Luke. Rey, on the other hand, interprets that same concept differently: she realizes that her origins, as the nothing daughter or nobodies on a nowhere planet, doesn’t stop her from becoming a fucking Jedi hero.

Hell, even fucking Yoda, the series-long stand-in for tradition, dogma and the ancient Jedi ways, understands this metanarrative need for change and renewal that both the franchise itself and the long-held philosophies within it sorely need. Rey doesn’t really need Luke’s teachings, inherited from generations of previous Jedi masters, just like Luke didn’t really need Yoda’s teachings that much. Both Luke and Rey took only the barest understanding of Jedi-ism with them into the confrontation with their respective masked men and their masters.

Here’s the thing though: it could be argued that this cycle of breaking off from the past has taken place once before, but was incomplete. Luke did learn some stuff from Yoda, like a loathing of the dark side, and attempted to pass that flawed knowledge on to a new generation with disastrous results. The renewal wasn’t complete, and the result was failure. The very fear and mistrust of someone powerful falling to the dark that Yoda and Obi-wan instilled into him is what led to the destruction of his new Order. However, Rey has the opportunity to take the cycle to a more positive conclusion: she has with her the ancient texts of the Jedi, but not the old Jedi interpretation of them. Luke never did pass that on to her, and indeed he realized why those ways of thinking had failed. I fully expect Rey to be able to create a truly new Jedi Order, based on a fresh spin on the old wisdom, making Luke Skywalker both The Last of the Jedi and, paradoxically, not.

If I may be allowed a dip into philosophy here, the old Jedi always had a problem with darkness and passion. Yoda relentlessly preaches about their dangers, and Luke is horrified when Rey doesn’t even hesitate to throw herself into the pit in her vision. In my opinion, this is a flagrant rejection of human nature, of the understanding that people can’t just be beings of pure light or pure darkness, and that a balance must be struck between them. Rey is a being of balance. She goes for the dark, sure, but it never corrupts her. Hell, even Kylo is like that, desperately trying to throw himself into the pit for the power it promises, only to never actually be able to go all the way down (and making a fool of himself in his failures). Maybe this will be the basis of the Jedi teachings going forward?

Back to the theme of renewal. Two more things get renewed in TLJ the way I see it: fascism and the rejection of it. It has been said before and it bears repeating: the First Order are the alt-right to the Empire’s Nazis. They’re angry, shithead fascist fanboys. Their convictions are paper-thin and they lack whatever structural cohesion and discipline made the old way work (evil as it was), and as a consequence they start falling apart rapidly as soon as their leader is dead. General Hux’s attempt at following chain-of-succession lasts all of 5 seconds before he backs down from the much more powerful Kylo Ren, like a schoolyard bully who has finally met an even bigger thug. Meanwhile the “Supreme Leader” Kylo Ren is a fucking mess, losing every single crumb of his mind the moment he catches sight of Luke Skywalker, and allows his old master to utterly humiliate him before his entire army.

The Resistance, meanwhile, goes back to the roots of... well, resistance. The old Rebel Alliance was created by rogue senators, stateswomen, financiers and true believers in the democracy of the Old Republic. However, the first thing we were ever told about that democracy, by the Prequel trilogy, is that it had been, for a long time, failing. This is what the scenes on Canto-Bight, who so many lesser reviewers deride as “pointless” and “leading nowhere”, are actually for. They reveal that the New Republic relies on the exact same corrupt power structures as the Empire and the Old Republic before it. The rich man who sold TIE fighters to the First Order also sold X-Wings to the Resistance. That whole segment of the story also reveals that the anti-imperial revolution had failed to protect society’s most vulnerable members. And surely enough, because the cycle of renewal did not complete in this case either, and the New Republic was ashes 30 years after it had started. The Resistance looks set to avoid making the same mistake, by appealing to a different “base”. Instead of nostalgia for an old, flawed power structure, it seems to be centered around support from very poorest members of society, people who have been abused their whole lives by those in power. Floor sweepers on the Starkiller Base. Sisters from mining planets devastated by the First Order. Stable boys in the casino-city Canto Bight. And a random junker girl whose parents had sold her for drink money.

That’s the new foundation. And the renewal seems set to complete itself this time.

Thanks for reading this far. Any comments would be genuinely appreciated.

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headlesssamurai · 6 years

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Your thoughts on the new Star Wars?

[Disclaimer: The following is sarcasm targeted at social trends and contrarians the world-over. If it offends you, buck it up and have a fucking sense of humor.]

A Completely Serious Breakdown OfStar Wars: The Last Jedi

by Anita Sarkeesian & Rachel Maddow

To begin, let’s just say the best format in which to write anything on the internets is by breaking it down into a comprehensive list for no goddamn reason, other than maybe the idea that lots of people like to read lists or something because it feels a lot less like reading, and lots of people dislike reading. Right? Right.Thus, the following is a list of reasons why Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an atrocity bordering on Nagasaki levels of horror.WARNING: The following will contain spoilers and angsty disappointment.

1. Not enough transgender charactersThis one is clearly a no-brainer. Every respectable sell-out of a Hollywood screenwriter ought to know by now that their movie should contain at least one transgender, one gender-fluid, one gender neutral, and one tri-sexual character, if not more. And this is especially true in bombastic, overblown blockbusters. It disgusts me to see them disregard such a large percentage of their viewership. I know they tried to placate us with the pink-haired drag queen admiral who takes command after Leia is incapacitated, and the Asian kid who is running around with Finn the entire movie, but these characters seemed more like afterthoughts than anything else. To see them be so cavalier and conservative with their dramatis personae is just shameless.

2. It supports animal murderRight off the bat, we’re treated to a horrific scene in which Luke Skywalker, previously a shining beautiful example of a peaceful pacifist Zen master, is shown violently murdering an innocent fish with a barbed spear, then casually carrying the poor slaughtered animal back to his hut like a caveman. If that’s not enough, we later see Chewbacca, previously the most non-violent and docile character in the entire franchise, roasting a poor decapitated penguin on a spit over an open fire like some uncivilized neanderthal. Did he skin the creature while it was still alive? Perhaps we’ll never know, but it was clearly murdered with an intent to eat, and the Wookie carelessly roasts the creature’s remains in full view of its mournful cousins who must be wondering which of them will be next for bloody execution. This blatant disregard for the lives of the magical, peaceful animals of nature is truly horrifying. I can’t imagine how the filmmakers could be this vulgar. For achieving such advanced levels of technology, the people of this galaxy sure behave like feral savages.

3. Not enough wacky comedyI know there was a scene in which a confused elderly woman plays the general of an army, a riff on Karate Kid, an awkward reference to deep throating, a robot doing its best Solid Snake impression, a little kid getting mercilessly whipped by a character from a Pixar movie, Yoda acting like a weirdo again, furry anime creatures making cute noises, a guy getting unexpectedly electrocuted, enough bad dialogue to fill a Star Destroyer’s cargo hold, a fucking prank phone call scene in a Star Wars movie, and Benicio Del Toro’s face; but still. This movie could’ve used more comedy. This is made by Disney, after all, the same studio who gave us Guardians of the Fallacy, I mean every gag in that movie is just such a fucking knee-slapper, you know? Goddamn.

