#star wars fans need to move on from good and bad as dichotomies and think about actions and intent

[helbrides]

political thriller where padme and dooku are besties/toxic mentor-mentee/weird grandpa-adopted kid in a leo mcgarry + josh lyman style. padme accepts dooku’s offer in a sudden move because she’s sick of the chancellor and finds anakin fascinating but unnerving. dooku is all like “oh my evil plan is working” but they both slowly realize that they’re fucked once dooku and padme realize the scale of palpatine’s ambitions. dooku as a way for padme to express rebellion against the chancellor and the failing republic by sneaking secrets and helping the CIS. padme as a way for dooku to have a second chance and the hopefulness of the youth. leftist infighting. kotor influences and the understanding of the failures of the jedi in being tied so intimately w the senate. “we will watch your career with great interest.” is this anything???

[myhahnestopinion]

THE AARONS 2020 - Best TV Show

It was prime time for TV in 2020, with many more free hours to fill. I managed to get through a lot of my backlog in fact, finally getting around to watching shows like The Strain. It’s a show about a deadly disease that tears society apart because a lot of arrogant people think they are exempt from quarantining. The disease turns people into vampires, so it’s technically escapism. Here are the Aarons for Best TV Show: 

#10. The Plot Against America (Miniseries) - HBO

It’s not TV, it’s not HBO, it’s real life. The Wire-creator David Simon’s penchant for illustrating the human fallout of institutional failures made him a perfect collaborator for HBO’s Plot Against America, an adaptation of Phillip Roth’s alternate-history novel. Following a Jewish family in New Jersey navigating the increasingly-fascist America of a hypothetical Charles Lindbergh administration, the show is a terrifying warning of what happens when hatred and conspiracy theories are allowed to accumulate political force. Notably, while the book ends with history back on the right track, the closing moments here are left ambiguous. The show was a limited series, but in many ways, The Plot Against America is ongoing.

#9. Mrs. America (Miniseries) - FX

Its interests are married to The Plot Against America, but Mrs. America traces the country’s rising extremism from a more historically accurate perspective. The miniseries centers on political activists in the 1970s on opposing sides of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, but its dialogue isn’t a strict dichotomy. The episodic format is expertly utilized to build out intersectional ideas from the likes of Rose Byrne’s Gloria Steinem, Uzo Aduba’s Shirley Crisholm, and Margo Martindale’s Bella Abzug, detailing the difficulties in building a diverse coalition, and the dangers of a single-minded one. Drawing parallels to current debates, its compelling centerpiece is how conservative Phylis Shafley (Cate Blanchett) successfully defeats the Amendment; voting against your own self-interests, Mrs. America says, is as American as apple pie.

#8. The Outsider (Miniseries) - HBO

Societal collapse comes from within in the two shows mentioned above, but the threat in HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2018 novel is decidedly an “other.” King clearly had his mind on modern manipulations of truth when crafting the ingenious premise: a man is arrested for the murder of two young boys due to irrefutable DNA evidence, only to provide an air-tight alibi for the crime. To match King’s procedural prose, HBO brought on The Night Of’s David Price, who layers the original work with meticulous mysteries. The Outsider has all the pulpy jolts expected of the author, but the show’s true horror lies in its overbearing grief, best brought to life by Ben Mendelsohn’s Detective Anderson. To say more would be to spoil its secrets; you’ll want to be on the inside.

#7. Perry Mason (Season 1) - HBO

Just like the famous fictional attorney, HBO can’t seem to lose, with Perry Mason marking its third entry on this list. The reimagining of the long running court drama actually takes place before the character’s illustrious law career; here he’s a down-on-his-luck private eye caught up in a scandalous child kidnapping case. The result’s a gangbusters production of old-fashioned moody noir: political corruption, femme fatales, and a more morally-complicated Mason, as played by The Americans’ Matthew Rhys. The lavish period details and character-actor cast, including Shea Whigham, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Maslany, will help draw viewers in, but, I’ll confess, I was already hooked by the season’s chilling opening moments.

#6. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Season 1) - NBC

Dour seasons have dominated this list thus far, but Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist sings a different tune. It’s a lovably oddball premise: an accident during an MRI causes a young woman, played by Jane Levy, to hear other people’s thoughts in the form of popular music. It’s all karaoke, but, emphasized by the presence of Skylar Astin, a worthy inheritor to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s musical-comedy crown. The tracklist, workplace antics, and love-triangle drama all exist in a comfortingly familiar network TV realm, but the show takes additional steps for inclusion with stories highlighting Zoey’s genderfluid neighbor (Alex Newell) and an American Sign Language performance of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” During a year in need of shuffling off stress, there was no better time to queue up Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.

#5. What We Do in The Shadows (Season 2) - FX

FX’s expansion of the mockumentary feature film of the same name lit up some of the darker corners of its universe in the show’s second season, transforming mundane-seeming material into something completely, uniquely batty. Each creature of Shadows took their turn in the spotlight this season, from a middle-management promotion gifting energy-vampire Colin Robinson unlimited supernatural power, to undead Nadja befriending a doll possessed by her own ghost, to Matt Berry’s Lazlo forging a small-town persona as a bartender/volleyball coach to escape a vengeful Mark Hamill. As always, it was the sympathetic Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), a Van Helsing descendent desperate to become a vampire, who gave the show its emotional stakes, and the vampires within a different kind altogether.

#4. Stargirl (Season 1) - DC Universe

Shadows was lit, but few things burned brighter this year than Stargirl (perhaps too brightly for the flamed-out DC Universe). The superhero drama is one of several that will outlive its original streaming service - fitting, given its obsession with legacy. Based on a character created by DC Comics stalwart Geoff Johns after the tragic loss of his sister, the show finds a young girl taking on the mantle of a fallen hero after moving to a town run in secret by supervillains. With sprightly fight choreography and an unabashed embrace of its comic book lore, Stargirl outshines the overabundance of small-screen superheroes out there. Its highlight is the bright performance of lead Brec Bassinger; put simply, she’s a star, girl.

#3. BoJack Horseman (Season 6b) - Netflix

Throughout its run, BoJack Horseman garnered acclaim for routinely delivering unexpected pathos, and the final season kept it on that track until the end. ...Get it, because horses run on tracks? The unexpected porter of television’s legacy of antiheroes ended in much the same vein as its sister shows - with consequences finally catching up with its protagonist. No amount of fanciful animal puns could soften that painful catharsis, as the show finally trampled its tricky web of abuse through bittersweet means. The series closed out with an especially thoughtful scene, the kind viewers who looked past the wonky pilot years ago were regularly blessed with; to the very end, BoJack, you were a gift, horse.

#2. Better Call Saul (Season 5) - AMC

As good as Bad ever was and better than ever before, the fifth season of AMC’s spin-off completely upended the world of its eponymous lawyer while bringing Vince Gilligan’s universe one step away from full-circle. Saul Goodman found himself in way over his head, and viewers found themselves way on the edge of their seats, as his first foray into “criminal” lawyering swiftly dovetailed with an escalating drug war. Despite the emotional distress of watching fan-favorite character Kim Wexler placed in perilous situations, there are no objections to be had with the drama’s continued masterful storytelling. Ramping up the slow-burn storytelling, season five saw Kim and Saul’s relationship develop in rich and unexpected ways, while still keeping their final fates unresolved. Fans are thus waiting with bated breath for the show’s final call next year. 

#1. The Great (Season 1) - Hulu

Who could be the best but The Great? There was a minor television controversy this year over Netflix marketing The Crown as a historical drama despite its fictional interpretation of events; The Great has no such pretentions. An asterix adorns every title card of the show, letting viewers know that its take on Catherine the Great’s coup against Emperor Peter III of Russia is only “an occasionally true story.” The show indeed is not great for education, but it’s the most entertaining television of the year, locking stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult in a battle of wits and a fight for the country’s soul under the watch of The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara. The uproarious comedy slyly collates leadership based in cruelty with leadership based in goodwill in the background of its quite bawdy escapades, a subtle bit of relevant political maneuvering that lets it successfully claim the crown this year.

