People of a certain age grew up with Star Wars in their lives. Up until 1977 there had been Science Fiction movies and shows, but nothing like Star Wars. There had also been fantasy movies, but again, nothing in the style of Star Wars. The reason Star Wars was different, was because it introduced a theme, society had long been aware of, in a new package. Some say that the introduction of this theme was what made the movie so successful. Of course the theme I am talking about is the "Hero's Quest" or "Hero's Journey". This then is what inspired many imitations (some good, some bad), many sequels as well as many words written, both for and against the basic story, the Luke Skywalker story. There is one more thing; A lot of people do not consider Star Wars (and its many sequels) true science fiction, inventing instead a new genre called "Space Fantasy."
So buckle your belt as I endeavor to "review" and "critic" the latest movie in the Star Wars pantheon, "Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi". Let me also be upfront with you as I describe what I liked and what I disliked about Star Wars 8: there are going to be a lot of spoilers in this discussion; So if you need a spoiler-free review, go elsewhere.
It's not that I hated this movie. Indeed, there were many things that the movie offered that I liked. Some people have suggested that the movie followed a similar story telling path as a previous Star Wars movie, Episode V, "The Empire Strikes Back". The desperate fleeing rebels, the ice planet, at the end of the movie, rather than at the beginning, the training of a Jedi, the confrontation in the throne room, the cloud city and the casino city, and many more comparisons. You can find more about these comparisons elsewhere on the Internet. On a fundamental level, what the Director/Story-teller was trying to do here, is make a Star Wars fan-film. Obviously, he embellished his story and crafted elements into it that go beyond the mere tropes of fan-films. Yet, his appreciation of Classic Star Wars are written all over this movie. And there-in lies my whole problem with Star Wars, the Star Wars Universe as it stands now under the direction of Disney and Lucasfilm.
Star Wars itself is the creation of a single individual, George Lucas. Like any creator, Lucas had the audacity to create a "Universe" populated by characters he devised and who behaved in ways that he directed them to behave. As the "God" of this Universe he set certain rules, tropes, manners, behaviors and events into motion. Specifically of course, we can only attribute 6 movies to the mind of George Lucas (and some TV content). There were of course points throughout his life that Lucas said certain things about his creation. Was it originally thought-up as a 9 movie series? Or did he only have "Star Wars: A New Hope" in mind when he sat down and took pen to paper and produced the original 1977 Star Wars. Was everything else an afterthought? Did he think he left something unfinished with "Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi"? Is that why he returned and created volumes 1 through 3? Is this the story of Luke Skywalker or the redemption story of Anakin Skywalker? How about the "virgin birth"? How about "restoring balance to the Force"?
At this point, let me step away from the questions and point out a couple of things. I am, by definition a huge Star Wars fan. No, I am not as big a fan of Star Wars as Steve Sansweet, who wrote the Star Wars Encyclopedia, but I have a large collection of Star Wars toys, memorabilia and primarily books. See, I went ALL IN to the Star Wars Universe as it became an escape, a place where I can go travel virtually and where I can be a silent participant, yes, I even played a few of the computer games. I even used to have "a high score" in the Star Wars Arcade Game. I breathed Star Wars, I lived Star Wars. When the Star Wars craze reignited in the 1990s, I was even interviewed for a newspaper article. I stood in-line to get tickets to the remastered movies (IV - VI). I won tickets in a contest to see the premiere of Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace. I bought EVERY BOOK in hardcover when they were published and every comic book when they were launched. I embraced the Expanded Universe.
Does the Star Wars Universe as it stood before Disney bought Lucasfilm, exist as a commercial entity or as a separate creation? Does that universe and my (and other's) involvement with it matter at all? Of course Star Wars was not a perfect creation. I leave it to others (such as, famously, David Brin did in "Star Wars on Trial") to critic it at a such a fundamental level. My issue is not with Star Wars as an effective myth, or as an effective tale. There are many things that are problematic in Star Wars, and there are many criticisms that can be leveled, on even fundamental concepts within the story. But at what point does one say, this is a story. It is circumscribed by the ideas of its original creator. It belongs in its own Universe which is sort of a framework, and there are those who have written other stories to fit within the constraints of that framework.