4. Too much explicit sexualityI was very glad to see that in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Disney decided to completely sever all of the vulgar and explicit sexuality depicted in every previous Star Wars film, particularly making certain this new portrayal of the galaxy was as sterile and sexless as a Dominican cloister. However, they’ve decided to flush that newfound dignity down the fucking toilet with this film. You all know what I’m talking about. There is a single scene in this movie where one character kisses another character on the lips. I know it’s just a little peck, but that’s just too much. This movie is vulgar, kids should not see it. Don’t even get me started on Kylo Ren’s sexy shirtlessness, Snoke’s pervy sex offender vibes, and all of Rey’s wet t-shirt scenes.

5. Not enough Han SoloHan Solo isn’t in this movie. ‘Nuff said.

6. Female heroine needs a manRemember Rey? That amazing, strong feminist icon from Episode VII who could do anything, fix a ship, fly a ship, shoot a gun, wield a laser sword, speak any language, and conquer anyone who stood in her path? Yeah, that girl decided to take a nap in this movie. You guessed it, she’s all fire and energy, yet the moment she sees Kylo Ren’s sweaty shirtless abs this new Rey can’t resist and falls head-over-heels for a guy who tried to slice her in half the first time they met. I mean, nothing comes of it, thank god! But seriously Disney? This is just lazy writing, and feminists everywhere should boycott this movie and fire-bomb any theater still showing it, along with all the homes of those who buy tickets to support it.

7. Too much talkingAgain, this movie was made by Disney, right? So why the hell is all the talking filled with so much boring character-driven dialogue, and not a goofy joke or lyrics in a sing-a-long? I cannot imagine how they expected to tap their drooling Marvel MCU fanbase with this many narrative-relevant scenes of people talking which don’t include funny gags or nerdy references from a Tony Stark-esque character. What a disappointment.

8. Not enough racial diversityI know there’s a Spanish-Puerto Rican man, a black man, a Guatemalan man, two Vietnamese women, a few white people, another black guy, a Wookie, the previously mentioned drag queen, a Mon Calamari, some other aliens visible when they go to Monte Carlo, and whatever alien that one dude was; but still. That’s only representing a few out of, like, hundreds of thousands of other ethnic groups all over the planet, not to mention the millions if not billions of alien species throughout the galaxy whose children have no characters to look up to in this movie. The distinct lack of Jews was most jarring for me, and I wouldn’t hazard to call this film anti-Semitic exactly, but it does make you pause for contemplation.

9. Glorification of violenceDo I really need to say this out loud? Holy shit. There is so much violence in this movie it makes me nauseous. People blowing people up, decapitation and dismemberment, savagely beating each other to death with clubs, animals being whipped, children being whipped (even if it’s funny, it’s still violent), casino patrons being violently trampled to death by stampeding anime creatures, bodies being engulfed by fiery explosions, explosions engulfing explosions, and at least two cases of fanatically intentional suicide which result in the violent death of hundreds if not thousands of others. All told, it’s one of the most violent movies released this year, with a body count that likely surpasses Man of Steel and the first Avengers film combined. How can audiences be this bloodthirsty? It’s just, I don’t know, sickening. You fandom kids should renounce yourselves and practice self-flagellation, as far as I’m concerned.

10. It supports child slave soldiersIn the very first scene, the character Poe Dameron supports a group of Resistance bombers who are trying to destroy a First Order dreadnought. We see the flight leader protecting the bombers is a young girl who couldn’t be older than twelve piloting an A-wing fighter and mercilessly blasting TIE fighters out of the sky. Forgetting the fact that war is already traumatic for fully grown adults, how is the Resistance okay with putting a child in harm’s way like that? I’m astounded. This is so controversial, I can’t believe it isn’t being hotly debated by mouthbreathers all over the internets.

11. Not enough lightsabersLikely the film’s biggest transgression of all. It’s a well-known fact that the mindless drooling fans who attend the cult gatherings known as Star Wars Celebrations and sew their own costumes to wear to premieres (only to turn around and hatefully review the film later on YouTube) only really want to see one thing: lots and lots of lightsaber battles. That’s the only thing Star Wars has going for it these days, after all. And this time nobody bangs a lightsaber against another lightsaber even once. Not once in the entire movie! Jesus, Joseph, and doggy-style Mary! What pointless drivel. I’m considering petitioning the studio for a bid to get my money back after seeing this farce. Don’t they know anything about what makes Star Wars great?

Parthian shotsDespite all of these many, many flaws, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is not entirely without merit. There are some cool CGI effects in almost every scene, for one thing. Throughout the film we also learn some very valuable life lessons, such as:- Anime creatures have invulnerable faces that can smash through anything without the slightest injury.- Shields work best when gunfire is coming from very far away.- Any man in a position of power is either irredeemably evil or an impulsive and weak-willed incompetent fool.- All roads lead to failure.- The best way to be good at something is by sucking at it.- It’s okay for bystanders to be violently trampled to death so long as they’re rich.- All law enforcement officers are evil corrupt bastards.- Freeing captive animals is more important than freeing the slave children who tend to them.- And the only way to win a war is through the magical power of love, even if the enemy is in the process of blowing up your friends while you’re deliriously saying so.

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hexxalite-hecate · 6 years

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I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT TLJ AND I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THEM OK THANKS

Spoiler: the more I think about TLJ, the more I like it. This is a closer look at the big criticisms I’ve seen about the film. The most popular ones seem to be:

1. Reylo sucks and Rey’s storyline with Kylo romanticises abuse

2. Rey not being a Skywalker or a Kenobi is bullshit and meaningless

3. You ruined Luke!

4.The movie is too long and convoluted, what even is going on in the space casino

WELL OK THEN HERE WE GO

Argument 1: Rey and Kylo's interactions romanticise abuse.

Some people love the idea of a Kylo/Rey romance; others feel his treatment of her bears unmistakable hallmarks of gaslighting and abuse, and the idea of a strong woman like Rey falling into a clichéd bad-boy romance arc would ruin her character and send a really terrible message about relationships that the media is already guilty of widely perpetrating. And to much of an extent, I agree with that, especially the second part of the argument. But I’m not weighing in on shipping wars; that’s not what this is about. I want to talk purely about canon interaction, and I don’t think any romanticising of abuse is borne out by how Rey actually responds to Kylo onscreen. A lot of people point to the scene where he reveals her parentage and asks her to join him, in particular that his statement about her being “nothing” is manipulative and insidious.