NEXT UP: THE 2020 AARONS FOR BEST TV EPISODE!

[trashqueenkyloren]

Longass Meta on Kylo Ren’s Redemption Arc/Rey and Kylo

SO, to begin, this is something I’ve wanted to write literally since Dec 2015 but the fear of being hated on has been so strong that I’ve just recently felt confident enough to post it and I really just want this out there before The Last Jedi comes out so I can compare although it’s so close to the release date this is all probably irrelevant now oh well

So I went into The Force Awakens basically as a blank slate (I’ll explain later) and I really just want to point out a few thoughts I had while watching it the first time that point to a potential Kylo Ren Redemption arc and the possibility of Rey and Kylo at least teaming up (this is mostly just my opinion, feel free to disagree!)

(way more under the cut guys, read on if you like!)

To begin, let me explain a little bit about myself

PART 1: BACKGROUND

When I went to go see TFA in theaters, I knew almost nothing about Star Wars. I had seen the originals like once when I was like 5 and had not really gotten into it. In fact all I knew was that 

1) The force and the light/dark side are a thing

2) Darth Vader is Luke’s father

3) Han is Leia’s love interest and Luke is her brother (and even this I had to ask my friend to clarify/make sure I had it right)

and obviously I knew the names of yoda and r2d2 and other really basic knowledge, you get the idea

The Force Awakens is what made me become a Star Wars fan (don’t worry, I have since then made up for my mistakes by rewatching all the movies and such)

but anyway what this means is 

I went into TFA as basically a blank slate, meaning I had no biased Star Wars thoughts to cloud my judgement 

I saw what the filmmakers wanted me to see

In addition, being a person who currently studies Literature, Psychology, and Film Studies at college (yeah, yeah, I fit the stereotype, kill me), if there is something I know well it’s Storytelling 

The only things I really knew about TFA before going into it were that 

 1) It was a sequel to the originals 

 2) Rey and Finn are the main characters (had seen pictures and was already lowkey shipping FinnRey) 

 3) The bad guy was some masked dude

That's it. I wasn't a huge fan so I hadn't bothered to look up anything else about the movie and hadn't seen any spoilers. But enough about me .

PART 2: THE CHARACTER OF KYLO REN

Now, while viewing TFA, one thing that struck me and captivated me in a way that no other Star Wars movie had was the character of Kylo Ren. I had definitely not expected to like this character at all. Two things changed this for me

1) The reveal that he is the son of Han and Leia

Never before (in the movies) had Star Wars had a character that was so clearly torn between the two sides. Him being the son of Han Solo and Leia gave him a legacy and a reason for us to want him to be good. We want Han and Leia to get the happiness they deserve. Honestly, if you don’t want a Kylo to be redeemed just think about poor Leia losing her son and still having hope for him (Do it for Leia!!) .

2) His feeling the pull to the light

This scene surprised me because the fact that Kylo is talking to an old helmet about his inner feelings means that 

a) he has no one to confide in so he is withholding a lot of strong mixed emotions and feelings, which is unhealthy

b) he is tempted by the light side while being on the dark, which is very, very different from most villains, who (it seems to me) disregard the light completely. Which means despite wanting desperately to be bad he can’t even do it because of an inborn light side like a teenager going through a rebellious phase

and c) he is being honest about his call to the light because he has no reason to lie if he’s not talking to anyone, which means he really does still feel a compulsion to be good

Star Wars, being a family-friendly film saga, usually has a pretty clear dichotomy on good and evil (hence, light and dark sides). We root for the good guys, not the bad guys. It’s always been sort of a black and white morality going on, but Kylo is one of the few characters that enhances the Star Wars universe by bringing to light (heh) the potential for gray morality in an otherwise black and white world (as it is) 

He is a person that really should be on the light side because of his family and such, but because of Snoke’s constant manipulation and unfortunate upbringing he’s been struggling with the dark side his entire life. It’s really a sad thing to think about. 

Additionally

While initially hating him, I ended up feeling a great deal of sympathy for him throughout the film, so much so that I wondered why they had even made him a villain at all

He was not a weak villain like I had heard in reviews, just a conflicted one. A lot of people don’t like it when villains don’t fit perfectly into a “pure evil mustache-twirling-type”. I found Kylo infinitely more interesting because of this.

He’s no Darth Vader. But that’s the point. Both he and the audience, in a sort of meta twist, know that he’ll constantly be in the shadow of Darth Vader. So, instead, he’s younger, more volatile, more emotional, uncontrollable, unpredictable. He’s contrasted from all these villains to show how he stands out as different. He seemed to me separate from the Hux/Snoke kind of evil that didn’t have any sort of redeeming qualities at all. Evil for the sake of evil, if you will

The viewer’s sympathy for the villain and how obviously they showed his flaws and potential for good is the crucial foundation of a redemption arc

I liked him a lot as a character pretty much up until he killed Han Solo. Then, I obviously believed he was a lot more evil than he looked, although the fact that he definitely didn’t seem happier or better or more dark-side oriented in any way after this still suggested that he didn’t become completely evil 

After this, it hit me that the ONLY sure-fire way to make people absolutely hate Kylo Ren as a villain and squashing people’s complaints that he was too wishy-washy or not bad enough as a villain was to have him kill off one of the most beloved characters in Star Wars history (who also happened to be his father)

He was so obviously drawn to the light and not bad enough throughout the first half of the movie that the writers had to take a huge step in order to get him to the actual level of villain and add a lot of unlikeability

PART 3: KYLO REN AND REY

(My favorite part of the movie ^ Has been my laptop’s background wallpaper since Dec 2015. I would get a poster of it if I could)

In this section, I will describe some things I picked up both about Kylo’s characterization around Rey and their interactions between them. I think that Kylo’s actions towards Rey played a large part in getting the audience to think he was “too weak” of a villain (Something I heard in reviews a lot after watching the movie)

1) The infamous bridal carry scene

Okay my first thought when I saw this was that he was way too gentle with her. Honestly, Kylo, you need your hands to use your lightsaber and the force, so this is much you rendering yourself completely useless on unsafe territory

He could’ve slung her over his shoulder? Or passed her off to a Stormtrooper? So this struck me as very strange, to say the least. To think that he would carry her so gently. But then we see this 

Now, the importance of the combination of the bridal carry and the crossing of the threshold was not lost on me 

It reminded me a lot of a movie a had scene only a few months earlier (which I would highly recommend), Crimson Peak.

While the bridal carry itself could indicate romantic interest between the two characters (somebody already wrote a really good meta about this so I won’t go into it here) the additional crossing of the threshold is a step in the traditional “Hero’s Journey,” a set of steps in a literary work that star wars loves to rely on, where the hero’s journey begins and the hero’s life is changed

Typically, it’s the point of no return for our hero, as things change in a permanent sort of way for their journey moving forward

2) The Unmasking Scene 

I was shocked by this scene for a few reasons which I’ll go into here

a) First off, I was shocked by how youthful he looked. I was expecting a creepy looking old dude or someone with a bunch of scars on their face, but instead we get this young, handsome boy. (Yes, I find Kylo Ren attractive, but does this somehow invalidate my thinking in this meta? No. I can put aside attraction for an objective analysis.) But what I also realized is that he doesn’t need the mask to live, like Darth Vader did. He needs a mask for the entirely opposite reason, in order to make him seem intimidating. Without it he just looks like a lost child, he needs the mask in order to be taken seriously.

b) The second thing that shocked me was that this is the first installation of a trilogy and they’ve already unmasked the main villain. This speaks volumes to them wanting the audience to humanize him as early as possible. Darth Vader didn’t get unmasked until the later part of the last movie of the trilogy. If they wanted him to remain purely antagonistic, they would would have left his mask on. This means that they aren’t going to want us to view him as the one-dimensional cardboard cutout villain, they want us to view him as a human with flaws.

c) The final thing I want to touch on is that Kylo’s unmasked came directly after Rey’s quote “That’s what happens when your being hunted by a creature in a mask”. When Rey said this, my reaction in the theater was, So just take it off! And then he did. And I had really not expected him to actually take off his mask for her, as this meant he did not want her to view him as a “creature” or a “monster,” but he wanted her to see he is a human, just like her. He wanted to create empathy between them. This move, along with me noticing that Kylo was much younger and more attractive than I thought, coupled with his attempts to reassure her (tells her he doesn’t know where her friends are, “you’re my guest,” “don’t be afraid, I feel it too”) led me to believe the Kylo Ren might actually be Rey’s love interest, instead of Finn. It seemed like a unique plausible twist and it was just kind of an instinctual gut feeling that hit me. Of course, the thought of this went out the window when Kylo murdered Han, but, after reviewing the movie a couple more times, the thought kept coming back to me.

