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roxannepolice · 6 years

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Rocky path of a heroine in a galaxy far far away

Do you have those moments when you have some sort of sensation that you can’t really put your finger on and it keeps nagging at you with its unconceptuability until one day you discover a word that expresses exactly what you’ve been feeling? Like finally finding out the wonder of the word Weltschmerz which suddenly makes your world so much more understandable?

Well, today I had this experience regarding the sequel trilogy when I read this I won’t exactly say great but being definitely a good introduction to the heroine’s journey article and in it saw the word aridity. Oh, yes, isn’t that the word which suits best what it feels like to imagine epix consisting of Rey the maiden of light vanquishing evil Renperor with some straightforward bigger scale pewpewpew in the background. Arid. Infertile. Unproductive. Bringing nothing new into the overall saga. Actually sounding as if it was here only to let the creators shake off the Skywalkers once and for all. Waste of a good heroine.

And aridity is exactly the word used in the article to descibe what for so many is the only obvious way for epix to go. In it are presented following stages of a heroine’s journey, as based on Maureen Murdock’s Woman’s Quest for Wholeness (they are all better descibed in the article, here I give only the desciptions I find most important to the argument):

HEROINE SEPARATES FROM THE FEMININE

IDENTIFICATION WITH THE MASCULINE AND GATHERING OF ALLIES

ROAD OR TRIALS AND MEETING OGRES AND DRAGONS

EXPERIENCING THE BOON OF SUCCESS by overcoming the obstacles. This would typically be where the hero’s or “shero’s” (a female protagonist on a hero’s journey) tale ends

HEROINE AWAKENS TO FEELINGS OF SPIRITUAL ARIDITY / DEATH because the new way of life is too limited. Success in this new way of life is either temporary, illusory, shallow, or requires a betrayal of self over time

INITIATION AND DESCENT TO THE GODDESS. The heroine faces a crisis of some sort in which the new way is insufficient and falls into despair. All of her “masculine” strategies have failed her

HEROINE URGENTLY YEARNS TO RECONNECT WITH THE FEMININE

HEROINE HEALS THE MOTHER/ DAUGHTER SPLIT

HEROINE HEALS THE WOUNDED MASCULINE WITHIN

HEROINE INTEGRATES THE MASCULINE AND FEMININE to face the world or future with a new understanding of herself and the world/life. Heroine sees through binaries and can interact with a complex world that includes her but is larger than her personal lifetime or geographical/cultural milie

So, this peaked my interest, considering how only yesterday I was venting out about how I feel there’s something wrong about this trilogy’s doubtlessness, how it doesn’t fit in with the overall symphony. But the prequels were a tragedy, plain and simple, whereas the originals were a hero’s journey. I won’t put here all of Campbell’s hero’s journey stages but basically the hero has more doubts at the beginning (clue in Luke’s I’ll try and You ask the impossibe), then has an apex (facing Palpatine and leading to Anakin’s salvation), followed by overconfidence, “refusal to give up his divinity” (basically creeping up on your nephew at night, reading his mind and igniting a lightsaber because you’re Luke Skywalker) and only recovering peace and purpose when that has been defeated (with an outside help, no less). Tu juxtapose, a heroine has a moment of overconfidence coinciding with what would have been an apex in a hero’s journey, followed by realisation of aridity of her hitherto path and a crisis, leading to healing and reintegration.

What I think is the general belief of the audience - definitely ant*s, but I think also the vast majority who aren’t really against “anything” but just can’t see how “that” could be and a good deal of reylos who read Rey as patiently waiting for her prince to disenchant himself - but more importantly, of Rey herself, is that she has reached her apex, her inner journey is finished, she is now the goddess she was meant to be, saviour of the Resistance and the last Jedi.

And that would be true. If hers was a (s)hero’s journey.

Having the Beast on a leash

There are many great edits paralleling Ben at the end of TLJ with Beast after letting Belle leave the castle, which appears to be point 4 of heroine’s journey. While the separation is important here, the above notion that this stage parallels hero’s apex had me reconsider what is the must, the essence of what happens here. It may sound weird, but I think this is the point where the Beauty “defeats” the Beast, the moment where the power imbalance shifts, where he does what she asks - or is on his knees before her. I think this “defeating” element is the best visible in one of the simplest renditions of BatB, legend of st. Martha and dragon Tarasque that I have a personal sentiment for because I used to resent my first name until I saw a picture of my namesake with a freaking dragon on a leash. There it is heavily underlined that she manages to tame, place in her - or, at least, God’s through her, it is a christian legend - power the beast most valiant heroes couldn’t defeat.

Now, Rey has in fact been in position of power over Kylo Ben twice already in the story - first on Star Killer Base and the second time when she woke up first in the Throne Room - and on both occasions didn’t use that power to finish him. Which is exactly what heroes do in this story but I’ll elaborate on that below. But what is worth noting is that the resident Beast has - or at least hopefully has - a subjective power shift when on his knees on Crait. Whatever he splurted out minutes ago, he now realises he won’t be able to do. Even if he doesn’t understand, he remotely feels his disempowerment.