While I definitely don’t think Kylo is above being manipulative, let’s try and analyse a little more of what’s going on in that scene. I admit it’s kind of funny to think of Kylo negging like a redpiller, but I think there’s more going on when he says “you’re nothing; but not to me” than a pickup line. I believe Kylo’s projecting like a 60w bulb here. It just so happens that he hit the nail on the head when he touched on Rey’s fears of loneliness and abandonment, but I think he’s also talking about his own feelings. In fact, Kylo’s dialogue is so Freudian that it’s an interesting exercise to take all the statements he makes to others throughout the film (particularly Rey) and assume he’s talking to himself. The results are weirdly plausible. Snoke has clearly been destroying his self-esteem for years, and he (not without reason) believes that the bridges back to his family are forever burned. I think the “you’re nothing; but not to me” comment is a statement he would long for someone to say TO him. He’s honestly trying to communicate to Rey that she has worth, despite it coming across almost the exact opposite. And the thing he most wants in the world is for someone to feel that way about him.

By this point in the film, the battle with Snoke and the Praetorian Guards has galvanised a new direction in Kylo. “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.” Now he fully embraces that statement. To him, Rey represents a whole new path that had hitherto been non-existent; something outside both the First Order AND the Jedi/Resistance. When he asks her to join him, I don’t believe he means as part of the First Order. Listen to his words: "We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy." I think he meant for them to forge a completely different path, just the two of them. This is why he doesn’t lend much thought to stopping the attack on the Resistance ships, callous as is it. He’s killed the past. None of it matters to him. He doesn’t care if the Supremacy burns too; in fact he’d be glad. He and Rey can leave all this pain and heartache behind and become their own Order. When he makes this offer, Kylo is at his most sincere and vulnerable. And when Rey rejects it, his fleeting vision of a glorious future beyond his pain, guilt and subjugation is dashed in an instant. Predictably, he reacts with a psychotic break.

Of course it would be a ludicrous betrayal of Rey’s character for her to accept this proposal, throwing her friends’ lives to the wind and enabling Kylo in his selfish power fantasy. I’m so glad the writers didn’t go that route, for a number of reasons. For a start, Rey is not aware of the true complexity of what Kylo is experiencing in this moment. She simply sees him retreating to the Dark Side, dashing her own hopes of his redemption that had surely risen during the triumph over Snoke and the Praetorian Guards. Rey would never have said yes to Kylo Ren; it was Ben Solo she went to the Supremacy to save. But even had she seen what was really going on in his head, I’m still glad she refused because it underscores a subtle but strong feminist narrative that has permeated the new trilogy so far. Kylo is damaged, but it is NOT Rey’s job to fix him. Her compassion prompted her to reach out a supportive hand and she undoubtedly feels the chemistry of their bond, but she won’t throw her principles, her integrity and her friends under the bus for what is essentially a psychotic killer, no matter how much she sympathises with his pain. This is why I find it misleading when people label Kylo and Rey’s canon interaction as “romanticising abuse”. Having compassion for someone is not the same as enabling or excusing their actions. If Rey had fallen into his arms believing she could fix the bad boy and everything would be ok, THAT would be romanticising an unhealthy relationship. But she doesn’t. Her integrity speaks sense over her bond with Kylo, and she refuses to take on the responsibility of making him better. That responsibility is his alone.

Now, if he takes it upon himself to improve and atone, truly and unselfishly? Then I would be up for an actual relationship between them. I don’t think that’s an implausible prediction for the series, either.

Argument 2: Rey having no significant parentage was pointless and a wasted opportunity.

The feminist nature of how Rey’s character is written touches on another of the major complaints I’ve seen about TLJ; the reveal of her parentage. I think even Daisy Ridley commented with annoyance that the only conversation people seemed to be having about Rey was which famous man is her progenitor. But guess what! She’s not special because she’s Luke’s daughter or Ben’s sister or Obi-Wan’s granddaughter; she’s special because she’s Rey. If one of TLJ’s main themes is failure, the other is undoubtedly “we are the spark”, and “we” is everyone and anyone. Anyone can be special and rise to greatness, no matter if they’re a long-lost relative of a powerful Force-wielder or not. The Skywalker dynasty is not as special or unique as you thought they were.

This leads into another thing that I really love about how TLJ is written, and something that its detractors seem most furious about: it’s not afraid to kill sacred cows. The Skywalkers are not the be all and end all of the Force. Not even the Jedi and the Sith are; Luke makes that crystal clear when he encourages Rey to feel the true extent of the Force during her meditation. All these ancient traditions and bloodlines are insignificant specks in the cosmic Force. What I love about this concept is that it so perfectly and cleverly chastises fans for clinging onto a limiting and misplaced sense of tradition about Star Wars. Ending on the scene with the nobody stableboy on Canto Bight casually Force-calling his broom encapsulated this theme; the spark is everywhere. Anyone can rise and be a hero. Even the Skywalkers came from nothing; they were slaves from a backwater nowhere. The institutions of the Jedi and the Sith were both corrupt and ineffectual by the end because they clung to tradition instead of focusing on living individuals. The Jedi were as much to blame as the Sith for the creation of Darth Vader; their rigid adherence to their codes lead to Anakin’s alienation and eventual fall. Ironically, the one character we see who seems to understand this turns up in the hated Phantom Menace; Qui-Gon Jinn. His focus on the living Force rather than traditions and codes is implied to be the reason he was never accepted by the Jedi Council, but he was the only one who truly connected to the young Anakin on a compassionate and human level. If Qui-Gon hadn’t died, Darth Vader might never have existed.

Nowhere is the theme of killing sacred cows more blatantly paraded than in the scene where Luke and Yoda destroy the ancient Jedi temple tree with its sacred texts. Having conceived of the idea in a moment of manic despair (much like the moment that lead to him contemplating killing Ben Solo), Luke is then horrified when the ghost of Master Yoda finishes the job with what seems like capricious glee. But Yoda has finally learned the lesson that Luke taught him on Dagobah when he abandoned his training in favour of saving his friends; when the old ways do not work, it’s ok to let them go. Kill your sacred cows. Let the past die. “We are what they grow beyond", Yoda tells Luke. What use are Masters if their apprentices never surpass them? And that’s true of Yoda as well. Even an old dog can learn new tricks, and on Dagobah, Yoda was still clinging to the codes and traditions of the creaky outmoded Jedi Order. He was reluctant to train Luke and believed his impulse and emotion to be dangerous. But Luke taught him that emotion, passion, love and putting your friends first was not something to be feared as a path to the Dark Side; it is to be embraced and cherished as an essential human experience. Ironically, since his failure with Ben, Luke himself has become afraid that that lesson was the wrong one. But when the tree burns, Yoda re-kindles in Luke the very thing that Luke taught Yoda all those years ago on Dagobah. The cyclical nature of their journeys mirror the cyclical nature of the Force; it will go round and round, encompassing everything and everyone. We are the spark.

Argument 3: Luke's personality was butchered and his exile was out of character.

