The Last Jedi Theory: a way out

It's not the Star Wars theory we love; it's the Star Wars theory we deserve.

The second film of the latest trilogy rejected storytelling in favor of some other kind of experience.  And in doing so, it created apparent narrative inconsistencies that need to be resolved if we want the storyline of the trilogy to make sense in a satisfying way.  That is the challenge, and I present a theory that attempts to meet that challenge.

Luke Skywalker's goal is to spread an awareness of the Force to more people in the galaxy.  That was the purpose of his "Jedi Academy", in an attempt to re-assemble the structure of the former Jedi Temple where Yoda was a teacher.

Luke fears that he has an incomplete understanding of the working of the Force.  Though he has been trained by Yoda, that is his only experience with Jedi teaching and philosophy.  Yoda gave him what he needed to meet the crises of the moment, but as the sole representative of the Jedi philosophy in the galaxy, Luke feels that there is more to learn.

This becomes more apparent to him as he is trying to teach Ben Solo to use the Force.  He fears that a wrong move on his part will lead Ben down the wrong path, and already he can sense a growing frustration and confusion within Ben that he doesn't know how to cure.

He also mistrusts his understanding of the concept of Balance.  He's worried that by being such a powerful Light-side Force user, he was in effect creating a Dark-side force power to match his.  When Vader and the Emperor both died, he remained the single most powerful Force user, and that created an imbalance.  The emergence of Snoke was a signal to him that the force was still imbalanced.

Luke traveled to Achtoo for two reasons.  First, he wanted to remove himself from the Galaxy as a Force presence for the Light.  Whether or not this actually works this way, Luke believed that by retreating to an isolated deserted planet, his influence on the balance of the Force would be diminished, and by doing so he would diminish the dark-side power of Snoke. Second, he was keenly aware of how little he knew about the Jedi philosophy of the Force, and so he made a pilgrimage to Achtoo to complete a deeper study of Force philosophy on the planet where the Jedi began.

Kylo Ren was a force user and a student of Luke's.  However, when Luke was training him, Kylo could sense Luke's ambivalence in raising up another powerful force user.  Luke was also hesitant in imbuing Ben Solo with technical skills without also giving him an understanding of Jedi principles, an understanding that Luke felt that he, himself, lacked.  Ben felt frustrated and held back, in much the same way that Anakin did under Obi-wan's teaching.

As a result of his need to better understand the Jedi philosophy, Luke makes the decision to go on a journey in search of a deeper understanding of the Jedi, and in doing so he temporarily suspends his teaching at his Jedi Academy.  (Ret-con)  When Luke left the school, all was not in flames.  In fact, he left peacefully to begin this journey in search of Achtoo.

It is likely that Ben wanted to accompany him as a true padawan should, and Luke refused, feeling that Ben was not yet ready for such a trip.  To Ben, however, this felt like a betrayal.  Impatient as he was to continue his use of the Force, Ben couldn't just put his life on hold until Luke returned.  After he had gone, Ben's frustration was deepened to the point of rage.  Just as Ben was on the precipice of accessing enormous power, Luke not only halted his training, but also appeared to reject him as his padawan as signaled by his unwillingness to allow Ben to join him on the journey.

Without the maturity or patience to wait for Luke's return, Snoke appeared and offered himself as an alternative teacher of the Force, possibly presenting himself as another of the remaining Jedi and not revealing, initially, his connection to the dark side.  Ben fell under the influence of Snoke, who would be the mentor and teacher that Luke refused to be.

From dialogue in Force Awakens it is likely that Leia realized Snoke's evil connection and advised Ben to stop training with him.  However, Ben took this as a further rejection, from his own mother, this time, a feeling no doubt engineered and manipulated by Snoke himself.  With his newly unleashed dark-side power, Ben tried to take over the school in Luke's absence, creating the order of the Knights of Ren from those who would follow him.

It was at this point that Leia and others in the resistance openly opposed the direction Ben and Snoke were taking and the conflict was brought out into the open. Ben adopted his new name of Kylo, and with his Knights of Ren, destroyed the school, murdering everyone who opposed him.  I believe that it was Snoke who suppressed Ben's memories of what actually happened at the Jedi Academy, and substituted a different version of events where Luke was still present and instigated the conflict.  Contrary to that memory, it was Kylo who destroyed the school, leaving it in flames.

