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Post #1149047

Author
MaestroDavros
Parent topic
The Last Jedi: Official Review and Opinions Thread ** SPOILERS **
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1149047/action/topic#1149047
Date created
26-Dec-2017, 6:34 PM

DrDre said:

I’ve been wondering about RJ’s vision for the Force. Some have argued, that anyone can be a Jedi now, that’s great! Looking at it more closely, I don’t think that’s really the case.

When Lucas created the original Star Wars, most people got the impression, that anyone can be a Jedi. You just have to study it, work hard, and there you go. Lucas himself held this view, as is evident from his 1977 definitions, that I posted earlier.

Then over the course of the OT genetics seemed to be introduced. Luke became part of a family line of powerful Jedi. The Force is strong in his family. This still doesn’t preclude anyone from becoming a Jedi. It just means some of us are more talented than others, just like in real life. Other explanations can be introduced for the Skywalker’s innate Force potential, but this one’s pretty logical, I think.

Then the PT came along, which showed the Jedi to be elitist. The PT never said, that the Force wasn’t available to everyone, it just said the Jedi only wanted the top of the class, so to speak. Many people understandably didn’t like this. I mean what about character? Wouldn’t you rather have a less talented Jedi with a good character, than a talented a*****e? Anyway, the Jedi were flawed. Doesn’t mean they were allways like this, just that they had evolved into this political elitist organisation.

So, what did RJ do? Did he go back to the 1977 concept of anyone who works hard at it, can be a Jedi? No, he didn’t. Rey just magically has these powers, and apparently so does the kid at the end of the film. No work required. It just awakes inside you. So, what if the Force doesn’t awake in Poe, or Finn, or some other random person?
Tough luck, I guess? Or can we expect the Force to be delivered to them as well? It got lost in the mail, or something. I think not. In short, he’s turned the Force into a lottery. Anyone can be a Jedi, if you’re one of the lucky few. I fail to see how that improves on Lucas’ original ideas, even the version of the PT, where despite the Jedi’s elitist views, anyone could theoretically become a Jedi.

I’ve been thinking about this and I wonder if this is what Snoke meant by “There has been an awakening”. I don’t think he was just referring to Rey. For some reason the force is becoming ultra potent in people for no known reason (likely because the force is already known to work in mysterious ways). That would have been an interesting direction to take the plot of TLJ in, but it was basically a sidenote with the kids and left half baked, vague and confusing as a result.