What do you like about the Prequels?

The nature and origin of the Jedi Order was to fight the Dark Side and evil. Rigidity is just as much a conscious decision as flexibility is. That is the flaw that led to their downfall. The story may be complicated, but the lesson is simple. Learn from your mistakes. Adapting your way of doing something is good as long as you do so to maintain the premise of your mission. Arrogance is bad...

So, maybe their strict beliefs and adherence to Doctorine were their Way, but that's not inherently a flaw. Their unwillingness to change wasn't in their nature, it was a choice driven by arrogance.

 

Awhile back, I remember people trying to get the Catholic church to allow priests to marry, and one of their arguments was that they often had to do sad, or depressing things as part of their job, and having someone to talk to would be a help. Looking back at ROTS I find myself thinking of Anakin's torment regarding his wife's fate...we all need someone to listen to us now and again.
@MBWilson....oh yes, I am, although maybe the only person here!

 

The Catholic church ain't exactly a vanished order by the way.

 

Tell me about it...

 

Drastically diminished, though. Choking on their own rigidity and arrogance.

 

Actually it's far bigger than it was pre reformation and still one of the fastest growing religions if I'm not mistaken.

It's fair to say its political influence in Europe never recovered since the 16th century. And many would say that it was just replaced by different forms of tyranny in the vacuums left by it. And in some cases the same tyranny just with a different allegiance.

It is true that they have a shortage of priests. I think that more than an exodus or shrinkage of devotees would prompt serious reform in the area of who can or can't be a priest. Unless Africa and Asia can keep supplementing homegrown ordainees.

It's worthwhile discussing the shared foibles and tensions. But ultimately the comparison is sunk by the fact that the enemies of the Jedi exploited their relationship with their own dogma and used it against them. Which doesn't have any correlation with the decline of the Roman Church in its former strongholds. It was certain charlatans and corrupted bishops abusing the system of indulgences (and the wealth of the Church in general ) that brought it down.

A better example of that which could be analogous with Star Wars, but not in the way you might think, is in the film Silence by Martin Scorsese. In it, the jesuit (hmm? ) priests trying to protect the reputation of their former mentor, rumoured to have apostatized in his mission to Japan, experience terrible suffering. But, the converts they make are treated far far worse. Thus the priests are bestowed the greatest honour imaginable of being the creators of martyrs and to become martyrs themselves, just like their God, Jesus. It might not seem applicable at first. But if you watch it (and I recommend you do with caution as it is an extremely harrowing experience) you should observe ideas about faith, dogma, vanity and humility that are more recognisable and profound than just the "no attachments" tenet that is on the surface of the prequel films.

 

Yep. Exactly the point in the context of what I was saying.

 

That doesn't really mean that it's choking though. It won't let itself whither. Latin was dropped. Facing the altar instead of the congregation was dropped. Excommunication for divorce was dropped. And so on. Not before they were due of course. But in the interest of holding on to those billions, it is surely on a matter of time.

 

Fair enough. I'm well past the point in my life to do a deep dive on Catholicism or Priesthood. Been there, done that, got the fear of Nuns and plastic rulers to prove it. It was just a semi-valid comparison that I felt comfortable making in the broad context that was intended.

That, and the Pope kinda looks like Yoda.
Ba-dum-tssss...

 

You're not wrong. After all, George's anthropology background pulls in all sorts of religious analogies. There's enough to go around.

I really do recommend Silence. It's got Neeson and Driver in it for a start. And Garfield seems like a natural for a good part in a future movie. Perhaps a feature length Andor-ian project.

 

Ironically, Adam Driver plays a priest in Silence, 2016 historical film. Great Film btw, Driver was good in that film as well. Liam Neesom is also in the film, who played Qui-Gon Jinn in TPM.

I was an Alter boy when I attended Catholic school, coincidentally...

I believe OB1 would have become an apostate for Satine rather than marry her secretly like Anakin did with Padme.

 

It's an incredible film.

 

It is? I had assumed that the nature of the Jedi Order was for its members to study and find spiritual fulfillment through the Force. Isn't it supposed to be a religious order?

 

I've never seen it, as I'm a depressant and it's apparently very sad, but I was shocked how much weight Driver lost for it...especially comparing him there to Darth Topless....

 

It’s probably wise not to risk making yourself upset by it. It’s an upsetting film. A great one. But it is just a film after all. And not worth voluntarily jepoardising your peace of mind for.

 

I know...problem is my depression is connected to autism, which is in all likelihood one of the reasons why SW, at the end of the day just a film franchise, meant so much to me. And why TROS had such a negative effect on me.
Okay...not mentioning that on this thread again.

 

Rewatching the prequels has given me even more appreciation for George Lucas.

Lucas is a master of pacing. His movies start out a little slower and take a moment to establish the stakes. This makes the build up to the climax super exciting. The OT and PT both demonstrate this very well.

The pacing of the ST is all over the place. It seems like JJ just wants to jump into as much action as possible - which sounds like it would be exciting, but at a certain point, the excitement starts to get diluted instead of increasing. It’s hard to even care about characters or planets because JJ never gave us a chance to understand their importance, and at least for me, JJ’s movies don’t really succeed at building tension at all.

TLJ does achieve a little bit of tension for me, but it is still nowhere near what GL did, and that movie has some significant other issues.

 

If Kenobi hadn't been such a weakling, the Sequels could have been centered on HIS offspring and not Palpatines.