Snoke tried to turn Ben, who was essentially a light-side force user, to the dark side.  What is fascinating about this story is the lengths necessary to complete that transformation.  It is psychological warfare at its most insidious.  It started with changing Ben's name, and estranging him from his parents, rejecting his former teacher.  In order to do that, Snoke implanted images in Ben's mind that weren't true.  The famous moment, when Luke ignited his lightsaber while standing over the sleeping Ben, never happened.  This was a fabrication that Snoke implanted in Ben's mind.  It was this gaslighting technique that Snoke used repeatedly to break Ben's mind from reality.  It is also a fabrication that Ben desperately wants to believe.

Later, Snoke would attempt the same technique on Rey, through Ben.  When speaking about Rey's parents, Ben said that they were nothing and nobody.  Ben firmly believed it at the time, since Snoke has so firmly convinced him of its truth.  However, it was simply an attempt by Snoke to turn Rey to the dark side as well, gaining another apprentice for himself.  As with Ben, the first step is to separate the pupil from their parents, from their family.

When Kylo Ren reaches out to Rey's mind, this was obviously not the first time that he had experienced such communication.  Since Snoke later claims that he facilitated this mental communication, it was likely that Kylo had communicated with Snoke in the same manner.  Everything that Ben said in those conversations was largely influenced by Snoke.  It was clearly an effort to wrest Rey away from Luke and bring her over to his side.  He did that with lies and persuasion and with reaching out a hand to her in her confusion; all techniques that Snoke had used against him.

Importantly, all the things that Kylo showed to Rey were in contradiction to the images that Luke's lightsaber showed her.  The Knights of Ren scene against the Luke's saber scene at the school.  The voice of (her grandfather) Obi-wan (both from Alec Guinness and Ewen McGregor)  against the claims of Kylo about her parentage, (for example, the lightsaber was found in the same box where Obi-wan kept it before presenting it to Luke.)

The call to belonging opposed by Kylo's call to leave it all behind, the appeal to important events in the past (Darth Vader's breathing, the corridors of Cloud City, the voice of Yoda) against the mandate to "let the past die, kill it if you have to." The saber showed Luke embedding the map of his journey in R2D2, vs Kylo telling Rey that Luke was unimportant.

The interesting thing is that Kylo is not fully persuaded of the rightness of his path.  Like Anakin before him, there is still good in him.  He clearly killed Han in an attempt to irrevocably plunge himself to the dark side, a choice no doubt heavily influence by Snoke.  But when he had the same chance with his mother, he refused (and also, I believe, actively used the Force to preserve his mother's life.)

Kylo Ren's journey is toward truth.  This truth has been denied to him first by Luke, who was uncertain and fearful, and then by Snoke, who was manipulative and deceitful.  In the end, I think that Ben will eventually be shown the truth, possibly by Rey.  In the light of this new understanding and in order to balance out his former evil acts, Ben will be moved to make a sacrifice to help the resistance, thereby achieving redemption and completing his arc.

Star Wars vs MCU

Star Wars has always been about the story.  The audience cared what happened to the heroes because they were the catalyst for what happened to the galaxy. the struggle of the Rebel Alliance was the story of the galaxy.  Star Wars tells stories that last not just for a single movie, but that span multiple films in  trilogies that all focus on the same story. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe turns this concept on its head.  Because the characters are indestructable, it truly does not matter what happens to them in any individual book or movie.  In Thor Ragnarok, Odin dies and Asgaard is burned to ashes, and in both cases Thor literally tells the audience that it does not matter.  Marvel movies are all about the characters and their immediate environments.  Story is not important.  Story is mutable.  Something could happen in the narrative in this installment which will be reversed and negated in the very next episode. Asgaard will rise from its own ashes the next time around.  No one is really worried that Odin has gone for good.  It is axiomatic that no one ever truly dies in a comic book world.

And that is one of the strengths of the format.  You can have dramatic conflicts and huge seemingly world altering events take place without sacrificing continuity, because change is continuity for a superhero universe.  Instead of being a single long story, MCU films tend to be a series of short stories told within a single movie.  From the previous example, we have a series of three giant set pieces (for example the Hulk vs Thor fight, the Thor vs Hela's army, the destruction of Asgaard). Each of these set pieces is only marginally related to each other.

Solo: a review

So first, a few notes about the overall film.

This was a competent film, a decent heist movie, and a ok buddy film.  That was all it needed to be, and it worked on that level.  It wasn't a grand epic with galaxy-altering consequences, but it didn't aspire to that, either.