“Killing a sacred cow” is what I think a lot of people’s feelings about Luke’s characterisation boil down to in TLJ, and where a lot of the upset stems from. I’ve seen many arguments that Luke would never have contemplated killing Ben; that he would never avoid his responsibilities with the Resistance for 20 years; he would never be so “cowardly” as to not attend the final battle on Crait in person. His hope and light was the focal point of the original trilogy; his character was butchered! But I think all of these arguments overlook fundamental aspects of Luke’s character. Implying he has realistic human flaws seems to be sacrilege. But when you think about it, the things we learn about Luke’s story in TLJ make perfect sense based on his personality, past and experiences.

Let’s look at Luke’s timeline after the OT. The biggest thing that goes wrong for Luke (that we know of) is his moment of madness when he turns a lightsaber on his own nephew. And on the face of it, it does seem extreme. Never-give-up-on-friends-and-family Luke, who went to the ends of the galaxy even for his corrupted fallen father, attempting to kill an innocent boy – his nephew at that!? It does seem outrageous. But when you really look at Luke’s character from Episodes IV to VI, you’ll see that he has these impulsive and passionate reactions a lot more than fans tend to remember. Luke is an extraordinarily emotionally driven person, and his gut instinct informs pretty much all his major decisions in the OT. He joined the Rebel Alliance because he saw a pretty girl on a hologram begging for help. He diverted the escape from the Death Star to rescue Leia as soon as R2D2 said she was a prisoner there. He turned off his targeting computer in the trench. He went to Dagobah on the orders of a hallucinatory ghost. He took weapons into the Dark Side cave against Yoda’s advice because he felt spooked. He went to rescue Han and Leia on Bespin despite Yoda begging him to remain impartial. We constantly see him making split-second emotional decisions or even succumbing entirely to instinctual feeling. Remember when Vader threatened Leia at the climax of RotJ, and Luke completely and utterly lost control? His hysterical, panic-filled beating on Vader is EXACTLY the kind of instinctive emotional reaction that we can assume happened in the hut with Ben. He had a shocking vision of Ben’s darkness, fell totally prey to his emotional instincts, and before he knew it the lightsaber was alight in his hand. Like during his fight with Vader, reason overcame madness pretty quickly, and I very much doubt Luke would actually have actually hurt Ben if the scene had been allowed to play out. He actually says this directly in the film: “it passed like a fleeting shadow, and I was left with shame and consequence”. But unlike with Vader, by that point it was already too late. The damage had already been done, the trust broken, and Ben reacted in his own uniquely impulsive catastrophic Skywalker way. (These Skywalker boys are all so extra.)

But Luke should have gained control over his feelings long ago, you cry! He was building a new Jedi Order, and one of the main hallmarks of the Jedi is that they control their emotions!

Well, yes, it was. But the entire point of the ending of RotJ is that Luke shatters that traditional Jedi Order. This is the lesson that he teaches Yoda at 11th hour on Dagobah; that you can be a strong in the light side of the Force and also be true to your personal attachments and commitments. They are not sins to be eradicated (this pressure is what drove Anakin to the Dark). This truth was undoubtedly part of the basis of Luke’s new Order. But when he wakes up and sees what his moment of uncontrolled instinctual reaction has wrought – his temple destroyed, Kylo gone, the apprentices slaughtered – he would naturally have had a crisis of self-doubt. Was he right about his new Order teachings? Should he have followed the old Jedi way instead? He must have been wrong, and now he’s failed everyone, including his own nephew, and by extension his beloved sister and best friend.

That brings us to the “out-of-character” exile on Ach To. As far as I can see, this isn’t out of character at all. Remember what everyone who doesn’t like Luke trots out? He’s whiny. He sulks as much as Anakin did in AotC. He had plenty of moments of inspiring optimism in the original trilogy, but he had plenty of moods too. And yeah, he was a teenager back then. But this is a part of Luke’s essential character, and the Luke of TLJ is not an 18-year-old any more; with age comes the natural loss of youth’s idealism even without a traumatic event to compound it. Luke’s always had his friends to pull him out of his melancholia before, but this time it was those very same friends whom he had let down. How could he seek solace with them when he had singlehandedly caused their son’s downfall? We don’t know yet whether he saw Han and Leia after the disaster with Ben, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he simply couldn’t bring himself to face them. And as time goes on, it gets harder and harder. Luke isn’t just ashamed of what happened with Ben; he’s afraid of himself. Is he dangerous? How many other lives could he ruin? They’re better off without him. Anyone who has ever struggled with depression, or seen a friend or family member do the same, will recognise this litany. By the time TFA rolls around, Luke is seriously depressed and probably suffering from PTSD as well. He is jaded, afraid, ashamed, cynical and bitter. When Rey turns up looking for all the world like another young idealistic Jedi puppy, asking for the very training that Luke believes doomed his first apprentices, is it any wonder Luke throws the lightsaber over his shoulder and refuses to speak to her? He genuinely thinks he has nothing to offer; or worse, that he and his teachings are an active danger to her.

Of course as moody as Luke can be, he has always been easily pulled back to the light, even in his jaded and traumatised state in TLJ. It does not take Rey long to rekindle the spark of hope and optimism that has always been within him. The scars from his ordeal will never disappear, though. Did you notice how he FREAKS OUT when Rey shows even the slightest curiosity about the Dark cave below the island? He sees Ben all over again – or possibly even himself, entering the cave on Dagobah. He’s back to the rigid Jedi code of DENY REPRESS DENY, and predictably, it drives Rey away just as it did Anakin in AotC. It’s only after his heart-to-heart with Yoda that Luke begins to see the worth in his teaching methods again, and return to some semblance of the Luke we saw at the end of RotJ.

The projection he sends to Crait is not only a very clever move from Luke, it’s also a uniquely unselfish one, despite the cries of “coward” from the naysayers. What purpose would physically showing up on Crait serve? Only indulging his own ego. He’d have been killed in the first onslaught of firepower, and achieved nothing but despair for the Resistance and triumph for Kylo. He knows that the true value of his presence is to buy time for the Resistance to escape, and in the process inspire them with the sight of their long-lost ally. It also serves to show Kylo how powerful Luke truly is, even after all this time. Kylo drops a line earlier in the film about his Force bond with Rey not being the same as a physical projection; even with Rey’s level of raw power, he claims it would kill her. Of course it kills Luke too, although it’s unclear whether anyone has actually realised this by the end of the film. But Luke dies making the same sacrifice Vader did. He messed up, but his dying act is to protect his loved ones in whatever way he can. I personally thought the scene of his death on Ach To was incredibly beautiful. Luke has found peace and redemption. He is more at one with the Force than he has ever been. How can you begrudge an ending like that?

Argument 4: The film was over-long and the Canto Bight codebreaker plotline sucked.

Well yeah, I'll give you that one. Justice for Finn and Rose!

