#she's literally the 'love the jedi but hate the order' text post

[rutalonidir-a-blog]

SATINE’S VIEWS ON THE JEDI, THE COUNCIL & THE WHOLE DOCTRINE.              keep in mind that most of those things are gonna be negative and that i am tipsy, but here we go anyway.

                    so, a while ago, i was talking to kylie about my sith!satine verse and marvelling on the fact that i straight up went from pure precious flower to the serpent under’t, but then came to the conclusion that  .  .  .  satine doesn’t really see eye-to-eye with the whole ideology and if she was force sensitive and had a choice, she would opt to not be part of the order  (  there are ideas which are similar to what she stands for, but then there are some things which would wake conflicting feelings within her.  )

                          but before that, let’s look at the jedi order through the eyes of the people in the galaxy. many people did not actually see the jedi as something good, often times regarding them with disdain. let’s take a look at this segment from  Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide, where the jedi were literally considered BABY SNATCHERS because, due to the fact that taking in a child past infancy was somehow linked to the dark side, they had to start their training when the younglings were only babies. and yeah, many people were like ‘yo it’s cool to give my child up to the jedi, they’re rad and will raise them well even though the kid will not remember us : )’, but others simply refused because of the aforementioned affectionate nickname.   then there’s the fact that mandalore was not  .  .  .  on friendly terms with the jedi. there were wars between the two entities and through all history, only ONE mandalorian ever got accepted in the order, namelyTARRE VIZSLA.    (  yeah probably the descendant of that one asshole who was the leader of death watch but ah well  )  and conflicts leave scars.   it’s natural to vilanize the people you fight against, because propaganda sells and is needed in order to move masses of people and,  more often than not,  the propaganda gets so ingrained in the people’s minds, they unconsciously carry it for generations, through stories and such. even though mandalore was probably in the wrong here, given its violent & blood drenched past, the subjectivity of people can be a powerful weapon, especially on a galactic scale.

                and those stories satine heard as a child, until OBI-WAN AND QUI-GON CHANGED HER OPINION ON THE JEDI. suddenly, they were kind and soft, not calloused child kidnappers,  not fearsome warriors with swords of light that would cut through everything and anything.  and above all else, they were people.    but even so, there are aspects of their way of life she could not understand, refused to understand  -------  now, get me, satine is PASSIONATE about everything she does and stands for. the battles she fights are based on wits and heart and her heart is the one thing that matters the most  ;  she loves to love. she loves to feel for her people, for mandalore, because it fuels her and drives her forwards. she is, inherently, a very EMPATHETIC person. it makes her who she is. 

                anyway, obi and qui leave & by doing so, they kinda leave her to her own devices, her own struggle to rebuild a world destroyed by war and while  .  .  .  .  she does not really resent them for leaving, because she gets it, really, they’re busy people and obi needs to go because she loves him but he would grow to resent her taking that life from him,  there is a part of herself that kinda feels abandoned.  then there’s all that gossip about jedi being able to do mind tricks and how they probably used her for something and welp suddenly she has korkie to take care of  (  korkie who may or may not be her offspring but  ---  )  so the awe and admiration she has for the jedi kinda wanes.   then they go and fight in a war and she just  ---------  nopes because they advocate peace while fighting wars and their signature object is a literal sword that can cut through people  ???  and she ain’t about that life.

                    now, satine doesn’t HATE the jedi insomuch as she  .  .  .  doesn’t appreciate the way they operate.  she dislikes the fact that they work in absolutes   (  because if you don’t do exactly as the jedi do  .  .  .  you MUST be a sith  )  no matter how much they vehemently disagree with this,  dislikes their utter disregard to the lives of the clones, which they don’t even pay or anything. but that’s the war.  what about before  ------ what if the war never was  ??        well, it’s kinda the same.  you see, they have an extensive history of wars they have fought within and it’s obvious that she despises violence, but there’s also the fact that they manipulate the will of others, even though those others are considered lesser beings.  satine is the type of gall to advocate equality no matter the species, because she regards any sentient  (  and non-sentient, for the matter  )  being as being unique and important in the galaxy,  thus, believing yourself above someone else is a huge no no in her book.    that, and she trusts the council little. their way of operating, decision-making process and, subsequently, their dependency on the senate doesn’t sit well with her  (  let’s not talk about obi-wan’s faked death bc that deserves a drunk ranting post for itself  ---- and while we’re between parenthesis, who even put yoda in charge, i mean  .  .  .  really  ??  )

                       tldr  :  satine does not really like the jedi.  their ideologies clash with hers  &&  she cares little for (  what she  ) the assumed hypocrisy that comes with wielding lightsabers whilst preaching peace. 

#long post for ts #❝ | SHE HAS SEEN TOO MUCH WAR & SUFFERING → ( headcanons ) #icb i wrote 1k words on this subject #listen #she's literally the 'love the jedi but hate the order' text post #anyway yeah here we go im tipsy and sleepy but ily all

[cockbiteproductions]

primed to scream PRIMES! PRIMES! PRIMES!!

f i just typed the answer to most of these questions and chrome crashed so christ i have to fucking retype all these but much condensed because i am lazy.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

chocolate bars. but only milk. my mom buys exclusively Very Dark Chocolate though so i usually just stare at those and Wish.

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

well bubblegum or cotton candy flavored stuff neither they both taste nauseating. if we’re talking about the actual stuff then bubblegum because i can pop it. this actually reminded me i have gum in the pantry from the beginning of the semester i havent even opened yet so now my roommates have you to thank for popping noises the next hr or so

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

soda bottles because i dont like to drink soda quickly and so i want to close it and not let the carbon dioxide escape. soda cans a close second because it’s satisfying to open the tab.

7. earbuds or headphones?

wired earbuds because headphones are too big and clunky and you cant easily lay on your side with headphones on. but if my next pair of earbuds break within a month i might consider Switching because ive had 3 break on me in the past month and half and im at my wits end with earbuds.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

i dont eat much for breakfast cause i want to sleep in until the last possible moment and i get stomachaches when i eat a lot in the morning but ill eat a piece of bread and yogurt maybe.

13. lanyard or key ring?

key ring but that’s just because i havent used a lanyard before. i think i would like a lanyard. im constantly looking for my keys in bags.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

this pair of black sandals that i have tan lines on my feet from how much ive worn them

19. sleeping position?

ill sleep however... i like sleeping on my left side. on my stomach with my head to the right. on my back with my arms crossover my chest to keep warm. at the end of the bed with my head where my feet should be. i dont move at all when i sleep so freshman year when i had a lofted bed i think my roommate was a bit concerned in the beginning when i refused a bedrail because she thought i might fall. i never fell which was nice.

23. strange habits?

oh man idk i probably have a lot of those but nothing i can think about right now when im being put on the spot.

in elementary school i used to refuse to step on the yellow tiles at school.

29. best way to bond with you?

talk to me about the stuff i love!!!! and watch the stuff i love with me!!!! i am always down to [whatever the rabb.it replacement is these days] stuff with people and just generally both yell at each other and be passionate about stuff. currently what im passionate about is the stuff im screaming over at @winstonbillions​ so talk to me about that stuff!! please. i am always 3 seconds from screaming about ANY of that stuff.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

idk about outfits to kick ass and take names but i have outfits where i get my ass kicked and name taken aka what i wear to exams. which is my tower of pimps shirt which ive deemed lucky. is it lucky in any way? no, but i’m hoping if i wear it enough to exams it might.

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

duffel bag. suitcases are so large and unwieldily. that reminds me i have a suitcase of winter clothes in my trunk i need to take out.

41. last person you texted?

as in actual texts on my phone? that would be my dad. asking him if i should drop my class im failing. 

as for the last person i instant messaged, that would be one of my mutuals through my musical theater sideblog im currently yelling at about [musical theater related interest]. im not kidding guys talk to me about the stuff i post about on @winstonbillions​ PLEASE

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

2 months ago i would have said hoodie but im kinda becoming a cardigan kind of person now. theyre just Soft and and Long and Casual and i love them. hoodies are too hard to take off.

47. favorite type of cheese?

mild cheddar, american, and mozzarella. i actually only Recently started cataloging cheeses in my brain to their actual names so for my entire life i was like i just like cheese even though there are certain ones i hate like swiss and blue cheese.

53. what is the current state of your hands?

a bit cold and a bit tired from typing all the answers to all these asks tbh. but other than that good. i just cut my nails because they were atrociously long. 

