Deconstructing Star Wars and 'The Last Jedi'

Weekly Standard ^ | 5 Jan 2018 | Hannah Long

[Rummyfan]

Star Wars’ roots in mythology are so well-established that they have become a sort of legend in themselves: Somewhere in a hallowed office in the ’70s, George Lucas, poring the ancient pages of Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces, struck the molten iron of the sci-fi zeitgeist to create a new myth, a fantasy set in the stars, with futuristic light sabers and a misty philosophy which feels like long, long ago.

Every subsequent Star Wars film has attempted to recapture Lucas' initial magic, with mixed success. Each trilogy is wildly different, from the archetypal myth of the originals to the shallow politics of the prequels to the meta, self-referential Disney films.

And yet they all share one thing in common: the failure of authority structures. In the original trilogy, Luke has to come to terms with the reality that he is the son of the most iconic villain in cinema history. The prequels loop back to observe the tragic rise and fall of that character, and his disenchantment with the stilted bureaucracy of the Jedi Order. The Last Jedi combines both of these anxieties—the crisis of absent, immoral parents and failed institutions. But having abandoned its mythic roots, TLJ has no way to handle these conflicts.

[discostu]

Ren’s got the fairly typical problem for a kid of famous parents, he doesn’t measure up, and he can’t. Worse in his family, Leia and Solo for parents, Luke for an uncle, Vader for grampa, he’s always going to be 5th fiddle in that family.

Rey watched Ren murder his own father. She knows not to trust him. The ONLY answer to “let’s be co-tyrants” coming from a complete psycho is “die die die die a lot”. You can’t play him, because you don’t know how he’ll bounce. You say “yes and let’s start by not blowing of the Resistance” he MIGHT say OK, or he could say “we’re starting over from scratch, first thing that has to go is the Resistance”.

[A_perfect_lady]

If Rey had (seemingly) consented to join Kylo in "ruling the Galaxy" - say, with one proviso like "but let the Resistance fleet go!" - she could have wrapped him around her little finger. "Oh, Kylo... You're so big and strong and full of the Force! I find you so strangely... attractive! Let that fool flotilla of lame-o's go! Forget about them! I want to learn more about you!" With his lack of self-discipline and self-control, he would have leapt at the chance.

That's what I'm saying. And he actually is strangely attractive, in a warped-keanu sort of way. I'd have (ahem) "ruled" with him a bit. See how it goes. You know.

[alexander_busek]

The ONLY answer to “let’s be co-tyrants” coming from a complete psycho is “die die die die a lot”. You can’t play him, because you don’t know how he’ll bounce. You say “yes and let’s start by not blowing of the Resistance” he MIGHT say OK, or he could say “we’re starting over from scratch, first thing that has to go is the Resistance”.

True, that.

I mean, from what we've seen him do (holding heart-felt chats with his dead grandfather's fused and warped helmet; light-sabering his defenseless father), Kylo might just as well be running the "Bates Motel."

Which is bad screenwriting, since we ought to feel that he's a psycho, not just know that he's a psycho.

A_Perfect_Lady intimated that she found him attractive - I doubt that she feels the same way about Norman Bates.

Regards,

[A_perfect_lady]

Well, but here’s the thing: they choose an actor with some appeal because they want the viewer to consider him salvageable and to root for that salvation. Hopefully this means they intend to deliver.

[DiogenesLamp]

He explained that he had to only put woman against woman in sparring because the women NEVER won against guys. They would hit men and be surprised at how little effect it had on them. Leg sweeps by women rarely worked against larger men. They would try to flip them like they had seen in the movies and it only worked if the guy was totally unprepared for it. He went on to share how some women complained that it wasn't fair and how were they expected to defend themselves? He suggested concealed carry.

Exactly. The notion that an average woman can beat an average man is nonsensical and the promotion of such an idea is just another aspect of the war against reality that Hollywood is pushing on us in their movies.

[otness_e]

“This business of females beating up greatly stronger males is going on all across the entertainment industry, and I think it contributes to efforts outside of movies, such as pushing women into combat roles. (Which I see as very damaging to military effectiveness.)”

I agree in general (in fact, I specifically suggested that if they really have to have women go up against men and beat the crap out of them, either make the females not even human at all [which even THAT would obviously require males of the same species as those females being much stronger than those females], or otherwise make them martial artists with it being made VERY explicit that they had to work twice to three times as hard at the very least to even come close to men’s level of strength, let alone surpass them.).

However, I must admit, why should Hollywood just use movies to push women into combat roles? They could just as easily take a look at the Israeli Defense Forces and use that, where they actually DO have women at the front lines (the closest you can get to a real life example I should add. And what’s interesting is that women in combat roles if anything made them a LOT more of a threat than men largely because women don’t hold back when fighting).

[SkyPilot]

ME SA ROSE NOW!

[x]

And I suspect that by the last episode, we’ll see Kylo redeemed.

Nah, he turns completely to the dark side and gets back together with Lena Dunham.

[A_perfect_lady]

LOL!!