(Okay quick side note, my friend and I came across a Kylo Ren action figure for The Last Jedi that says different phrases in Barnes and Noble recently, so I pressed it, and one of the phrases is just Kylo saying “Don’t be afraid” in a gentle tone and my friend and I were laughing because what kind of villain just says “don’t be afraid” even in their action figure? That’s like, the least threatening thing, so anyways...)

3) The Final Fight 

I really, really liked the fight at the end, aesthetically it was beautiful. I really liked that neither Rey nor Kylo seemed to overpower the other, even though Kylo should’ve easily been able to overpower Rey because he’s physically stronger and has had more experience and training. 

The fact that Kylo says “It’s just us now” clearly to Rey honestly made me laugh because Finn is standing literally right there, but Kylo clearly doesn’t view him as a threat because he knows that Rey is strong with the force and therefore, she is more of a threat to him. A lot of what Kylo says can actually be applied to Rey too, which I find interesting. When he says “Han Solo can't save you,” yes he’s talking to Rey but he’s also talking about himself, as he believes Han Solo was unable to save him.Then he’s obviously not trying to flat-out kill Rey in their fight, he’s trying to get her to join him because he believes he can train her (“I can show you the ways of the Force”) which also surprised me.

It was interesting to see Kylo weakened by his wicked act, instead of strengthened as he thought. This, to me, meant that he still had the potential for light and redemption in him, given enough character development in future movies. I’m excited to see what The Last Jedi and Episode IX holds for him, and what they decide to do with his character. All I’m saying is, he has a lot of potential for a good redemption arc, as the foundation has already been laid for it.

PART 4: ENDING THOUGHTS

I think that both reylos and “antis” have a lot of valid points, but miscommunication seems to be a main problem. 

I guarantee you that literally no reylo wants Kylo Ren and Rey to make out, like, right now, as it stands with the ending of The Force Awakens that we know. They need Kylo to go through a redemption arc FIRST and there needs to be a lot of things that need to change for this to occur. If Kylo Ren didn’t threaten Rey in any way in this movie then they would not be enemies, and there would practically be no plot. Also, I’m pretty sure no one wants Rey’s story to be eclipsed by Kylo or her story to revolve around saving him. This should come about through Leia/himself. But also, love does not make a character inherently weaker.

Right now, Rey and Kylo are enemies, on opposite sides of a war. But they have a lot of potential for the “Enemies to Allies to Lovers” classic trope (with TFA as enemies, TLJ as allies, and then ep 9 as Lovers) But things must proceed in this order for this to occur. There is no skipping stages here. It is their potential for more which intrigues reylo shippers so much.

Personally, I am intrigued by their yin and yang, with one person in the dark being drawn to the light, another in the light being tempted by the dark, and I want them at least to team up (it could remain platonic) to bring balance to the force. To me, seeing this play out would be extremely satisfying, and be something unlike what Star Wars has done before.

Now, if you don’t ship reylo or don’t want Kylo Ren to be redeemed, awesome. That’s your opinion and you are free to have it. I don’t wish to start arguments or discourse, I simply wanted to vent some thoughts. This post shows my opinions, which I am also free to have. Thanks for reading about it!

[cavalier-life]

Questions Meme

@cinlat tagged me and I’m going to be lazy af and break the rules and just answer her questions because it’s nearly six am and I’m tired. 

Why didn’t I do this earlier, you ask? That’s a great question that I have no satisfactory answer for at all! (Which surprises no one)

Part of the responses are under the read-more link. I didn’t want to spam you all.

1: When you are old, what do you think children will ask you to tell stories about?

- Probably how embarrassing it was watching our country get run into the ground by an incompetent orange man-child with his stubby sexist and racist finger on the nuclear button. 

I will tell them to be silent and bring me another vodka, because I’ll be old and I don’t need to answer their questions or talk about these dark days. #the get off my lawn defense

2: What is your dream job?

- I usually make flippant answers to this but.. I always wanted to be a rider at the Vienna Riding School, and I was unutterably bitter when I discovered I couldn’t because I was a girl. By the time they decided to let women in, I was not of an ideal age to move to Europe and become a full time horsewoman at a prestigious dressage school anymore.

I’m bitter about that, too. ;)

3: Where do you get your news?

- The Root. I largely ignore everything else because most of it ignores black people, so why should I read it? Jk, I read a lot of news in different places, but I really do prefer the Root to everything else.They actually cover minority stories, for one. And at least they sometimes make me laugh despite the dystopian nightmare we’re descending rapidly into. (I’ve clearly had one.. or more.. too many glasses of wine tonight)

4: What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of?

-I have three main favorites. 

Legend

Ladyhawke

and Labyrinth. 

There’s a lot of movies that I love though and I have actually watched Dirty Dancing well over 200 separate times and I’m not even slightly ashamed to admit that. (The first 100 was a summer bet when I was about 14.)

5: What’s the best / worst practical joke that you’ve played on someone or that was played on you?

- Tbh, no one ever plays jokes on me because I am notoriously bad tempered about it and I have the longest memory imaginable. 

It’s pretty much a first class ticket to hell if you mess with me. People seem to realize that quickly. I do have a good sense of humor, but.. I don’t like to be tricked or fooled. 

6: Where are some unusual places you’ve been?

- We used to travel a lot when I was a kid. Salem Witch Museum was a favorite for me. 

I had the misfortune of staying in a truly horrible motel once in St Augustine, FL... it was a nightmare. There were flying roaches. I slept in the car and my dad got reamed out by my mom and we moved the next day to a Holiday Inn. Lol. 

I’ve been to Oregon and when I was there, no less than four random strangers on the street asked me if I was Persian. (I am not) I found that unusual. ;)

7: What’s the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten?

- I have no idea. Probably something at one of the Tex-Mex restaurants here, or some Thai food years ago. I like spicy food, but it does not like me, so I don’t indulge often, and I usually instantly regret it.

8: How did you get started in fanfiction, whether it’s reading, writing, or drawing? (I’m stealing this one from @mandojedi23 because it’s a really good question)

- I’m one of those people who just.. makes up their mind to do something and then does it. If it doesn’t work out, I try something else. 

I’ve always liked writing the in between scenes after or before a particular RP scenario for my rp characters.. I did it for years with my main Night Elf character on WoW and her RP partners. I’d been wanting to write something for my Sith Warrior on SWTOR, and so I finally started on what I planned to be a little story arc for her and joined AO3 so I could post a few chapters there and finish the story.

Now the story is like.. War & Peace in space, and I have five other works, and more in my brain waiting to be written. 

I’ve met a lot of great people from that whim to post a story (including Cinlat, and @melissagt and @tishinada and @starrealis and @salaciouscrumpet and @inyri and @tweedpawn and so many more) , and I’m really glad that I did it. Even if I never wrote another word, I’d be happy that I got to know you all. There are a lot of amazingly talented writers and artists here on Tumblr and AO3 and I’d be writing names all day if I tried to name you all, but I love your works and hope you all keep writing and arting and creating.

