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If I had a nickel for every time Mace Windu mistreated Anakin in the movies, I wouldn't have any money because it didn't happen.

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george lucas, remarkably unsubtley, over and over again: the fall of the republic was because of corporate interests interfering with politics and increased complacency with fascist ideas in the face of a manufactured war

everyone, for some reason: so the jedi were the REAL villains because they didn’t get married

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Robber, gun to my head: either argue with anti-Jedi Stanakins who don’t know what an unreliable narrator is or Sith apologists who apply their Christian/Catholic religious trauma to literally every other religion

Me fr:

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a lot of really annoying media discourse on tumblr comes down to people having a hard time accepting that both of the following are true at the same time:

for any work of fiction interesting enough to be worth talking about, there will be multiple equally plausible and valid interpretations that are possible - and by interpretations here i don't just mean headcanons about minor details, i mean how you read the core themes and character arcs. and very often some of those equally valid interpretations will directly contradict each other and that's ok

not EVERY interpretation is valid, some are genuinely just dumb as hell and unsupported by the text

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The saddest thing about this whole confusion around attachment and love in Star Wars is that it reveals that a large group of people would call relating to someone in a way that it generates the fear of loss as "loving relationship." The fact that so many people can't make sense of the suggestion that compassion - unselfish concern for the well-being of another - is unconditional love and we should center ourselves around it while letting go of everything we fear to lose, indicates that their "loving" relationships are full of unhappiness and fearful clinging and that they're absolutely convinced that they have only two options: love and fear and lose and suffer or don't love at all.

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Remember, those 'arrogant, out of touch, soulless, slave-driving Jedi' encouraged the clones to forge individual identities beyond just numbers and a uniform look. They valued independent thought, and wanted these men to be treated with dignity and empathy. They were forced to use this army, but were determined to lift up the humanity of the clones as much as they possibly could within the circumstances.

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i'm not gonna engage the troll but well done on completely missing the point and proving it at the same time

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"No one understands Obi-Wan like I do" and it's the wildest, most incorrect take you've ever seen with zero basis in any of the narratives, whether on-screen, on the page, or from George himself.

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"The Jedi's rules are outdated and don't work" someone please point out to me whether it's "don't murder people when you're pissed off" or "learn to accept that everything changes with time" that is the outdated stupid rule the Jedi follow.

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I have started to think of the Jedi being blamed for the Fall of the Republic like blaming firefighters for wildfires.

They have been fighting fires (corruption) for years, but the fire is getting bigger and hotter and spreading farther. They're doing their best but there aren't enough of them to go everywhere there are fires. The Senate points them to where really big fires are, but sometimes it turns out they just want their property saved and there weren't that many people in the building. The Jedi still save lives but they have to look at the bigger picture and hope volunteers will put out the little fires because they simply don't have the people for every little fire even though they wish they did. The Senate starts restricting their use of water. Then an arsonist, Palpatine, is made mayor and takes control of their budget.

Dooku and the CIS start lighting fires on purpose. Palpatine let's Dooku know where the most flammable places are.

And the firefighters (Jedi) keep fighting the fire. They can't not fight the fire. People will die if they don't fight the fire. Then the government is like: there are not enough firefighters to fight the fire, but here is a large population of people we will force to fight the fire with you. You shouldn't have qualms, apparently an individual that used to work for you is the one that paid for their training so really they're your responsibility. You'll be in charge of them on the field and get to watch them die, but we control their lives and have decided they're not people so we don't have to pay them. Good deal. We are good at fighting fires.

And the Jedi can't say no because they need to stop the fire and they can't do it alone at this point. Many of the Jedi are killed in their attempts to stop the gasoline fire Dooku lights and it shows how badly they need these new people.

Luckily, the people drafted to fight with them, the clones are also good at fighting fires! It's dangerous many clones will die, but despite having no choice they stand beside the Jedi bravely. The Jedi do everything in their power to protect them. They fight alongside them and try to minimize loss.

There are a few Jedi that get overwhelmed by anger or trauma. They become arsonists themselves, but the number of those that do can be counted on one hand compared to the thousands of Jedi that continue to fight fires.

Sadly, the clones have explosives inside them that Palpatine, the mayor, has the trigger for. Just when it feels like the fire is under control and the people lighting the fires have been stopped, Palpatine sets them off.

Most of the clones are never the same. They think the Jedi had to have set off the bombs inside them, even though they would have never thought them capable of it before. Most never learn the truth. They hate the Jedi for being traitors.

Most of the firefighters die. And their families too. Their children and uncles and aunts and grandparents, and cousins even if they weren't capable of fighting fires they all get burned to death.

The mayor declares it was the firefighters lighting fires and outlaws being a firefighter.

Some of the Jedi survive. Some of them can't bring themselves to fight fires anymore. Some of them keep doing it because it's what they were trained to do. A lot of them are novices who didn't know all the best techniques, but they find their own methods to put out fires and teach others how to do it as well.

