Channel72 said:
Learning the Force has always been depicted as a master/apprentice relationship, requiring discipline and practice. The “new form of thinking” Yoda talks about is what requires this discipline and practice. The OT makes it clear this requires a mentor and teacher. If you include the Prequels, this means years of training. What happens with Rey is completely different. For her it’s like a light-switch. She just spontaneously develops near fully-formed Force capabilities (Jedi mind trick, lifting objects, lightsaber combat). Nobody teaches her and there’s no progression. I can’t imagine how anyone could possibly say this is anything like the earlier films.
Not quite, it’s more like how in the real world there are people who are naturally gifted with and tuned to certain talents but the only thing it allows them is a headstart. Discipline and practice plays a part in using the Force but it’s not the same as other skills. It’s about accepting a new form of thinking, letting go of your doubts and fully embracing this energy. In TFA and TLJ? Rey shows she’s good at combat because of all her time spent on Jakku. The Jedi mind trick is not that hard because it works on the weak-minded and since Rey is gradually learning about the Force abilities she has and has known the stories of the Jedi? It makes sense she’d think “Wait a second, the Jedi have the ability to use this mind trick thing right? Well maybe we can give this a shot.” and she fails two times before when she’s clearly scared and unsure of herself with the third time being when she clears her mind and focuses. The Force is not this RPG skill-tree where you unlock abilities based on aptitude nor is it a martial art. It’s a mystical energy source that connects every living being and technically can be tapped into at any time. The discipline aspect comes in learning when not to use it and how to focus better so that you can use it more efficiently.
Yoda says the ancient Jedi texts are useless to Rey and then literally burns down the library. What kind of twisted message is this?
Thing is, Yoda did that because Rey had the texts with them. Him burning down the tree was basically him showing his frustration with Luke being unable to do it and also him basically saying that like in ESB, Luke fails to focus on the now and instead keeps focusing on either the past or the future. As the movie’s ultimate message is, the past is not something we should ignore or seek to end but rather it’s something to learn from as we look forward since if we’re a slave to our past? We’ll never usually venture out outside our comfort zone or improve and we might end up inadvertently repeating the past and if we ignore it? Obviously we’ll risk repeating the past since we don’t know what to look out for and we see that message reflected here. Luke thinks the Jedi need to end because of his mistakes and he looks back on the history as a jaded man and sees failure. Yoda has looked back on the history and clearly sees just the spots they need to do better on. Rey thinks she can turn Kylo based on their connection and how in the past Luke turned Vader… and she fails because she doesn’t realize Vader and Kylo are different people and fails to see that Luke turning Vader came as a result of having a year to prepare for that decision and circumstances leading to it.