Chat corner 47: The Last Jedi

[annathecrow]

Welcome to this week’s chat corner!

Optional prompt

This week’s prompt is “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, the second movie in the Sequel trilogy.

Just as with the first Sequel movie, I remind you to use The Dark Side post as necessary, so there’s some space left for people who enjoyed the film. If you did, the floor is yours ;)

 

Comments

[ironymaiden]

I loved the idea that Rey had no special heritage and the idea of more force sensitive people in the galaxy. So many great scenes! It challenged my expectations, it surprised me -the throne room fight, the Holdo maneuver, Luke being a badass and the biggest troll ever!

Not to get all dark side, but anything wrong with this film was overshadowed by the next film being the worst.

I had to rewatch the throne room fight again - the lightsaber exchange and final kill is so good

[fleurviolette]

But, the prequels and the classic eu already introduced the idea of more force sensitive people and beings in the galaxy?

And initially, I thought Rey was a Skywalker given her resemblance to Padme and Shmi, until actually watching the Disney sequels completely debunked that. I would have settled for her being a Kenobi. Clearly this is LF’s fault in the post Disney buyout for not having a concrete storyline in the first place.

[ironymaiden]

yes, of course there were plenty of other force-sensitive beings in the galaxy, but we also know that the empire engaged in a systematic genocide. as far as we know from the films, there were only a handful of people who were strong in the force left, and most of them had died. seeing Rey, Finn, the little boy with the broom fulfilled the idea of the Force "awakening" a new generation of potential Jedi.

the idea that a great Force-user could only come from a family dynasty is insulting and indeed counter to what was presented in the prequels and TCW, and counter to hundreds of years of Jedi practice before the collapse of the Republic. (and I say this as a Korkie-is-a-Kenobi truther.)

we can agree that the lack of a coherent plan for the sequel trilogy was a failure, but we'll have to disagree on the quality of the ideas presented in TLJ.

[annathecrow]

FWIW, I like your point about Force not running in dynasties. One of the things that I like on the Prequel-era Jedi Order is how diverse it is; how the Jedi come from all species. (I'd like to add "and cultures", but that one is a bit more dicey.)

[extrapenguin]

I, too, loved that aspect about the Jedi Order! It's no mistake that the Jedi Council is the most diverse set of characters we see in ... the entire set of Star Wars films, I think?

(We see Barriss worship a Mirialan idol in TCW, and basically everyone who is not Mace Windu or in Yoda's disciple-lineage seems to have some culturally specific clothing according to various sourcebooks, so I'd say the Jedi being multicultural is canon.)

[fleurviolette]

Yes, there were a few people who were force sensitive left in the Disney canon, meanwhile in the classic eu, there was a new Jedi order with a variety of new characters and the next generation of Skywalkers and Solos.

Exactly, Ahsoka Tano is an example of a great force user who hasn’t come from any ‘family dynasty’. She is her own being.

Edit: I wouldn’t necessarily call the Skywalkers a ‘family dynasty’. They obviously aren’t the only family who happens to be strong in the force?? Sorry I’m trying to understand this point?

It’s just some of the concepts in tlj that were marketed as new and different have been already introduced in the original saga, KOTOR, Clone Wars, Jedi Fallen Order, etc. so it’s kind of redundant.

[ironymaiden]

Re: family dynasty, the idea that Rey needed to be a Skywalker, Kenobi, or Palpatine.

[fleurviolette]

Hmm, that seems very meta. Initially it wasn’t unusual for the audience to speculate on Rey’s background or connection to established and well known characters in the story.

I wouldn’t have minded if Rey would have been set up either as Luke’s daughter or one of his students from the start. Otherwise it seemed like Disney tried to mold Rey as their version of Luke instead of creating an original character with an original backstory.

Meanwhile I have not seen that argument pop up regarding Jaina Solo or Ben Skywalker in the EU/Legends. Both characters are their own, and their last names do not detract from their own character arcs.

[annathecrow]

Luke being a troll - I hate a few of the scenes, because I don't like embarrassment-based humor, but I actually can see how he'd end up like that. Because that's the exact same thing Yoda did, after the Purge. It's a (bad) coping mechanism, and a learned one at that.

Can't say it's my favorite part of the movie, though. Or at least, I wish the movie was better at showing it as a trauma response, not as a joke.

I wish I could properly admire the throne room fight, but alas.

[fleurviolette]

I thought the Luke scenes were completely ooc. Unless, the Luke we saw in tlj was an older Luuke lol. Anyway, the set up was insufficient, rushed, and nonsensical. Contrast that with the upcoming Kenobi series that has potential (if written well) to explore Kenobi’s inner turmoil and trauma post Order 66 a bit more thoroughly.