Anyway that’s all; thank you for coming to my TLJ TED Talk.

#star wars #the last jedi #tlj spoilers #tlj #reylo #kylo ren #ben solo #rey #luke skywalker #extra skywalker boys #tlj meta #star wars meta #meta

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rate-out-of-10 · 6 years

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STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI REVIEW

Two years ago, Disney launched a new Star Wars saga after their purchase of LucasFilm, with JJ Abrams at the head. The Force Awakens burst onto the scene in 2015, introducing us to new characters, reacquainted us with old ones, thrusted us into a new conflict in the wake of the Empire’s destruction, and spectacularly recaptured the magic of Star Wars to many fans and critics alike. Now, with Rian Johnson (Breaking Bad, Looper) taking up the writing and directing responsibilities, Star Wars: The Last Jedi pushes new boundaries for the universe, and is nothing like any Star Wars we’ve ever seen before, and there’s good and bad in that.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

PERFORMANCES / CHARACTERS

Our cast of new and old returns in The Last Jedi; and they all, universally, put on impeccable performances. Daisy Ridley returns as our promised light-side Force user and puts on her best performance in this one and proves that she can be powerhouse actor. Adam Driver reprises his role of Kylo Ren, our troubled dark side Force user. Driver is amazing in this role, taking all that he learned from TFA and improved in every aspect. John Boyega as Finn puts on a strong show in some areas, but can be unremarkable in others. The writing behind Finn felt a little lackluster in some key spots, mostly in the second act. Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron is brought down to ground level in The Last Jedi. He feels like a real character here, Oscar showing his wonderful range often through the film. Mark Hamill gives us something to awe at in his performance of the legendary Luke Skywalker. Hamill perhaps plays his best performance in the role, wonderfully showing Luke’s age and his conflict. And of course we have the late Carrie Fischer returning as our space princess, Leia Organa. Carrie puts on a great show as her final performance in the iconic role, I did have a flurry of emotions seeing her on screen. Tackling Leia with the passing of Carrie Fischer is a tall order for the next installment, but Leia’s role in this movie was really well done. I only wish we saw more of her. However, Leia’s show of her Force capabilities was a wonderful sequence.

Aside from everyone’s strong performances, the writing team seemed to have the intent to focus on smaller, intimate pieces of each character. Rian Johnson does a great job empathizing with most of the cast. Putting these characters’ flaws on full display and challenging them. While the more intimate character writing should be commended, there are some instances where the writing, the direction, for some characters feels rushed, or some not genuine. Perhaps the most controversial characterization was that of Hamill’s old Luke Skywalker. Luke has always been a symbol of hope in Star Wars lore, so to see him as cold and resentful as he is here, is odd. I will say that I commend Rian for wanting to take the character into new territory, however this Luke doesn’t resemble the Luke we’ve all come to know. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just his progression into this state doesn’t seem to be believable. Luke always saw the light, even in his long-since corrupted father, Darth Vader, and eventually turned him back to the light; so why could he not do the same with Ben Solo (Kylo Ren)? Perhaps the weight of being a mentor factored into his guilt? Some key catalysts behind Luke’s new characterization remain unknown, locked away. I understand the “I blame myself for the rise of Kylo Ren and the death of my new order of Jedi” aspect, but Luke never struck me as a person who’d give up and exile himself. Or even to go as far as cutting himself off from The Force entirely. It seemed so out of character for him, and Rian didn’t quite justify this choice for him enough for me to get fully behind it. I can understand it, appreciate it to a degree, but I’m not fully sold on it unfortunately. But I will say, upon seeing the film twice, Luke’s final sequence, his death, is a wonderful send off for him. Finally being at peace with himself, saving The Resistance, but also in pain after exerting himself so much, he releases himself unto The Force, much like his previous mentors, Yoda and Obi-Wan. Also like his masters, I’m sure we’ll see more of Luke in a Force ghost state.

Another bold character choice in The Last Jedi is the fate of Supreme Leader Snoke (played by the versatile Andy Serkis). Now this is a personal anecdote but, I wasn’t a fan of Snoke to begin with. I realize there is a lot of intrigue behind him and JJ Abrams certainly set him up to potentially be the big bad guy, but that’s unoriginal in the scope of Star Wars. Snoke was on the fast track to being The Emperor 2.0, no matter how much we could’ve learned about him, where he came from, why he’s so powerful, etc. Rian Johnson making the choice to end him here was the best choice for this saga to continue into new territory. Now Kylo Ren takes up the mantle as a main antagonist, but he’s not fully antagonizing. He’s a dynamic character, a villain who is very conflicted in what he’s doing, and that’s a game changer for Star Wars. We’ve all come to know these stoic, single-minded villains (Vader, The Emperor, Grievous, Dooku) who all just exude evil. Finally we get Kylo who is established from the beginning as a troubled individual constantly conflicted with the path he’s on. He feels the most human. This makes for a more dynamic and powerful pay off in the final film. Although, as much as I approve of this change in course direction, Snoke’s death did feel anti-climactic. If we weren’t going to learn of him more in this movie (we could still in Episode 9), we needed to at least see his power on full display. Sure, he is given more to do and shows off some of his true capabilities, but we needed to see more of him in order for his death to be earned. He could’ve still died at the hands of Kylo while impressing us with his power. I was a little disappointed to see this “oblivious” stunt we’ve really already seen with Emperor Palpatine.

Now, on the smaller scale, the treatment of an intriguing new supporting character, Captain Phasma (portrayed by Gwendoline Christie), is continuously disappointing. Phasma has a cool image with that chrome armor, but also as a female Stormtrooper leader. But instead of her ushering in a new type of Stormtrooper, we get a lackluster demise. Essentially written off in The Force Awakens, Rian Johnson had the opportunity to save this character, but instead chooses to let her die. Phasma has become a Boba Fett level let down in this new saga.

Each character is given the opportunity to show their more intimate, personal colors in The Last Jedi. Rey, most notably, grapples with her self-worth, her potential, and her lineage. Much of which she comes to terms with on her own, showing her off as an independent, strong character. She continues to own her strong female protagonist role, which is important. One very significant aspect to her character is tackled in The Last Jed: her parents. Another Rian Johnson course correction choice. Rey’s lineage is nothing. Her parents are nobodies, just drinkers and gamblers who sold her off for money. I think this speaks volumes about Rey. Star Wars has always had strong themes of family, lineage, destiny, and the like, but finally we have a character that comes from nowhere, from nobody, and continuously proves herself to be important. We already have a strong role with Kylo Ren dictated by his familial lineage to the Skywalkers. Why would we need two characters like that? Why does she need to be anybody? Tied to Obi-Wan, or Snoke? That would’ve been a weak character choice, because suddenly her power, her strength, isn’t about her at all, it’s about who she came from. Rian Johnson’s move to make her “a nobody” is powerful, and makes Rey far more impressive.