Journeys and trope subvertion or why serious reylo duel is actually possible

The fact that the crisis in the heroine’s journey comes after her heroic apex is conceptual expression of the shivers I get whenever I hear Kylo Ben say when the time comes, Rey’ll be the one to turn. Now, it’s tempting to assume he was overconfident and Rey overcame every obstacle but that’s turning a blind eye to the fact that heroine’s crisis is yet to come. As stated, Rey herself thinks she overcame every obstacle but how naive this assessment of facts was is probably best expressed in the smut hut, when she - beautiful as it was - tells Ben it’s not too late for him to turn. Just like Han, she underestimates years of manipulation he’s been through. She’s just been through what should be a sort of nadir for her so if she can go on, he’ll have no problem returning to the light, right? Note, this is something she just believes in, she says that before the force vision.

But again, did she have a nadir? Did she have a moment which challenged all of her previous beliefs the way Luke fidning out Vader is his father did? It’s extremely important Luke finds out in ESB something new whereas Rey is faced with a truth she has been denying. We don’t know how Luke dealt with his vision in the tree on Dagobah, but we know how he reacted to its realisation in action.

Of course, regardless of how hysterical this was, he still did the right thing and epically refused. But he’s shown to accept the fact that Vader is his father and it affects all of his future actions leading to his heroic climax I only later realised how this sounds but I won’t change it.

So, the cave scene. There are quite a few interpretations of what exactly this scene meant. Some intrerpret it as Rey finding out the dark side will give her no answers - which makes little sense as an element of her journey as juxtaposed with Luke on Dagobah. If, however, the cave did give her some answers, either telling her to stop giving f*cks about her parents, making a symbolical expression of their nobodiness or hinting at her future - again, she denies them. When Kylo Ben has her finally face the truth, she seems to take it pretty well - which is good but isn’t good in a heroine’s journey. A journey isn’t from point A to point A, there has to be a percepetion change, the new unerstanding of world/life/self. I bring back the heroine faces a crisis of some sort in which the new (post-apex) way is insufficient and falls into despair. All of her “masculine” strategies have failed her.

Now, I would prefer to detach Rey’s journey from masculine-feminine categories, mainly because it frustrates me that a woman’s journey should be considered in terms of relative gender ideas rather than more absolute ones. Call it a yin and yang and it definitely has a lot to do with light and dark side. Now, as far Rey’s separation from whatever is concerned, I’m a bit uncertain what to think. Can it be said that TFA and TLJ are about Rey separating herself from her scavenger personality and embracing the jedi knight/resistance saviour one? Which would mean that she’ll later have to reembrace while reinterpreting her tendency to “salvage broken renperors things”? Still, this interpretation is hardly expressed in the movies. Overall, it does make sense, as in TLJ her outward motivation is that of the newly taken title of resident force sensitive on a quest to get Luke Skywalker to save the galaxy the way Reistance knows it’s to be saved.

Heroines tend to be more dissonant than heroes, though I’d argue it’s mainly due to the fact that their stories tend to be more introspective, character driven, allowing more nuance in their attitudes than the latter, more action oriented (and when I say tend to, I mean tend to, not that it’s a rule). It’s not an inherent trope in heroine’s journey or female literature, though it is bound to the fact that a hero will have his doubts expressed and refuted in the earlier parts of his story. A heroine can feel one way but to the outer world and more importanty, her own consciousness, she’ll frame her motivations in a way more acceptable in the 2-4 stages of her path. So, Christine Daae isn’t fascinated by the mysterious man with a disturbingly sexy voice, she’s taking music lessons. Belle is in Beast’s castle so that her father can be free. Rey only hopes that Ben can be turned because that’s how Luke saved Darth Vader and the galaxy (notice - she aspires to acting like the resident hero, and Luke in the novel and comic repeatedly expresses his fear of how much Rey - a heroine - wants to be him - a hero not that he’s thinking in those latter terms, they’re just deeper implications of structures). Needless to say, Christine wouldn’t be enthusiastic about music lessons with anyone else, Belle starts enjoying her “captivity” without noticing when and Rey has very personal interests in Ben’s brightly illuminated pecs future.

The crucial mistake that’s so easy to commit while analysing a heroine’s journey is to assume she has all figured out by the stage 4. Again, she would have - if she was a hero. A hero let go from his captor’s castle has triumphed, he has nothing to look back to. A heroine will realise - though doesn’t really realise in the moment she’s leaving, usually due to the fact that she has more urgent matters like a sick father or trapped resistance to attend to - that she’s left her heart there. Matters become even more complicated if she appears to have overcome her ultimate trial before leaving that castle. But again - was that an ultimate trial for her? Was it an actual dilemma in which both choices are equally bad or equally good? No, it was a choice between selfishness and altruism, which is a no brainer for a selfless person, regardless of innocent manipulation used. This can suffice as an auspicious switch for a hitherto morally inferior character, but not the morally superior journeying hero/ine. For the latter, real challenge is a choice between altruism and altruism, marry me and then I’ll save your friends, kill your father and become the hero fanbase half thinks Luke is, slay one person to save thousands. Again, Rey has already faced this last dilemma twice - but never time with immediate pressure of highest stakes. But in the end, it appears the only thing that was challenged in TLJ, prior to the apex of her hero’s path, was her hope for Kylo Ben. Her apparent nadir followed by a climb up is her facing the results of her naive hope in the Throne Room and learning to never do that again, overcoming the flaw of overgenerosity.