Yes, Jar-Jar Binks bothered me. Yes, midi-chlorians bothered me. Yes, Anakin, his virgin birth and his rotten attitude were obnoxious. But, they all belonged within the Universe, within the framework made by their creator. All these things, even those things that were deemed, irredeemable, that were thought of as wrong by fandom, by other creators, by reviewers, were part of this singular creation and vision of George Lucas. And this vision was added to faithfully, almost reverently by other creators. George Lucas did not write or sketch out Episodes 7, 8 and 9. George Lucas did not write the stories that became the expanded universe. But he showed the way, he showed the path. And, on a fundamental level, this story, his story was the story of the Skywalker Family. From Shmi, Anakin and Padme, to Luke, Leia, Ben, Anakin, Jacen and Jeina and so on. The family continues. Their story is ongoing. A lot of old, traditional myths could do with a family tree that strong. Whether it was the story of Anakin Skywalker who became Darth Vader and was redeemed by Luke Skywalker, or the story of Luke Skywalker who brought the Force back into balance, this was a tragic story to rival Shakespeare and Dickens. This was an epic to rival Gilgamesh and Rama. It was told in such a way as to involve the reader and viewer in a tale as old as time. Hate, love, revenge, war, faith, belief, trust, vision, anger and strength were put on the cosmic scale and weighed. This is what a good story will do, should do.
Is "Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi" a good story within that framework?
Well before I can fairly judge that question I must point out a couple of more facts. After the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, the keeper of the Holocron (the keeper of continuity in other words) at Lucafilm, Leland Chee, decided to reboot the franchise. Rebooting a franchise is not an easy business by any stretch, but rebooting a franchise is a business decision NOT a creative decision. If you are tired of the stories within the framework of a given franchise, within a given universe, why not "create" something new? Why destroy the original franchise for the need of some extra cash? Of course, when "The Force Awakens" was imminent, there were those voices who suggested that "scrapping" the expanded Star Wars Universe was a good thing. This was something that many fans, myself included took very personally, but were willing to forgo criticism until the new movies came out. Many of the owners of other movie franchises have rebooted those franchises, such as "Planet of the Apes", "Fantastic Four" and many others. Each of these reboots needs to stand with its own two feet and judged as such. I am not criticizing the decision to reboot those franchises, or any franchises for that matter. I mean, Tom Clancy, author, died, yet his Jack Ryan novels continue to pour out. For the record, I have not read any of the new novels.
As for Star Wars, I have owned every iteration of George Lucas' seminal creation as released by Lucasfilm. From VHS to BluRay Discs. I do not own any of the new movies. And on the flip side of having watched "The Last Jedi", I do not plan to purchase that movie or for that matter watch any upcoming movies. The Star Wars Universe died, for me, when Disney bought Lucasfilm. That's not to say that other people are not liking the new stories, that those stories do not have something to say, that the characters in those stories do not have a unique voice of their own. But that voice is not the Star Wars voice I grew up with. They really should have rebooted the franchise by telling completely new stories.
There have been a lot of criticism leveled at those who are criticizing "The Last Jedi", Some are saying that uber-fans like me are ruining the movie for others by criticizing it. Let me make it clear. I have no vested interest in Lucasfilm, Disney or any other organization. I am as apolitical as they come, and have no interest in seeing racial overtones in anything. I just look at the vision of one creator as it was handed to us, and as we embraced it and occluded it into our lives. The new Star Wars was therefore NOT created for me, but for a younger generation. They can make of it what they wish, whether good or bad. But, for that generation who grew up watching the original, re-watching it, and reading every novel, late into the night, I have a few criticisms and questions.
