Failure: The theme of The Last Jedi ...

The Last Jedi the more I think about it is really one of the best crafted Star Wars films. Every character grows so much in this film. Poe makes a ton of mistakes over the course of the film, but finally learns to be a leader in the end. Finn has finally learned what he's fight for through his adventure with Rose. Luke has overcome his failure and re-embraced the legend. Rey has closed the door on Ben and embraced the future over the past.

 

Really, ESB is the movie that taught me failure has to happen to heroes or else you would get no growth.

TLJ is just that for the modern times.

 

I find it so strange how many don't like Rey are the same ones who are mad Luke failed and had to win again....the irony....

 

my granfather was involved with Dunkirk I was and I am very proud of him. It's a shame someone like Finn could not have had a story line like his. It was kind of similar but my granfather's story was useful lol.

 

It's possible, but difficult to consider given Rey's background, numerous plot holes with some showing that the FO could have finished off the rebels easily, and that Luke could have manipulated Kylo easily.

 

JJ buzz word for TFA - delightful. It sure was

RJ buzz word for TLJ - failure. It sure was.

 

This does not strike me as something new. There seemed to have been a similar theme in both "The Empire Strikes Back" and the Prequel Trilogy - especially "Revenge of the Sith".

 

Honestly, I think this is a message that should be more utilized these days. We all fail. It can have bad consequences, but failure itself isn't bad. It's something that is necessary to grow and learn.

Sure, as @CTrent29 pointed out, the message isn't anything new to Star Wars, but I liked the way it was used in this film. Luke runs away after his failure and fears failing again (not too different from his old man tbh) with the training of Rey. To me, this is a very applicable example. In our schools, workplaces, lives, we've all been in the situation where we fail and fear to do it again, just like Luke in TLJ. But as Yoda reminds him and us, failure is the best teacher, as long as we learn from our mistakes, we'll be less likely to fail next time.

As a mirror to Luke, Kylo makes really bad decisions. Instead of learning from the mistakes of his past, he further distances himself from them. This really reminds me of Simba's arc from The Lion King. Where Luke (and Simba) grow from embracing his past: both his successes and mistakes, Ben Solo only hurts himself more from "letting the past die."

Poe fails the Resistance by unintentionally leading it to its near-demise on Crait, from which he learns the values of patience, very similar to Luke in ESB. Patience is a timeless virtue, which is another great message.

Pretty much all of the characters in the movie failed at one point or another. Their failures are what makes their characters progress, for better or for worse.

 

I don't necessarily see failure as the main theme. It's certainly a lesson for our characters, mainly Luke and Poe (Poe being a stand-in for Leia in a certain respect).

The main theme is examining our myths and legends. They can be a burden but also a strength. Luke is burdened by the truth of the Jedi, as opposed to the legend that Rey sees when she seeks out Luke. Ben is similarly burdened by the past because, despite wanting to burn it down, he can't escape it and that hatred and rage defines him. Remember what Lor San Tekka tells him when we meet Kylo Ren - "you can't deny the truth". But Kylo sees it as a burden to be burned or used to his own selfish devices, but it has only truly benefited Snoke and the F.O. Of course, Kylo doesn't learn that, despite his father telling him that in TFA. One could certainly say that Kylo doesn't learn from the past, he's just reactionary against it.

Luke is simiarly burdened by the legends of the Jedi, until he's convinced that despite the legacy of failure, he still has a role to play, and he becomes the new legend at the end of the film - taking on the F.O., saving the Resistance, and inspiring kids to tell that story. That's a beautiful end to Luke Skywalker.

Rey seeks out the legend, wanting to live it herself. But in the end, she takes what she needs from it, and will forge her own legacy with the Resistance, including the understanding of failure - and beyond any need for romance, it's telling that Poe is the one to greet her, he's the other 'new' character that goes through his own difficulty with understanding what a 'hero' really is. Sure, it could be written in the history books that he helped destroyed a dreadnaught and set up a spy mission to escape the F.O., but those will be footnotes in the legend of the Resistance - as in: Leia didn't have to blow anything up, she's Leia Organa, Hero of the Rebel Alliance. She's a legend in our eyes because of who she is, not what she does. George Washington rarely won a battle, but our understanding of his leadership in camp and in office is why naturalization exams still ask: "Who is the father of our country?", and he's the answer despite not writing the Constitution - that's not to minimize Trenton (lucky the Germans got drunk the night before) Yorktown (Rebels ran a very successful spy operation), or Monmouth (random Prussian colonel - pretty powerful legend considering we might not know his real name even today - trained the troops at Valley Forge to prepare for more traditional combat with the Redcoats).

Even Finn has to understand the positive value of myth and legend. Rose treats him like a legend, but that doesn't get Finn anywhere except tased. lol. And when Finn does choose a side, he forgets why he's a legend in the first place. In TFA, he was never 'Rebel Scum', he just acted out of love for his friend, Rey. Ironically, that put him in the position to be a legend in the eyes of other Resistance fighters. It seems, and I'm just understanding this now, that Rose, while not conscious of that irony, understands that. That's why it wasn't worth smashing Canto Bight to bits until she releases the fathier: "Now it's worth it."