Yet if a heroine is to progress, she has to stop being a hero. And Rey's symbolic nadir was the cave, only the actual crisis and climb are yet to come. And Rey hasn't been overgenerous towards Ben, her going to him wasn't out of selfless generosity alone.

So, the three matters to adress while thinking about Rey’s journey in epix are

will her crisis come?

how stubborn will she be about her “new path”?

will heroine’s journey be subverted?

As far as point 1 is concerned - well, if they are doing a heroine’s journey then yes, she’ll have some crisis of her beliefs. Lack thereof is basically the “aridness” viewers feel thinking of lack of some tension within the resistance. The question is, how deep will it be. It could simply be a sort of Amidalaesque “what if the republic has become the very evil we promised to fight?”. The problem is, Rey is quite capable of denial. She’s patient, she can clench her teeth and continue doing what’s right, which is a great quality, most of the time. But when a crisis does come, it will be one of lifelong proportions. The point is, she had no time to properly face her axis mundi having been overthrown and I’m not really sure she wants to face it. And in the end, I don’t think the audience wants her to face it. And yet face it she must for real progress to come.

How does a reylo duel fit into this whole rambling? Well, basically it’s the result of wondering how strong a factor will it take for Rey’s crisis of beliefs to come. Would a person who waited for 15 years for people she knew to have sold her avidly oppose the galactic heroes apparent because of their basic aridity? Or would it take a deeper denial of self over time? Again, I’m considering an actual dilemma situation, right choice vs. right choice, high stakes and immediate action. So... yeah. If right circumstances appear at the right point in Rey’s journey a serious reylo duel, at least on Rey’s part, is a very serious possibility.

Now, it should be argued that dragon slaying is a hero’s job and Rey’s a heroine. But there are two “buts”: first of all, if the duel should happen before the crisis, trigger it actually, then Rey would still be in her “hero stage”. Secondly, and that’s probably the most interesting part, the path has to be subverted. Don’t forget, this IS what happened with Luke, the resident journeying hero of originals. As so many viewers refuse to understand but has been true since the 80s, Luke’s heroic climax lies in throwing away the lightsaber, in refusing to slay the dragon or even dragon’s evil wizard overlord, against common sense, mentors’ advice and contrary to what he’s been doing for two episodes, one might add. If the hero’s journey is made peaceful, it appears symmetrical for the heroine’s to become aggressive, or at least have an aggressive moment. Because obviously, Luke’s peaceful action still led to hero’s finale where the dragon killed the overlord and then himself burned to release the hero’s boon princess daddy. In the same manner, heroine’s eventual healing and integrating could come despite - or even because of - an aggressive action.

What can poor Beast do ‘xcept to sing for rock’n’roll band?

There’s yet another point to be considered while discussing a heroine’s journey in the form of BatB theme - the Beast’s seperate progress. Now, the question of what will renperor be like is one of the most frequent in the fandom and I dare say JJ will manage to surprise most of us anyway. Personally, I sorta stan a not so bad renperor but that’s more of Henry Fonda in 12 angry men attitude: everyone is sure he’s guilty but I’m not so I’ll say he’s not guilty and wait to be persuaded.

However, there is an argument to be made against a really evil renperor based on BatB theme and heroine’s journey - the fact that her post-hero’s apex progress has to involve rejection of her chosen path’s aridity. On a psychological level it takes more complex forms, but in a space opera it’s likelier to be outward. I’m not exactly saying that it’s even most remotely probable that Rey would defect to FO though if that happens I will open a fortune telling business but her eventual life with Ben cannot be as or even more arid than as... ugh... next republic’s (talk about infertility?) jedi hero, vide in prison or exile. Nope, there’s healing and reintegration for her in store, not keeping her two paths separated.

I guess we all agree that if there’s happily ever after but for reylo, it will be because renperor will screw up, not because resistance will be mean. The most basic story would have Ben be depressed and locked up in his tower, but the simultaneously good and bad news is, it’s not an unalterable must. The Beast can f*ck up the story - to his own and Beauty’s detriment and there’s little the latter can do about it. Vide: Phantom of the Opera, focusing on the book. I’m not bringing this up to conjure any what ifs or legitimize and delegitimize ships, but to analyse a BatB version written to end in tragedy. The point is, Erik does in no way alter his behaviour because of Christine after the first time he lets her go. He continues to strangle opera employees and dropping chandeliers when they’re apart - I’m absolutely sure evil renperor would be force dropping chandeliers - and in the end becomes a completely arid option for Christine, even if she does feel compassion for him and has her sexual awakening because of him. It makes an unsatisfying story and leaves Christine an unfulfilled heroine, yet that’s because her “hero” path was still less arid than the continuation of heroine’s, and only on a meta level because of fin de siecle morals.

Now, the good news is that the above negative example shows passivity isn’t Beast’s obligatory narrative choice, where there’s down, there’s up. I’m far from some sort of dream galaxy saviour visions, but tbh I haven’t been bi*ching for three paragraphs about narrative logic saying epix is to bring moral challenges to pronounce that no morals will be challenged.