It seemed to me as if it was originally titled, "Solo: a smuggler's story" because that was what it was, a story about the smuggler's side of the Star Wars universe.  It wasn't about Jedi, or the Force.  It wasn't about the Rebellion, though that was mentioned.  Instead, it lived in the world of the pirates, smugglers and the common man, living in the shadow and under the boot heel of the Empire.

I loved the visuals of the ore train, clinging to the side of the mountain.  But mostly the cinematography was small, close, simple.  It wasn't a particularly beautiful film, either.  We spent some time on the mean streets of Corellia, but many of the shots were closely framed interiors while the long shots of the chase sequence had the flat feel of cgi over a matte.

It was a story on the level of one of the better Clone Wars episodes.  I liked the introduction between Chewbacca and Han and the development of their friendship.  I especially liked the fact that we took time to give Chewie a chance to make his own decisions about the duo, and that he didn't just fall in with Han by default.  He got to make a conscious choice, and he did so based on Han's character.

Now a few words about what this film was not.  It was not a horrible betrayal of Star Wars, and of all the movies that had come before, and of the ethos and philosophy which Star Wars represents.  It did justice to the established characters, and didn't destroy Han or Chewie or Lando.  It did introduce L337, fixated on the equality and liberation of her fellow droids, and was suitably over the top in her vocal protestations.  If audience members were looking for a trigger to bring up all the simmering feelings of Vice-Admiral Holdo, L3 was it.  But as it was realized in the film, these things didn't seem so out of place.

The role of droids in Star Wars lore has always been a point of contention, from the the earliest moments of Episode IV onward.  Lucas has always explored the second-class status of droids, and continually compared their plight to slavery.  "We're not allowed in there.  It's restricted."  "Your droids, we don't serve their kind here.  They'll have to wait outside."  "Well, I can see that you're serving drinks." "We seem to be made to suffer.  It's our lot in life."

Rather than being a jarring distraction from the story, L3's rebellion seems to compliment and further the story of the escape from Kessel,  And we take the time to humanize L3 by showing us how she sees herself.  At the same time, the movie's portrayal of L3-37 (who's name spells Leet in geekspeak)  did not invite us to take her entirely seriously.  She may have been parodying her SJW overtones as much as seriously pushing them.   Donald Glover shows the way that Lando doesn't take her seriously, but also convinces us at the end that he genuinely cares for her.

In the end, it wasn't the missteps or the cultural anachronisms that damaged Solo.  It was the mediocre scope of the tale.  It started out with a desperate escape and a daring train robbery, but then it started to go down hill and got lost in boring talky parts.  For example, I hate to say it, but I felt like Enfys Nest and the proto-rebel Cloud Riders were terribly underused in the later half of the story. The final confrontation with Dryden Vos was stolen by Qi'ra, while Solo had yet another underwhelming, talky scene with his former mentor Beckett. The climactic scenes of betrayal were all of people standing around a room talking.  The show went out with a whimper. 

It felt like the film had ground to cover, rather than a story to tell.  Rather than having a core narrative thread, it had things to do, boxes to check (millenium falcon, Kessel Run, Chewbacca, speaking Wookie, Lando, fair and square, etc. Check, check, check. Random easter egg callbacks to expanded universe comics, Check.)

And on the other hand, I didn't feel like there were solid Han Solo moments, here.  Remember that line from Leia?  "You do have your moments... You don't have many of them, but you do have them."  This was what I felt Solo ultimately lacked, the moment when Han's daring and ingenuity pulled the whole thing off for us.  I want the escape from the Maw to be one of those moments, injecting the coaxium, riding the lightening, squeezing through the collapsing opening.  But, since Beckett did the injecting, and L3's navigational charts plotted their escape, Solo himself didn't actually do anything.

Which was true throughout the entire movie.

The Power of Trilogy

One of the main ways that the Star Wars series is fundamentally different from any other movie franchise to come out of Hollywood has to do with the power of trilogy.

We've talked about several of the important distinctions that set Star Wars apart from the rest: the struggle between Good and Evil, the mixing of fantasy and science fiction, and the creation of a internally consistent mythology.  But one of the most important differences is structural.

Sequels are big business in Hollywood.  If you can make a successful film, the next stage is to capitalize on the franchise by creating sequels.  And examples abound, from Spiderman to Pirates of the Caribbean, to Oceans 11.

