I know DJ was wrong too, but the movie explicitly tries to make a compromise between DJ’s beliefs and the beliefs of the Resistance, resulting in the whole “save the things you love” scene, which was one of the worst scenes of the movie in my opinion. Throughout the movie, it felt like Rian was trying to make it seem like the heroes and villains should find a compromise, which doesn’t seem like a good lesson for a franchise all about the light always winning.
I’m not sure I understand. “Saving what we love” isn’t about finding a compromise. It’s about caring more for helping people than killing others. It’s the very ethos of the franchise. Selflessness, and all that. Vader takes down the Emperor not because of hatred, but because of love for his son. The Jedi defend what they love, the Sith attack using hatred to fuel them.
I get people not liking the line because it’s on the nose, but the message is very important. I don’t know what it has to do with DJ’s line.
I do think that StarkillerAG is right, that this trilogy is very much pointing to the middle as the right way. And I think that goes hand in hand with saving what we love and selflessness. Extremism is bad. The entire core of Buddhism is based on Buddha trying all the religions of his day and deciding to take the middle way. That is what Balance of the Force is all about. It is exactly what Luke told Rey. Balance lies in the middle path. Not embracing the dark, but not shunning it either. The Jedi had grown to shun the dark. Any hint that you were on the path to the Dark Side and you were in danger. Nevermind that teaching young Jedi how to handle themselves in all situations was the way forward, they shunned all contact with any path to the dark side. And where did it get them? diminished power and a Sith Lord as Chancellor of the Republic. Balance does not mean accepting the dark side, but knowing it and understanding how to avoid it. The Jedi stopped teaching those skills and started having Jedi turn to the Dark Side. The middle is the path to balance the force. Selflessness not hatred. It is all part of the same message. Light and dark in balance. Yin yang. The middle way.