This was a quote I read from someone and I agree with it very much:
Sad that in the end people just throw their hands up and say "doesn’t work for you, works for me, oh well."
Good storytelling transcends subjective solipsism. The fact of the matter is that Luke’s actions in this film were not built up to in the previous films at all, and his character is a very severe departure from what he was. He also represents a bold new moral view of this universe, from the makers of this film, which is almost too sad to describe.
Art is an extension of worldview. It taps into what matters most to us. Lucas showed what matters most to him. And what was done to that worldview, and what worldview has replaced it, is chilly in the extreme. I certainly won’t be anxious to show this film to my children, when I have them. 1-6, sure. I do not agree with the values of this film, or the worldview it presents though. It seems cynical, poisonous and nihilistic, especially in light of what came before.
You may enjoy that if you like but there is no denying the shift that occurs. Anyone who denies that shift is very likely blind to the themes of these films.I don’t want to be that guy, but I’m kind of tired of people overlooking my posts, and I do want to discuss this.
http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1146676
I don’t believe TLJ is that cynical, and I liked it, and it makes me disappointed that there are seemingly only a few camps that we can exist in in terms of opinion.
I don’t think that the moral values of it are even really that different or worse from or than the OT when you think about it. I think everyone saying that the Jedi are actually evil or bad for the Galaxy because of their dogma are way off base with what the movie was trying to say.
In the end, there’s a hero in all of us. You’re not defined by your failures. Trying to be the hero doesn’t make it so. Forging your own legends is more selfish than it is heroic. Sometimes just doing the right thing is enough to make a difference. All of these, I’d be fine with my children (lol if I had any) learning. I think there’s a lot more here that is important to learn than in the OT, if anything.
NFB, I didn’t mean to ignore you. I can see your point of view as possibly being between mine and Adywan’s. Maybe for you the movie doesn’t seem cynical, but I can’t imagine a Star Wars world where Luke Skywalker is hiding from his friends and letting them die and saying the Jedi need to die out. That is the opposite of everything he did and believed in during the OT.
Even Mark Hamill said he disagreed with everything he was asked to do in this movie.
The movie doesn’t end on that note, though. It’s obviously not about hiding and letting your friends die. To say that that is what is being taught is disingenuous I think. If anything, it’d be easier to say that that was the lesson of Empire Strikes Back before Return of the Jedi came out.
I mean, really.
This was a quote I read from someone and I agree with it very much:
Sad that in the end people just throw their hands up and say "doesn’t work for you, works for me, oh well."
Good storytelling transcends subjective solipsism. The fact of the matter is that Luke’s actions in this film were not built up to in the previous films at all, and his character is a very severe departure from what he was. He also represents a bold new moral view of this universe, from the makers of this film, which is almost too sad to describe.
Art is an extension of worldview. It taps into what matters most to us. Lucas showed what matters most to him. And what was done to that worldview, and what worldview has replaced it, is chilly in the extreme. I certainly won’t be anxious to show this film to my children, when I have them. 1-6, sure. I do not agree with the values of this film, or the worldview it presents though. It seems cynical, poisonous and nihilistic, especially in light of what came before.
You may enjoy that if you like but there is no denying the shift that occurs. Anyone who denies that shift is very likely blind to the themes of these films.I don’t want to be that guy, but I’m kind of tired of people overlooking my posts, and I do want to discuss this.
http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1146676
I don’t believe TLJ is that cynical, and I liked it, and it makes me disappointed that there are seemingly only a few camps that we can exist in in terms of opinion.
I don’t think that the moral values of it are even really that different or worse from or than the OT when you think about it. I think everyone saying that the Jedi are actually evil or bad for the Galaxy because of their dogma are way off base with what the movie was trying to say.
I definitely agree with ya there. The Last Jedi’s messages and themes are pretty optimistic in my eyes.
Yeah. To say that TLJ’s theme is “let the past die” is wrong. Kylo Ren - the villain - said that. And his entire thing, of burning down all the old institutions and starting over, is just an extension of the theme that trying so hard to be the hero - to forge your own legends - is more selfish than it is anything else. Poe trying to do the same thing for the Resistance got how many people killed?
I know people crap on the Canto Bight parts and maybe rightfully so on a pacing and tonal front, but Finn and Rose were the only ones of the Resistance in the movie that accomplished anything that mattered beyond the immediate happenings in the end, and not because they were trying to pull off some heroic scheme against all odds. Just by doing what they felt was right in the moment, they inspired a new generation of force-sensitives, and that’s the hopeful note that we end on.
I don’t agree with the reading that Obi-Wan and Yoda were just using Luke, but I don’t think TLJ ruins that which came before it. I know it’s kind of a paradox, but TLJ is both dependent on the the OT, while also trying to be its own thing. It takes the franchise in a different direction for sure, and you kind of have to separate it from the thematic heart of the originals.
It’s not an exact comparison, but think Logan relative to the original X-Men trilogy.
…
That being said, TLJ isn’t really as gray or cynical as people are making it out to be. I don’t think it was saying the Jedi are evil.
I think it’s still a very traditional good vs evil story, it just places less faith in ideals alone and gives less credit to principles making a hero. It embraces the human condition and makes that which is in all of us - our ability to fail and move on - good enough to be heroes. In some ways, that’s more optimistic than saying we have to work super hard just to be good people. It’s not saying that the Jedi were super bad just because they were flawed, just that they don’t have a patent on being able to save the galaxy.
Sometimes trying too hard to be the hero can backfire, like with Poe, Finn, and Rose - and in the case of Luke, who held himself to such high expectations of heroism that he exiled himself after failure (which, thinking the galaxy is better off without you is still kind of an extension of some bullshit hero complex).
You don’t have to try to be the hero - as long as you do good, there’s one in there - and your failures, flaws, and screw ups won’t take that away as long as you get back up.
EDIT: honestly I wish people wouldn’t ignore my posts
Yes, but here’s the thing. If you want to separate it from the thematic heart of the originals, than do your own thing. Create your own story with your own characters, perhaps set in the same universe. Don’t take Lucas’ story and Lucas’ characters and alter that to suit your own agenda. It’s not just that TLJ creates its own reality, it tries to alter our perspective on the earlier films, and tells us to view them through the prism of Rian’s vision. Even worse it attempts to do this by taking the same challenges, and then provide a different solution, in the process invalidating the earlier solution. It doesn’t even say, different problems require different solutions. It takes the same problem of Empire versus rebels, and a Jedi pupil turned to the dark side, and tells us the solution to that problem is not what the OT presented us, it needs to be something else. In doing so it betrays the spirit of the originals in my view.
I don’t even think it’s the same situation/plot. Maybe you disagree with the decision to have Luke cut himself off from the galaxy in the first place, but that alone is enough to be a different story with different themes. Maybe TFA set up a trajectory like the one you describe, but even Ben’s First Order is now motivated by burning down all the old institutions to begin a new world order, as opposed to the OT Empire just wishing to maintain its hold on the galaxy. It looks the same on a superficial level, I guess, but I do think it is a “different problem that the old solution can’t fix.”
Obi-Wan and Yoda were hiding to watch over Luke until he was ready to begin his Jedi training. On the other hand, Old Luke at the start of TLJ has no intention of doing anything for the galaxy anymore. He doesn’t even know Han is dead or even what is happening in the galaxy. That it even needed his help.
I guess I just don’t think new additions to the franchise can ruin what came before it for me. The prequels didn’t ruin the original trilogy to me. And while I am welcoming of the ST’s new direction, I don’t even think it takes away from the OT. If anything, it’s just an expansion of it. Just another way to look at it. Doesn’t make what those movies have to say any less important or valid.