WRITING / DIRECTION

The Last Jedi is a visual marvel, let me start off by saying that. When the action gets going, the movie shines, it soars above a lot of the competition. There are several sequences that are unlike anything we’ve seen in Star Wars before. In many ways, The Last Jedi could be seen as the best film of the whole series yet. The CGI is top notch, and with some amazing set pieces, brilliant cinematography, wonderful performances, and that genius John William’s score, The Last Jedi is a gem in many ways. But there are also a few things that hold the film back from the gold star, gold standard of Star Wars. First of which is its dramatic action. The film starts out wonderfully. It’s exciting, tense, and engaging. But as the second act begins, the lengthier chunk of the film, the movie comes to a screeching halt. The pacing of the film stops in its tracks. We’re taken to three different areas, following our main trio (Rey, Finn, and Poe), but what we experience them doing can feel very unengaging. Rey’s experience with Luke can feel very trivial at times, although it’s the most interesting of arcs in the film. Our interest in Rey’s Jedi future is what keeps us engaged, even when she’s just following Luke around while he fishes and milks some aliens for blue milk (I’m still not sure how I feel about that). Rey carries much of the film through this mid-lull, especially with her chemistry with Adam Driver through their Force connection.

Poe Dameron’s position in the film is supposed to work in the audience’s favor, as he is impatient and eager to make a stand against the First Order, while Vice Admiral Holdo (played by Laura Dern) has plans to play the long game. There are a few reasons why this arc didn’t work too well, but the main reason to scrutiny I have is Holdo. Holdo plays her cards close to her chest very needlessly. While The Resistance is being chased by the First Order (in the slowest space chase EVER), she decides to fly just out of range of the First Order’s cannons for no reason given (until towards the end). She’s immediately unlikable. Poe stages a mutiny against her, and not even that gets Holdo to just share her plan. A lot of what comes into fruition within this plot line is completely undone and rendered useless later on as well. Plus, if Holdo shared her plan, we could’ve avoided the whole Finn and Rose casino sabbatical, side quest all together.

Finn and a new character, Rose (played by Kelly Marie Tran), go off ship to find someone else who can get them onto the First Order’s lead ship, that’s been tracking them through light speed, undetected. The premise of this plot line is weak. It takes us completely out of the main issue at hand. And to add more hurt to the out of place quest, it’s not even an interesting sequence. Any time they cut to Finn and Rose on this separate planet looking for some guy, I felt my soul roll its eyes. Sure Benicio Del Toro is in this part, but his character was a plot device, and a weak one at that. This whole sequence just needed some stakes to it rather than diverting our attention to a completely unrelated area. I was never really compelled with this side quest, it’s the real culprit of why the film seemingly halted. The one good bit that this part of the movie gave us is the introduction to some young, slave kids who seem like they’re going to usher in a new era of Force users/Resistance fighters. Are these kids going to be a part of the saga that Rian Johnson is heading up after this trilogy comes to a close? At least there was that little bit of intrigue.

Something I did want to touch on with The Last Jedi is Rian Johnson’s creative direction with the saga and how it’s in stark contrast to what JJ Abrams seemingly laid out in The Force Awakens. I’m not upset that this movie for taking liberties with some things, as I have stated earlier, but I want this saga to get on some stable ground. Say what you will about the prequel saga, but they were all distinctly under George Lucas’ vision and there’s no disputing that. They may not be the best individual films, but they all felt intrinsically connected to the universe set up in the original trilogy. From The Force Awakens to The Last Jedi, however, it feels like the creative differences between Abrams and Johnson are in direct contrast. This leads the saga to feel a bit shaky. Especially when you consider all the plot points and themes that were set up in TFA and almost abandoned in TLJ. Again, there’s Snoke’s part and Rey’s parents, but also Kylo’s obsession with following in Vader’s footsteps (I did find this to be a positive course change though, kill the past), and the Knights of Ren seem to have faded out into obscurity (however there is room for them to make an appearance in Episode 9). JJ does have his work cut out for him for Episode 9, however I feel like Rian Johnson’s moves in The Last Jedi will force JJ to brave new narrative avenues in the next installment. Much of the reluctance from the fan base on JJ’s return is the fear he’ll just stick to the status-quo of Star Wars. He’ll hit the checklist of “What Makes A Good Star Wars Movie” but won’t do anything to push the envelope and do something a little more daring with the universe and the characters. I don’t think there’s any arguing against what Rian Johnson did was very daring. Johnson takes a lot of risks and I respect that a lot, even if there are a few that don’t quite hit.

FINAL RATING: 7.75/10

The parts in The Last Jedi that work, work phenomenally well; contrarily, the parts that don’t, stick out plainly. There is a lot to love about this movie, but with this movie comes a good bit of uncertainty and unsteadiness. Rian Johnson makes a lot of bold choices, pushing the envelope of what we know as Star Wars, but some of those choices falter in their execution. I will commend this film though for making several call backs to the original trilogy and even the prequels without it feeling like a copy, kind of like The Force Awaken’s basic plot structure and how it closely resembled/imitated A New Hope. The movie can be a lot of fun and provoking, but there’s plenty that this movie leaves to be desired. I think general audiences will come out of this movie very happy with it, but the Star Wars followers like myself have a chance to really enjoy it, but I’m sure will find at least a few things to be irked about.

#star wars #star wars the last jedi #the last jedi #the force awakens #sw #sw tlj #luke skywalker #darth vader #sci-fi #science fiction #review #film review #movie review #out of 10

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Snoke Used Yoda's Jedi Training To Corrupt Kylo Ren | Screen Rant

Warning: Minor SPOILERS for Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Snoke

The Star Wars comics promised to show fans how Supreme Leader Snoke turned Ben Solo into Kylo Ren, and the first glimpse of that training has now been revealed. As it turns out, Snoke trained Kylo the same way Yoda trained Luke Skywalker.. Well, except the opposite.

The lore enthusiasts know it isn't accurate to say Kylo Ren was trained as a Sith, since the Sith died with Darth Sidious. That may all change when Emperor Palpatine returns in Star Wars 9, but for now Snoke seems a somewhat competent teacher in the dark side, at the very least. Those who assumed Snoke encouraged Kylo's anger, hatred, and pain have been proven correct. But nobody expected Snoke to bring Kylo Ren back to Dagobah, the place of Luke Skywalker's training in The Empire Strikes Back.

RELATED: Star Wars 9's Poster Contains an Emperor Resurrection Clue

This new insight into Snoke and Kylo Ren's early days as master and student will be more than welcome (at least until Kylo Ren's own prequel comic arrives). The Dagobah training has been revealed thanks to the first preview pages of Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke (via StarWars.com), a comic book one-shot shedding new light on the Star Wars movie canon. Readers can take a look at the preview pages below, and see how the same experience leads to an entirely different lesson than the one Yoda sought to teach, as Snoke's 'training' begins:

It should come as no surprise that Kylo Ren's dark side vision takes the form of his master, Luke Skywalker. Although Luke didn't know it at the time, the dark side appearing as Darth Vader--while revealing his connection to the masked villain--was a glimpse of destiny. The full scene may change the context or implication of Kylo Ren's fury, especially if it ends with him slicing Skywalker in half. Where Luke had Yoda to temper his emotions, and urge him to see past the dark side to the truth... Snoke encourages ignorance and anger, instead.