Morality that isn't challenged isn't a living messy inner process, only an externalized frozen set of rules called ethics - which can be auxillary in solving uncertain difficult moral dilemmas, but cannot substitute morality. Some change in the Star Wars morals is due and considering the frozen ethics is good rebels-evil empires-one redeemable character, some element has to go, qualitatively change or be added, considering the frozen ethics prequels gave originals was only good republic-evil empire.

So, end of the day, what is to be pronounced that will happen in epix? As always, it’s all speculation that’s a fun way to employ creative powers. TBH, I really think that JJ will surprise almost everyone.

#rey #rey of jakku #reylo #heroine's journey #star wars #episode ix speculation #i'm an angsty drama queeeeeen and that's the bottom line of all my elaborate speculation #ben solo #kylo ren #bendemtpion

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nitrateglow · 7 years

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Thoughts on The Last Jedi (spoilers under the “keep reading” line)

I originally wanted to just make a small list of things I liked and did not like about this movie, but I’ve come to realize my feelings are a bit more complicated than I expected. I don’t hate it, nor do I think it is the worst film in the series; however, I am baffled by the arguments that it’s somehow a clever deconstruction of the Hollywood blockbuster formula or finding new ground for SW. If anything, I found it an aimless, poorly paced retread of familiar tropes and ideas with only a few interesting elements to save it from being mediocre.

I’ll start with what I considered all-around good: the acting is excellent across the board. Every actor is game, doing their best and even elevating the material at times. It was a bittersweet experience to see the late Carrie Fisher here and even with her limited screen-time, she brings a great deal of dignity and spunk to the princess/general we know and love. Mark Hamill gives one of his best performances as Luke, communicating worlds of pain and regret with his eyes alone. While he isn’t one of the greatest actors of all time outside of the voice-acting world, he is incredibly effective here. Thankfully, Oscar Isaac gets more to do this time around. And everyone else is on the whole fine, even great at times. I was also impressed with the visuals and editing, which are often breathtaking, especially on the big screen. The casino planet was pretty rad too; I can so see the rich and powerful hanging out in such a place. And—everything else is extremely mixed for me.

This movie reminds me of Attack of the Clones in that it is all over the place tonally. I am all for genre hybrids or movies that can touch on several emotional shades at once, but it is a hard thing to do and this movie isn’t up to that. One minute it’s dead serious and in the grand epic mode, then the next we’re dealing with broad comedy more appropriate for a Marvel film. That juxtaposition felt awkward in the prequels and it feels awkward here.

For all the critics’ talk of this movie breaking new ground, I remained frustrated by the same old rehash of lines and themes from the OT. There’s still the good versus evil, the empire chasing rebels Everything is also rushed beyond belief, which seems like a weird conclusion to draw about a 2 ½ hour movie. Rose is barely developed, despite her potential to be a great character (her romantic feelings for Finn are woefully half-baked; I would say the only thing that even makes you believe she was into him was her slight bout of hero worship in her initial scene with him). Finn doesn’t evolve beyond what he was in TFA. Rey doesn’t change, despite the challenges posed to her ideas about the Force by both Luke and Kylo. Her training with Luke, if you can even call it that, is basically nothing, even less than the crash course Luke got from Yoda in Empire. We’re led to believe Luke has some great development, but that’s yet another thing that has little payoff.

Overall, I am torn on Luke Skywalker’s characterization. On one hand, I believe he would become disillusioned with the Jedi after he lost his nephew to the Dark Side—however, do I believe he would stay on that island after hearing one of his oldest friends was MURDERED by the former student he feels he failed? I’m sorry, I don’t. I know people change as they get older and I know enough cranky old people to see how life can beat you down and make you emotionally exhausted. But the thing about Luke is that he’s stubborn and contrarian; when Yoda and Obi-wan told him to give up on Vader (a Sith who committed WAY worse sins on a much grander scale than Kylo-Ren ever did), he went with his hunch that his father could be redeemed, even though he had only his gut instinct as evidence to go on. I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t try to right the wrong he did to his nephew. Him retreating from the conflict feels as false as the strong-minded and very active Padme losing the will to live at the end of Revenge of the Sith. His death sits even less well with me, since I feel the character had more to do and should have been more active in trying to aid the Resistance and train Rey.

Kylo-Ren is more interesting this time around, more conflicted and morally ambiguous. His temptation to turn to the Light mixed with his savagery is great. His interactions with Rey, which are simultaneously uneasy and charged with sexual tension, are fascinating. And yet, like so much else in this movie, it all goes nowhere. I still have no clue why Kylo is drawn to the Dark Side. With Anakin, it was an outgrowth of growing up as a powerless slave and losing those he loved to war and violence, which makes it clear why the idea of a fascist dictatorship would appeal to him. For Palpatine, it was because he was a greedy psychopath. But Kylo? I have no idea what he feels he’s getting on an emotional level from the Dark Side. What do Snoke and the Dark Side promise him that makes turning evil so tempting? He didn’t hate his parents, however lacking he felt they were. Luke was hard on him, though we learn that’s because the kid was already turning to the Dark Side. So where does it all originate? I have no clue and I think, yeah, it’s not unreasonable for me to understand what motivates one of the major villains of this new trilogy. Because otherwise, it is hard for me to be fully invested in him as a character.

