^TLJ doesn’t say that how Luke handled failure was a good thing, though.
After thinking about this for a while longer (this site has that effect doesn’t it? :😃
I think a lot of the angst with TLJ comes from the marked difference in presentation between the OT and this film…Luke in the OT and the story in general is one of mythology as we all know but it was also written and filmed like a mythological tale. The hero’s are right and the villains wrong…the contrast is deep and wide between the two…very black and white.
We see it as a parable and a story in that very light.
With TLJ we see that changed quite drastically imo. Luke is a Jedi master but he is also very human with human flaws and frailties. We see the rebellion/resistance repeatedly fail and that is a jolt for those of us who have been waiting to see the OT style of story telling. It was for me but in hindsight I was happier for it as it opens this franchise and story to open up into many more possibilities. Looking back at the EU the main plot is always similar to one another.
It almost just depends on if you’re a Spider-Man or Superman kind of person. Are your heroes inspiring because you admire their strength and goodness, or are they inspiring because you can see yourself in their heroism? Do you aspire to be them, hold them as the highest standard of who you should be - or do they reassure you that you don’t have to be perfect to still be as good? Not to say that Luke wasn’t flawed prior to his OT hero’s journey, but the crux of that storytelling device is to overcome those flaws. The ST old!Luke is definitely more Spider-Man, right down to the being responsible for a terrible thing.
There’s a place for both, I think. Aspiring to be Superman or the binary good/evil thing has an unstated negative message that when you mess up, that’s it. But on the flip side, the Spider-Man thing can be too forgiving of your lows. There has to be a balance of the two of them, and that’s usually how it goes for those two characters, and most heroes anyway.
I think that Luke got to be both makes him a more complete hero and overall character to me.
TLJ re-affirms the idea that the legendary Luke and his ideals, is something to aspire to, but reminds us that the person behind that legend is more like you and me.