With growing evidence that Kylo Ren is reverting to his former self ahead of The Rise of Skywalker, this flashback couldn't be more perfect in tone. Not only by reminding fans of the anger, power, and violence Kylo Ren is capable of (after handling Rey with surprising sensitivity and emotion), but helping to add some context to the internal conflict that defined him in The Force Awakens. Whatever this one-shot has to reveal about Snoke or Kylo Ren, fans won't need to wait long to dissect every single page. In the meantime, read on below for the full credits and plot synopsis:

STAR WARS: AGE OF RESISTANCE - SUPREME LEADER SNOKE #1

Written by: Tom Taylor

Art by: Leonard Kirk, Cory Hamscher

Cover by: Phil Noto

THE DEVIL’S APPRENTICE! SUPREME LEADER SNOKE’S brutal training of KYLO REN begins. Will the sadistic Snoke break his tormented protégé? Or has he underestimated the son of HAN and LEIA?

Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke #1 will be available at comic shops on September 11th, or direct from Marvel Comics.

MORE: Star Wars Retcon: New Canon Sith Logo Replaces Legends

Source: StarWars.com

source https://screenrant.com/star-wars-snoke-kylo-yoda-dagobah-cave/

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thenerdparty · 6 years

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Review by Matthew Rushing

Two years ago Star Wars roared back into the collective consciousness of the world as The Force Awakens dawned a new era for the saga. The installment left many viewers speechless and eagerly anticipating this return to a galaxy far, far away. Luckily in this era of Disney’s rule, the wait was only 2 years (with a nice side of Rogue One in the middle) for Rian Johnson’s addition, The Last Jedi.

Context

First, let’s start historically. It is clear that the original “Rebel” generation was unsuccessful in passing on it’s values to the next, as the galaxy has quickly descended back into the universe of pre-prequel. A government that became ineffectual, split into populists and centrists, all the while allowing the First Order to rise, unchallenged because, they’re not really a threat. “Relax, the First Order is the JV squad”. The greed and corruption in the galaxy has returned to what we saw in the prequels, as people line their pockets with ill gotten gain, selling weapons to the highest bidder, on any side. It all boils down to this one truth not being clearly passed on, “freedom isn’t free”, and sadly there are too few in the galaxy who seem to understand that.

Where are you getting all of this, you might ask? Well, not from the movies. All of this has been cobbled together from the ancillary materials that have come out surrounding this new sequel trilogy and that’s only, vaguely been hinted at in the films themselves. The main issue here is that The Force Awakens did very little to set up the context of the galaxy and now The Last Jedi suffers even worse because of it.

Think back to the Original Trilogy, as you watch those movies, you have an instinctive understanding of who all the characters are as well as the overall context of the movies because Lucas based them on archetypes that we know. The heroes’ journey, an evil empire and a a small group of freedom fighters looking to rescue the galaxy. In the Prequels, it’s the fall of a Republic and the story of a man that cannot let go and will do anything to hold on to what he “loves”. Each of these previous trilogies gave us the context we needed to know about the universe as a whole and the characters so that we could understand the journey we were on.

And here’s where this all comes into play, not just with the world building but with the characters. Not only do we not truly understand the state of the galaxy, but we also don’t know the history of these characters and it’s clear the writers of the film don’t either. Say what you will about Lucas, he always knew the history and the future of his creation. Some details may change along the way, but the journey ended up much the same. The same can be said for Rowling with Harry Potter , she knew the end from the beginning, so she understood what each character needed to go through to get them to that end.

It’s been clear from The Force Awakens and now through to The Last Jedi that there is no knowledge of what the end game is for their characters. Writing 101, if you don’t know their past and future, you don’t know how to write their “present”. You can see this in the all of the characters. Take Snoke. We have absolutely no idea who or what he is. We don’t know how he came to power or seduced Ben Solo, he’s a vague phantom menace so that when he goes out like a punk in this movie… well lets just say fans may be arguing whose death was better, Snoke or Boba Fett. Oh and remember Phasma? Well don’t worry, you don’t really need to, turns out she wasn’t all that important any way.

Ben suffers from this same problem we saw with Snoke, he’s completely ill defined and so is his “fall”. As with The Force Awakens, there is still no context to his story other than him having darkness in himself and somehow, Snoke temps him to the dark side. It’s all so nebulous that when he turns on Snoke, I don’t know what to make of it. There is no weight to his decision because I don’t know enough of the history of the character to actually care.

As bad as this issue is for Ben, my first impression was it was worse for Rey. The ultimate mystery box seemed to still be very much an enigma. The answer we get about her family was vague and unconvincing, I still don’t believe she’s a nobody and while I am frustrated that they skirted the issue of her family, I can see why they sidestepped that to make the focus, who she chooses to be. Her struggle for identity is fascinating. The questions of who we are, is it a product of bloodline, upbringing or are we a sum of our choices and experiences is brilliant. I think the movie comes down on the side of choices and experiences and the idea that personal responsibility is the answer is outstanding. Rey shows us that even though we are personally responsible for ourselves, we are also responsible for those around us, to look after one another, teach each other, guide one another, pass on hope to one another and the chance of redemption.

The most damaged in all of this is Luke Skywalker. We know Luke’s past, how he saved his father, who’d effectively become space Hitler, because he believed there was still good in him. By the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke is the culmination of the collected wisdom of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda but greater because he avoids the mistakes of the past and forges a true, new path for the Jedi. But then, we get nothing. Oh we know Luke started a new Jedi Order and thought he could help Ben, only to be scared by his raw power and darkness. Wait, really? This is the same guy who redeemed Vader but can’t find a way to help Ben? Luke was right, “This is not going to go the way you think.” It’s as if the history of Luke has been forgotten. Now, I get the idea that Luke, like Obi-Wan, feels the pain of taking too much on, but at least Obi-Wan didn’t try to murder his student in his sleep and gave him a chance to change before delivering the “killing” blow.

Now, all that said, the lesson Luke learns about failure being part of life and how to deal with it, is actually a timely one. In life, failure is the best teacher. Yet, again, Luke’s past should have prepared him for this, his knowledge about Anakin and the help of force ghosts like Yoda, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, should have been able to help shepherd him through this ordeal, instead of running away to an island to die, screaming, “get off my lawn” to anyone who comes calling.