I especially thank Melissa, Cinlat, Tish, and Crumpet for bouncing ideas off me and with me, and helping me with plot problems when I was struggling and letting me do the same for them. Y’all the real MVPs. :)

(Disclaimer: I am in no way saying I’m never writing another word, don’t @ me)

9: What was your original fandom?  What drew you to it? (This one too)

- I don’t know if I even qualify as someone IN fandom so much as someone who is a fan. I don’t get very enmeshed in theorycrafting or headcanons or anything.. I just like a thing. 

But I was born when Star Wars was starting up, and so in a lot of ways, this really was my original fandom. At least my biggest one. I have never been a big sci-fi fan on the whole, though I do read it recreationally and watch movies about it.. I’m definitely more of a fantasy person. Elves, dragons. All that. But I love Star Wars. I love lightsabers, and the force. I love Sith. I love the Empire. I love red and black. *laughs* I love the universe, the varied worlds, the alien races. I love the dichotomy, the vastness of it all. 

I keep hoping that someday, Star Wars will love people who look like me a bit more in return. Because it’s hard to love a universe that is imagined largely without -anyone- who looks like you in it. 

(But until then, at least I have Black Panther. ;) )

10: What is your biggest obstacle when it comes to your passion/hobby?

- My immense laziness and my penchant for binge watching shows, when it comes to my writing. It derails me and makes it hard for me to concentrate. 

But as for horses and dogs, which I love down deep in my soul... what gets in my way there is simply reality. I sold my horse when we moved down here, and my husband doesn’t really want to keep horses again because of the commitment and how hard it makes travel, etc. I get it. I even agree with it. But I miss them. I miss grooming them. I miss the smell of their hair. I miss the feel of a big strong gelding under me in an extended trot, moving in a beautifully collected frame. I miss the reins, the smell of leather. I miss everything about horses, and it’s definitely a bit of a hole in me that I’ll probably never own one again. 

We want to travel, so he wants to get down to no dogs. I agreed at the time, but I don’t think that will ever -really- happen. I could see having one dog, but I don’t know if I’d ever be able to be happy with none. But that’s a conversation for another day, because I still have four. ;)

11: What are your most important rules when going on a date?

- Respect me, and be a gentleman. I don’t like poor manners, and if you touch me without my permission, you’re going to draw back a bloody stump. ;)

Tags: @evilrevan @inyri @rainofaugustsith @lumielles  (Your choice, no pressure)

[tinylamp]

The Last Jedi Review (Non-Spoiler)

I love to pick apart movies, but I’ve never really done it on this blog. So here’s my attempt at a review. TLJ has had sort of a split fan-reaction initially. I think I understand this a bit -- its probably not what people were expecting after Episode 7. Nevertheless, I still think this is a pretty great movie after giving it some thought, although it did have me worried at some points.

How are the visuals?

     Amazing. Very impressed with the construction of Johnson’s visuals, so many shots had me captivated. There were very original and unique visions seen in the direction and (without any spoilers), the way light speed was utilized in a certain scene left the theater with a palpable sense of awe. And there’s a force vision in this movie that had me on the edge of my seat. The new planets we went to were also very interesting, with one of them seeming to hearken back to the cleaner, more elegant look of the prequels (this time without all of the boring, tacky bluescreen). This is probably the best a Star Wars movie has ever looked. 

The characters?

    There’s not really a single character I didn’t like in the film. All of our returning cast seems to be in top form, and our few new additions are fun to watch. Highlights include Daisy Ridley playing an wonderful Rey, determined but still with a bit of fear for what her future holds. Mark Hamill as Luke is different from the Luke we once knew (as he should be, its been 30+ years and being a Jedi has pretty much ruined his life), yet some of the old Luke still shines through in a great performance. Kelly Marie Tran makes Rose instantly likable, a solid moral compass for the cast. Adam Driver is still expertly cast, portraying a volatile and conflicted Kylo Ren. Also porgs.

    Rey and Kylo Ren’s dynamic was one of my favorite parts of the movie. I was worried for a moment that we were entering some sort of Reylo territory, but thankfully we didn’t go that route. Instead they carry a fascinating dichotomy between them. Light and Dark, but neither fully committed to one side, with the threat of temptation looming on either side. This temptation is usually only seen on the side of the Jedi, so it’s refreshing to to see it at play on both sides.

   My problem was that they were split up for so much of the movie. I would’ve liked to see them play off each other in a group. Something shocked me at a point in this movie, and that was the fact that I realized Rey never met Poe in The Force Awakens! For some reason that never dawned on me. Anyway, I’m sure they’ll probably stick together for the final episode, and their relationships will have grown if we choose to do a time jump, which we probably will. Which brings me to the story. In this movie the story picks up right where TFA left off....

How’s the story?

     The pace of this story sort of reminds me of Lord of the Rings, or maybe a war movie. Putting the “war” in “Star Wars,” as people love to say. There are a lot of moving parts and a big ensemble of people working to improve their own weakening odds. Our main characters from TFA are mostly split up to deal with their own individual arcs. 

     Rey, of course is on Ahch-To, seeking the help of Luke Skywalker. Finn embarks on a mission with newcomer Rose to save the Resistance from an impending threat. With the Resistance on its last legs, Poe deals with a developing situation back on their ship. The weakest of these storylines is probably Finn’s. It’s main purpose seems to be character building, but I think maybe it could’ve used more... excitement. It just needs some restructuring, and then it could’ve stood better on its own. Rey’s, on the other hand, is the most interesting. The exploration of the Force and her place as a Force-sensitive being is fascinating. It’s like we’re finally acknowledging that there must be darkness to balance to the light, and its an interesting topic. Luke’s behavior and the story of his attempt at rebuilding a Jedi order serves his character greatly, and just sort of feels right. I’m growing to love Poe’s arc in the movie more as time goes by. It’s a unique take on the usual trigger-happy character, who thinks he’s always in the right, and by the end of it I felt satisfied, especially after wanting more screentime for him after TFA.

    The story overall boasts a theme of unity, despite our characters being split apart. I can’t exactly talk about it in detail without spoilers... my takeaway was: It’s not just one ultra powerful hero that will save the day in the end, its the spark of hope shared among many that can --uh. That was cheesy. Sorry. Good theme, though. Teamwork makes the dream work or whatever.

     I have another note about the story, and I keep mulling over it in my head trying to decide if it was a good or bad thing. This very much feels like the “middle chapter” (yes I know it IS the middle chapter, stick with me here); we’re sort of spinning our wheels here. Things don’t exactly budge too far from where they were before when you look at this trilogy’s story as a whole. A lot happens, yet at the same time, little happens. It’s very odd, and probably a result of the way the story is split between our characters.

Overall,

     Overall, this was a bold direction to take this episode and I can see why Disney thought to give Rian Johnson the reigns on the next trilogy. The Force Awakens, while I love it... you really can’t deny that Its a retread of A New Hope. That’s just kind of a fact. This, however, feels like something new and original. The action is exciting and there is a real sense of tension and worry when plans fall through. The story goes thorugh with some unseen twists, as well.   Without leaving you with burning questions by the end, it feels like a satisfying, complete story. All of the character arcs feel logical and rewarding. Get rid or your fears (or hopes) that this movie will be just like Empire Strikes back. Go in with an open mind, try to think critically about what’s being conveyed -- this movie is a bit more challenging than the other Star Wars movies.  8.5/10

[samleheny]

Jedi and Lutherans: what Rey and Martin Luther might have in common

When I was a kid, I was a massive Star Wars nerd. How massive? I read the books. THE BOOKS! That’s when you know you’re lost!

