WoundedDreamer
Well-Known Member
George Lucas, for whatever flaws he has, put an enormous amount of thought into those movies. It was one grand myth that explores themes of loss, letting go, anger, the moral decay of government, etc. And he also has interesting things to say about those topics. Take his explanation for Anakin's fall to the dark side. He believes people become evil because they cannot accept loss and change. They want to control the things they care about in order to avoid feeling loss. That process corrupts the individual and causes them to destroy the very thing they sought to control and protect. Lucas demonstrated this with Anakin's relationship with Padme. He ended up destroying both himself and his wife in a tortured and ultimately futile attempt to protect her. It's actually saying something pretty meaningful. We need to accept death and loss, or else we will destroy ourselves and harm those we care about.
Now, you can either agree or disagree with Lucas's philosophy. I probably have a few critiques. But either way you have to admire the thought he put into his ideas. I've discussed those films for hours with friends. Not about what alien species or speeder appears in a certain scene. No, we broach topics of life and death, tyranny and freedom, faith and despair. It's wild that a mass-media franchise could tackle these sorts of things, while also remaining entertaining for kids.
By contrast, the sequel trilogy was made haphazardly without a clear overarching vision. Indeed, it almost feels like competing visions. Rey's whole arc in the Last Jedi was accepting that she was a nobody and that she came from nowhere. She has to accept that fact, and realize it's okay. The film ends with the idea that the force (I think in this case like a metaphor for positive change or maybe the value of a person) resides in everyone and great people can emerge from anywhere. This is not an entirely alien concept to Star Wars, so fine. The next film we find out the reason she's powerful is because her grandpa was Palpatine. It undercuts The Last Jedi's entire arc. As a collective work, it's not as compelling or consistent.
I think people pick up on this quality difference. One of the worst Disney offenses was the transformation of the force. In case someone was wondering, a balance between light and dark is not the ideal. One can only draw power from the light side or the dark side. One cannot be both evil and good simultaneously. That's not what George meant by "balance of the force." Balance means the elimination of evil. Obviously. It's bizarre how Disney can't figure this out.