It is interesting that Kylo and Luke are actual after the same thing, Kylo wants to burn it all down and so does Luke, but for different reasons. Kylo because of his anger at everyone and everything and Luke because of his own hubris. He sees the Jedi as a failure, as well as himself, yet he’s blaming the wrong thing. In the end, it’s people and their choices that lead them to the dark or to the light, not the teachings of the Jedi. The Jedi texts and code are only a guide, that applied properly, promote peace, prosperity and hope in the galaxy. Over a thousand generations is not a bad run. Even though Luke gives Rey a lesson in humility in relation to the Force, it seems much to learn, he still has.

All of the issues I do have, stem from there being no direction for this trilogy. With no clear plan or endgame, this is what is left, each installment trying to make sense of the last, leading to it not always having fullest depth or payoff. This is post modern story telling at it’s worst, characters and plot without history and context that could have been more cohesive with planning.

Pass on What You Have Learned

Just as the galaxy and the characters in the movie lack context, the original characters fail to pass on their wisdom to the next generation and Luke is the biggest offender here. He seem incapable of passing on what he has learned as Yoda told him to. He’s driven by fear to almost kill Ben, and then the same fear leads him to reject training Rey for most of the movie. When he finally does train her, there is no depth or true substance to what he offers. You’d think someone with access to the original Jedi texts and a few good force ghosts would be able to provide more guidance than what we see.

Just because one has talent at something, does not mean they don’t have to practice, be taught and hone their skills. Rey is never given any of this, in the end, she’s forced to intuit who she should be for herself and from who Luke was, in the Original Trilogy. This may fit into the post modern world of “make your own way and your own truth”, but it’s not Star Wars. Lucas himself said,

“Star Wars has always struck a cord with people. There are issues of loyalty, of friendship, of good and evil…I mean, there’s a reason this film is so popular. It’s not that I’m giving out propaganda nobody wants to hear…Knowing that the film was made for a younger audience, I was trying to say, in a simple way, that there is a God and that there is both a good and bad side. You have a choice between them, but the world works much better if you’re on the good side.”

Lucas is clear, wisdom is meant to be passed on, the wisdom of failures and of triumphs. It’s what both Obi-Wan and Yoda both do for Luke. Yes, they were wrong about Anakin, but that does not mean they didn’t have wisdom to share. Proverbs reminds us, “Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.” And the place to find wisdom is through, as Job reminds us, “Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” Lucas was once asked how he felt about the human condition and he said,

“I am very cynical, as a result, I think the defense I have against it is to be optimistic and to think people are basically good, although I know in my heart they’re not.”

It is clear that he understands that wisdom and goodness must be passed on and taught because they are not something we are born with’. Sadly Rey is left to find her own path, alone. Hopefully the books she saved from the force temple will give her some guidance, now that she is the last Jedi.

Luckily Rey seems to instinctively understand what Luke did at the end of Return of the Jedi, the Jedi are the embodiment of hope and light in the galaxy. Rey allows people to be defined by their choices, not their bloodline or possible history. She does not lose hope in that person’s chance at redemption until they make the choice to turn away from it completely. At that point, she stands on the side of the light, in it’s defense and in the defense of others. I think this is what is frustrating, is that I still feel like Luke should have been the one to show her this and he does, it’s just the Luke from the past not the present.

The only one in the movie doing any actual mentoring is Leia. Her relationship with Poe is a good example of passing on what you have learned. She gives Poe responsibility and then takes the time to discipline him, instruct him and trust him all over again when needed. Sadly the story is muddled with the interjection of Admiral Holdo, but it’s still the best example of someone passing on what they have learned to the next generation and it actually changing the character being taught.

The Movie

The plot of the movie is all over the place. The most glaring issue is with the Resistance story line. They don’t seem to know what to do with them, in the least and it leads to the worst “chase” scenes since Speed 2. There is no logic to what is happening. In space, there is no weight, so it’s all about thrust. If the First Order ships can create enough thrust, they could catch up to the Resistance ships. Another possibility is having a ship jump into the system, in “front” of the Resistance (it’s three dimensional space so there really is no “front”) and take them out. Now here is where context comes in again. Because we have no idea how big the First Order is, are we to assume that all the ships chasing the Resistance are it? And even if they are, could they just not jump “ahead” of the Resistance fleet and be done with it?

Another massive plot issue is why Admiral Holdo refuses to tell Poe and the rest of the Resistance her plan. Does she suspect a saboteur or a spy and that’s why? Well, we’ll never know, because the movie gives us no indication what she is thinking. It just creates a bad plot reason for Poe, Finn and Rose to come up with their alternative plan, to give Finn something to do.

As mentioned above, in the previous section, context creates a maelstrom of issues revolving around the plot points between Luke, Snoke, Rey and Ben. This leaves us with not always feeling the fullest weight behind who they are, the choices they make and who they become as the movie ends.

I enjoy the music, the effects are wonderful except that Yoda puppet, not too keen on his look. The design work is not bad here. Canto Bight is cool, but why is it in the movie and why is that not the story for the Resistance? Going to Canto Bight to try and rustle up support for the cause seems like a much more intriguing idea than the universe’s slowest chase. And would it kill the sequel trilogy to have some aliens we know from the rest of the series? What’s it going to take to get a freaking twi’lek in this series?

Another point of contention in the movie is the humor. Lucasfilm seems to be taking a page from the Marvel playbook and has inserted humor everywhere. Humor in itself is not a bad thing and the Star Wars saga is replete with funny moments, but The Last Jedi pushes it too far. So much of the humor that works in Star Wars is the dry, sarcastic kind that is exemplified in The Empire Strikes Back. Here, it feels forced in many places such as the constant porg jokes, Poe’s ribbing of Hux or Finn waking up in a clear suit and leaking fluids everywhere as he walks down the hall. It just does not feel as organic as it needs to, to truly work. The Star Wars franchise has it’s own rules on how things work in it and as Gareth Edwards said,

“There’s such a fine line in Star Wars, if you go just slightly to the left it’s not Star Wars, it’s another sci-fi movie that doesn’t feel right. And if you go slightly to the right, you’re just copying what George did. So trying to navigate this thing where it’s new but feels fresh was like the dance that was the process of making the film.”

Conclusion

The Last Jedi suffers under the burden left to it by The Force Awakens. With no clear trajectory or plan for this trilogy, Johnson works to forge his own path but it’s one fraught with plot holes and many times, muddied character motivations. The universe, as it stands, lacks cohesion, history or context and it’s hurting the story. I love that Johnson tired to be different and some of it really works now that I have seen it a second time, while other parts still fall very flat. I love some of the moments in the movie, especially Luke’s noble end and the strong work done with the Rey/Ben/Luke story but Abrams has his work cut out for him with Episode IX. I never thought I’d say this, but J.J. Abrams, you’re our only hope. The Last Jedi is rated 2.75 out of 5 stars.

Don’t miss Matt on Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast and Owl Post: A Harry Potter Podcast!

#The Nerd Party #star wars #the last jedi #star wars the last jedi #movies #review #Matthew Rushing

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