What is (and isn't) Star Wars? 

This... is actually a new and very refreshing Star Wars analytical channel. We will watch your career with much interest.

Only thing wrong with this video is that George Lucas was entirely justified in selling, because he knew exactly what the people he sold it to would do with the franchise. He knew that Disney would do what made money, which at the time was a rehash of the original trilogy to nostalgia bait hundreds of millions of people, hundreds of millions of people that all hated George Lucas for the prequel trilogy. He wanted to get on with his life, and he wanted the franchise to survive. Little did he know that Disney would do the exact opposite of what would make money, make bad films. Just wanted to clear that up, George gets too much hate even to this day

best star wars essayist by far

I think George would talk about the theme as something like, 'how do we live in the world? Do we approach life from a place of selfishness or selflessness? What does either of those choices mean, to us personally and to society?'

I think the key theme of Star Wars, due to the heavy influence from Campbell, is (as broad as it sounds) LIFE, and growing up to take on the responsibilities of the world upon exiting adolescence/teenage years.

This is good.

You be cooking bruh

Balance

My most simplistic answer to 'the theme of Star Wars' before really thinking about it was 'friendship.' It's an underlying element to be sure, but it's not the whole of it. These days I realize that Star Wars is much more complex than that. I don't have the answer, and maybe in part, that is it. That we don't have the answers. That the only thing we can do is live based on principles of our heart, of wisdom, of realizing that we make mistakes and continuing in spite of that realization... Maybe the theme of Star Wars is the experience of life itself. It's not an easy question to answer and I can't say that I can.

I don't want to get killed so... "The theme of Star Wars, one of the most iconic and influential film franchises in cinematic history, encompasses various elements. While the series covers a vast and complex narrative, some central themes persist throughout the saga: **Good vs. Evil**: This is perhaps the most fundamental theme in Star Wars. The struggle between the forces of good, represented by the Jedi and their allies, and the forces of evil, embodied by the Sith and the Galactic Empire, plays a central role in the overarching storyline. **The Hero's Journey**: Star Wars follows the classic hero's journey archetype, where a seemingly ordinary protagonist (e.g., Luke Skywalker) embarks on an epic adventure, faces challenges, and undergoes significant personal growth to become a hero. **Family and Legacy**: An exploration of familial ties and legacies is prevalent throughout the saga, especially in the Skywalker family's story. The connections between characters and the impact of their ancestors' choices are significant driving factors in the narrative. **The Balance of the Force**: The Force, a mystical energy that connects all living things, is a central element in Star Wars. The concept of balancing the Light and Dark sides of the Force is a recurring theme that influences the destiny of characters and the galaxy as a whole. **Hope and Redemption**: Redemption arcs are common in Star Wars, as characters who were once on the path of darkness often find the strength to turn back to the Light. Themes of hope, forgiveness, and second chances are prevalent in these stories. **The Fight for Freedom and Justice**: Star Wars frequently depicts a struggle for freedom and justice against oppressive regimes, with various characters and groups standing up against tyranny and oppression. **Friendship and Camaraderie**: The bonds of friendship and camaraderie between characters, whether they are members of the Rebel Alliance or other groups, play a crucial role in overcoming challenges and achieving their goals. Overall, Star Wars is a rich tapestry of themes that resonate with audiences, making it not only an epic space-fantasy adventure but also a source of philosophical and moral contemplation." (as told to the rebels by GPT-3PO)

Bro…the writing in the last minute or 2 of this video about character is beyond beautiful. So on point with how real people react and work in this world. Beautiful written. Can’t wait to see what more you create in the future.

They fly now

Dude first off I’d like to say this video definitely deserves way more likes on it. This is so well thought out and relatable. Your closing statements about choices being the alchemy of the soul chiefs kiss. Solid video brother 👍🏽

Family. George said it is. A space soap opera. Just not as cringy but rather relatated to each characters obligation in the universe of Star Wars.

Rise of Skywalker has exactly one good moment and it’s Chewie’s reaction to Leia’s death.

This video just cured my gambling addiction

Dang, man you actually found something new and worth saying! And you said it well! (thunderous applause)

Great point about the lack of emotional scenes (without the help of the original cast) in the sequel trilogy.