When you talk about a Star Wars trilogy, however, you are referring to something different from a series of sequels.  Empire Strikes Back is not a sequel to Star Wars in the way that Home Alone 2 is a sequel to Home Alone.  Star Wars is presented in trilogies because the story continues throughout all three films.  The three films of the trilogy tell a single story in three acts, three complex movements.  The original Star Wars trilogy not only shares a single universe and a single myth arc, it also shares a closely linked continuity, where each of the three narratives contribute to a larger story. 

This is a structure that is almost never replicated in Hollywood.  Mostly, sequels may follow in the same universe but always tell a different story.  It is a shared universe rather than a continuation of the narrative.  One reason is that it is very difficult task to sustain a continually evolving story with ever-increasing complexity.  The last time we saw something like this was from Phillip Jackson's adaptation of the Lord of the Rings, and much of the work was done for him by the author, Tolkien.  Although they were released as three films, Fellowship, Two Towers and Return were all telling different phases of the same story.

As a counter-example, the Star Trek franchise has always been built around an episodic storytelling experience that finds itself right at home in Hollywood.  We can tell endless, unrelated stories in this universe because Star Trek invests very little in mythology and story arcs.  This is also clearly the appeal of the innovation Disney introduced of telling stand-alone stories like Rogue One.  These are much easier to write, and should be easier to appeal to new audiences.

So when a producer takes up the mantle of the Star Wars franchise, they are embracing this very difficult task.  And in fact, that was the way that the first installment of this trilogy was set up as well.  The Force Awakens did exactly what it was supposed to do, create a trajectory for the entire trilogy.  It introduced the bad guys, it created new characters that we would follow throughout the three films, and it introduced character arcs for each of them.  the first film of the trilogy has to create the basic parameters of the story and sets all the important arcs of the larger narrative.

The second film of the trilogy, in many ways, has the hardest job to do because it is driven almost entirely by characterization.  It is meant to convince us of the power and menace of the antagonist.  and it gives the heroes a chance to grow.

Finally, the third film pays out on all the story elements that the first and second set up.  It's challenge is to bring all the disparate threads together and find a meaningful and coherent way to resolve them all.

But it felt as if the second film didn't want to participate in the trilogy.  The Last Jedi closed down all the arcs that were set up in Force Awakens, and it subverted all the character development that had already taken place.  And then it failed to establish any new arcs or develop any new characters to carry on to the third film.

The odd thing was that it wasn't a great stand-alone film either.  It didn't really have a cohesive narrative on its own, with a conflict that resolves or a hero to follow.

Why?

So I have three possible theories as to what happened to destroy the integrity of this second film.

1. Death by Committee.  The crux of the idea is that there were a number of people who needed to have input in the making of the film and that they basically got in each other's way.  Of course we had Rian Johnson who was given a writing and directing credit.   But we know that Disney takes a very active role in directing their directors, and firing those who don't comply. Episode IX is on its second director and the Han Solo movie is on its third, citing irreconcilable creative differences. So the most obvious suggestion is that Johnson, perhaps, wrote a better movie but Kathleen Kennedy and others at Disney made edits or contributions that ultimately brought down the film.  Too many cooks spoiled this broth. 

2. Death by Execution.  In this scenario, Rian Johnson was brought in as a hit man to disrupt the Star Wars universe.  What we're seeing now is a conscious effort to break up the preconceptions by the fans about what a Star Wars movie is, and why it's enjoyable.  According to the powers that be, it was time to "Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."  This means kill off all the old characters, Luke, Leia, and Han, of course, but also to kill off the old preconceptions about the nature of heroes, the myth of the Jedi, and the clash between good and evil.  These all need to be swept away to make room for the new direction that the franchise is going to take.

3.  Death by Incompetence.  Rian Johnson made a film following all the modern philosophies of Hollywood.  Among his peers, this was a triumph of subtlety of narrative, nuanced characterizations, and a hip, irreverent wit.  Rian wants to be socially conscious and to make a clear break from the patriarchal narratives of the past.  Good and evil are childish concepts.  Heroes like Luke are one-dimensional, and trite.  Deadbeat-father Han, and cowardly Luke are more realistic portrayals of the modern struggle. We need strong female leaders bashing their male counterparts, we need to do away with outmoded male notions of heroic sacrifice, we need to embrace the idea that success doesn't always mean winning, and that saving what you love is better than fighting what you hate.