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

“worm” or “fuck” or “no!” according to my roommate

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

oh my ogdokh oym ogdos sd fdospohm to mo edf ucmign fugod mfyo uacant just ask me this im going to absolutely die

in absolutely no order, all from completely from memory, and favorite for a variety of different reasons

“fuck you, math man. if you’re such a genius why can’t you count to loyalty” - mafee in 4x11 lamster billions

“captain, he think, and feels that much more powerful” - luminousbeings in you don’t have to (say yes) the star trek fic

“more than you know, i understand wanting to walk away from the jedi”“i know.” - anakin skywalker and ahsoka tano in 5x12 the wrong jedi star wars the clone wars

“i won’t leave you, not this time.” “then you will die” - ahsoka tano and darth vader in 2x12 twilight of the apprentice star wars rebels

“there is nothing so pure as a man on a mission. when faced with the fire, never quivers or runs. there is nothing so noble as sticking together, for lonely is the life lead when sticking to its guns." - narrator in bloodsong of love by joe iconis

“now i’ve got myself a name and i’m ready to risk it with a battle cry disguised as a sing-along” - never heard nothing by joe iconis

“i’m frickin done with being the loser, the wuss, the underdog. being the misfit, the old school analog. being the oddball, the weakling freak. the failure, the sucker, the please-don’t-speak. oh i can’t hardly wait for the moment when i’m not the loser the geek or whatever, ever again” - jeremy heere in be more chill by joe iconis

“i’m tired of being the person that everyone thinks that i am” - various in be more chill by joe iconis

“q is for quantitative, baby!” - winston in 4x12 extreme sandbox billions

“the cheering is just as important as the song” - lisa and ms. werring in the black suits by joe iconis

“first, best destiny” - spock in star trek ii wrath of khan

“be proud of your place in the cosmos. it is small, and yet it is. how unlikely. how fantastic, and stupid. and excellent.” - cecil in welcome to night vale old oak doors part b

“are we living a life that is safe from harm? of course not. we never are. the questions is are we living a life that is worth the harm?” - cecil in welcome to night vale parade day

“as I turned and my eyes beheld you, i displayed emotion. i beg forgiveness.” - spock somewhere in star trek tos

“the sky collapsed without a sound. these broken pieces hit the ground.  the rain fell down around me and i drowned, but i will save you.” - part of me from dear evan hansen

“this is, after all, the story of how i died” - epsilon in the rvb13 trailer

“and while the law has many punishments for the atrocities we inflict on others, there are no punishments for the terrors we inflict on ourselves.” - the director in the s6 finale of red vs blue

that was in no way an exhaustive list but all i could think of at the moment

67. good luck charms?

not really any tbh. i try to wear my tower of pimps shirt whenever i take an exam but that’s about it.

71. least favorite pattern?

what does this even fucking mean?????? i will say the observer design pattern in programming because i don’t understand it well despite having used it twice now.

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

oh god idk why are all these questions getting harder. nothing i can think of at the moment.

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

i say school id tentatively, but neither of them looks great. my school id photo was a selfie.

83. writing or drawing?

writing. i wish to GOD i could draw and i probably could if i put in the amount of time i need to to learn how to draw but im a lazy bastard. but i’m not that great at writing either as i’ve found out. everything is way too short and out of character and too venty and i am weird about letting people i know read what i write (sorry @ all the people who keep asking me to let them read my writing.  it’s not that great you’re not missing out at all and i hate the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known) and i abandon ideas literal minutes after getting them.

89. who would you put before everyone else?

what the fuck kind of question is this?????? i GUESS the answer should be me but uh i am not even putting myself before myself as i am procrastinating on a shitload of homework with this. i guess my “close” friends. they’re pretty chill. but generally ill do anything for anyone all you have to do is ask.

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

4, my own, my home landline, my dad’s cell, and my dad’s work.

#not rt #teresa answers stuff #long post #jesus christ sorry for the infodump #Anonymous

[permian-tropos]

The War is Real in The Sequel Trilogy

back at it again with analytical essaying (most of the essays I write don’t get posted so this has been more of a regular occurrence than you would think). tbh i gotta start shopping these things around

How much of the war narrative can you abstract out of Star Wars and keep the emotional journeys intact? Because I recently saw Another meta about how Kylo Ren represents people who are in a dark emotional place and why this means it’s important to show his recovery. And I wondered why I still can’t go along with that reading, even though I can easily apply abstract redemption to Anakin/Vader. Why do Kylo’s war crimes feel more war crimey to me than Anakin’s? Why do I think, for him to redeem himself, the war crimes have to be addressed?

I think the answer is that the OT can abstract a lot of war narrative out. But the ST is keeping more and more as essential to the story. 

A New Hope is the hero’s journey, so it follows classic coming-of-age tropes. The deaths of Owen and Beru can be abstracted into the push away from home and parental protection. Obi-Wan’s death is the loss of the mentor. Alderaan’s destruction only adds tension, and doesn’t affect Leia’s character arc. The war is simply providing conflict so that the heroes can prove themselves.

ANH sets this tone where war is an aesthetic stage for personal melodrama. The next two movies stay somewhere in that ballpark. I think the prequels go for something very different, but these Kylo metas I keep seeing are talking about an abstract reduction of Star Wars which we definitely get from the OT. 

But The Force Awakens changes all of that right out of the gate, because of Finn. At its most abstract, Finn’s heroic moment on Jakku is: he was raised by his society to commit evil acts, but he refuses to obey. Already, the fact that the First Order is committing violence against innocent people is relevant to Finn’s emotional arc. It’s not a backdrop, it’s not there for spectacle, it’s not there to provide a strong antagonist you want to see defeated. Finn is a soldier who chooses not to kill people, and it’s the cornerstone of his whole story. It’s the first big personal melodrama of the movie.

The fact that Kylo Ren gives the order that Finn refuses to follow immediately denies Kylo any vague, symbolic, purely psychological Darkness. The weight of what Finn rejects is the weight of what Kylo accepts. Finn is a hero because he is what Kylo Ren is not. 

The rest of the film reverts to war-as-backdrop for the most part (since it’s so similar to ANH), except -- Starkiller. I know the Nazi rally imagery is still aesthetic, but the fact that we spent however many precious seconds on Hux delivering his speech tells us that the villains are political. When Tarkin destroys Alderaan, it is centered on Leia, and the fact that she is being menaced. It’s narrative tension for Luke and Han and Obi-Wan. When Hux gives the order to fire Starkiller, no personal heroic journey is affected. Rey hasn’t been kidnapped yet, so in that moment Finn’s journey is on pause. Poe is still presumed dead. Rey herself has no connection to Hosnian Prime. Her journey at that point is focusing on her fear of letting go of false hope (isn’t it intriguing how FALSE hope is a recurring theme in the ST? even before the supposedly deconstructive TLJ? shall I write another essay). 

Even on the most abstract narrative level, Hux gives an ideological speech because he is an ideologue, and Starkiller’s firing doesn’t advance character arcs -- it starts a war. 

The Last Jedi is even more about war, which they said upfront in promotional interviews. The Canto Bight arc literally can’t abstract war out of the narrative. Some people hate it, but it has a huge effect on the tone of the saga. You can’t reduce a blatant moral about how war profiteering is wrong and how it feeds war from both sides while the oligarchs get rich, and make it about some personal emotional journey. It’s a political message through and through. Sacrifices like Paige’s, Holdo’s, and Finn’s (attempted) are symbolic of actual deaths lost in war. Owen and Beru aren’t dead to Luke in the abstract (they are never relevant again, and if he forgives Vader for basically ordering their deaths, it’s not in the text). Han is definitely abstractly dead in Rey’s arc, because a) she’s angry with Kylo over it and b) Han’s attempt to save his son probably contributes a lot to Rey’s attempt. Han was like a father to her. She wants his sacrifice to have meaning. Paige is definitely abstractly dead in Rose’s arc. Holdo’s death is part of Leia’s arc -- when Holdo tells Leia that she can lose more people she loves, it’s leading to Leia’s acceptance that she has lost her son. 

And Luke’s moment of willingness to strike down his own nephew is not the character assassination people think because, as Mark Hamill put it, the moment is on the level of “would you kill baby Hitler”? Ben Solo is more than just a troubled nephew. He’s a catalyst for war. 

War is real, killing is real, death and loss are real. They don’t represent transitions through stages of maturity. TLJ in particular asks the question: “What is the right way to wage war against a political evil?” That’s not asked in the OT. Luke’s story after ANH is about the right way to resist one’s own inner darkness. 

And the culmination of Luke’s story is about how one must move on from the fight to resist inner darkness, to wholly commit to the war against political evil. He has to let go of his guilt over failing to maintain the apotheosis, the transcendence to godhood, that the hero’s journey ends on. Because the war wasn’t just the aesthetic stage for personal ascension. The war is real. 

Which means I don’t want to see a story culminating in Kylo fighting his inner darkness. The ST has decided to distinguish itself from the OT by being about external victory and material heroism, not internal victory and spiritual heroism. 

