Let me say up front, I get it. There were plot holes, Rose didn't seem to really land as a character, the casino planet felt out of place. Then to top it all off, Leia the space sorceress. Ugh. I have a defense for the rest of these, but not Leia force-flying through the vacuum of space. It's just nonsense. If any of these issues happened in any other Star Wars movie, it would be a bad movie. But the Last Jedi is not any other Star Wars movie.
Episode 8 is fairly obviously a deconstruction of basically everything that we've gotten used to in Star Wars. From Luke's disillusioned attitude on the Jedi, to the genuine connection that happens between the protagonist and antagonist while the antagonist is still bad, and even the humor, there was plenty to jolt us out of our comfort zones. And we Star Wars fan like our Star Wars how we like it dangit. Don't go changing such a cherished piece of American culture and a large part of my own thoroughly nerdy identity. Except for one problem - the inconsistency. "The Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defense, never for attack" These are some of the most foundational words that we hear from the old Jedi Master Yoda on Dagobah as he trains Luke in Episode 5. We are learning who the Jedi are and what the light side is all about. If Yoda is speaking the truth here, as we should believe he is, then almost everything that ensues after this moment is in direct contradiction of this fundamental guidepost for using and understanding the light side of the force.
What happens after this moment? Luke rashly goes off to save his friends where he has to fight his father. He looses the fight and gets his hand lopped off. Then the entirety of Return of the Jedi is spent fighting. Just think of the opening scene. Luke force chokes some Gamoreans for crying out loud. Then it all culminates in an epic duel between father and son, in which Luke looses it and returns the favor to his sweet dad by lopping off his hand. The moment of Anakin's redemption doesn't come until Luke truly refuses to fight, and demonstrates his commitment by taking the lightning from the Emperor. This passivity is what ultimately caused Anakin to turn back to the light side.
Now fast forward to 1999 and the prequel era, and what's it all about? Cool Jedi who use the force to fight really really well, complete with force augmented acrobatics, force pushes, and the like. There's actually a great story arc in the clone wars series that very powerfully demonstrates this exact inconsistency (season 5 starting in episode 17). The jedi capitulated to fighting a war that was orchestrated by a sith lord, and how did that turn out for them? This is precisely the point that old grumpy Luke makes to Rey. "Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. If you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the jedi is failure. Hypocrisy, Hubris" Is he wrong? Were we all mesmerized by the fancy sword play and flips and quasi-Buddhist sounding talk that we the audience also failed to see the jedi for their deeds? Did we want to see the good guy beat the bad guy so much that we forgot what the light was always about?
Fans' reactions to the Last Jedi suggest to me that we in fact did. The plot of the movie wasn't the best, but the movie wasn't about the plot. It was about the theme. We Star Wars fans are used to watching Star Wars for plot, not for theme. But the theme of pacifism is what the Last Jedi is all about - the damage caused when it's forsaken, the corruption when its forgotten, the good when it's heeded, and the hope when it succeeds. It's ironic that the movie titled The Last Jedi is actually the movie that most thoroughly explores what it would be like to be a true Jedi. The Last Jedi is more true to the jedi ethos than any movie made by George Lucas. I'd even dare say that Rian Johnson took Yoda and the jedi way more seriously than any of us fans, or any character within the Star Wars universe. Rose Tico crashed Finn out of his big glorious sacrifice, and follows with "That's how we win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love". This line gets a lot of hate online from Star Wars fans. What a tragedy. This line is, in many ways, a readaptation of Yoda's own guidance to Luke "The Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defense, never for attack". Rose Tico, the most commonly hated character of the movie is actually the wisest and most in tune with the light side of the force. And she's not even force sensitive. The movie is an indictment of the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the rest of the Star Wars franchise, and it's raison d'être is the wisdom of Yoda.
I could go on. There are other really amazing elements of this movie like the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren, the frailty of the Snoke, the accessibility of the force beyond a famous bloodline, the relatability of Kylo Ren, etc. I will again freely admit that there were issues with the movie. I still can't get over Leia force-flying through the vacuum of space. Ridiculous. But the fact remains that the profound value of the movie is missed because fans are throwing a fit like spoiled children that didn't have their expectations met. I love Star Wars, and I love every single Star Wars Movie. They're all good in their own way. But don't let the good be the enemy of the better.
Art by Kevin Jenkins, James Clyne, and Adam Brockbank, courtesy of Lucasfilm
Comments
Post a Comment