One day I stopped, looked at my bloated belly, and decided that between the film, games, dolls, books, TV shows, legos, bed sheets, death star shaped ice cube trays, and Shakespeare reinterpreted to involve Star Wars characters,  I’d consumed enough Star Wars to last several life times, and even without actually going all that ham personally on all the merchandise and expanded lore, merely living in a world saturated in such an omni-present franchise had rendered the Star Wars universe a fairly mundane setting for me. And growing up didn’t help, because as your tastes refine it becomes harder and more thankless to spot the one or two good things about the Prequel trilogy, which was ‘my generation’s’ Star Wars. And I didn’t have any industrial strength nostalgia goggles lying around.

So when Lucas Films was snapped up by the equally omni-present Disney Corporation and a new line of Star Wars films was announced, my reaction was “Neat... I’m going back to bed.” I still haven’t seen the Force Awakens nor Rogue One (Is Rogue One a code name? Or is it like “The one who is rogue”?) but just recently a mistaken click on some click-bait rumour article about the upcoming instalment The Last Jedi saw me stumble upon a fan theory that turned out to be the most I’ve been intrigued by Star Wars in over a decade. It started in the article with ‘Grey Jedi’ and ended in my head with the Vatican and the Protestant Reformation.

Strap in.

The rumour is that Rey, the main protagonist of this new line of films, is the first canonically recognised Grey Jedi. “What on Earth is a Grey Jedi?” I wondered. It’s a fan made term, or maybe one initiated in the obscure expanded lore which has apparently now been declared non-canon by Disney (it’s all very confusing) and its meaning is a little vague, but is usually given one of two definitions. The first is just a Jedi who’s a bit of a bad boy, and who has some trouble following the rules of being a Jedi. So I guess by that logic any Jedi who becomes an evil Sith Lord by definition has to have transitioned from Jedi, to Grey Jedi, to Sith Lord (the Black Jedi by the naming convention suggested by ��Grey Jedi”). Fans have suggested that Qui Gon Jin was a Grey Jedi simply because he was a bit of an arsehole who never agreed with anything the Jedi Council said. That makes sense I guess. I recall Count Dookoo suggesting that Qui Gon had been fertile for conversion to the Dark Side.

But the second definition - the one I find interesting – is simply one who is in balance with the force (much like a Jedi) but who is not a Jedi. Does not subscribe to the force related teachings of the Jedi Order. Following the Order’s teachings has long been depicted in the series as synonymous with being ‘in balance’ with the Force, the only alternative being to make the force one’s figurative bitch, which seemingly defines one as belonging to the evil Sith. Basically the anti-Jedi. But the very existence of Grey Jedi calls that dichotomy into question, which means nothing if Grey Jedi are just a figment of the fandom’s imagination, but if the current makers of Star Wars are indeed planning on taking this idea and running with it, I could see that being very interesting and somewhat daring.

Here’s the thing. The now long extinguished Jedi Council were a bunch of idiots. That’s not how they were deliberately depicted, it’s just a result of George Lucas’ horrendously amateurish plot and character writing throughout the prequel trilogy that many Star Wars fans have this unofficial idea that the pre-Luke Skywalker Jedi weren’t as wise as the story would have us believe.

What? The guy who’s been acting like a Sith Lord all this time and has benefited from every bad thing that’s gone down to which he’s always had a super obvious connection turned out to be the Sith Lord? Oooooh nooooo, who could have figured that out except anyone?

Suppose that notion was also picked up by the film makers and officially recognised. If they don’t have the onions to just add the prequels to the increasingly crowded bin of Non-Canon, then they could at least acknowledge that the Jedi’s old fashioned mindset and rigid insistence that the Force moves in mysterious ways was partially responsible for them getting outsmarted and all but wiped out by the Sith.

But if Grey Jedi are a real thing now and one can officially be not only force-sensitive, but also successfully wield the force as a partner (like a Jedi) and not as a slave (like the Sith) without giving a toss about shunning emotion, or never hooking up with anyone, or wearing your hair in a stupid braid until the council tells you you can stop, or any other silly little rule from the How To Be Awesome Jedi handbook, then how much or how little authority do the Jedi as an institution actually have on the subject of the Force?

The reason this intrigues me is because I have an affection for internet history videos (how did my high school manage to make history seem so boring?!) and this potential ‘Force Schism’ reminds me of a medieval figure whose story I recently got pretty big into. Martin Luther.

His is the story of the Protestant Reformation, which was a huge goddamn deal for Christians and consequently anyone who happens to share a planet with them. I am an agnostic atheist; I don’t believe in the divine, but I don’t for a second claim to know that the divine does or does not exist. I typically don’t get on well with organised religion, but even I have to admit that I like a lot about the way this Martin Luther guy thought.

Who was he? He was a German law student turned monk born in 1483 and who by 1517 had grown increasingly frustrated with the Catholic Church’s corruption and abuse of authority over people’s immortal souls, authority which he believed it didn’t actually have. This came to a head one day when a friar arrived in town selling ‘indulgences’ which were basically little slips of paper absolving you of some of your sins.

Yes, you could buy that. As far as the Catholic church was concerned, redemption in the eyes of God was quite literally for sale. If you think that sounds a little messed up, Martin Luther agreed. He wrote Ninety Five Theses decrying the custom and famously nailed them to the church door before the eyes of the public.

From here his ideas became increasingly radical (and increasingly awesome) generally attempting to expose the Church’s rituals like the priesthood as being mere formality, entirely of human design, possessing no actual spiritual power. High ranking church officials were seen as holy, and having authority to dictate the will of God to the masses, and priests were often the only ones in each town or village who could read, or at least who could read Latin, which conveniently was the only language in which scripture was available. “God has a thing about condoms. You can’t read the bible, but trust me, that’s totally what it says!” But Luther denounced even the pope himself as imperfect and fallible like any other human being. At the core of Luther’s system of belief was “Sola fide” - “Only faith”. The belief that everything one needed to attain salvation in the eyes of God was their own faith, and not the outside help of anyone specially authorised to admit God’s approval.

In addition to spreading the idea that people didn’t need priests and as individuals already had everything they needed to practise their faith, Luther translated the bible to common, everyday German and used the new technology of the printing press to distribute it to the people on a massive scale. Now everyone could read the bible for themselves, breaking up the church’s tidy little monopoly on salvation. And when a monopoly gets broken up, the previous holder of that monopoly suddenly finds them self facing actual pressure to perform well in the face of new competition. The Vatican’s officially sanctioned interpretation of scripture was no longer automatically the correct one by simple virtual of being the only available interpretation.

This was a massive, massive deal because the Catholic church had been - without hyperbole – the most powerful institution in Europe, and that power was based on having built a necessity for themselves and their man-made traditions into what was the dominant form of the dominant religion throughout the entire continent. And Luther’s insistence that soul authority (har har) over what God says and wants was not held by anyone here on Earth led to massive fracturing in the church. Suddenly everybody had their own interpretation of scripture and everybody was going off to start their own church.

This wasn’t just a spiritual schism, it was a continental political revolution.

So what if the Jedi’s authority over matters of the Force is also assumed and has been gradually born of hubris and vanity? You might think “What?! But the Jedi are the good guys! The way of the Jedi has been at the centre of every mainline Star Wars story!”

Well… Not only have the Jedi failed spectacularly in their role as galactic, Force fueled peacekeepers at least twice, but I’d argue their methods have led to a repetitive loop of stale events and plot lines in the Star Wars films. I’ve always felt this weird inconsistency in the spirituality of Star Wars. A clashing between Western philosophical themes of dichotomy - of good vs evil, and Eastern philosophical themes of balance in all aspects of life and nature. The overarching goal of the Jedi throughout Star Wars history has been to “bring balance to the force”. Balance implies harmonious existence of two opposing forces, but the Jedi usual speak of this balance in terms of defeating and eliminating once and for all their long time counterparts, the Sith. And twice now within the films they’ve thought to have finally achieved this only for the Sith to pull the rug out from under them and reveal just how distant this dream of balance still is.