#my post #a fuckin essay #YEAH YOU CAN TAKE THIS AND COMBINE IT WITH THAT OTHER ONE #since the message of the buddhist myth is #you have to stop harming others #buddha: it's time to STOP #and then you have to atone

[millicentthecat]

Why The Last Jedi is a Reactionary Propaganda Film

I've been waiting for my thoughts to coalesce (and for the "spoiler" window to pass) to make a unifying analysis of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  This is not a position piece on whether you should or should not enjoy the movie.  It is not any kind of call to action.  It is only an analysis on how The Last Jedi works as a propaganda film.  It’s my personal interpretation based on my experience with assembling message.  This post is tagged "tlj critical" and "discourse" in hopes that will assist people in finding or blocking the content they wish to read.

To begin:   

As important as diversity in representation is, so too is balanced programming of message.  Programming message involves building value by presenting the very ideologies and mechanisms which sustain paradigms of injustice.  Will these be established as inescapable, natural, desirable, or effective?  The Last Jedi (TLJ henceforth) promotes integration with these ideologies and mechanisms.  It does not promote Resistance.

There are three central messages repeating in TLJ.  They are:

1. Respect and trust authority figures and institutional hierarchy

2. Girls like guys who Join (the military)

3. It is the work/role of women to be caretakers and educators (for men)

1. Respect and trust authority figures and institutional hierarchy

After The Force Awakens, my understanding of Poe Dameron's character was that he was designed as a classic rogue-individualist pilot--a hotheaded "flyboy," as it were.  This was not the fanon interpretation, which is understandable; The Force Awakens gave us a lot of poetic material to take in different directions.  I felt my interpretation was valid as it was supported by the visual dictionary (which calls Poe a rogue, I believe) and a line in The Force Awakens novelization about how some people are inherently more important than others.

In short, Poe Dameron was an individual who trusted his own instincts more than others and didn't believe in always playing nice.  In TLJ, this manifests in his relationship with a new character: Vice Admiral Holdo.  Now one of the only things we know FOR SURE about Poe Dameron is that he has no problem taking orders from women, respecting a female General, and trusting her experience.  This is demonstrated by his relationship to Leia, who he knows.  Holdo is a stranger who Poe has never met.  She is not just a woman, but an unknown woman.  EVEN SO, Poe is willing to trust her (at first) by sharing his assessment of the situation--essentially, submitting what he knows for her consideration, sharing his thoughts.  She responds to this by withholding information, reminding him of his recent demotion, and calling him names.  She responded to his  gesture of openness and respect with domination and authority.

This is well within her right, as established by both in-universe and our-universe rules of institutional hierarchy.  Poe, however, does not blindly trust authority figures OR institutional hierarchy more than his own instincts.  It's actually pretty unusual for a protagonist in this universe to do that, for reasons.

Later, General Leia reveals to both Poe and the audience that Holdo had information she was not willing to share.  She is strongly moralized as having been "right" about her plan: Poe takes his reprimand from Leia like a boy accepting a scolding.  Holdo is martyred and established as an example of strong leadership.  Her decision to withhold information from her subordinate is never highlighted (by a narrative authority or third party, such as Leia) as a mistake.  In our society, the rules of hierarchy dictate that "superiors" do not have to share what they have with "inferiors" or treat them with respect.  Those with more power are not beholden to those with less.  Poe is reprimanded for challenging that.

I was almost willing to overlook this deliberately moralized messaging as a botched attempt at a feminist moment before encountering the reviews about TLJ.  In general, there are a large number of reviews for this film which insinuate that most of the people who dislike this film are white male bigots, threatened by the presence of women. (a, b , c , d , e , f , g , h) .  This is not my experience.  The other thing many reviews point to is how Feminist this film is (as a selling point.)  It is an eerily unanimous opinion in mainstream, corporate media that Poe mistrusted Holdo because of her femininity--not her behaviors.  On social media where unpaid people are speaking, many young women are challenging this.  The shouting-down of women's opinions by accusing us of misogyny is a separate topic, but I did want to call attention to the discrepancy between the corporate media response and the social media response.  To me this is evidence of a deliberate misdirection.

Another story arc which enforces the position that we should trust authority figures and institutional hierarchy is in the reestablishment of the Jedi Order, via Luke, Yoda's Force Ghost, and, more significantly, Rey.  Now, much has been written (on this blog, and in many more prestigious place and by better known writers.  See Tom Carson's "Jedi Uber Alles," for instance) in the way of criticism of the Jedi.  The child abducting, the mind control, the over-extension of executive powers, the militarized cult status, the extermination of the Sith race, the monopolization of the Force; their crimes go on and on.  Moreover these are not just mistakes the Jedi made--crimes secondary to their nature--but rather these are the very nature of what their institution stood for.  The Jedi are not "the Light."  They are a specific religion with specific, inherently problematic practices and ideologies.

The Last Jedi is literally a movie about how it's ok that there are going to be more Jedi.

Luke's not on board with that, at first.  Master Yoda (from beyond the grave) reasserts the divine right of the Jedi to rule, as badly and indefinitely as they like.  Because even their failure is valuable.  Try try again, one supposes.  Whatever happened to, "there is no try?"  Oh yes, I remember.  The laws of the privileged do not apply to them.  

Last but not least, the character most overtly challenge institutional hierarchy in TLJ is Kylo Ren, when he kills Supreme Leader Snoke.  This move is not specifically negatively moralized (unless you read Kylo as the villain, which I prefer to) but it also very clearly does not result in a positive or progressive change for Kylo.  At the end of the film, he is miserable; his coup changed nothing.

2. Girls like guys who Join (the military)

"It's all a machine, brother," slurs an alcoholic loner-character known as "Don't Join," sometime after dropping the news on us that Good Guys and Bad Guys buy their weapons from the same arms dealer.  His general sense of hopelessness rubs off on Finn, who grows in his story arc from being willing to Unjoin, himself (as a deserter) to throwing himself into a suicide run for the Resistance.  What stops Finn from a kamikaze end is Rose: she saves him.  For the young viewer who agrees with DJ and sees machinery in war and capitalism, this suicide run represents the realistic (and popular trope) outcome of "joining."  War leads to death.  Capitalism leads to death.  Our generation knows this and we ask, as many before have asked, "why should I be a hero?  I'll just end up dead!"

The Last Jedi does what every great work of propaganda targeting young men does.  It gives a reason.  Why be a hero?  Because girls, that's why.

Before this pact is made, however, there needs to be a little softening-of-the-way--a little grooming.  The word "hero" has been deconstructed in the language enough that people know to associate it with self sacrifice.  We are wary of heros.  The Last Jedi substitutes the word "leader" to mean what hero once meant: a person in power whose sacrifices are gratified with moral rightness in the narrative.  This subverts any counter-programming people were able to apply towards "heroic" stories.  Leadership is presented as an inherently positive and desirable quality, linked to selflessness, sacrifice, martyrdom, and rewarded with female attention.

This same re-programming wordplay is employed in Rose Tico's call to action: "not fighting what we hate.  Saving what we love!"  Question: if the behaviors and outcome are the same, does the mental engineering matter?  Is a Rose by any other name still a Rose?

Is war still war if you call it love?

At this point I also want to call attention to the fact that there is AGAIN very little opportunity in this film where to SEE the First Order committing atrocities: abducting kids, repressing a labor uprising, etc etc.  The First Order is never called fascist (nor, if I recall, are they referred to as an actual nation.)  Their politics aren't even alluded to.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that the film implies it doesn't matter which side you join, but I think there's definitely an argument that being involves with one side or the other is lauded more highly than staying neutral.

Worth mentioning: "Girls like guys who Join" is also the message of Luke's story arc.  Both Rey and Leia wanted Luke to rejoin the arena.  Rey even expresses a willingness to get closer to Kylo--while he is acting like a Joiner.  The minute he makes it clear that he wants no part in either side of the conflict (No Jedi, No Sith, no ties to the past, etc) Rey's trust is broken.  She leaves.  Her rejection IMMEDIATELY follows his insistence on leaving tribal war in the past.  It does not correspond with any immediacy to his acts of violence, nor to his stubborn declaration that she "will be the one to turn."

A brief note.  Army enrollment messaging is a necessary and functional part of maintaining an imperial state.  The in-text discourse positions an offensive/insurgent military organization against a defensive military organization, during combat.  "Join up" is therefore an aggressively interventionist and arguably imperialist position.

3. It is the work/role of women to be caretakers and educators (for men)

This is one of the oldest motifs in storytelling, so when I say it's conservative I mean really, really conservative.  Traditional gender roles and traditional family values are just that: extremely traditional.  Many people find comfort in them and are extremely threatened by their breakdown.  For this reason, storytellers are authorized to hand-wave or sexualize an inordinate amount of violence toward women in order to keep paradigms of labor as gendered as possible.