I think that the third theory is closest to the truth, but with a healthy dose of the first two also present at the scene.

Let's ask the next question:  why do people like The Last Jedi?
1. Some people, particularly people coming late to a tradition, like iconoclastic experiences.  They like the thought of turning smug pretension and hidebound dogma on its head.  And I think this film delivers that experience.

2. Some people are not invested in the greater Star Wars myth arc.  They aren't compelled by the dictates of The Original Trilogy, nor even of the current trilogy.  They want to participate in a self-contained, stand-alone movie with high quality graphics and sound.  They want to go to the theater and experience a modern Disney blockbuster with vivid tableaus and tense scenes.  They are reacting to the structure of the film, rather than the story.

3. I do think that modern filmmaking has entered a post-narrative phase, where storytelling as a tightly woven tapestry of narrative threads has given way to it being a collection of dramatic and highly visual scenes.  In the Last Jedi, we move from one visual high point to another, with little concern for how or why we moved from one to the next.  We transition from hyperspace Holdo to Kylo's AT-AT line up without any intervening story.  It is the striking imagery that is important, and the accompanying emotions that carry the impact of the movie.

This is not a new trend for Disney, either.  Most of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies have very little in the way of a storyline, for example.  Instead, they are a sequence of striking scenes that visually capture your attention.

When you consider the myriad of screenwriting guides and aids, many of them make no reference to story.  They are all about presenting a particular moment or beat in the story, (see Something Startling Happens).  When the beats line up in the proper order, the audience will leave the theater with the experience of having been entertained, regardless of whether or not the plot conveyed a deeper meaning.

This was exactly the experience that many people talked about with the Last Jedi.  As they were leaving the theater, they felt like it was a good film.  Their immediate reaction was positive.   But as they reflected on it for several days they grew to become less and less satisfied.

The Last Jedi 3: Canto Bight

So let's briefly talk about Canto Bight, the casino planet where the new character Rose and Finn visit on a side mission.  Obviously one of the weaknesses of this sub plot is that it is profoundly unsuccessful.  Rose and Finn do not make contact with the person they are supposed to find, and as a result the entire plan is a failure.

What was actually lost, however, is something musch more important.  The one thing that needed to happen at this point in the oveall story is that we needed a moment when the main characters are adventuring together, when they learn about each others strengths and weaknesses, where they learn to trust one another and where they form the backbone of the team that will eventually rise in importance to face the ultimate evil.

In Empire Strikes Back, this was the long journey escaping from the Imperial ships where Han and Leia hide in the asteroid belt, where they escape from the asteroid worm, where they escape from the star destroyers by pretending to be space debris.  "You do you have your moments," says Leia.  "You may not have many of them, but you do have them."  This is a key establishing scene where we all recognize that Han really is an accomplished pilot and smuggler.  He's not just a lightweight who's all talk, like we think in the begining when he's bragging to Obi-wan in Mos Eisley.  And more than that, we identify Han, Chewie, and Leia as a force to be reckoned with; as an effective team full of resourcefulness, cunning and strategy.  Later, when we see them attacking the shield base on the Endor moon, we already know that they bring some competency to the table.

Now, here's the problem.  We need a similar moment in this trilogy as well.  This canto bight scene was the moment when we had Finn and Poe go off and have adventures together and we see them learn to trust one another, and we demonstrate their competence as heroes.  Maybe everything doesn't go as planned, but they come out of it as a team and they grow in stature not only as part of the Resistance, but also in the eyes of the audience as well.

Except that none of this happens.  This was the reality of what was missed by framing that scene as we did.  Rian Johnson said that he originally wrote that scene for Fin and Poe.  Later, he changed it to better match the ethos of the film, introducing Rose instead.  What we sacrificed, though, is that we lost the team-building moment between Fin and Poe.  Right now, they seem fundamentally unrelated to one another. Previously, Fin went off with Han Solo to Starkiller base, and Fin and Poe haven't crossed paths in any meaningful way since the opening scene of Force Awakens, so we haven't established that they really know or like or trust one another.  Certainly after the Canto Bight fiasco, Poe has even less reason to trust Fin's capabilities than he had before.