Dude, you just made me lose a tear from Ben throwing his lightsaber...I never thought the sequel could get an ounce of emotion out of me.

"...a Sith Lord!?" "A Jedi Knight!?" Oh shit

You absolutely crushed it my guy.

I personally think the theme of Star Wars is balance; the balance of light and dark, the balance of learning from our elders and forging our own path, the balance of mistakes and redemption, the balance of attachment and detachment. Most Star Wars projects I can think of start with things being out of balance and either end with it being corrected, albeit temporarily, or the scale collapsing altogether and the heroes have to pick up the pieces. I cannot think of a single Star Wars story that doesn't touch on this idea that too much of one thing or another is a problem, and most that I can think of heavily rely on it There's obviously the original trilogy with Luke having to balance his drive to protect his friends/the galaxy without falling to the dark side. The Jedi Order lost it's way because they became too involved in the politics and forgot about the people that actually needed them Think about the Mortis trilogy, it was all about the balance of the Force. When Luke is trying to teach Rey what the Force is, she understands it as the balance between life and decay, light and dark. Anakin fell to the dark side because his emotions and perceptions were skewed. You get my drift

Star Wars' current state is probably the strongest argument FOR the auteur theory ever seen.

Really glad I found your videos recently. Absolutely love them & can't wait to see you grow!

Exactly! Rey would of been one of the best Siths. Next to JarJar🙃

Plots are rarely unique, it’s the unique characters that make the story special. Well done.

We've been emotional beings for millions of years, rational beings for less than 200,000. Emotions define us; they are the core gameplay mechanic at work beneath the mere expansion pack we call reason. Reason may separate is from the other animals, but it doesn't define us. That's why your thesis is a absolutely correct ;)

Oh wow, this caught me off guard 😂. This was great. You must’ve been a philosophy major

Glad to see a Hegelian/Fichtean approach to Star Wars, something I’ve always wanted! There’s randomly a lot of good analytical Star Wars videos on YT (like the unnamed guy on Kreia and Neitzche and the so uncivilized guy that points out indirectly how Christian Luke is in the end of ROTJ), but as someone who studies Hegel I always wanted to see someone make your point.

ok ok... i don't think i can do all of star wars but i can certainly do anakin. he is the main character so... it's kinda... the power of love? in a way. that sounds really cheesy, but oh well. and that doing one wrong thing (chopping off mace's arm in his case) doesn't make you a lost cause. sometimes it's hard to see that, and everyone around you will believe you are gone as well. only someone who loves you unconditionally and sees the good in you can make you see that you are never truly lost.

Dude i'm so glad i subbed😷

Would love to see an analysis of Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor

Actually there is one more really moving moment in the trilogy. One that also feels like Star Wars. It’s the moment when Yoda destroys the sacred tree and gives “young Skywalker” one final lesson: “the greatest teacher, failure is”

Second vid I’ve watched of yours and you definitely just earned this sub

One theme is philosophical differences and how they always contradict each other. The Jedi’s philosophy is based around learning to use the Force for knowledge and defense and not to attack and the Sith’s are based around using it for their own purposes and agendas and seek the desire for control. This goes for other factions in the story

The Skywalker Saga is about fate, how our actions can modify it for good or for ill, and how it can come true in mysterious ways. Simple, but that's the most prevalent theme I see with the two trilogies.

I liked the first two sequel films and didn’t understand why many people didn’t like them at first. This video opened a different perspective for me and now I understand why… and surprisingly, I agree. I still like the first two films as just fun films to watch on their own, but yeah… it’s not GL’s SW.

