because TFA negates the victories and outcomes of the original trilogy
Disagree. If for no other reason that we haven’t seen how everything happened or what will happen going forward.
This has become the fallback position for things that aren’t adequately explained in TFA.
Based on what we know now, the Republic has been crippled — if not destroyed — because they failed to maintain vigilance against the same type of enemy they encountered in the past, Leia is running the Rebellion (excuse me, the Resistance) from a basement, and Han is a loser who went back to smuggling because apparently he couldn’t cut it as a hero and father. And Luke is Ben now, except he has a sad, so he went to Ireland on holiday.
I actually like that these heroic characters went on to experience tragedy in their lives after experiencing both crushing defeats and epic highs, but it seems to be in service to the retread rather than genuine storytelling. What I didn’t see, what there wasn’t enough of, was HOW and WHY these characters we love ended up as they did. Punting it to the next installment is lazy, and I bet we don’t get answers to a lot of these questions.
And Jay, I also provided a serious response to the “Bad Parents” thing, you may have missed that.
For what it’s worth, I also assumed failed parenting played a major role in Ren’s situation. You don’t stab your dad through the chest with a lightsaber without holding some serious resentment toward him, and it’s not hard to picture a nomad like Han having difficulty settling down and raising a kid.
When Kylo is reading Rey’s mind, he says “You see Han Solo as the Father you never had… he would have only disappointed you”, so there is definitely an element of bad parenting (or perceived bad parenting). But I’m not sure the blame for the entire state of the galaxy can be put on Han and Leia (as a few people have suggested). That’s like blaming Hitler’s Dad for the holocaust, while ignoring all the political, economical and historical factors that played a role.
To me, the idea that after the joyous victory of ROTJ, events, politics, and plain old human nature have led to a repeat of history is quite an interesting one. Haven’t we all experienced that in our own lives to some degree? Don’t we all ‘become our parents’ in some ways, even when we swear we never will? And on a global scale, it certainly seems to be true that “We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.”
If Star Wars was originally a reaction to the vietnam war (at least in part), doesn’t the idea that history has a habit of repeating itself feel like a fitting theme for a new ‘War on Terror’ era Star Wars movie.
I realise I’ve gone quite deep. I’m just typing stream of conscience. But it’s food for thought.