Well what if that’s because the Jedi have been going about it all wrong? What if this Western style dichotomy in pursuit of Eastern style balance never works because the dichotomy itself is a perversion of the Force? Is being an emotionless, celibate hippy like being a Jedi requires really what brings balance to the force? Or is this insistence on what are actually arbitrary, man-made ideals what causes force users to become frustrated and seek emotional freedom as Sith, seeking conflict with the Jedi allegedly being the only force sensitive alternative to being a Jedi?

Maybe the Jedi’s authority over matters of the force has become muddied and misused. Maybe all that pomp and ritual can be thrown off for what it is - meaningless. ‘Sola vis’ if you will. “Only the Force”.

The hopelessness in the way the Jedi have always operated, and the accompanying contradiction has I think long been unintentional and the result of sloppy writing. But now is a new era of Star Wars, so why not get meta with its narrative? The writers should pull the old “Nah, we meant to do that!”. Take the nonsensicalness of the prequel Star Wars era and embrace it – recognise it as nonsensical and use it to explain why the Star Wars story keeps looping (then nobody can complain anymore that Return of the Jedi seems pointless now that we know the peace didn’t last five minutes). Just as Star Wars is recovering from a run of bad writing, let’s have the characters’ understanding of the force recover from thousands of years of flawed, fallible people assuming undue spiritual authority (Thousands? Hundreds? I don’t know, every era in Star Wars history feels pretty interchangeable).

The moral compass of the Star Wars world has traditionally been a pretty simplistic one (ain’t nothin’ wrong with simplicity): Jedi good. Jedi are awesome. Jedi know what’s up. Do you want to be absolutely sure that you’re one of the good guys and that you’re talking sense? Then make sure you’re a Jedi. So it would be quite a drastic change to the franchise to suggest that all this time the omni-present Jedi have been getting it at least a little bit wrong. But it’s also exciting to think that maybe being a Jedi is just one way of using the Force harmoniously, and that this balance will finally be possible once the Jedi finally stop and ask themselves “Huh... what is the point of all these super specific rules?”

I hope it turns out Rey does indeed reject the Jedi teachings without losing her harmony with the force and becoming a Sith. And what if Kylo Ren comes to the same realisation from the other side of the court? He seems pretty insistent that the Jedi suck, but he also seems unsure of himself as a Sith. Sounds like he should give this Grey Jedi thing a try too. Unless it turns out I’m misreading, completely, and The Last Jedi turns out to be going after something completely different and this was all a waste of time...

2020 edit: Fuck sake, Abrams. Yes, I do in fact remember my childhood. We established that with Force Awakens. But that can’t hold up an entire trilogy if you’ve nothing else on your mind!

[swipestream]

The Last Jedi Is Star Wars for People Who HATE Star Wars

If Rogue One was Star Wars for people who didn’t like Star Wars, then The Last Jedi is Star Wars for people who HATE Star Wars. By, for, and of.

“But I like Star Wars!” That’s fine. They still didn’t make this movie for you. This is a movie with contempt for you, the audience, contempt for the characters, and contempt for Star Wars itself.

The movie LOOKS great. Ships go fast, things blow up, people shoot blasters: it looks appropriately Star Warsian. The director has spectacle down pat, maybe even better than JJ Abrams did. But that’s all the movie has going for it: spectacle. That can entertaining by itself, but once you notice the underlying problems (so many I can only touch on a few here), you realize that, despite it looking like Star Wars, it’s just not Star Wars.

Star Wars is supposed to be a Science Fiction Space Opera, an epic story about the struggle between good and evil. Good is noble, honorable, and virtuous. Half of Team Evil, in the form of the Galactic Empire, is clear and unambiguous: it is a cruel and murderous despotism who maintains power through terror and force. The other half of Team Up To No Good—The Force and the Dark Side thereof—is amorphous, seductive, and corrupting. As the Rebels fight the Empire in starships to defeat its evil, so, too, must Luke Skywalker fight against the whispers of the Dark Side in his heart, fight to embrace the harder but more rewarding path of the Light Side, in order to defeat Lord Vader and ultimately the Emperor. That is Star Wars, and a movie without that dichotomy at its core is not Star Warsian.

The Last Jedi evinces no such dichotomy. Though its metaphysics are murky, as is its morality, and though it pays lip service to the notion of the Dark Side, when Rey confronts a place strong in the Dark Side (as Luke did in the tree on Dagobah), the Dark Side appears as just an infinite mirror, reflecting Rey back at herself. It’s a magical trap, straight out of a Sword and Sorcery tale, and unlike the Dark Side tree on Dagobah the infinite mirror pit is neither ominous nor disturbing. The Dark tree revealed to Luke the danger of him becoming his father, in a memorable and jarring vision; the Hall of Infinite Mirrors reveals precisely nothing about Rey. She makes no meaningful choices, gains no insights, and the entire event is pointless. There is nothing at all to indicate why this part of the island is Dark, nor does that imputed quality affect the movie in the slightest.

Moreover, the movie explicitly embraces the notion that the Force itself is Balance (Luke says this over and over again when teaching Rey). Not split between Light and Dark, but Balance. Added to this, the only coherent moral thesis advanced by any character is explicitly nihilistic and relativistic: Benicio Del Toro’s character says there is no difference between the Republic and the First Order, that cruel and wealthy arms merchants arm both sides and profit from the war, no matter who wins. Taken to its logical extent, making war against the First Order is meaningless, as both sides are (in effect) the same and whether one or the other wins, nothing changes.

Star Wars is about heroics and heroism. From the raid on the Death Star to rescue the princess, to the doomed last-ditch battle on Hoth, buying time for the transports to escape, to the intricate plot to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hut, characters risk their lives to save the lives of others or just to fight evil, many times at great cost to themselves. Courage, especially physical courage, is central to the entire trilogy (and is the chief reason the series is so beloved).

The Last Jedi mocks courage, heroics, and heroism. Poe Dameron, the cocky fighter pilot, risks his life and the lives of his teammates to destroy the most formidable ship hunting the Resistance, and for this is upbraided and demoted. Later, faced with a no-win scenario, he concocts a desperate plan to disable the First Order’s tracking, allowing the remnants of the Resistance to escape and live to fight another day. Not only does the plan fail, it results in the deaths of some 2/3rds of what few members of the Resistance were left. And when Finn, a non-entity through most of the film, is about to sacrifice his own life to save even that pitiful remnant, he is knocked off course by a fellow rebel, and the First Order’s weapon is allowed to fire. His self-sacrifice, the intervening character says, is stupid and pointless because that’s just the way it is.

The only time anyone is allowed to sacrifice themselves heroically, is when Vice Admiral Tumblr Hair (played by Laura Dern) gets to blow up the entire First Order fleet whilst dying heroically, but even this sacrifice is meaningless: Kylo Ren and General Hux survive, and are able to mount an assault on the planetary base the Rebels fled to, an assault that is more than twice as large as the one Vader launched against Hoth. Tumblr Hair dies for nothing. In this movie, all heroics are meaningless, and that is just not Star Wars.

The total lack of heroism is one reason, but the other is this: This movie is just not epic. And Star Wars is epic.

I don’t mean epic as in a series of ten 300,000 word novels, I mean epic as in a weighty and significant struggle which matters. A struggle that means something. Tolkien, now Tolkien was epic. Even the Jackson “Lord of the Rings” movies managed to feel epic. (“The Hobbit” movies, not so much.)

The original Star Wars trilogy, from the Death Star to… well, the other Death Star was epic. It was a galactic struggle for freedom, with momentous consequences for the galaxy, and the movies let you feel that. Hell, even the PREQUEL TRILOGY was epic (in comparison). Get past the first film, and the struggle against the robot armies and the loss of freedom for the galaxy had moments of epicness. Star Wars is supposed to be epic.

The Last Jedi is not epic.