In fact, the whole First Order are just disappointing villains, a second-rate empire. I have no idea how they were able to come to power, not only because it’s never brought up in either this film or TFA, but because these guys are about as competent as the Three Stooges. Hux is a punchline subjected to “yo mamma” jokes and proving himself utterly useless time and again. Phasma is pretty much like Boba Fett: she looks cool and fights well, only to get killed off without ceremony. Snoke is a dumber Voldemort, built up as this clever, evil genius only to be proven even worse at underestimating his employees and enemies than Palpatine! I was never a fan of the character to begin with, finding him bland, but here, he just shows up, cackles evilly, then dies in a rather comical manner. How did he come to power? It has to be more than just his powers; even Palpatine was a politician and he preyed on the Clone Wars’ devastation to convince people to make him Emperor. But Snoke? Nothing.

The pacing was also a huge issue for me. Now, I normally dig slow pacing—but this was excruciating, probably because I felt like the story was going nowhere much of the time. Finn and Rose are wasted, given nothing but a McGuffin side-quest. Every time we cut to them, I just lost so much interest. As for the political “subtext” (if you can call an explicitly socio-political monologue subtext) in the Finn and Rose sub-story, I’ll just say I agree with critic Tim Brayton on the matter:

And this plotline feeds right into the absolutely unforgivably terrible subplot, which is the adventures of Finn (John Boyega) the cowardly ex-storm trooper, and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), the class-conscious engineer, who go on a fetch quest that is every bit as pointless as the whole matter of the military nonsense, only even worse, because it hinges on terrible comedy, bad CGI, and a spectacularly horrible moment when Johnson stops the film in its tracks to provide a ruthlessly on-the-nose lesson about economic inequality and the military-industrial complex, and I hate this all the more for the film's message in this moment being one I passionately agree with - if something has to be artless and awful, better that it not take down a cause I hold dear as part of the collateral damage. And it really is awful; the worst thing in the movie, despite the best intentions of various film critics to defend it (I am sorry, but "has politics I like" is not all it takes to make a movie good. If all you want is for a film to spit your ideology back at you, and it doesn't matter if this is done with any grace or artistry at all, congratulations: you are a Stalinist. I like politics in movies - I love politics in movies - but not every political filmmaker is Sergei Eisenstein, and they should damn well not be treated like they are).

I have no problem with this political/social angle being there; hell, I love the idea of the Rose character and the theme of inspiring the downtrodden (the idea of legends and the power of storytelling really appealed to me, and I loved that last scene with the kids re-enacting the OT story in the stables), but like so much else they feel underwritten and clumsily implemented. It doesn’t help that this side plot feels oddly disconnected from everything else and is far less interesting than Poe or Rey’s stories. And once again, I feel like it accomplished nothing whatsoever, much like the majority of this story.

Now, people might argue the main theme of this movie is about failure and how we must learn from it, thus making this side-plot appropriate. The thing is, I don’t think anyone besides Poe learned much of anything from their mistakes or failures, let alone Finn and Rose. According to writer/director Rian Johnson, one of the big inspirations for this film was the 1964 classic Three Outlaw Samurai, a movie in which the titular heroes become disillusioned with the samurai code and the corruption of the culture in which they live. Concepts such as honor and loyalty become muddied. TLJ is clearly trying to weave a similar theme, with Kylo, Luke, and Ghost!Yoda calling for a new age in which the Jedi and Sith are no more. The problem? Kylo still embraces much of the Sith ideology as much as he claims he’s let go of it (okay, yeah, Abrams claimed he wasn’t a Sith, but that seems more like an in-name only affair given the dynamic between Kylo and Snoke), and Luke, for all his “the Jedi gotta go” lip service, ends his life by triumphantly claiming, “I will not be the last Jedi,” implying he’s passing the torch to Rey. So much for questioning the past.

At the end of the day, the movie left me frustrated and hollow. I’m not very excited to see where they take the story next, because it’s clear they’re going with same-old, same-old, only with vague motivations and no sense of direction. I don’t get what the big point of this new trilogy is. The OT is at its heart about Luke coming of age as a Jedi Knight and redeeming his father. The PT is a tragedy about the fall of both a man and a democracy. The sequels though? I have no clue. I don’t think they go far enough in their attempts to challenge our ideas about the Force or the Jedi, or good and evil. It’s the same old rebels versus tyrants fight, only this time around the villains are more inept than usual and the good guys, for all their failures, don’t appear to learn much of anything.

#thoughts #i think the conflict within me beats out even Kylo-Ren's!!

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grizzbe · 7 years

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Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.

After my third viewing of The Last Jedi, I think I’m ready to write down my thoughts on the movie. Follow below the cut for my spoilerific musings!

First off, I’ll put down a quick and easy guide as to whether you should bother to continue with reading my review or not: In your rankings of the Star Wars movies, does any prequel movie rank above TLJ? If so, you might as well move on. If not, keep on reading!

Alright! I’m just going to say right off that bat that I loved it. I loved it the first time I saw it and I only love it more with each subsequent viewing.

The reason that it’s taken me so long to get around to this, though, is because I want to try my hardest to avoid some pitfalls that I feel are a bit easy for myself to fall into, namely to make this review simply a point-by-point list as to why your reasons for disliking this movie are wrong or simply word-vomit gushing over the movie.

So, I’ll start by saying that the movie is not without its faults. Some of its jokes are ham-fisted or fall flat, some of the visual effects (you know what I’m talking about) look wonky, some of its subplots could use a little tuning, and the whole thing probably could’ve been helped by increasing the timeline even just a few days.

That being said, the jokes aren’t bad and there are far more “Star Wars” jokes than those dastardly “off-brand” jokes that seem to be sticking in a lot of people’s craws.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about Leia’s force moment and while I’ll agree that it doesn’t work great visually, I am more than willing to accept it in its principle, especially considering that people can survive in the vacuum of space in real life (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/survival-in-space-unprotected-possible/). Once you throw onto it Star Wars’ wacky take on physics and space in general, Leia surviving this moment is more than reasonable.

When it comes to subplots, the main thing that they’re about is quite simply character development.

Poe learns that there’s more to being an effective leader than being an excellent flier. After putting the fleet and the whole of the Resistance in danger more than once over the course of a few days, Poe finally sees what it takes to be a leader through his mentor, Leia, and his foil throughout most of the film, Holdo. I’ve seen a lot of people upset at the “character assassination” that Poe goes through in TLJ, but I’ll argue that we finally got to see Poe be more than just a cardboard cutout in this film and he really shined because of it. I might have been more willing to accept this version of Poe since I’m an avid reader of his comic book, where him being an immature leader has been a plot point for at least the past year.

While some might just flat out hate the Canto Bight subplot, I appreciated it for what it was doing. Finn starts the movie as a man only concerned about himself and a couple of his closest friends (fully in line with where the character was at the end of TFA). It’s only through his time with Rose and his interactions with DJ that he comes to realize that he can’t just hide and that he needs to drive himself forwards. DJ even offers him a false, easy escape, “Live free, don’t join” and Finn sees it for what it is: a man unwilling to stand up for what is right. Finn ends his journey a true hero of the Resistance.

And while other might be upset with how the film portrayed Luke, I loved it. The man screwed up. He retreated, exiled himself and resigned the end of his story to that of a hermit whose only option is to die alone. Rey appears, and while she has her own journey (she goes from putting all of her faith in Luke, to putting it in Ben, to finally putting it in herself), she riles in Luke a desire to once again be the man that he knows he can be.

Which brings me to my final point: the movie subverts expectations at almost every turn and does so beautifully. People expect Luke to face down the First Order and single-handedly save the Republic with his lightsaber. Luke does this, but he does it his way, through an amazing show of Force Power (In which the man creates a corporeal force projection of himself and other objects across the universe).

People expect Kylo Ren to listen to his master and fight Rey, but he tricks Snoke (side note: I could write a whole other post on how amazing Serkis was in this role) and proves that the Supreme Leader, in his hubris, had hugely underestimated his apprentice.

People expect Poe, Rose, and Finn’s plan to work flawlessly and save the Rebellion. It doesn’t and they all have to learn and grow and pay for that mistake.

And on top of all that, we get one of the best laser sword fights in the whole of the canon, an excellent performance from Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (holy shit, is he built like a brick shithouse. In case you were unaware, Driver is a former marine), and, in my opinion, EXCELLENT answers to the “Who is Snoke?” and “Who are Rey’s parents?” questions (hint, it doesn’t fucking matter. The past is the past, look to the future. This is a call out to my post’s title, btw).

So, this is already too long and I want to discuss some things I’m looking forward to in the next film. Suffice it to say, the movie is excellent and I’m super excited to see Rian Johnson’s take in his trilogy.

Okay! Next movie, I’ll just jot down a few things:

I fully expect Rey to consult a Force Ghost Jedi Council comprised of Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, and Qui Gon at least twice. I’m going to feel real cheated if we don’t get this.

The next movie is going to involve a pretty significant time jump. I’d say at least five years.

As a Damerey shipper, I’m actually concerned that we’ll miss the opening salvos of the relationship in the time jump and the movie will just start with them together in a committed relationship. Don’t rob us of this JJ.

For those that are going nuts right now wondering how I can be a Damerey shipper after they’ve only spoken to each other once, did you even see the scene?!? And you can’t just throw the two most loaded words in the whole of the Star Wars canon on us and not expect us to want some payout.

I don’t think Kylo will die, he is the last of the Skywalkers, after all, but he’ll be in exile, probably self-imposed, where he’ll try to learn from Anakin and Luke.

With Leia unfortunately out of the picture, I really want Lando and Wedge to come in as Leaders of the Resistance. While the new group will undoubtedly rise to prominence in the ranks (much like the OT trio), the leaders of the whole movement can’t be flying into battles or leading from the ground.

So that’s about it. I, of course, have way more but this thing is already an insane amount of word vomit. If you have any other thoughts that you’d like to kick around with me, please feel free to message me!

#Star Wars #Episode 8 #Episode VIII #The Last Jedi #Poe Dameron #Rey #Finn #Rose Tico #Damerey #Leia #Luke #Kylo Ren #Snoke #Rian Johnson #A Rian Johnson appreciation post #Good Star Wars gives me LIFE

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rawinternets · 7 years

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Star Wars Episode 6: A rediscovery.

I’ve now reviewed Rogue One, Ep4, Ep5, all three prequels. It’s finally time to get back to the good stuff - Return of the Jedi. ROTJ is often cited as most people’s favorite from their childhood, but not necessarily on re-watch. Why? I was pretty sure I knew: it’s the shameless commercialism of the Ewoks, the derivative plotlines (another Death Star! More sneaking around Empire bases!) and so on. But truly, this movie is also very enjoyable.

Upon re-reading my notes - there are far less of them, I think because I was actually into the movie again instead of analyzing everything. With Episode 1 and 2′s terrible dialogue and wooden acting and annoying plotlines, my brain was whizzing about, trying to understand just how these movies could be so bad. With Ep3, I felt myself analyzing how this film somehow *was* landing, and why it was different than the first two. With ROTJ, I got back to losing myself in the story, even though I was trying to remain conscious of the task at hand.

While there are a couple lows (the Ewoks are mediocre at best as an adult-viewer, and George Lucas makes an inexcusable CGI addition to Jabba’s palace...), all in all this movie really fires. And what’s more - some of the most enthralling scenes in the entirety of the series occur here, and they don’t all include fighting and violence. I’m talking about the Emperor turning Luke. This is where the R1-4-5-1-2-3-6 order really works... we go from watching the Emperor turn Anakin in Ep3 right into the Emperor back at his old tricks with Luke. In both movies, the mind games and manipulation are really well done. I had many “Holy Shit!” 10-scene moments throughout ROTJ, mostly around the throne room, but prior to the climactic Vader redemption scene (which, surprisingly, was just OK).

In fact, although this movie didn’t grade quite as high as Ep4 and Ep5, it has by far the most “10″ scenes, all of them (except “It’s a Trap!”) involving Luke and the Emperor in the build-up to the climax, when things are looking so grim for the rebellion and for Luke. Sure, I suppose I could have lumped more of these together, but each is so powerful on its own that I felt in the moment they deserved their own line items.

Onto the scores.

Average Score: 7.90 Standard deviation: 1.91

Scroll. 8. To the point and does the trick.

Death Star and Vader. 9. Beautiful new shot, with Death Star and Star Destroyer. The empire space visuals are so consistently amazing in this series. Great angry vader: “The Emperor does not share your optimism.” Great music. Great punchy scene.

Jabba’s Castle. 7. The big door is cool - C3PO sucks as always. Cool little eye in the peephole, and the big door opens. Pig guards are George Lucas trying too hard. Jabba is a pretty cool character. Luke wants to barter with him, there’s a little rat character that is fine, Solo is a wall decoration, and C3PO sucks again. Fine set of scenes.

Jabba’s band. 1. George Lucas strikes again. He inserts a fully-CGI alien band, looking like a drunk person’s recollection of alien muppets, singing in a language that sounds like scat-man as a toddler. So unnecessary. Also, Jabba is rapey.

Rancor eats a chick, Chewbacca, Lando in disguise. 6. I remember loving this whole Jabba sequence as a kid but it’s not really landing right now. The bounty hunter is Leia? Couldn’t they have sent someone less important? Han getting re-warmed is a cool visual.

Han woken up. 6. Still can’t buy that they’d send Leia to rescue Han. Han’s blindness is kinda lame and the jokes are too. The Jabba sidekicks are also lame. Not loving this.

Luke and the Rancor. 8. Luke falls into the Rancor pit and tries Jedi shit and it doesn’t work. But he’s clever and kills the Rancor. Pretty good job, pretty good scene. My roommate likes the crying monster.

Sarlacc pit & Jabba’s ship. 6-8. Cool desert beasts, really cool desert ship. R2 as a cocktail waiter is funny. Luke: “Free us, or die.” And R2 shoots the lightsaber to Luke and the fighting begins. Lando cliffhangs, Boba Fett vs. Luke is cool, and Boba Fett dies an ignominious death (apparently in canon he actually survives). All in all, it’s a bit hokey and prequel-like, so I assume George had his grubby hands in here. Leia strangles Jabba, Luke flails away with the lightsaber looking really badly trained (in great contrast to the expertise of Ep3), and Lando kind of gets saved from the Sarlacc pit with a rifle. Some 6, some 8, hard to disentangle from my memories of the scene.

Emperor arrives at the Death Star. 9. Incredibly beautiful shots, great heft and foreshadowing.

Yoda dies. 9. “When 900 years old you reach, look as good, you will not.” Great line. Love Yoda - this version, not the Shaun-White-Parkour-Tasmanian-Devil lightsaber version. He tells Luke he’s not a Jedi yet, that he must face Vader. Not ready for the burden! Rushed to face him! Luke made a mistake! “Jedi strength flows from the force. Beware anger, fear, aggression. Dark side. Once you start down that path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Luke. Don't underestimate the Emperor.” Very good stuff from Yoda all around. And this part: there is another Skywalker!!! (but it never matters?)

Obi-wan force ghost. 9. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “Vader did kill your father... from a certain point of view.” Luke must face Vader again, but Luke won’t... “Then the Emperor has already won.” And then of course... It’s Leia.