If Star Wars was the story of Luke Skywalker, or the Skywalker family, there are no members of that family left (unless of course, you count Kylo Ren -- aka, Ben Solo). Then, what is this new story about? Kylo Ren? Will he be redeemed as Darth Vader was? Will he renounce the dark side and "bring balance to the force"? Is Rey a Skywalker? Is she another "virgin birth" on a desert planet who is supposed to bring "balance to the force"? How about Snoke, Supreme Leader Snoke, or Darth Snoke? Who is he? If he's a Dark Jedi where did he originate? Was he a student of Darth Vader? Or Darth Sidious (aka, Emperor Palpatine)? He appeared like a comet out of nowhere, and he was extinguished like an afterthought, like someone who did not have mastery of the Force. What was the point then? How, or why was the Republic unable to reconstitute after the Empire was defeated? How or why were the Empire remnants able to regain strength and destroy Coruscant? And Leia Organa Solo maintained a small rebel army while the New Republic was flailing around because she knew that remnants of the Empire were going to return and fight for control of the Galaxy? When a new government takes over, whether through war or rebellion, typically the administrative wheels continue to spin, the world (or worlds of the Republic) continue to function, but under different administration. Yet, somehow, in order to satisfy the needs for a "New Rebellion" with ties to the "Old Rebellion", the Republic failed completely in administering the vast galactic bureaucracy. And the worlds and the peoples of the galaxy, with mostly an interest in the "business of war" brought about the resurrection of an Empire Fleet controlled by Supreme Leader Snoke. (Yes, yes, I know, there are parallels with our own world, today, but, I reach back into the Star War's framework, when hundreds and thousands of worlds rejoiced when the Empire fell. What happened all of a sudden? Where all those people "chumps" who were tricked by those with business interests?)
A myth has no power unless it connects on a fundamental level with the reader, with the audience. In this case, Luke Skywalker's hero's journey, or Anakin Skywalker's faulty hero's journey and redemption provide the basis for a tragic tale with a happy ending. Yet, in the latest movie we're to believe that Luke Skywalker's only significant accomplishment was to redeem his own father. He failed to restart the Jedi order and in his failure he create a new villain, Kylo Ren. What was the point of Luke Skywalker, the hero of my childhood myth then? He's dead now. What did he achieve? Sure, there are other force adepts, and I guess, with the books Rey has she will teach them to use the force. And there will be a new generation of rebels. But that is a NEW STORY just as I previously defined it. Why did Han Solo die? Why did Leia Organa Solo die? Why were they even included in these movies? To make an homage, a connection to the past? Τo draw in viewers invested in the Star Wars Universe? But with the simple actions and moves taken within these movies, you just lost these viewers. If these movies had been presented to me as "new stories" within the Star Wars cannon, in the same way that "Rogue One" was, then I would have seen them as such. But the rebellion never died after the return of Democracy in the galaxy. And now the rebellion is dead...; So that a new rebellion may arise. And all of it, all of the Jedi and all of the sacrifices and all the deaths and fights and pain, and finally all the redemption and triumph of Luke Skywalker WERE FOR NOTHING.
That is the only conclusion I can reach.
I want to like the new characters. I want to like Poe and Finn and Rose and Rey. I want to like their stories. But instead of reaching back and connecting their stories, they have been disconnected, send on an irredeemable quest to create from scratch that which already existed. Within the death of the Old Republic laid the seeds of the Rebellion in the snatching away of the two Skywalker children. Within the defeat of the Empire laid the seeds of the New Republic. Yet, again, all this history is wasted, thrown out and disposed of without the main participants. This is no longer George Lucas' Universe. This is some other "alternative" Star Wars. And in this universe, former stormtroopers can wield a light-saber and a band of a few people in hiding can take on the remnants of super-galactic military force led by an inadequate dark Jedi. As such, I give this universe to the next generation. It is not my Star Wars. It is not the universe I grew up with and loved and lived in, even vicariously. So to summarize, the franchise, for me at least, was ruined. Yes, new Star Wars stories are welcomed, but new stories that throw away the baby and the bathwater are not interesting to me. No, I am not going to go to JRR Tolkien's grandson and ask to reboot "The Lord of the Rings". The original story, the original framework is in effect still. Everything else is working within that framework to tell other stories. I would expect other writers to feel the same concerning their work. It is after all their work. So, in the interest of making a quick, extra buck, Disney and Lucasfilm sold the soul of Star Wars. And that soul has no room for me. So, I will take what you call "Legends" Expanded Universe and retreat into my corner of the Universe where the myth continues to live on.
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