The very first scene is Poe pranking General Hux (primary combat leader of the First Order), just like Bart Simpson used to prank Moe the Bartender. No, Hux didn’t ask around for an “I. C. Weiner? Is there an I. C. Weiner on the bridge?” but he did say, over and over, “Can he hear me now?” after Poe placed him on hold.

That’s right. The head of the main bad guys—who MUST be competent and terrifying for the film to feel epic—is reduced to a stammering doof parodying a VERIZON WIRELESS AD.

(You know, I didn’t think you could HAVE product placement in a Star Wars film. Well played, Disney. Well played, indeed.)

The inapt and distracting humor (Content Warning: actual humor not included) continued throughout the movie. The film never had the chance to feel epic because every moment of sincerity was spoiled by a joke. It was so bad, I kept expecting Vice Admiral Tumblr Hair to stroll onto the bridge shouting “Wassup bitches!” It would not have been out of place.

“Epic” is a matter of artistic execution, not in-world scale. You can threaten to blow up two ferries with a couple of hundred people aboard or actually blow up five planets with billions of inhabitants, and the first scene might very well feel more epic than the second, if the director makes it so.

Epic and moving stories—epic in spirit, not epic in length, stories of great deeds being done by great men—require a sense of grandeur, of majesty, of awe. That is, the writer must have, within their breast, an understanding of the might and power of great men and great deeds. They must FEEL it.

A small man cannot.

Small men—not short men, but men with shriveled souls—have no notion of greatness nor daring. They cannot comprehend nor depict a struggle against insuperable odds, self-sacrifice in the face of near-certain doom. Their own paucity of courage and manliness dooms their every effort. Art reveals the artist, inevitably.

Even if they depict events that might, in other hands, feel epic, in their hands such events appear quotidian and even boring. Explosions, practical effects, and sound design can give the appearance of an epic struggle, and can distract the audience from a work’s fundamental flaws, but if at its center there is naught but a hollow emptiness, a nihilistic meaningless, this will render all the struggles pointless, no matter how many people are supposedly fighting or supposedly dying.

Epic stories like Star Wars do not have weak and incompetent enemies, nor do they mock heroism and heroes. The Last Jedi never does anything but.

Epic deeds are never pointless. They ALWAYS impact the world. They matter. No deed in TLJ matters. In the end, the good guys are utterly defeated. The Rebellion is destroyed, reduced to the paltry few who can ride aboard the Millennium Falcon, and the entire Galaxy has abandoned them, choosing despotism over the animating struggle for freedom. The movie is a Shoot the Shaggy Dog story, made up of many smaller Shoot the Shaggy Dog stories. It’s a fractal diagram of suck, and the closer you look, the more abhorrent elements you discover. TLJ is suck all the way down.

The Prequels were bad Star Wars movies. The Last Jedi is a bad not-a-Star–Wars movie. TLJ is the anti-Star Wars, the un-Star Wars, a cheap and hollow counterfeit of a far greater work, identical in appearance, but lacking any substance.

I’ve noticed that the more exposure people have to Pulp stories—you know, the GOOD stuff—the more they dislike The Last Jedi. People who read Pulp regularly have become attuned to the flaws of modern F&SF, so the deficiencies in TLJ are readily apparent to them. To fans of the more modern stuff, this probably seems like more of the same entertainment they get every day. Which is most of the problem, and not just with this movie, but post-modern culture as a whole.

Audiences WANT stories of heroism and heroics. They meet a deep need in us to admire the brave and self-sacrificing, and to be inspired by them.

The Last Jedi is not such a tale. It is entertaining, because of spectacle, but that spectacle hides the movie’s poisonous core of nihilism. Time will not be kind.

After all, a movie that includes this scene will never attain the status of an intergenerationally beloved classic:

http://ift.tt/2BbFzeU

I rest my case.

Jasyn Jones, better known as Daddy Warpig, is a host on the Geek Gab podcast, a regular on the Superversive SF livestreams, and blogs at Daddy Warpig’s House of Geekery. Check him out on Twitter.

The Last Jedi Is Star Wars for People Who HATE Star Wars published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

[lgwhatculture]

Star Wars: 10 predictions for the future of the franchise

Star Wars has been moving at full speed under the guidance of the house of mouse, and as we enter the fifth year of Disney’s ownership (yes, five. Can you believe it?) the promise of more Star Wars has really come true. With a number of projects either out of the gate or in development, I’m going to predict what everything means for the future of the franchise and how these many stories in a galaxy far, far away will turn out. We’ll be looking at both the big picture and the smaller story details in the new Canon.

All images belong to Lucasfilm / Disney.

10 - Han Solo will be the weakest Disney instalment yet.

Not to start on a negative note, but let's get this out of the way. Did we really need a solo Han Solo movie? Is it really that important to see how Han and Chewie met? Or how Han won the Falcon? Not really. In a galaxy far far away, there are limitless stories to be told, and we can't help but feel like this is unnecessary. Plus, with an A-List cast on-board, it's not quite captured that same feel as the other films, which usually cast unknowns and shoot them to fame. Donald Glover and Woody Harrelson are sure to do great, but Danerys herself, Emilia Clarke, is especially hit-and-miss outside of her title role. Here's hoping I'm wrong, but I don't believe the film justifies its existence or cast.

Don't even get me started on Katherine Kennedy’s comments on Han ‘gaining his name’. If Han Solo is simply a title, then we'll be in the unique position where a film actually detracts from the original instead of enriching it.

9 - Episode VIII will be unique and take the lore in a new direction

Now onto a more positive note, The Force Awakens was a great start to the new trilogy no-matter what you thought of it, and there’s plenty of questions fans are asking in regards to the excellently titled eighth instalment, The Last Jedi. If the very-vague trailer is anything to go by, There’s something happening with the classic Sith/Jedi dichotomy. See Luke’s ominous quote:

“I only know one truth. It’s time for the Jedi to end.”

So, there’s a change coming, and with VIII showing a more spiritual Luke, I can only imagine the more religious side of the Jedi will be discussed, and perhaps the actual meaning of ‘balance to the force’? The ‘chosen one’ and ‘prophecy’ are concepts we are familiar with, but the actual idea of Anakin or Luke bringing balance to the force makes little sense as both obliterated their respective opposing team. Not really, you know, balance. Perhaps the future lays in the idea of ‘Grey Jedi’. Previously a Legends concept, but one could argue it was brought into the new Canon with Ahsoka in Rebels. A Grey Jedi aligns to either side of the force, and perhaps Luke’s new mission is to bring the two warring factions together rather than apart. Kylo Ren certainly could be pulled over to the light side, so maybe we are seeing a paradigm shift in the franchise, towards more nuanced performances rather than outright good and bad. If Disney wants to continue the franchise for a long time (read: forever) then good vs evil is going to get pretty dull pretty soon.

8 - Rebels won't end with the cast dying

Star Wars Rebels replaced the beloved Clone Wars, and at the time the general consensus was that the latter show was going to be a more ‘fun’ show by comparison to the darker Clone Wars. Fans were soon wrong when the series became universally loved, and even served as a sequel to Clone wars in many ways. The show has gotten darker, and approaches it’s final season this year.

The problem we are faced with is that the core cast do not appear in anything beyond the show they have been created for. This was also a problem when we were introduced to the Rogue One cast, and [spoilers ahead] they are now all dead. Yeah, forecast isn’t looking too sunny for the crew of the Ghost. So the likely option, especially since the Ghost is seen in Rogue One, is that the characters are killed in a sacrificial act just before A New Hope begins. Even though show-runner Dave Filoni stated the battle of Scarrif wouldn’t be shown in rebels, we’re not sure we believe him.