First of all, there are literal feminine-coded creatures on the island of Ahch-to called "caretakers."  These aliens watch over the island and look after the hutts where Luke Skywalker has taken up residence.

Second of all, Holdo's arc with Poe and Rose's arc with Finn are full of nods to the idea that women must teach and lead men.  Men (who are inherently dogs, apparently) will speak over us, desert us, aim guns at us, and otherwise challenge us, and it is our duty to keep them in line.  This is to be expected.  Flyboys will be flyboys.

Third, it is Rey's sacred duty to prepare Luke to return to the arena of battle.  When Luke fails to step into that role, she turns to Kylo Ren.  Rey and Leia both possess Force-related powers.  Both spend most of their time directing these powers to trying to save, protect, or heal male warriors around them.  When they do fight, rather than act themselves as subjects, they punish men who objectify them inappropriately as a corrective measure.

To be fair, Admiral Holdo and Paige Tico both act directly against the enemy.  They also both have close mentor relationships with other women.  However, Paige and Holdo both die in the course of the film.

A final personal note: in my opinion, there are many ways socially problematic and coercive content offers comfort to a population where uncomfortable traditions feel like the only option.  However, this way of life is not the only option, and this media is not comforting to everyone.

#tlj critical #the last jedi #discourse #star wars #rey star wars #poe dameron #meta #amilyn holdo #kylo ren #luke skywalker #rose tico #paige tico #hating star wars like a star wars fan #contributing to the critical community i guess #star wars: it got wars in it #a paper by me

[questions-within-questions]

My big The Last Jedi post

Spoiler free until you get to the page break 

I love the theme of this film. It’s pretty much exactly the theme from the star wars sequal trilogy I had playing in my imagination when I was a child. But it really took me in surprise with how the film executed it. It’s not as simple as “there’s a lesson the heroes are learning, meanwhile the bad guys and some idiot Jedi are standing of the way of that” 

The pacing of this film? It’s well documented that I hate the pacing of the Star Wars films. I think all of them, save for Revenge and Awakens, have terrible pacing. This film has three story-lines and is really, really long. I love long films, but even I thought “Wow I don’t expect a star wars film to feel this long” but the pacing almost makes it work because there’s a clear plot (Screw you Phantom, Clones and Empire) and a lot of the film keeps you on your toes about how it’s going to end. 

A lot of the reviews I read have complained that Finn and his story-line is the short end of the stick? I don’t understand that. I freaking love Finn and Rose’s story here. It’s not big on character arcs but it is big on character exploration, world building, and damn I love Rose? I was always eager for the plot to return to their story.

And I LOVE that world building. Thing I disliked about Awakens? No space politics; I didn’t feel like I understood how this setting worked. And, yes, I still don’t really feel like I know what the Republic even is at this point. But Finn and Rose go to a core world planet (which, we never see in the movies. Courasaunt is literally the only planet we spend any time on that isn’t a sleepy back water in the films. Naboo is the next in line and even that felt like an outsider in the republic) I freaking love seeing what that looks like. Rose says some really profound stuff about the people who live in the side of the galaxy which isn’t war torn.  I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about Luke having his character ruined. And I am so freaking happy because I hate fanon Luke. Everyone expects Luke to be a chosen one and to be a Jedi Grand Master like Yoda in the prequels and to be this super-sayan human deity. And yet Luke’s entire character arc in Return is realising that he’s better than that, beyond that. And I’m glad this film follows through with it. It’s a great performance from Mark.  Hux is, weirdly enough, the character I think who benefits the most from this film? Like, he’s not in any way different from how he was in Awakens, but the tone and plot just benefits him more. I didn’t even notice he existed after my first watch of Awakens, but in this I was always happy to see him on screen. Shippers are going to have a fucking field day.

Kylo Ren also is a character who’s arc I really, really enjoyed in this film? Which, woah that’s a surprise. I still think Rose and Finn’s storyline is more enjoyable, but Kylo’s and Rey’s is really compelling and had me surprised. Their conflict is really easy to understand and ties in really well thematically with both the film and where the franchise is right now. Kylo is probably equal only to Poe in terms of how much character development he gets, with Rey in a close third place.  SPACE BATTLES. Damn, I complained that Awakens didn’t have enough battles and this film did me a solid. Now that writers seem to have a strong hold about how battles actually work in this setting, especially in space, things are just really satisfying.  People have complained that this film is too funny? What? How is that a bad thing? Y’all just want a star wars film to make you miserable because that’s how you think you remember Empire making you feel.  Anyway time for Spoilers  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lot’s of spoilers now. If the prequel trilogy is about the failings of stoicism, the original trilogy is the triumph of emotion, this trilogy is setting up to be about letting things go, moving on.

Which, you know, Star Wars really badly needs to do. It’s horrifically formulaic. So having Luke Skywalker say “You don’t need Luke Skywalker”... it works for me.  I’ve been hating on the Jedi for a decade now, and Luke’s criticisms of them ring so true. The force isn’t something to be wielded. Hording the force into super soldiers isn’t what the force is here for. The force is something that is best utilised by everyone, together, rather than a lone hero. Which I think wonderfully explains why the Jedi failed and the Rebellion succeeded.  Yoda seemed to realise this, a finally reached the end point of his character arc. Forgoing his hubris and helping Luke destroy the temple. I was actually about the forgive the green bastard but then he makes this pun “There’s nothing in the library that Rey doesn’t already posses.” BITCH KNEW ABOUT THE BOOKS. But this is why I love that Luke’s last battle isn’t him using the force in an amazing display of power to destroy the first order, but rather using the force in an amazing display of power to cause a distraction so that the Resistance can live.  But how amazing is Rey and Kylo’s take on this? Two kids who spent the entirety of the previous film obsessed with the past admitting that actually, the past has been cruel to us. Kill that sentimentality. Of course the reason they differ is because Kylo is evil and thinks the end point of this is destroying the republic, resistance and the first order. Rey literally rolls her eyes at this shit. But it’s really compelling to see why these two kids would both do a 180 and turn on the legacies that previously controlled them, all be it in very different ways. Rey is just ungodly powerful, and that’s fascinating. It’s revealed that she has no lineage, she’s literally nobody special. She’s just some random kid who happens to have amazing power. (And damn she’s strong in the dark side too) which makes for a very interesting Star Wars protagonist. Because we’ve had Anakin and Luke both be chosen ones due to their conceptions. Anakin defined by the dark side and Luke by the light. It feels fresh to have Rey be the hero now. Luke literally says, “I’m going to give you three lessons. Not about how to be a jedi, no, about why the Jedi suck”. She drops out of Luke school before even taking the third lesson! She still kicks ass fighting the royal guard. It’s impressive.  It’s all pretty damn dwarfed by some of the shit Luke and Snoke pull. That galaxy spanning stuff has the be the biggest displays of force power we’ve ever seen mortals do in the films. I know people are saying that Leia flying through space like an angel is bullshit powerful, but damn, if you watch Star Wars Rebels; force pulling yourself through space is just the easiest thing to do. Very pretty. Though her cloak billowing up to look like angel wings? A bit heavy handed what with Carrie’s recent passing.  Speaking of Snoke. The number one Raylo shipper? Snoke. I love his evil plan in this film. I know it rhymes a lot with the Emperor's plans, but it’s like he watched Return of the Jedi and was like “Hmmm, I could use this to my advantage” and I love that he died like a punk. I still have no idea where he came from, why he has such weirdly long legs, what his motivation is, or why he’s such a obvious retread of Palpatine, but hay it was fun watching him be an evil bastard and die so to be a stepping stone in Kylo’s story.  He also slapped Rey in the face with her own lightsaber using the force? Literally yesterday I posted to tumblr wishing this would happen. (I also theorised that Rey was her own parents so shit me did I gasp when she saw herself behind the dark side mirror) That scene in Snokes throne room is a wonderful subversion of Vader’s promise to Luke in Empire? “Together we could overthrow the emperor and rule this galaxy” this is a subversive look at, “Hay, what if Vader had actually followed through on that?”  Speaking of Raylo. Damn the ship wars are going to be intense. This film gives massive material to all of the popular ships. Huxlo and Raylo especially, without saying anything definite at all. There’s literally nothing in the text to suggest that Hux, Kylo and Rey aren’t all disgusted with each other. But damn there is fuel for those fics now.  I did a little dance every time Phasma turned up. She’s so cool. She’s somewhere between Bobba Fett and General Grievous in terms of “really cool character who does nothing and dies”  So that final scene. It’s already controversial. And I bet the editing team were anxious about leaving it in. It was probably tempting to end on our cast of heroes. But you know what? Empire did that and that ending sucked. Having a force sensitive kid telling his own stories about the Resistance as he looks up at the horizon? Thematically it’s just more satisfying.  Though this film really does try to have it’s cake and eat it too with killing the past. The Jedi temple is destroyed, but the books survive. Kylo shuns the Vader mythology, but plays the exact role that Vader did in the battle of Hoth in the final battle. Luke says we don’t need Luke Skywalker, but the final scene is a boy being inspired by his mythology.  LIST OF STUPID THINGS I LIKED Adam Driver visibly slipping on those really polished First Order floors, and the editor just keeping it in. Space nuns!?  BB-H8 turning up and the film instantly recognising that this droid is A MAJOR THREAT. They killed off Admiral Ackbar!?  Luke’s smile when he saw R2!!! Rose looking out over the casino planet. Saying all these people are happy. And not one of them cares about the war we’re dying in. Damn. I love it.

