It ultimately passed the moment they made her related to Palpatine. It’s sickening having her related to a toxic male with no redeeming qualities and who George himself referred to as the devil. It’s sickening seeing how clearly it opened up all of the parallels with the Skywalker family and even Obi-Wan and knowing they meant absolutely nothing.
So just because she’s a Palpatine, she should be denied all of those parallels? That seems too prejudicial. We should be able to overcome our “nature” and arrive to a point of heroicism. I think it’s cruel to deny the character that and call it “sickening.”
They were just put there for nostalgia. She may declare she’s a Skywalker but it fails to me because of who she really is and the contextual issues it creates. It doesn’t feel like a happily ever after fairy tale like Return of the Jedi but real world sensibilities being injected into Star Wars.
Overcoming one’s nature and rejecting your negative heritage is a fair tale/happily ever after to me.
That’s ultimately the biggest problem with this trilogy. It’s not growing, expanding, or progressing the story forward but telling us what the writers see Star Wars as and to them it will always be the first three films.
…and that’s the way it should be. Right down to retconning big chunks of bad prequel lord away.
I’ve made my peace with The Last Jedi most. I’m grateful that Rian at least acknowledged and incorporated the Prequels into his narrative as they’re part of the fabric of Star Wars.
I’d agree, but I would have appreciated a retcon for Midichlorians.
In the end though Ahmed Best said it best. He said that Star Wars isn’t something we believe in anymore and that it’s falling more into the Han Solo side of the story instead of Luke Skywalker. I couldn’t agree more.
Nah. Many of us still believe in the OT and want good things for the franchise. The ST was better than what we got with the PT (my opinion) and the lore is trending in an OK direction. It’s as healthy as it was in the PT era, with writers exploring different directions.
If anything, Star Wars is like Sonic. The OT is the Genesis/Mega Drive games, while the PT is the Adventure/Heroes series, and the ST is Generations or Mania. Generations/Mania have hope for a modernized version of the classic style, (which is well done for SW and Sonic, I’d argue). This would mean that The Force Unleashed is ‘06, but TFU is a terrible addition to canon.
It’s not really prejudice, it’s more accepting what is the established rules and trajectory of the story and that the parallels that came before it are part of this. If they gave Rey her own sense of self and own motivations then it could’ve worked much better I think. As it stands now they gave her parallels because of nostalgia and nothing more. I would’ve been accepting of Rey Skywalker if she remained Random because the argument of her being a “No One” could be paired with the idea she found identity in the generation of Skywalkers before her and their shared experiences as she too had humble origins. Despite how meta it is I find it kind of works since it didn’t tip over to mixing up with established characters but her own character, and the character happens to parallel the family who came before her.
I don’t think so because that’s putting your own sensibilities into the story and not respecting what came before. Whether one likes or doesn’t like the Prequels should remain irrelevant. It’s about respecting all of Star Wars and not just picking and choosing the pieces of the story that best suit the storyteller. It’s about accepting the creator (George) had a story and following the rules he created for his universe. The Clone Wars is the perfect example of respecting what he created as it expands the scope and possibilities of what Star Wars can be. The Prequels for that matter are the other side of the story when it comes to the Original Trilogy. They’re one of the same. They’re just different from each other. George didn’t want Rebels versus Empire 2.0. He wanted to create something fresh and new. Yet at the same time it respects the story he established before and adds new layers to it. It’s not always smooth and perfect but it’s his story.
I don’t find it healthy to be retrained to the Original Trilogy for source material. There’s a whole other trilogy and countless books to gather from. Star Wars needs to respect what came before and not cherry pick when it comes to what George created just because someone may not like parts of the story.
At the end of the day it’s not George’s story anymore but I do feel there should be a responsibility to respect what came from him as without him we wouldn’t be here right now. It may not be smooth or perfect but the effort is what counts.
Star Wars was a classical story but is now like many works wearying towards something that is similar to post modernism. I don’t necessarily find this a good thing as far as Star Wars is concerned. To me it always had its unique place in the cultural threshold. It’s subjective though like all of art.