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BloodBoal

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    SPOILER TALK - The Last Jedi (open spoilers allowed!!!)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Will said:

    Some thoughts on Luke, pacifism, and moral ambiguity:

     

    I'm starting to come around to Luke's character arc a little more, although it still feels "off." I've been trying to think about the film in a pacifist light, and in that sense perhaps we can take something positive away from Luke: As best I can remember, he stays away from violence in this film. He has stayed on his island, scarred from his encounter with Kylo -- and even when he "leaves," he is really still on the island, able to buy time for the Resistance without hurting anyone or engaging in actual combat. He dodges Kylo rather than truly fighting him. Perhaps his grouchy demeanor towards Rey can be explained away by him forcing himself to remain on the island and not cause violence no matter what (as he tells R2, he feels that pull to come back, but he knows he can't). That would also explain his telling Rey about the balance of the Force, and how the Force is not a "power" (not to mention disparaging the old Jedi) -- but otherwise refusing to train her. Perhaps he doesn't want her to become powerful because he knows that will bring violence.

     

    This pacifist theme also lines up with Rose's dark realization on Canto Bight that the rich people are making money as weapons dealers, as well as D.J.'s disinterested demeanor ("Don't join," "it's all a machine," etc.)

     

    In this light, perhaps Rian was indeed brave to make that choice, since many fans (although not really me) surely wanted to see Luke and others going on killing sprees again. 

     

    That said, there are serious problems with this interpretation. First, did Luke really have to be so grumpy? If Johnson wanted to depict pacifism in a positive light, surely he would have made Luke calm and joyful, not sad and angry. Luke is depicted as more of an embittered coward than a peaceful conscientious objector (although perhaps the line between those two is thin?) 

     

    Second, while Luke may be less violent here than in past outings, it cannot be denied that the film as a whole celebrates violence, like Star Wars in general. Rose and Finn talk about sticking it to the rich people with violence, Rey kills a bunch of Praetorian Guards, the Resistance murders hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of First Order troops, etc. We are told, as usual, that violence is okay so long as it is for the right reasons. Luke seems disillusioned with the Jedi, perhaps in part because of their violence, but that is never really made explicit. Indeed, Luke just seems to hate life in general, and doesn't seem to have principled reasons for his stay on the island (e.g. learning about the Force). There's so much Jedi lore and history on that island, yet we hear of virtually none of it. 

     

    Indeed, Luke discusses balance and the Force not being a light-dark dichotomy (e.g. how the Jedi ending won't end the Force), but we needed to hear more. It should have been like Bendu from Rebels. I suppose it is possible that Johnson was trying to go as far as he could with the pacifist theme, but kept enough violence and simple plot mechanics to please fans and keep the story interesting. Who knows. That said, as you can tell it is taking a bit of a strain to put together this interpretation that can justify Luke's actions as being something consistent with the light side of the Force. 

     

    Apparently Rey took the Jedi texts with her before the tree was burned, so perhaps we'll hear more in Episode IX. Perhaps we'll then get a posthumous redeeming and justification of Luke (similar to that of Snape in Potter). Or at least something interesting about the Force. 

     

    I suppose I should at least be glad that Luke didn't become some super-powerful "gray Jedi" who was even more violent than regular Jedi. Perhaps that was the only other acceptable way to go, so I should be glad Johnson chose the more peaceful, "fractured" light side way. 

     

    Johnson touches on moral ambiguity and balance, but it's hard to say what, if anything, he's saying about the Force. The only thing we can say for sure if that he wishes to depict Luke as a broken man who finds "peace and purpose" by the end of the story. Incidentally, one could also read Luke's arc as an expression of the greatness of war (Luke is torn apart emotionally in solitude, but then goes into a war zone and finds "peace and purpose"). Furthermore, he treats Kylo as beyond redemption, and acts rather cocky, which seems fundamentally inconsistent with the pure Jedi way. 

     

    Perhaps, even if all Johnson wanted to do was challenge Luke's character (which he did to most characters, for better or worse), there is still some value in that, in seeing that even our heroes can be broken men. Still, we seem to see broken men and cynical humor in a lot of media these days. That's not really anything all that interesting. More unusual is pure, unbridled hope and sincerity. Whatever else it may have lacked, TFA felt like it had that. 

     

    EDIT: 

     

    Just saw this interview with Johnson on the final scene - http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/18/the-last-jedi-spoiler-rian-johnson-ending-explained/2/:

     

    “It’s mostly about Luke,” he said. “To me, it shows that the act Luke Skywalker did, of deciding to take on this mantle of ‘the legend,’ after he had decided the galaxy was better off with, had farther reaching consequences than saving 20 people in a cave.”

     

    Several times in the movie, characters mention “the spark” that will light the fire that burns down the First Order. While completing the task is now the job of the new heroes, it turns out that spark was our old friend Luke.

     

    “Now the Legend of Luke Skywalker is spreading. Hope is reignited in the galaxy,” Johnson said.

     

    Needless to say, the final scene makes a pacifist interpretation all the more difficult because it depicts children idolizing violence and wanting to do it themselves. Indeed, "burning down the First Order" is quite a violent act. 

     

    Thus I think it really is impossible to see the Luke from the first half of the film in a positive light no matter what view you take. The second depends on your particular beliefs, methinks. 

     

    I feel like Johnson did a lot of things here just to be surprising, but didn't really flesh out why things were happening and the characters' deeper motivations. 

     

     

    THE LAST JEDI - For Your Consideration (FYC) Album

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Jay said:

    Well, I would suggest that since if you plug any random characters after the base URL you get an empty page like this:

     

    http://www.waltdisneystudiosawards.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi/music

    http://www.waltdisneystudiosawards.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi/zxvczxvc

    http://www.waltdisneystudiosawards.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi/sadfsafcdsacwacgbcxvbcx

     

    BUT if you use "score" you get a different page:

     

    http://www.waltdisneystudiosawards.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi/score

     

    Is a good indication that a page is coming, its just not live yet.

     

    There has been an uploading... Have you felt it?

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