Hah... I should explain (Rogue 1 Spoilers) (Gaming)

by cheapLEY , Tuesday, March 20, 2018, 17:03 (2236 days ago) @ Kermit

where I said I don't know why they're making these movies now, and they don't seem influenced by Joseph Campbell's work on archetypal stories the way the first one was. Star Wars got me interested in Campbell, and then Jung, and many other things besides.

Does a Star Wars movie have to follow that mold to be a Star Wars movie? I wasn't even alive when Star Wars released, so I don't necessarily have the connection to it the way many people do. That said, it is very important to me, and my childhood and my development and interest in storytelling in general. Star Wars led me to sci-fi (even though it's really fantasy, yeah, I know), to Ender's Game, to Dune, to The Lord of the Rings, to a love for reading and stories in general. I'm willing to see a Star Wars story not follow Campbell, but I can at least fathom the argument that Campbell and Star Wars go hand in hand, that maybe they're inseparable.

And I was reading something recently about archetypal stories that made this point: you remember them! That's how they got to be archetypal stories in the first place. I have trouble keeping TLJ in my mind.

You're not wrong there, either. I saw it twice within the first few weeks of it being in theaters, but haven't seen it since, and I do have trouble remembering the details. There is a lot going on in that movie, perhaps to its detriment.

For me Star Wars was always about something bigger, more fundamental to the human experience than our current named obsessions. It was both an escape from 1970s ennui, and a reminder of higher, more transcendent values. We have such an divided culture right now.

I think the new era of Star Wars does the same thing, though. It's not about gender politics (although, yes, those are obviously there), but about love and equality and self-confidence and fighting for what's right and personal growth and teamwork. Those things are as timeless as they always have been and they always will be.

I guess part of my disappointment was not wanting Star Wars to become another thing we fight over--another weapon in the culture war.

I want to say it only becomes that if you let it, but I don't know if that's really true. I do think that The Last Jedi is less concerned with being that than some folks want to admit. Maybe that's not true either, though.