SPOILERS Star Wars IX - The Rise of Skywalker SPOILERS (Off-Topic)

by breitzen , Kansas, Friday, December 27, 2019, 06:19 (1575 days ago) @ EffortlessFury

TL;DR - Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you were meant to be.

Except that wasn't the message.

I've never felt like Rian's "point" of TLJ was Kylo's philosophy. (this is the danger of audiences thinking that their interpretation is the only "correct" one) What so unique about TLJ is that all of the main characters have characters arcs: Rey, Ben, Poe, Finn, and Luke. I find it interesting that so many people latched onto the villain's message.

I'd even argue that Rian did a fantastic job of following through on setups that JJ had in Force Awakens. They weren't the answers most people expected, but it's not like he RESET anything, he moved it forward to a new place (admittedly a place where a lot of the fandom wasn't comfortable with). Now I've only seen Ep. IX once, so I need to revisit it to have a more thoughtful take, but I have to agree that TRoS does reset or retcon characters in order to make something that was "safer" for fan appeal.

I think the "point" (as of my first viewing) is that "we can choose our own destiny". This is a good message, but I think its execution is pretty sloppy.