Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
I think if we take just what is given to us in the films, we can figure out what we think the "real deal" is, and I think that's what Lucas intends. He said once that answering the mysteries of life isn't as important as questioning them.

In my opinion, by mentioning them in the context of the story of the films he is saying otherwise. He is saying "guys, here is an answer" not "guys, keep questioning the nature of The Force." If he's trying to be ambiguous about it, then why include Midichlorians in the PT in the first place? It was plenty ambiguous (and magical) before.

Something about the whole Midichlorian scene in TPM just seems wrong somehow. In film, due to the compressed nature of its storytelling, as much of what appears on the screen must be dedicated to the story. By including a scene about these never-before-mentioned Midichlorians in TPM, Lucas is implicitly stating "This is important."

Okay, so why? If it's because he wants us to still believe that The Force is a mystical energy channeled by a few monks (as in the OT), then this does not serve that story purpose. If that was the case then the scene should have been left out in favour of a speech more in line with the Ben-Luke conversation in ANH. If it's because he wants to explain the hereditary nature of Force sensitivity, then okay - but I still believe it's a very ham-handed approach to it. That single scene to me robs The Force of a lot of its mysticism. By defining it scientifically/biologically, it is less magical. I'd rather he would have explained the heredity in a way that maybe indicates that people who have a great destiny before them are more Force sensitive. Hence, the Force runs strong in the Skywalker family because they are destined for greatness.

I don't really like the inverse, the Skywalker family is destined for greatness because the Force runs strong in them. Not sure why, it just doesn't sound right to me.

Explaining why the force runs strongly in any terms other than fate/destiny lessens the power of the story, IMO.