And the truth is that neither does the audience.  Everything that Fin and Rose attempted, from parking the ship, to contacting the slicer, to escaping on horseback, all of it was a failure and ultimately pointless.  Even the audience, who are wholeheartedly behind Fin, really don't know what strength he brings to the table.  What is his competency that makes him valuable to the Resistance?  This was the story's chance to demonstrate it for the sake of the audience and the narrative.  Instead, we demonstrate his incompetence.

This same opportunity was present for Rose, as well.  I enjoyed Rose as a new character, and recognize that character type from anime stories: the un-glamorous and slightly annoying but loyal sidekick. But even though I like her, I still don't know what Rose brings to the table.  The same ambiguity that Fin struggles with is a problem with Rose's character as well.  Is she part of the team, with Fin and Poe?  The story is unclear.  The problem is that the story didn't set up enough hooks to tie Rose into the greater story line.  Rather than wondering with breathless speculation about how Rose might develop in the next movie, the audience wouldn't be surprised if we never hear about Rose again.  That's how little hinges on her character.  Is Rose a Lando figure, or is that DJ?  At this point, we shouldn't be guessing.  But literally nothing else about Rose is interesting in any way, and her presence doesn't set in motion any plot premise or suggest any payoff for the final movie in this trilogy.

And this is the larger problem with the trilogy as a whole.  At this point in the trilogy, we should be thoroughly introduced to these new characters and ready to hand off the narrative from the old guard to the young heroes.  But currently, Rose is a dead end, in a movie where we should be establishing plot arcs and giving each of our principal characters motivations.  At this point, each of them is a blank slate, one the Last Jedi has carefully scrubbed clean.

The Last Jedi part 2

So I just want to look very briefly at the bigger picture about where Last Jedi fits into the broader landscape. It is a tragedy in three acts.

Act One.  In the late '70s Lucas has a vision of bringing to the big screen a heady mix of four key components:

• Hard science fiction. By this I mean, a populated galaxy with multiple inhabited planets and many diverse alien species.  Space ships and blaster pistols, robots and androids.
• A fantasy mythos with a powerful Force that allowed its practitioners seemingly magical powers not only to move things but to have visions and intuit the future. 
• A mystic order of ancient knights and their apprentices bound by a code of  honor and family lineage and opposing a depraved and twisted mirror of itself in the Sith.
• A central conflict between good and evil, between the black of Vader and Palpatine and the white of  Princess Leia and Luke. With the freedom-loving, underdog Rebels facing impossible odds against an evil Empire and eventually triumphing.

The resulting storytelling was electrifying in the way that it energized the imaginations of the audience.  Over the course of the trilogy, each of those elements was faithfully preserved and expanded.

It's easy to forget, or underestimate, the impact that Star Wars had on its fans, during the 80s.  Fans all over the US were literally camped out in front of theaters for days waiting in line to get be the first to get into theaters on opening night.  And the reason they were there was unique to Star Wars.  Something about the seriousness with which Star Wars treated its subject material spoke to science fiction fans. Star Wars captured the nobility and heroism of the best adventure story, but coupled it with credible and realistic sets and special effects, a combination that wasn't really present in original Star Trek or the other science fiction films of the day.  There had been campy teen films, and the bizarre 2001: a space oddessy, but the perfect combination of heroic adventure and technical filmmaking was elusive until Star Wars was released.

Act Two. In the late '90s  Lucas returned to dust off the franchise and make a canonical trilogy once again.  Once again he used the successful combination of science fiction and fantasy, but this time he began to stretch the third pillar when he explored the order of ancient knights called the Jedi.  And he seemed to abandon the stark contrast between good and evil.

This second trilogy was less well received, due in large part to some directorial and narrative sloppiness on Lucas' part.  More detrimental to the narrative, though, was that rather than focusing on the struggle between good and evil, we became embroiled in semi-evil trade disputes and the moral ambiguity of Separatists vs the Republic.

It was largely acknowledged that the Prequel trilogy was not as good as the Original trilogy.  The news that a new trilogy was being made after the hiatus of over a decade had left original fans giddy with anticipation, but their soaring enthusiasm only served to deepen the eventual disappointment.  Tightly focused stories of the original trilogy gave way to endless light saber duels and pointless mass battles

Act Three.  It was with a wary sense of hope that Star Wars fans learned of the transfer of control from Lucas himself to Disney.  Finally, they thought the lack of Lucas' self-indulgence would get the franchise back on track and open it up to more stories in the vein of the Original Trilogy.