And the rebellion begins because when you see fire the logical thing to do is put it out, but all the firefighters are dead or in hiding and being a firefighter is illegal. There's no one to call so the town's people start doing it themselves, inspired by the Jedi.

This becomes extremely important when the mayor makes a device that can light entire cities on fire at the push of a button.

Anyway that's my metaphor and maybe explains my point of view when it comes to the Jedi.

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Star Wars has literally always been about good vs evil, light vs dark... I'm afraid that if this is tiresome to you, perhaps you may want to find a new universe to play in.

The dark side and the Sith ARE evil. They always have been, that's quite literally their purpose in this story.

Also, I would add that the Jedi never claimed to be these "arbiters." They interact with and work with other force users all the time. It's never been "my way or the highway." They co-exist.

The SITH, however, ARE evil.

Like it's fine and all if you prefer the dark/evil in a story, but let's not pretend they're just "grey" or "more nuanced."

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It's truly wild to me how many people out there don't understand that the Star Wars prequels are a tragedy or how tragedies work.

Posts like "these are the Jedi failed movies" truly just make me shake my head. They're actually the "fascism wears a smile until it strikes you down and then it's too late" movies. They're the "the senate became corrupt and clapped in the face of genocide" movies. They're the "make people scared enough of war until they accept authoritarianism" movies. They're the "fear and possessiveness will tear you up on the inside" movies. The Jedi were the heroes of lore, people loved and looked up to them, looked to them for safety, and then too much got put on their shoulders on purpose by Palpatine, and also by a senate that didn't want to act (not you Padme and Bail and Mon, you're perfect). They were drafted and used and scapegoated, which is, you know, a tenet of the vast majority of authoritarian governments (Hitler and Stalin, for instance, might be on different ends of the political spectrum, but they sure both did scapegoat specific groups and commit mass murder, just differently).

When some people say "these movies are about the fall of the Jedi" what they mean is "the Jedi failed" but that's not what "the fall of the Jedi means." It means they were wiped the fuck OUT. Like, Jesus, in Rogue One Tarkin is talking about burning out the final MEMORY of the Jedi by blowing up the holy city in Jedha. Palpatine had to get rid of the Jedi because to get rid of the Jedi was to get rid of the final people standing in his way after he had already worn them out. His intention was not only to kill them, but to alter the galaxy's entire perception of them. To rip away hope. People are always looking for the Jedi to be Bad or nitpick their mistakes (because while other people are allowed to make mistakes, the Jedi never are). Palpatine made himself look like a benevolent grandpa who would keep everyone safe. And that, more than anything, is what gave him SO much power. He stole the narrative.

It's just like. Of course WE know what was going to happen! We know from watching the OT that the PT can only end in tragedy. But the characters don't know that! They don't have all the info! That's how a tragic story structure works. We see it coming and they can't.

Anyway. The Jedi are laser-sword wielding monks with psychic powers who just wanted to do what they could to help. The world would be better if more folks remembered that.

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STAR WARS WEEK ★

@swsource​ star wars week: day 5 – don't make me nickname you – favorite names/nicknames

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Hmmm it's almost like selfish attachment is a bad thing that leads to death and destruction! Like trying to control what the people in your life do instead of letting them be free to make their own choices, even if that means losing them, is not what a force-user (or anyone, really) should do!

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People should probably learn the difference between “plot holes” and “things I didn’t like” or “things the franchise plans to explain in the future” or “things film makers didn’t think they needed to explicitly explain because they thought you had critical thinking skills”

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Already seen a bunch of people comparing Sol from 'The Acolyte' to Qui-Gon Jinn... And, being that we're only 2 episodes in, I gotta say I don't really understand on what it's based.

I watched the first 2 eps, and he's been my favorite so far, but there's nothing about him (in my opinion) that makes him different from all the other Jedi. in fact, he just seems like a Jedi to me!

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i personally think it's a shame how far much new star wars media has wandered from what i consider to be the beating heart of star wars, which is the explicit moral authority and inspirational altruism of lucas's jedi. there are certainly still pockets of media that honor that spirit and operate in the realm of mythological and archetypical space fantasy, but much of disney star wars is targeted at a demographic who are too jaded for kids' media and cannot tolerate the idea of narratively sanctioned good guys actually being good; they want realpolitik, they think all religions and all institutions are inherently corrupted, and they want the jedi to be a cabal of flawed political operatives instead of an idealized fantasy group of space wizards in a golden and more civilized age before the empire, with a vibrant monastic culture and a community of healthy bonds between monks, who understand the fabric of their fictional universe and how to live in harmony with it, and who live for duty because of their generous love for others. obi-wan and yoda in the OT carry the seed of that culture and pass their hope and devotion to duty on to luke, and i find that potent and inspiring even if it's not realism, you know? it's myth. i understand people who want to engage with star wars in this mode of absolutely no pure black and white, only shades of gray, but that's not the spirit of star wars that i love and what makes star wars transcendent and profound to me. luckily star wars is big enough to accommodate everyone and i wish people happiness with jedi critical stories. the realm of myth and heroes is where i vibe and do enjoy it there greatly lol