Now that I have a few hours to think about it after watching Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I have decided that I’m a fan of Star Wars – the new arc, at least.
Was I not, before this? Well, I like the old movies in the franchise. I watched them multiple times, and wished that lightsabers and Jedis were real. But I don’t feel as strongly about the characters as, say, the characters in the Avengers. Heck, I love the characters in Legends of Tomorrow way more.
I just really, really like space adventures. I love Star Trek in the same way, and there is a reason that my favourite season of Power Rangers when I was young was Power Rangers In Space.
But was I fan of Star Wars in particular? At a recent Star Wars Day celebration in the office (yes, my office is cool that way), there was a Star Wars trivia and I realised I couldn’t answer even one of those, and I didn’t quite care enough to find out who won this battle on that planet. Whatever.
The Last Jedi though, it blew me away, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to love it so much.
I love the tight, edge-of-your-seat plot; I am pleasantly surprised that despite the full cast, none of the major characters were flat, they were all nuanced and fleshed out and flawed (they even made mistakes that almost brought their own downfall! How refreshing); I was caught off-guard by the funny moments, of which there is a surprising number; and wow, was the climax epic and completely unexpected. It is quite hard to be surprising in a movie universe that has 7 instalments before this, and each with their own epic battles using lightsabers and ships. But I did not see the epic twist coming.
And all the juicy themes – letting go of the past, keeping hope, choice and circumstance, etc. I can’t analyse all these well enough, so I will direct you to this review that basically sums up how I feel (spoiler alert!): Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a near-perfect reinvention of the franchise.
What made me a fan, though, is the characters. I love that there was no prophesied chosen one, and that the characters become heroes because they are trying to do the right thing. I love that Rey makes her own choices and fights hard. I love that Poe thinks outside the box and yet was also human enough to make a (huge) misjudgement. I love that Admiral Holdo was not at all what she seems but was heroic all the same.
I love, love, love Rose Tico. As I wasn’t following every news release, I didn’t know that there was going to be an Asian female character being so central to the plot. She wasn’t at all what you’d expect, but she is smart, kind of silly, but heroic and wise.
(Rose and Finn. Btw, Rose works in maintenance)
The fact that the cast is diverse has apparently gotten some backlash among some circles though. I love the fact that the leading character is Rey, a female, but I wasn’t as sensitive to it because it seems like a sign of the times. Recent – and this is talking about recent 5+ years – movies and shows have had strong female characters and casts that were not majority white dudes. There were the Hunger Games franchise, Wonder Woman, Jessica Jones in Defenders, and certainly Sarah Lance in Legends of Tomorrow, among others. (You can probably tell that I’m a superhero shows junkie; these are the examples I know, but I’ve read about similar trends outside of this genre.) I was perhaps unconsciously expecting a diverse cast already. But knowing that it can incite such a strong reaction makes me all the more appreciative that the cast is what it is in The Last Jedi.
But no matter what kind of characters they are, I love the journey they go through in the movie. To squeeze all those character stories, and for a large number of characters, into a tight plot that basically spans out within hours or days is amazing. I know I will rewatch this, and when I write my own stories this will be one of the examples I look to.
To me, Star Wars was about heroes and idols; ‘chosen ones’ in galaxies far, far away that were easy to fantasise about but hard to relate to. But with Rey and Finn and Rose and Poe, I see stories about normal people dragged into things bigger than themselves and trying their best to do the right thing.
This, I can relate to. I’m a fan now. And I will happily trade my Darth Vader stuffed toy for a Rose Tico figurine if any one of you have it, just saying.
I will leave you with my favourite quote from the movie, by Rose:
“This is how you win, silly. Not by destroying what you hate, but by saving what you love.”
Between Worlds 