The first installment of the new trilogy, Force Awakens seemed to make good on this promise.  It introduced a new cast of young Rebels to fight the malevolent First Order, and gave homage to the four pillars of the original series:  hard science fiction in the form with new worlds and a giant Star Killer base, a mystic Force that called to Rey in newly discovered powers and visions, a shadowy figure of the legendary Luke Skywalker whose discovery would potentially lead to continuing the Jedi traditions in Rey, and finally an evil mirror in the dark side Snoke and his reckless apprentice Kylo Ren.

While some complained about obvious parallels with Episode IV, it was largely welcomed as a return to the storytelling of Star Wars' glory years.  One of the most powerful thing that Force Awakens accomplished was that it got the Star Wars fans engaged with the story again.  The audience began to identify with the characters in a way that it hadn't throughout the prequels.  They began to become attached to the struggles of Poe and Finn, began to develop a healthy awe for the emergent Force powers of Rey.  And it was this identification with the characters, coupled with the obvious leading of FA director Abrams, that led to speculation about past history and future developments.

Once again the audience was longing for (rather than dreading) the next episode's release, wondering where the story will lead.  This was far different from the dark years during the prequel trilogy, where the audience was dreading, rather than anticipating, the next installment, wondering instead how badly it would break cherished icons, how cringe-worthy the next Anakin-Padme interaction would be; wondering when the next major character would be Jar-Jarred.  This was a fandom that was keeping its source material at arms length like an angry cat, never knowing when it would purr or scratch.

The disservice that Last Jedi did to the fans was that just when they though it was safe to invest in the story again, that it was safe to grow attached to the main characters again, Episode 8 made them go through it all over again.  It was like an abusive boyfriend seduced us back and then immediately beat us up.  And then, after it was over, began to gaslight us that it never happened, and that we're to blame for clinging to nostalgia.

So you know what I'm NOT looking forward to?  I'm NOT looking forward to the single movie next year.  I have no desire to see how badly they are going to screw up the character of Han Solo. They've already turned him from being a competent and dangerous smuggler who doesn't turn his back on his friends, to a deadbeat incompetent, inept charlatan who can't keep his life together and who ran out on his wife and abandoned his son when things got rough.

That's what they've already done to him.  Can you imagine what revisionism and ret-conning is going to happen when they get their fingers into his backstory?   Just for comparison, look what they did to Luke.  Does anyone doubt that something much darker and more unseemly awaits Han?

And while I'm thinking about it, I have no desire to see what Rian Johnson does with an entire Trilogy on his own.  I'm not saying that I'm rage quitting the franchise and that Star Wars is dead to me.  I'm just saying that I'm back to keeping the franchise at arms length again.  This is probably not an opening night kind of relationship, anymore.  And, sadly, I think that is exactly where the show runners want us to be.

The Last Jedi

So this is my initial reaction to seeing Star Wars The Last Jedi on Friday night.  I'm sure that my impressions of the film will change over time and as I see it over again. I know that's true because I've already expreinced a shifting of my responses even during the few days since watching it, and I suspect that process to continue for at least several weeks.

Initiall, as I left the theater, I had a positive reaction to the movie.  If someone were to ask me my opinion as I left the theater I would have said that, while I had some specific concerns, overall I enjoyed the movie.  But only two days later, I'm feeling very dissatisfied.

I want to get the major concerns out into the open first.

1. No Golden Narrative Thread.
One of my greatest concerns is with the way that this trilogy is being handled.  No one seems to be exerting narrative control over the trilogy.  It is as if the two directors were at war with one another over the direction of the trilogy, and indeed, of the direction of the new Star Wars franchise. Even if we didn't appreciate all the directorial blunders of George Lucas' prequels, at least George had an artistic focus that was consistent about the Force, and about the nature of good and evil in the universe.

I say this because JJ Abrams laid out very specific narrative elements in the first movie, The Force Awakens, that weren't simply ignored in the second of the series, but were actively dismissed.  It is as if Rian Johnson went out of his way to take the plot points that Abrams laid out as important and to dismiss them arbitrarily, or even to mock the audiences expectations of an answer.

A classic example of this was the character of Snoke, the arch bad guy behind Kylo Ren in Force Awakens (FA).  He was effectively presented as an evil and power-hungry leader of the First Order, with a mysterious origin and a shadowy influence over Kylo's turn to the Dark Side.  There was a wealth of potential story to be mined there and it encouraged fan speculation in the intervening two years between installments.  Instead, however, Rian Johnson ignored it all and summarily killed Snoke in the middle act of Last Jedi (LJ) without any explanation whatsoever.

Similarly, Abrams carefully introduced the mystery of Rey's parents: who they were, and why she was left on Jakkuu.  In fact, it was one of the defining beats in Rey's character arc; she spent the entire first episode searching for her place in the galaxy.  In LJ, Rian decides to deal with this question by saying that it wasn't important.  Rey's parents were nobodies, and she was basically alone in the universe.

The problem here is not that Ray's parents weren't notable, or that Snoke was a minor Sith.  It is that the first of the trilogy insisted that these were important narrative questions that the story would answer, in much the same way that Luke's parents and Palpatine's rise to power were important in the first trilogy.  As with all narrative seeds, they were promises to the listener that there would be a payoff in the end that will complete the narrative arc and reward the audience.  The cycle of promise and payoff is the ultimate contract that the storyteller makes with the audience, and in this case all it led to was broken promises.

2. Contempt for Traditional Star Wars Themes
It was as if Rian Johnson treated with disdain many of the elements that he inherited when he agreed to direct the second film.  And this is the second major problem that I had with Last Jedi.  The quintessential elements that define the Star Wars universe were treated with almost violent contempt.

Luke Skywalker, the hero of A New Hope, was now a washed up old drunk living under a bridge, drunk on his failure and living out his life as an anti-social hermit.  Rather than retreating from the struggles of the Rebel Alliance to discern some greater enlightenment, Luke was cowardly and self-loathing, having abandoned the Force and his responsibility as a Jedi.

I felt as though Rian took delight in taking this noble-hearted paladin of the Jedi Order, the defenders of goodness, a guardian of peace and justice in the Old Republic, and seeing how far down into depravity he could crush him.  It seems common in Hollywood to treat with contempt struggles between good and evil.  They are derided as being trite and simplistic.  Luke's fall from grace makes him more complicated, more interesting in Rian's eyes.

It seems that Johnson is not alone in that, because Han is also transformed from a fearless and inventive smuggler living life on the edge, into a deadbeat dad, someone who can't handle married life and runs out on his son.  This vision of Han as a cheat and swindler is far different from the character we left as General of the Endor assault.  All the ground that the character had gained during his arc in the original trilogy had been squandered and abandoned by the time of Force Awakens.  Similarly, Leia here is a tired old soul, struggling to hold the rebellion together as her allies slip between her fingers.

3.  The Failed Transfer of Leadership
While the first of the trilogy had to re-work some old ground to reclaim the disillusioned Star Wars fans, this second installment needed to be all about the transition to the new heroes, to Rey, Finn, and Poe.  Relegated, somewhat, to the background in Force Awakens behind the larger-than-life presence of Han Solo and Chewbacca, this was the moment for Poe and Finn to shine.

Instead, Rian Johnson purposefully went out of his way to diminish the impact that these characters had on the plot of Last Jedi.  Poe spent the entire time trapped on board the Resistance command ship, being an uncharacteristic jerk to Leia and Holdo.  For his part, Finn got to leave the ship on a spectacularly unsuccessful mission that he botched almost from the jump, and that had zero impact on any major plot development.

The problem with Canto Bight is that it didn't allow Finn to develop any core competency, something that the ace pilot Poe Dameron already possessed in abundance. Action/adventure stories are about character's competencies, while Dramas are about character's weaknesses.  Part of what the audience is struggling with is that we were expecting an action-adventure film, when the directors actually intended to give us a drama/soap opera.

I felt that Finn and Rose were a great pairing, its just that neither of the two were particularly competent at anything, and both together were singularly unsuccessful in completing their mission.  I didn't dislike the sortie to Canto Bight, but it was so pointless that it's hard to argue that it led to any particular character development in Finn.

Ultimately, this prevented these characters from taking center stage during this key transition.  I would like to say that Poe developed as a character from the overly aggressive cockpit jockey to a commander more worthy of leadership.  And that Finn moved from having a tendency to run from trouble, to someone who was willing to go out on a limb to help his side.  The truth, however, was that Finn had already covered this ground in Force Awakens, and to find him running away again in this movie was an unjustified move backward.  Finn had already learned this lesson.

Similarly, Poe was already a good leader, and we needed to introduce this flaw in his character in order for us to have something to fix.

Continue to Part II