So the theme is about the worth and power of myths and legends. Are they to be obsessed about what a proton torpedo is and why only that could be used to blow up the Death Star? Or is to understand the lesson that Luke Skywalker learns in that Death Star trench being chased by the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy? Perhaps it's to 'let go' of reliance on machines like a targeting computer and believe in oneself and ones' friends that can bail you out of tough spots? That can be a lot more important than how the Death Star moves around or how it's gravity is generated at it's equator vs. at other latitudes on the space station (didn't anybody else wonder this for years?).

 

I thoroughly enjoyed that theme.

 

The one thing I knew after watching TFA was that the ST was going to slowly but surely "kill the past". And I was fine with that. I didn't want to see old heroes running around like they were 30 years younger.

The Empire became the First Order. The Rebellion became the Resistance. Maz became the new Yoda. BB-8 was the new RD-D2. No one ever called Snoke or Kylo a Sith. Tattooine became Jakku. Kylo was the new Darth Vader. Rey was the new Luke... It was obvious what was going on, and I had no problem with any of it.

Han died, and I assumed that by the end of Episode 9 Luke and Leia would be gone as well. Maybe even Chewy, C-3PO, and R2-D2. As it stands now, R2 is an afterthought, and 3PO isn't too far behind. And I have no problem with any of this either.

The ST is a transitional trilogy. Disney has to move on from the "baggage" of the OT and PT, so that they can take the franchise in the direction they want without having to follow the "rules" (aka canon) of the previous films. For example - They had to do away with Siths, because they didn't want to be limited by the rule of 2. (That's why you have the Knights Of Ren out there somewhere.) So when I heard the title of Episode 8 was The Last Jedi, I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. Luke was gonna die. And I was ok with that too.

So with all that being said, the idea of failure being the theme of this movie was a good one. But it was handled poorly.

Ending the Jedi would've been a good idea and would've justified. But the way Luke handled it, and explained it was sloppy, lazy, and out of character.
He kind of glossed over the reasons why. His monologue should've been more detailed. It should've been almost like a laundry list of Jedi failures, and
an explanation as to why he was no match for Snoke & Kylo. (Which would also explain why both Yoda and Obi Wan hid from Vader and Sidious.)

FAILURE - Here's why the Jedi why they have failed and why they need to end:
*The Dark Side IS more powerful - Sidious hid in plain sight from ALL the Jedi.
*The Jedi are weak - Just 2 Sith wiped out an entire army of Jedi.
*The Jedi are lousy teachers - They lost 2 of their most promising "up & comers" (Anakin Skywalker and Ben Solo) to the Dark Side.
*The Jedi are cowards - Yoda & Obi Wan ran and hid from Sidious and Vader, and Luke ran and hid from Snoke & Kylo.
*Jedi aren't allowed to love - This played a major role in Anakin's fall to the Dark Side.
*The Jedi are too set in their ways - Yoda didn't want to train Luke (at first) because he was "too old". Luke didn't want to train Rey (at first) either.

LESSONS/REVELATIONS - Here's what Luke learns, and how he's not going to make the same mistakes he and other Jedi had made in the past:
*The Jedi don't own the Force 1 - In realizing this, they are able to feel the Force it it's entirety. The good and the bad that had previously hidden from them.
*The Jedi don't own the Force 2 - The Force flows through every living thing. Not just Jedi. Not just Sith. Not those with high midichlorian counts. The Force is available to anyone who wishes to understand it and tap into it. However, some are more Force sensitive than others, and results may vary. (Kind like singing. Anyone can sing. But not everyone sounds good when they do it.)
*Love is more powerful than hate. Dark Side allows hate to fuel their power. But the Jedi have refused to tap into the equally powerful counterbalance. Had Anakin been free to love Padme, his fall to the Dark Side could've been avoided. Perhaps the same could be said of Ben Solo, if Luke could've shown him the love he craved. And it was Anakin's love for Luke that gave him the strength to destroy the Emperor.

REDEMPTION -
After these revelations, Luke embraces the opportunity to teach Rey the ways of the Force, but leaves the old rules of the Jedi behind. Then, Luke physically confronts (insert bad guy here - Snoke, Kylo, First Order) to save the ones he loves (Leia, Rey, Chewy, The Resistance) even if he has to sacrifice himself to do it. Which he does. He goes out in a blaze of glory, saving the ones he loves, and sacrificing himself for the greater good.

Unfortunately, the way they handled it was shallow and flimsy. Instead of sending the "Last Jedi" out on a high note, they sent him/them off (but not really) as incompetent cowards. Luke never left the island. He sat on a rock pretending to be somewhere he wasn't. Which killed him anyway. Couldn't he have at least shown-up in person and pulled a vanishing act like Obi Wan?

Never mind that the title of the film is actually a lie. Sure, Luke was the last Jedi. But not really, since he says he's not. And there's that whole Rey character who keeps popping up

If you've read through all of that, even if you disagree with me, thank you.

 

Very powerful theme considering failure results from conflict, and conflict is what drives a story forward. Getting down to the bare bones of not just TLJ, but stories in general. And it was done so beautifully. Yoda's speech really reverberates for me.

 

TJL... theme Failure... ironically appropriate.

 

I didn't. I probably would have . . . if the writing had been better.