Attack Prep. 7. “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.” I thought that line inspired Rogue One, but apparently not. Here we are again... a Death Star and a small crack team preparing to take it down.

Emperor Confident. 8. Just another great punchy scene.

Shuttle Tiberium. 9. Sneaking onto Endor to disable the DS’s shield... and we’re just like Rogue One again with the access codes. Vader on his Super Star Destroyer senses something... Good Chewy and Han tension. But Luke knows he’s endangering the mission. Vader is such a badass.

Endor/Speeders. 9. The first thing I wrote for this scene was “C3PO SHUT THE F*** UP” but notwithstanding that outburst, this unique, gripping, and beautiful scene gets a great score. The Redwoods are recognizable to Northern Californians but few others, and as in real life, they are majestic and mysterious on film here. Amazing sound effects. The tension of possibly being outed by a patrolman is very high. Luke cuts off the front of a speeder with the lightsaber... so sweet.

First Ewok. 8. Contrary to what you might remember, the Ewoks do not always suck. The first teddybear that finds Leia is kind of menacing. They avoid capture and make friends but it’s a pretty good scene.

Vader and Emperor. 9. The Emperor is so damn badass.

Caught in Ewok trap. 5. More George Lucas Hijinx! Hokey. OK with Ewoks, not OK with C3PO becoming their God.

In the Ewok village. 4. C3PO on the throne. Luke does force stuff. R2 shocks an Ewok and he does a stupid jump. Meh.

C3PO telling Ewoks a story. 4. I guess the power of a story? They get help from the Ewoks. meh.

Luke and Leia. 7. Luke has to face him. Decent scene between the two.

Vader lands on Endor. 9. Beautiful shots here. Vader and Luke interaction. Search your feelings (again). "It is too late for me, son." Vulnerability there. A bit of foreshadowing. I like!

Shield generator attack begins. 7. A little cheesy that the Ewok grabs the speeder and we do the chasing again, but I guess it serves the plot.

The rebel forces amass. 9. The rebel fleet is amazing. Very pretty. In retrospect (fore-spect?) the heterogeneous fleet reminds of Battlestar Galactica.

Luke meets the Emperor. 10. Shit! Things sound very bad!

Shield Generator Fail. 8. Uh oh!

It’s a Trap! 10. This all happens so fast, last two scenes and then this. Great music, great twist moment. Totally unforeseen. Admiral Ackbar gets his moment and forever becomes an internet meme and a real world reference. This space battle is intense.

Emperor turning Luke. 10. Emperor seems to have all the cards. "it is your destiny."

Ewok's revenge. 7. Mmmmmm. Actually not as bad as I remember because the Ewoks are a bit dangerous, even if primitive. OK, some dumb shit. Swinging ropes like tarzan, flying around with wings and dropping rocks. Self-hitting. Decent physical humor but also meh. Decent job with the emotional Ewok friends death.

Fully operational! 10. Fuuuuuck! The Emperor is smart! Shit! Scene is a 9, but gets a 10 because of importance.

Luke tries to kill emperor. 10. Such a mindfuck. Pretty amazing.

End of the endor battle. 7. Meh. It’s fine.

Luke and Darth fight. 10. Let the hate flow through you.

Luke and Darth fight 2. 10. Luke tries to hide and not fight. "Your thoughts betray you. Sister! Twin sister. You have betrayed her too.” Stilted dialogue. Luke's love for Leia gives him power. Very much like Darth in the prequels. Darth’s hand cutoff. Fantastic music. Emperor: “Your hate has made you powerful. Fulfill your destiny.” He thinks back to his own hand destroyed and how he is like his father. Really great storytelling.

Attack on the death star. 8. These visuals are really cool. But it’s a bit ridiculous to fly through the Death Star with a ship as big as the Millennium Falcon. I mean, the first DS was destroyed by a torpedo going down a tube not more than a meter wide... why would they engineer this thing to have a corridor wide enough for fighters to fly through, and right to the core reactor which will blow the entire thing up?

Darth turns back. 9. It’s such a big moment, but is it actually well done? Emperor: "you will pay the price for your lack of vision." "Noooooo!" Hmmmm. it was great but it wasn't a 10. A bit hokey on the script. Why not cut the Emperor in half with a lightsaber? We’ve seen Jedi defy gravity before, why not assume he will survive?

Anakin dies. Luke escapes. 8. “Take off the mask. you already saved me. Tell your sister you were right.” Great musical choices.

Han and Leia kiss. 7. Meh, it’s fine.

Celebrations. 9. Good reunions and happy stuff. A bit cheesy but pretty good.

Anakin/Darth funeral. 9. Pretty emotional. Pretty good.

Credits. 7. WTF with this music choice.

VERDICT: Things that will stick with me include: speeders, Emperor, and the Sarlacc pit. Speeders and Emperor are just awesome. Sarlacc pit was fine but memorable. This movie is entertaining, and yet, the most blockbuster-y of the original three, and that doesn’t sit as well with me at the end. But did I enjoy it? Surely and absolutely, yes, I did. ROTJ has far and away the most amounts of 9′s and 10′s of any of the films... only a few missteps keep it from being crowned as the best film in the franchise.