#Big media analysis post #star wars #The Last Jedi #The last Jedi spoilers #luke skywalker #Rey #Finn #Poe Dameron #Princess Leia #Kylo Ren

[thebastardofgloucester]

all the posts collating reactions to The Empire Strikes Back or writing mock Rotten Tomatoes reviews to imply that the criticisms of this film aren’t worth paying attention to are just…so missing the point

exactly two works that said what ‘Star Wars’ was existed at the time of Empire’s release in 1980: Star Wars (not yet renamed ‘A New Hope’) and Alan Dean Foster’s 'Splinter of the Mind’s Eye’ (a sequel written in case Star Wars was a flop that could be filmed on a shoestring budget and without Harrison Ford. It’s Wild and puts the lie to the idea that Lucas had any idea where the Skywalker story was going; highly recommend)

in the year of our Lord 2017, The Last Jedi was released as the third film in a revival of a six film, single creative vision franchise, with the added baggage of over two decades of novels, comics, video games, and other media (the only thing ever fully expelled from canon was the infamous holiday special, which, honestly, had greater creative merit than some of the stuff that got to stay)

what’s the point? Expectations. No, not people who didn’t want anything to change and are Mad About It or whatever facile narrative the authors of those blog posts and reviews are using to explain why this film is probably more divisive than the goddamn prequels. The problem is that not only does The Last Jedi clash with decades of fandom, it is even at loggerheads with its sister films in this particular revival. and it doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt that ESB got because that’s not how franchises and fandoms actually work. you don’t get to ignore everything that came before to tell your own story. they have to work together. 

Sure, not everybody read the EU (and trust me some of them are better off for it). But almost everybody saw The Force Awakens, most of them saw Rogue One, and a fair number of them, old and young fans alike, eagerly consumed the New EU content that offered glimpses into how the events of The Force Awakens came about and what mysteries were set up in what was effectively a reboot rather than a sequel. Generally, you know, regardless of how much you hate 'puzzleboxes,’ it is reasonable to expect that what one film sets up will have a payoff in the next, particularly when the first film takes such care to be sensitive to what the fans want (as JJ and Kasden did with TFA) - because while this is a money faucet for Disney, sure, there’s no point in bringing this franchise back without those fans (and of course, their kids) - and what they got from Rian and the Lucasfilm story team was…a confirmation that they had been wasting their time. It’s all well and good to pull the rug out from under the audience (as this film does incessantly) but it’s cynical bullshit to basically bait them with promo material and the preceding canon and then to deliver on basically nothing and expect everyone to just be okay with it. This film effectively penalizes the people who cared the most and spent the most time engaging with The Force Awakens and rewards people who may not have really been here for what Lucas was selling to begin with. As one review put it, it ‘does not care what you think about Star Wars’.

But when you set expectations as deliberately as Kennedy and the Lucasfilm Story Group did in JJ and Kasden’s TFA, it’s not great writing to blow them to pieces mid-narrative. It’s just lazy. the idea that Rey has no connection to the Skywalker line? a good idea, potentially, but clumsily executed, as it is played out less as an important revelation and more an excuse to not actually give any kind of answer to how Rey came to be Ben’s equal on the Light (or why she even is ‘Light’ honestly; I love Angry Rey but there’s seemingly no danger in her temptation) or where she got a skill set rivaled in this franchise only by literal Space Jesus Anakin Skywalker. Snoke is a one-noted villain; having him be betrayed by Kylo in the midst of his own villain arc? a very good idea. it belongs as the climax of the film, not the end of act 2 so there is no time for anything to breathe, just more never-ending crises and hardship.

Like, spare me the 'force visions are unreliable’ (Rey’s was unlike anything we had seen before, it wasn’t Anakin’s nightmare or Luke on Dagobah) bs; the film didn’t say that what Rey saw was wrong for x reason, it just pretended that it never happened and Rey didn’t say anything about it); spare me ‘our heroes have to fail and sometimes all the plans don’t work out’ we know that, we live in the real world of 2017 but while making your clever point you have wasted the presence of three extremely talented actors of color, and let down the audiences waiting for a chance to see people who look like them be the heroes for once. instead it turns out they didn’t actually matter all that much, but maybe next film! 

It’s not clever. It’s not visionary. It’s cheap, it’s cowardly, and it isn’t actually that original because the film leaves us exactly where we expected. Poe is the leader and Leia’s heir to command, Finn is a newly-committed Rebel brimming with unrealized potential, Rey is a Jedi character (amorphously defined) who we know exactly as much about as we started, Luke is gone, even if he went out in pretty spectacular fashion, Carrie’s death means that Leia will be leaving us soon, and Kyle Ben has become the big bad. That’s the only real development - Snoke’s death and Ben’s rejection of his redemption - and it’s buried under Rey, our erstwhile heroine, being a vehicle for the villain’s character development. The only character this film particularly cares about is a white fascist who gets every chance to be redeemed and rejects them while the film expects us to keep caring. 

So, yeah. People are mad. Not because of the same ‘the series is changed forever now’ shit that the haters of ESB were on about. Because the real changes? Ben being the real villain, the smallfolk of the galaxy being the source of light and conduits of the Force? I don’t see anyone complaining all that hard about them. 

the complaints are about the damage done to beloved characters for…not all that much of a payoff. the misuse and marginalization of the characters of color. the disdain with which the script treats the nostalgia of the Force Awakens. the unrelenting pace of the film that just grinds the Resistance (and the audience) down and just tells them to trust us, even as more and more and more is taken away. Rey’s parentage isn’t the only thing cast aside - promises of developments in Finn’s story - his identity, his potential to cause a revolt in the First Order, even his force sensitivity (you want a force user from nothing? how about a child soldier from a nameless family who as we are continually reminded used to be on sanitation crew) - are broken. Rey has her dream of family taken away…and replaced with…well the film doesn’t really bother to say because she’s a plot device for most of act 3. We don’t get to see her reject Ren and leave him. Because this isn’t her story; it’s his. Kylo is unconscious, so the scene is over. Tell me how that is a satisfying arc for our erstwhile protagonist? Poe’s character is completely uprooted from what we’ve seen before to make him an obnoxious hotheaded menace whose emotions threaten the survival of the Resistance if two old white women aren’t able to keep him in check. Rose says a lot and gets to do almost nothing. Luke…Luke is torn down to justify the fall of Ben Solo, never given the chance to establish a meaningful bond with his erstwhile successor, and is only given the chance to atone by acting as a diversion to give the others time to escape. he dies alone, a failure, even if he is at peace with how things turned out.

last year we were shown a movie in the wake of one of the more traumatic political events in the life of the people on this website where a diverse and sympathetic cast fight hard and are entirely wiped out. But their deaths come in a spectacular and charged finale that carries the desperation and grief and pathos through into the beginning of the story we know and love. it all feels worth something. Rogue One has its flaws as a film but it comes together in a way that The Last Jedi does not. In the end, what Jyn and Cassian and the others do is just enough to get the plans away, to start the sequence of events that will lead to the Empire’s destruction.

Here?

there’s just not enough left. not enough of the Resistance, not enough story, not enough hope. 

to have that hope repeatedly stripped away and cynically exploited through a narrative that drags the characters from crisis to crisis without bothering to justify itself or its role in the story (while retreading the highlights of Episodes V and VI without the emotional depth to back them up), and in so doing wears down the audience as much as the characters is not why I have devoted so much of my life and emotional energy to this series about space wizards and their galaxy-destroying family squabbles and eventual chance for redemption. for all his many, many faults, George Lucas understood that.

you can’t just talk about hope. sooner or later you have to see it. You have to feel that what you are suffering will be worth it. The text needs to tell you as much. it’s clumsy and cliched and it is necessary. In the Empire Strikes Back, after Han is captured and Luke is beaten, the turning point is Lando. Lando changes the course of the movie, rescuing Leia and Chewie, who rescue Luke. They live to fight another day, and at the end they are wounded but among friends. 

the moment in The Last Jedi where that could have happened was when Leia’s signal went out. How terrific would it have been if after being betrayed by a scoundrel the original scoundrel with a heart of gold, Lando Calrissian, arrives at the head of a fleet made up of all the alien races so inexplicably missing from the sequel trilogy so far, fending off the First Order long enough for the Resistance to escape with most of the survivors on Crait?

But Rian had to have one last twist of the knife. so nobody came. only Luke, and only as a distraction to buy time that ultimately cost him his life and reduced his legacy to giving everything to atone for his past sins. there is no Lando moment. there is no turning point, no moment where a larger victory is hinted at. and no, a single stable boy far, far away from the war is not the same thing. It makes an interesting point about the force and the metanarrative of Star Wars. It is not what this film needed after everything it put its characters and audience through.

and so at the end I’m not hopeful. I’m just tired. So, very tired. And I miss what made me fall in love with this series about space wizards and the Skywalker family in the first place

#martinus watches the last jedi #the last jedi spoilers #tlj spoilers #tlj negativity #rian does not love star wars like I love star wars #I'm just so. tired. #I need to watch Rebels or ROTJ and remember Star Wars can be like fun

[skywalkersapprentice]

LUKE FUCKING SKYWALKER aka my review of the last jedi

(spoilers)

Contrary to my feelings leading up to the force awakens, I was more nervous than completely excited for this film. I was so terrified that it wasn’t going to be good.

by the end of this movie, those fears had been soothed.

Bad Things(tm) 

it’s a shorter list than i thought it would be but it still exists

kylo ren’s entire existence annoys me. like i came out of tfa hating him and now i loathe him. 

thAt SHIRTLESS SCENE GOD I HATED THAT. it could have been so much worse and i’m grateful it wasn’t but jeez. i strongly echoed rey’s feelings of ‘put a shirt on’. 

the entire fucking force bond thing got on my nerves until i realized it was snoke’s fault. then it was okay. 

rey nobody. listen you guys, i’m all for the found family trope usually but you can pry rey skywalker out of my cold, dead hands. 

i feel like sometimes this movie didn’t know what it was doing with it’s plot. canto bight was beautiful, but that entire plot ultimately felt meaningless. 

same with luke’s purpose, i couldn’t.... really figure out the role he was supposed to be playing. 

some of the scenes on the island felt really fucking boring. 

why did hux slap finn like yeah mate we already know he’s an asshole

this was the biggest one for me- rey’s character. it could have been done so much better. she felt like she was aimlessly wandering around the island for half the movie and she deserved more than she got. i’m just thankful this is the middle act and that she’ll be back in the safe hands of jj abrams for the final movie. 

also finn and rey deserved a better reunion scene but the hug was adorable.

Good Things(tm)

this is a much longer list

ROSE TICO. omg i adore her???? she’s so awkward and tiny and charming. i spent most of the battle of crait thinking ‘omg please don’t die’ and i’m SO HAPPY she didn’t. i ended up not minding finnrose, which i thought i wouldn’t like. she and finn worked so well together.

LUKE THREW THE LIGHTSABER OFF THE CLIFF SDFGHGFDFGH I LAUGHED SO HARD. i immediately knew i was gonna like luke in this movie. 

also i dont’ wanna hear a word about ‘bad characterization’ when it comes to luke. it’s been 30 years since we saw him last and people change. 

i think it helps that i have read basically none of the post-rotj eu and so i had no expectations of what luke ‘should have’ been like. but anyway.

another thing i laughed so hard at: poe pretending not to know who hux was while he was speaking all pretentiously. that was hilarious. 

and then bb8 overextending himself trying to keep the ship working. bb8 was the silent hero of this movie and you all need to appreciate him.

CHEWIE AND THE PORGS. oh my godd when he was eating that one porg and then the rest of them show up with huge eyes and legitimately sad expressions. i was literally aww-ing. i’ve bought into the cute porg marketing. they made me smile every time they were onscreen. sue me. 

i really liked what luke had to say about the light side not ‘belonging’ to the jedi, because it’s true. time to think outside the box lads

rey looked so good in that jedi outfit

the golden four (finn, rose, rey and poe) all looked amazing tbh.

i almost liked kylo ren for one (1) second after he killed snoke and then he decided that he wanted to destroy the rest of the galaxy too and i was like Oh My God

also they made a bold move by killing snoke but i really liked that they did. now ren can step into position as the Main Villain, which is what he deserves. (no redemption arc bitch you’ve tried to murder everyone like twice)

also the way!!! snoke died!!!!! was so cool!!!! he could read ren’s intentions like a book, but the way ren deceived him into thinking that rey was his sworn enemy because ‘i can’t be betrayed’ was amazing. and this is coming from someone who despises kylo ren.

lmao @ hux and ren subtly fighting for control over their troops. i wouldn’t be surprised if hux eventually stabs ren in the back.

THAT SCENE WHERE REN AND REY BREAK ANAKIN’S LIGHTSABER

THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING

it would have more meaning if rey was also related to anakin but whatever

holy shit. the entire scene with yoda. i was silently squeeing into my hands the whole time.

this is the first time i have ever been happy to see yoda but oh. my god. that little troll cackling as he destroyed the early jedi texts (‘page turners, they were not’) was AMAZING. 

i almost forgot to mention but 

LEIA

USING THE FUCKING FORCE

TO SAVE HERSELF AND BRING HER BACK TO THE SHIP WHILE LOOKING LIKE A GODDAMN ANGEL

that was the first time the guy beside me offered me tissues. i was not okay.

also i love her dynamic with poe so much. and that scene where amilyn and leia are discussing him and amilyn says ‘i like him’ and leia goes ‘me too’ is so pure.

also leia and amilyn had one (1) scene together but it still managed to make me emotional. leia has lost so much and this was just one more thing, but their goodbye was good.

also i love my gay mom amilyn tbh. the luna lovegood comparisons were rolling in before the film and tbh i could see that! i’m so sad she had to die but what a fucking way to go. the entire theater was dead silent when she made that jump to hyperspace. 

i don’t think i’ve ever sworn this much in my life. whatever.

something i really liked that i didn’t expect to is how so close ren and rey came to leaving their respective sides. the lines between light and dark got so blurry in snoke’s throne room, but eventually what happened seemed to cement their respective positions, pushing them even further away from one another. it was cool.

leia marching onto the bridge of the command ship fresh from unconsciousness and stunning poe wow what an icon

also when will the gays learn to communicate i mean poe and amilyn come on

can we talk about that scene in the falcon when luke and artoo reunite :( omg. artoo still has leia’s old message and i personally want to die.

luke and leia’s (natural) force connection that spans half a galaxy!!!! ‘luke’ ‘leia’ i personally want to die (part 2)

canto bight looked straight out of the prequels and i was Living

i was also living for the way finn and rose destroyed it

“you have always been scum”. “rebel scum” THAT’S MY BOY I LOVE FINN

also there was something that finn said on crait while they were in the mine (i forget what it was) but poe and rose both looked at him like they were falling in love 

and also poe’s delight when seeing that finn and rose aren’t dead and immediately going ‘where’s my droid’ :( i love how much he loves bb8, it’s very reminiscent of anakin and artoo.

speaking of crait

LUKE FUCKING SKYWALKER

[INCOHERENT YELLING]

when the shadow appeared in the mine i was like..... omg. it can’t be. he wouldn’t.

and then it WAS and i realized that we were actually getting a leia and luke reunion, after i had convinced myself it wouldn’t happen, and then i started really crying. i don’t think i’ve ever cried like that at a movie before. i don’t even remember most of what was said, except for luke’s ‘no one is ever really gone’ (directed at leia, by then i was properly sobbing) and then the forehead kiss. i was a mess. the guy beside me offered me kleenex again.

That was, without a doubt, my favourite scene in the film. Luke and Leia got to say goodbye. I feel like that actually healed something in me that broke when carrie died last year. like, the movie was worth making just for that one fucking scene.

but then it got better.

when ren ordered all the walkers to fire on luke and then luke walked out unscathed someone in front of me actually clapped with glee. from the moment he ignighted his lightsaber, there was an energy of just joy in the theater, and you could tell that scene was exactly what everyone had wanted from luke.

AND THEN KYLO REN TRIED TO CUT HIM IN HALF AND IT DIDN’T FUCKING WORK

I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE DELIGHTED

'amazing. everything you just said was wrong.’ YES LUKE YES

I can’t wait for luke to haunt ren from beyond the grave in episode 9. i don’t know how i feel about the fact that he’s dead, but it’s far from the sadness i felt when han died.

like rey and leia said- there was a sense of peace there.

I just. I just wish Leia could find that peace. She has lost absolutely everyone. And now the movie that was supposed to be about her can’t exist.

‘in loving memory of our princess carrie fisher’ made me halt on the steps and bring my hand to my mouth on the way out of the theater. i’d forgotten that would happen. :(

I don’t want to end this on a sad note. I really did like this movie. It’s not quite good enough for a 9 and i hesitate to rate it as low as a 7 so an 8 it is. 

Overall- better than i’d hoped. had some absolutely magical moments that made me remember why i love this franchise so much. there were some truly cool force-related moments, i love the golden four and luke skywalker is fucking awesome. kylo ren is fucking terrible, i wish this movie had progressed it’s characters a little and rey deserves to be a skywalker.

bring on episode nine. 

#tlj spoilers #tlj #sw #star wars #the last jedi #the last jedi spoilers #THERE'S SO MUCH SWEARING IN THIS LMAO #shelby reviews movies

[ladyxanatos]

The Luke Skywalker Post

I pretty much did not sleep last night because I was too busy processing the Last Jedi and believe you me, it’s a LOT to process.

Because it is so much to process, I am prioritizing with the things I care about most, so hopefully anything that I run out of steam for won’t be the stuff I really wanted to talk about. I am also breaking some of my thoughts out into separate posts, because as I began writing I realized that I have way too much to say to reasonably expect it all to fit in one post.

[SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING]

OKAY, LUKE SKYWALKER, Y’ALL.

Luke Skywalker is my favorite SW character. I have made no secret that I had a lot of anxiety over Luke going into this film. I have not been quiet with my crit of Disney Star Wars, particularly over this character and the implications of TFA. As an avid reader of the “Legends” EU, I felt that this departure was going against nearly 30 years of (mostly) on point lore.

So, here’s the thing I realized as the release of TLJ got closer and closer. I have the EU. I have that version of Luke’s character development and arc. It’s not going anywhere; it is safe on my shelves. So, I went in having decided to look at Luke in this film as an alternate take on the character and primarily with the view in mind that I just wanted to see Mark Hamill’s acting skills in action.

So, color me surprised that I ended up being 100% on board with Luke in this film. It’s okay for Luke to wave a wobble (even a big one) of faith, as long as who he is at the core remains and as long as he ends up where he should be. I am pleased to say that, for this fanatical Luke fan, this was the case.

The Jedi criticism is exactly what I wanted. Critical of the old atrophied order and showing that the Force is more than that and the characters need to move beyond it and change. It’s perhaps a bit regressive in that we essentially already covered this in George Lucas’ original six part film saga, but spelling it out very plainly and in a succinct way through actual text instead of subtext is not necessarily awful.

I am ambivalent about the Yoda cameo. I like parts of it, but as a whole I question its necessity and execution. Also why did Yoda need yet another redesign?? Questions, questions.

I love the way the relationship between Rey and Luke builds and plays out. It’s tropey in the best ways and delicious and I am all about it. When I finally manage to get some sleep, I may be able to write more nuanced meta on the subject.

But particularly I loved Luke’s horror at Rey’s lack of horror about the dark side. This encapsulates so much. And although it was Luke’s whole shtick in ROTJ that he incorporated his darkness without fear, factoring in his experiences with Ben, this makes sense. Rey shows the proper (imo) attitude towards the dark; she faces it from a neutral position and lets it pass through her (I could go on a “Fear is the mindkiller...I will let it pass through me” Dune parallel spiel here, but I shall refrain).

SIDE NOTE: I loved, loved, loved all the talk about Force lore and the explanation of what balance in the Force means. Also saying the idea of the Force/balance being dependent on Jedi specifically is vanity is yes good. All my Jedi critical feelings.

The argument that Luke’s development has taken a major step back from ROTJ is perhaps valid, but I feel that Luke having become reactionary and “regressive” in some ways is 100% the point. He messes up so utterly and tragically with Ben and, sidestepping how in line with Luke’s original characterization I feel that is or isn’t, it’s such a blow to his ego (I don’t mean self-importance; I mean, his sense of self, the id) that, similarly to Obi-Wan on Mustafar, it can’t help but cause a kind of fracturing and regression. It’s an understandable and sound psychological response, imo.

Luke does need help recovering from that because in his trauma he forgot the source of his strength; his love for and connection with others. He retreats after Ben turns on him out of a mixture of shame and a shattered view of self. Through Rey, Luke begins to forge a new connection, he begins healing, and this culminates in him reaching out, finally, to Leia. Luke finds himself again, that self that I love so dearly, in the climactic scenes at the end of the film. And I actually found his arc really moving.

Now, let’s talk about Luke at the end of this movie.

I’ve always said that I just need ONE MOMENT, one solid moment on film in a Star Wars movie of Luke Skywalker being the Jedi Grand Master he was born to be. AND I GOT IT.

I cottoned onto what was happening pretty quickly because Luke vs. Kylo was 10000% EU. And I was literally having to stuff my hands in my mouth to muffle my SHRIEKING (my brother can attest to this). It was just everything. Everything everything everything. And all my Legacy of the Force: Inferno feelings. Luke laying some smackdown on his naughty former pupil and showing the enormous gap between them...I am all about it.

Believe it or not, I love that this sequence showed that the Force and Luke do have limits (that was always a problem in the EU). Although Luke passing into the light at the end does muck up the structure a little (the Jedi, singular or plural, typically die in the third film), it would have been awkward to push it into the next film and...let’s be real, now JJ “I hate half of SW” Abrams cannot touch Luke. The most we can get in the next episode is a Force ghost cameo. My baby is safe from about my least favorite filmmaker. So, there’s that.

The actual moment of Luke’s passing was just not fair. It was just Luke Skywalker and John Williams and THAT DAMN SUNSET and I WAS BAWLING. LIKE, UGLY, UGLY SOBBING. It was beautiful and perfect and I can’t think of a better way for Luke to go, honestly. Like, I always knew Luke would die in these movies because of his positioning thematically as the Yoda, so I wasn’t shocked or scandalized. All I ever hoped for re: his passing was it to literally be this beautifully and respectfully done.

RIP Luke Skywalker, apple-cheeked farm boy and wondrously terrifying Jedi Grand Master of my heart.

#star wars movies #the last jedi #luke skywalker #sw spoilers #death tw //

[rpeeze]

OKAY, SO

First: THE LAST JEDI SPOILERS AHEAD. Like for real. A lot. Important plot points. Discussed in depth. I’ve tagged it as such, but if for some reason it slipped through any blocks or you don’t have the tag blacklisted (because also, I don’t know how to do that, but I know it’s a thing... that I should probably learn) then I’m warning you now.

So if you’ve seen it and/or you won’t or don’t care, then it’s all under the jump.

I found this really great text post, and then wrote a response to it, but for some reason, I can’t reblog it with my response??? So Imma just do this old school:

ORIGINAL POST from @themillenialfalcon:

Something that I am finding a little strange in all the discourse around Luke Skywalker is that a lot of people are qualifying Luke’s relationship with Ben Solo in a weird way… Like they make statements like:

“Ben was basically his nephew.” Or…

“He would never try to kill his sister’s kid.” Or…

“How could he think about killing a kid that he low key helped raise?”

Or they refer to him as his padawan rather than his nephew.

It’s like… people are almost trying to make them seem less related than they actually are?

Ben was not basically his nephew he was fully his nephew. And he didn’t low key help raise him…he high key helped raise him. They did not have a Christmas Card relationship.

And when you take enough time to think about the fact that Luke Skywalker was fully rasied by his own uncle… you realize that this is not the kind of relationship that he would take lightly at all. He would take being an uncle veryseriously. He would have loved Ben like he was his own son.

That’s why the act itself was so horrible to Luke that he was filled with a shame so profound that the forced himself into exile for a decade, sunk into a massive depression, and became so full of self loathing that he wanted to die on that island and kill the entire jedi order with him. He NEVER forgave himself for that shit. Never.

I can’t think of anything else that would have brought Luke to that island. People who are appalled because he would “never” do that…. Luke is just as appalled with himself, guys. That’s kind of the point. This was a movie about failure… but also about the difference between the legend and the man.

The fact that it was something that Luke Skywalker the legend would never do, is what made it so diffucult for Luke Skywalker the man to reconcile.

MY RESPONSE:

THANK YOU.

Okay, so my brother and I have been having discourse about The Last Jedi since we saw it a week ago, and this is one thing that we’ve kind of sussed out.

Luke obviously knows that while Anakin was beginning to turn to the dark side, there was a group of highly trained Jedi who were all so preoccupied with other things that they didn’t sense the quickly growing darkness in Anakin. Even if he was working to conceal his feelings, do we really think that there wasn’t a moment before he was too far gone that Mace Windu or YODA couldn’t have sensed that something was up?