Despite the likeliness of death, we think the characters all being killed off is not going to happen. Something more interesting. We believe Zeb, Chopper and Rex are easy enough to blend into the existing universe without dying, and for it to not feel strange that they never appear again.The theory that Rex is the bearded rebel soldier in Return of the Jedi works perfectly as a nice retcon for a fan-favourite character to tie Rex into the story. The others we are not so sure about, though Ezra and Sabine are both young enough to be carried over to the next show, much like Ahsoka. ‘Next show?’ you ask. Well. Cue next point.

7 - The next animated show takes place between episodes VI and VII

With Rebels ending, another show is bound to take it’s place, and no better slot is left to explore that the gap between episodes VI and VII, in other words, the gap between the classic and new trilogies. It’s a murky period ripe to be explored, and there’s no better opportunity to explore this period than through a new show. While Clone Wars was an anthology, and Rebels an ensemble, perhaps the new show will have a single protagonist to follow to set them apart. If this is the case, there is no better person to follow than Luke Skywalker himself, starting with the end of Return Of The Jedi, and following the opening of his new Jedi academy. Looping back to the last point, this is maybe where we could see Ezra return to the fold. Not only that, but we would see the development of Ben Kenobi into the Kylo we see in The Force Awakens. It’s actually a crime that this period has not been seen outside the books, and it’s only a matter of time before light is shed, especially in the wake of Episode VIII likely revealing all the key secrets that are keeping a series like this from being made.

If many of the questions from Episode VII are not revealed in VIII, this is a great place to answer them to give fans peace. How did Maz Kanata get Luke’s sabre? Who are the Knights of Ren? Answering questions like these would automatically put this show in the good books.

One final point, were this to happen, Mark Hamill is a renowned voice actor for animation, and with his respect to the fans, he’d be sure to be on-board for voicing Luke. Make it happen Disney!

6 - Battlefront II will fix most of the problems of the first, but will still not be as good as the PS2 original.

Bias aside, the original Battlefront game was great. It’s sequel, legendary. The 2015 reboot, not so great. It was shiny, and looked amazing, but fancy visuals don’t exactly make up for a bare-bones experience that included less than the 2005 masterpiece. The sequel looks to be fixing this. All three eras. A story mode, many more heroes, and the promise this is ‘three times bigger’ than the 2015 game means hype is pretty high Dice and Co can deliver on the promises and pull through on the evident potential of the 2015 game.

Despite all these big claims, we can’t help but feel like there’s going to be a ‘spark’ missing. All too corporate and perfect, not enough fun factor. Can a game be perfect and still not be fun? Yes, but maybe that’s a problem with the video games industry more than the game itself, or Star Wars as a brand. Only time will tell. Moving on.

5 - The next spin-off will be an Obi Wan movie, with Ewan McGregor.

Stay with me. There has not been a ‘star wars story’ [still don’t like that subtitle] announced since originally way back when Disney told us their plan to dominate the world. The Josh Trank Boba Fett movie fell through, so there’s currently a blank space after Episode IX, sitting at a 2020 release window. At this point, Ewan McGregor will be 49, and while it’s still a little young, makeup can surely get him ready for filling in the gaps between III and IV, documenting the life of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s years in hiding, and how he became Ben Kenobi.

We’re thinking a smaller, more personal films. Kenobi is one of the most well-rounded characters, and seeing a more character based story on Tatooine would be great to see. Why the name ‘Ben’ is used is a story that has not been discussed in-canon, and maybe it’s a story worth telling. Logan showed how a big franchise could make a western-inspired, quieter character piece, so perhaps it’s only a matter of time before McGregor and fans alike get their wish.

4 - Doctor Alpha will appear on Rebels

If you are unfamiliar, Dr. Aphra is the new hit character of the Marvel Star Wars Comics. Originally appearing in the Darth Vader comic, she now is in her own comic, the first original character to have their own run since the canon purge.

Aphra is a rogue archaeologist, hired by Vader to find Sith artefacts. After the two parted ways, she is now on solo adventures. Whether you like the character or not, she is a nice new creation for the comics, and falls very much in line with Marvel’s current marketing push for a younger, more diverse cast of characters.

Given Rebels is ending soon, perhaps we could see this character appear in another medium? Disney’s new canon has been spectacularly watertight when it comes to feeling like a ‘connected universe’ through and through, and a comics crossover would show how much Disney care about their franchise on every level. Comic tie-ins are frequently forgotten about, so tying two mediums together would help both and show more people a great new character.

3 - More legends material will become Canon

Just to clarify -

Legends - the old, pre-Disney continuity, otherwise known as the Expanded Universe (EU). It featured lots of content, and thousands of characters, most of whom now no longer exist in Star Wars. Many fan favourite moments and stories were erased, but then Disney started listening. Rebels re-introduced the most popular EU character of all time, Grand Admiral Thrawn. The blue boss has been a huge success on the show, and now the floodgates are open for an array of other characters and stories to be re-canonised into the new lore.

While some characters have already been used for influence, such as Jacen Solo into Kylo Ren, there’s plenty of other fan-favourites who should make the jump. Take one look at anywhere Star Wars related on the internet, and you’ll find fans are very passionate about the very long lineage of the sith. Darth Revan is perhaps the most wanted character for sheer awesomeness, but almost any great villain would be a valuable addition to the canon.

One wildcard would be Luke’s partner, Mara Jade Skywalker. A partner to Luke indicates he may have a child (Rey) but the inclusion of Mara Jade also means there’s a big explanation to do as to Mara being hand to the emperor and a sort-of bad-guy. Yeah. Lots to fit into a movie, so maybe she’s best left to the EU.

2 - Forces of destiny won't do great

With more Star Wars things going on at once that any sane person can keep up with, you may not have heard about the other animated Star Wars show: Forces of Destiny. It’s a 2D miniseries with a lighter tone, featuring multiple characters from multiple eras, all on lighthearted adventures. It looks like a more simple version of Star Wars than we’ve seen before, but Rebels and Clone Wars ex-show-runner Dave Filonni is running the show, so maybe there’s more to be seen here than meets the eye.

Perhaps the biggest point of debate so far is that the show has only shown female characters in it’s trailers. It’s not a problem, as Star Wars has been a very white, male franchise, so diversity is great, but focusing only upon female characters as the trailer implies, makes it seem like this may be ‘Star Wars for girls’. Star Wars can and does appeal to girls, especially now more than ever because of it’s growing cast of strong females, with Jyn, Rey and Aphra only arriving in the last three years or less. Having female characters is not the problem, pandering to an audience is. People, regardless of gender, will watch Star Wars, because it’s Star Wars, and changing the tone to fit a demographic never goes well, especially when things like Jar Jar or the Christmas Special happen for exactly that reason. Perhaps not, perhaps we haven’t seen enough to judge, and perhaps I’m wrong. Discuss your opinions in the comments below.

1 - Luke and Leia will die in the Last Jedi.

Episode VIII. Bring the tissues.

Okay, just look at that title. The LAST Jedi implies either my earlier assumption that a big change to the lore is coming, or Luke will bite the dust. Maybe both. The problem is, for the hero to complete their journey over the trilogy, they have to lose their mentor and be forced to go it alone. It happened in Episodes I, IV and VII. While it would be nice to have a change in that pattern, the story just doesn’t work as well, and it’s important to remember the original cast are not getting any younger, as my unfortunate next point demonstrates.

In December 2016, the world lost Carrie Fisher, and Star Wars fans mourned for the passing of their hero Princess Leia Organa. It leaves an awful problem for the future, for Carrie has filmed two of three films in the trilogy, with two options for what happens next. She either is written out of the next film, or she dies in this one. Either option is awful, but Lucasfilm being pretty calm and collected after her death, and the comments about not needing CGI re-creation makes it all too clear that she most likely dies in The Last Jedi. It’s going to be a hugely emotional performance as her last, but to watch her character die, possibly alongside her brother, means the film could be an emotional sucker-punch, tainting the film’s reputation for all the wrong reasons.

What do you think in regards to any of the points? What next for Star Wars as a whole, or any of the projects mentioned. What are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments.