Back in the first film narrative was propelled largely visually.
There were three exposition scenes Ben’s House, the Imperial conference room, the Rebel briefing. Every thing else was either dropped into conversation in a realistically casual way or done with wordless visual representations which wouldn’t look out of place in a silent movie.

The big scene which sums this up is the opening sequence of the plucky Rebel ship being swallowed by the giant great white shark of the Star Destroyer.

There are a few of these that work really well in TFA.
Rey cleaning her finds looks up and sees a departing ship and then notices an old lady cleaning her salvage.
It sums up her character’s situation in someways better than Luke’s twin sunset.

It’s moments like this a superior scriptwriter and director has the confidence to put into a film with lasers and robots. It gives us a human connection, such moments transcend cultural and linguistic differences.

Someone from the 30s would get it, someone from contemporary China would get it, someone from the Filipino army in the Battle of Reykjavik will get it in the 51st Century.