Or that they did sense that something was amiss, but they did nothing about it. I’m not saying that they would have had to kill him right there and then, but there has to be some kind of Jedi Intervention Program that brings people back from the Dark Side? And then possibly they would have figured out that Palpatine was a shithead long before he was planning on destroying EVERYTHING?

But in any case, Luke would know this story, and he would be driven to action. And you see the moment where he ignites his lightsaber, and in the light of the saber, he truly realizes what is about to do, and IMMEDIATELY regrets his decision. Instead of using diplomacy, he has decided that he needed to snuff out the possibility of Ben going dark. Obviously, when Ben also realizes what his Uncle has even CONSIDERED doing, even though by the time we see Ben turn over and face his Uncle, he has unignited (...disignited? ...anti-ignited?) ...turned off his lightsaber, he knows what’s happened.

And Luke knows that it’s because of his actions. So he follows the example of his master who also felt that he failed. But instead of that failure being not recognizing the growing darkness within his own padawan before it was too late, it is instead the fact that for a moment, even a fraction of a second, he gave serious consideration to and was prepared to kill his own nephew for feeling a call to the dark. A call that Luke also grappled with, and that we assume all Jedi do at some point.

Luke goes to Ahch-To to exile himself. I don’t know if he ever told Han or Leia what he did, what occurred in his moment of weakness. Something in me tells me that he was too ashamed to say it out loud, and that when he tells Rey, it’s the first he’s ever spoken of it. Leia was probably able to sense something. She knows that Luke didn’t decide to strand himself on Ahch-To (which we see he literally tried to do by letting his ship sink into the ocean) just because Ben led an uprising. If it had been that simple, chances are he would have stayed and fought against said uprising. But Luke no longer trusts himself.

Because this wasn’t just another padawan. It was his nephew. And while his father may have been able to kill a room full of innocent padawans and feel no remorse (until Return of the Jedi, I suppose) Luke couldn’t even bear the thought that he considered killing his nephew.

But it reminds us - and everyone else - that Luke Skywalker is a human being. Even an accomplished Jedi has to search for balance in the force and in themselves. And he felt and recognized his sin as egregious enough that he should no longer be trusted.

It’s the middle of the trilogy. There was bound to be A LOT of failure. This is the movie where things look the bleakest. And for those of us who put Luke on a pedestal (which, let’s face it, was probably most of us) he reminds us that he never wanted to be there.

In the end, he finds a way to contribute, while not even ever putting himself in a position to hurt his nephew. Because while his father may have been so intoxicated by the dark that he could maim his son, and his nephew may now be so taken over by it that he killed is own father, and would easily kill Luke if he were given the chance, I don’t believe he would be able to carry out that action. I believe Luke would meet the same fate as Obi Wan before doing that.

Luke tossed aside his lightsaber in Return of the Jedi in refusal of the hatred he was being pushed to feel and the fight he was being conned into. In The Last Jedi, he found a way to use Ben’s hate for him (which he felt he deserved) into a way to help what was left of the Rebellion survive. And while he may have sparred with Kylo, he knew that he was never actually capable of hurting him.

Luke’s power on his card in Epic Duels strikes again:

“I will not fight you.”

(Note: This was totally unfiltered. I submitted the last of my schoolwork at 11:15PM and it’s now 4:30AM and I’m exhausted and sick, but I’m fairly certain I believe everything I just said.)

#SUPER SPOILERS #TLJ SPOILERS #star wars #the last jedi #luke skywalker #ben solo #kylo ren #obi wan kenobi #mace windu #yoda #leia organa #han solo #spoiler warning #i have mixed feelings about this movie #but i needed to get this out #and also need to see the movie again #STAT #sorry guys

[haggisandtoast-blog]

My Thoughts on The Last Jedi

This is going to be a long post.

I think I’ve waited long enough to make a spoiler post about The Last Jedi. Obviously if you haven’t seen it yet stop reading now.

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Ok, I enjoyed the film and am really shocked by the negativity it’s received. It’s so refreshing to have such a shakeup in terms of the “normality” of the Star Wars formula. If this film had been a retread of Empire like Force Awakens was to New Hope it would have kept the series in a stagnant cycle of fan service and repetition. That it goes against those expectations and does something new is fantastic.

Now to get into some of the complaints. I’d like to make some comparisons to elements from previous movies that people seem to have forgotten or are ignoring.

1. That’s not how the force works.

Luke and Leia’s uses of the force, how are they any less believable than say Starkiller bringing down a Star Destroyer from orbit, or hell even one film earlier when Kylo Ren holds a blaster bolt in place for what, 15 minutes while he talks to Poe and wipes out a village. It was something we had never seen done before and yet it was a new aspect of the force and I don’t remember anybody complaining about it. Kylo even questions if Rey is projecting herself, and then dismissed it as it would “tear you apart” it is literally established in the film before Luke even does it.

2. Snoke and Kylo Ren. Does nobody else remember we knew literally nothing of Palpatine before his appearance in Empire Strikes Back, and back when it first came to theaters, they didn’t have an actor yet so his hologram was actually a woman with heavy prosthetic makeup. Then we meet him proper in Return of the Jedi and still we know nothing about him save he rules the Empire. Yet nobody complained that we needed to know who he was or where he came from before Vader dropped him down a reactor shaft. And what Kylo does to Snoke is a great show of how far he’s progressed as a Dark Side figure. He did what Vader never could, he overthrew his master to take his place as ruler of the galaxy. That’s real character growth, and establishes Kylo as THE Big Bad.

3. Rey’s parentage. They weren’t Skywalkers or Kenobies or anyone really, they were nobodies. And that is great! It makes Rey that much closer to Anakin to make Kylo even more envious. Anakin was a nobody before Qui-Gon found him, he was a slave to an alien jerk, with a gift for machinery and skilled at piloting. And what is Rey? A slave to an alien jerk (for food at least), with a gift for machinery and skilled at piloting. That her path so closely mirrors Anakin’s puts her further on a hero’s journey and makes her a perfect foil to Ben Solo’s turn to darkness. She’s a hero who can truly stand on her own and doesn’t need some genetic ties to make her great.

4. Luke’s temptation by the Dark Side. It’s not the first time it’s happened to him. In Return he totally walked the fine line when he severed Vader’s hand and almost finished him, but in his hesitation he realized what he was about to do was wrong and stopped. And that’s exactly what happened with Ben, he felt the darkness Snoke had established in him and for a brief moment reacted exactly the way he did years earlier when facing Vader. But that he overcame it shows he was a stronger person. And if you want to get into speculation who’s to say Snoke didn’t have something to do with pushing Luke to that point to give Ben the incentive to turn.

5. The Knights of Ren. People saying they are meaningless seem to forget we have another movie coming. With Kylo now the Supreme Leader he’s going to need to replace those Preatorian Guards, and who better than the freaking Knights of Ren?!? They’ve been established, and he was even called out as their leader in Force Awakens, so they will most definitely be at Kylo’s side for the final film, unless JJ forgets that he even introduced them, in which case it’s on him for not using his own material.

6. The Kid. His name is Temiri Blagg. The first revealed in a new generation of force sensitive children. How does that not inspire hope and possibilities? We are seeing the beginning of the Resistance’s “Spark” light the fire in those who are oppressed and downtrodden. There were so few force users in the original trilogy, and yet the prequels established that anyone could potentially be a Jedi, it makes sense that years later there would be countless force sensitive people who don’t even realize what they can become. It pushes the franchise in a new direction and shows that there are others out there with the power to fight back. And ending on that kid staring up into the sky is a perfect reflection of where Luke started his journey all those years ago.

7. Time for the Jedi to end. Let’s face it, the Jedi in the prequels are pretty much established as arrogant and flawed. For all their talk of balance they go pretty out of their way to wipe out all that is seen as evil. The Clone Wars goes even further in showing the issues the Jedi seem too self absorbed in their hunt for the Sith. That both Luke and Yoda (freaking YODA!) acknowledge this show that it is time for something new. To just bring back the Jedi as they were would go against what Yoda talked about at the end of Revenge and would have just put the series back into a cycle of good and evil. That Rey now has the possibility to make something new, possibly something even better than the old Jedi order is fantastic, and paved the way for even more creative elements. And I don’t know if I’m the only one who noticed but it seems Rey took at least some of the old Jedi texts as they can possibly be seen in a drawer of the Millennium Falcon when Finn gets a blanket for Rose.

So you may hate it or love it, but it happened, I give Rian Johnson credit for pushing the series in a new direction, I only hope with JJ Abrams back he doesn’t try to play it safe and undo all the great new possibilities we’ve been given to expand and explore in that galaxy far far away.

#star wars #the last jedi #spoilers