The general set up to the Sequel Trilogy, upon personal retrospection, should’ve been thematically about the consequences of legacy, politically about a republic struggling to heal from the scars of fascism in an age of paranoia, mythically about the conflict of fate vs choice, and emotionally about accepting the end of a legend. I wish to one day write an essay on what I would’ve changed about the sequels if I had any kind of power beyond complaining about a fictional woman in a space fantasy, but to give a brutally oversimplified synopsis, this is just what I would’ve done for TFA and Luke’s arc in TLJ. 1. Political landscape. We know TOO LITTLE about what the New Republic is up to and why it doesn’t intervene with the First Order before getting disintegrated by Starkiller Base. Instead of going into a gigantic overview of the Galaxy’s political status across the entire trilogy, here’s an opening crawl-styled synopsis I came up with on the fly for TFA: It is an age of FEAR. Rising from the ashes of the Empire, The First Order has lead a swift and deadly assault against The New Republic. The Galaxy is in disarray over the unexplainable might of this reborn adversary, the New Jedi Order mentored by Luke Skywalker has fallen under the might of Kylo Ren, and the Jedi Master is no where to be seen. As Leia Organa plans to involve the Republic in the fight against the rising tyranny, ace pilot of the Republic Navy Poe Dameron, is sent on a secret mission to find another exiled Jedi who may hold valuable secrets that cannot fall into the hands of the Dark Heir of Vader… 2. Mythology, and how Rey, Kylo, and Luke should’ve been handled. Rey shouldn’t be related to anyone, I agree with Rian Johnson on that one. In my opinion, there is simply no way for her to be interesting by biologically relating her to a Skywalker, a Solo, a Palpatine, etc. I do, however, think that her being an adoptive daughter to Luke and a second apprentice next to Ben Solo could be interesting in relating our protagonist and antagonist together. So let’s go over them real quick. Rey is a nobody by blood, but a natural learning talent. There’s not many things she simply cannot understand on a technical level, even if she struggles at first. This makes Ben jealous, since, while his power and potential as a Skywalker is potent and acknowledged by Luke, he struggles to grasp certain concepts of the force the same way other students can. Eventually, Luke uncovers a map that leads to a holocron of forgotten teachings, unbeknownst to Luke and the rest of the order, these are Sith Holocrons that are riddled with subtle perversions of the Jedi teachings. Upon realizing that these teachings are suspicious and shouldn’t be logged with the rest of the archive, Luke uses an isolated chamber far away from the temple to contain any perverted teachings he may find so that he may destroy them. The holocron doubles as a map to the next one, hence why he doesn’t destroy it immediately. Ben catches onto Luke’s plan and locates the chamber so that he may study these forbidden secrets. As Luke gathers more and more, Ben slowly grows more corrupt in the ways of the Sith. He doesn’t fully adopt the title of “Sith Lord”, recognizing his Grandfather’s legacy as the Chosen One, but instead seeks to be a dark “way seeker”, relative to what Qui Gon Jin was to the Jedi Order. Luke catches onto Ben’s slow corruption and confronts him directly first, then by night after Ben denies having Dark feelings. Luke peers into Ben’s mind, confirming what he feared most and pulls out his Saber Hilt, not igniting it, but contemplating how disastrous a potentially inevitable confrontation with blades could be. Ben wakes up unexpectedly and freaks out the way he did in TLJ, crushing his hut to trap Luke, rushing to the temple to plead with his Jedi companions to run away with him, and a duel commences between Luke and Ben as he tries to quell the irrational rage in Kylo’s mind. Kylo starts by actively destroying the temple and endangering other Jedi. He may not be as strong or as skilled as Luke, but he knows who and what Luke has grown attached to, Rey and the Temple. Speaking of which, she hardly has any idea what’s going. All she knows is that Ben is pissed off at Luke and is threatening to kill her if he tries to pursue him. Throughout the fight, Ben has been spitting poisonous accusations at Luke for withholding Sith teachings and invading the minds of his students. So when he’s forced to stab Rey in the lower left abdomen, Luke channels his rage and manages to disarm Kylo without having to cut off his hand. That’s when Luke realizes that he has stumbled. Here he is, about to strike down his nephew, his sister’s son, in an even greater rage than he had against his father for merely threatening to turn Leia evil. Luke has failed himself, he has failed Ben Solo, he has failed the Jedi Order, and he knows it, looking into the eyes of his students, who sense Ben’s fear. This moment of hesitation from Luke is enough for Kylo Ren to free himself from Luke’s grasp and run away with the Jedi that would follow him. Those Jedi became the knights of Ren. After getting Rey to a Bacta tank in the nick of time, Luke leaves with her a map to his location once she feels she’s ready to see him once more. Luke then departs to Achto not to die alone, but to reflect on the depth of his failure. If he is to be the galaxy’s hero, he cannot do it as a broken teacher. Rey exiles herself to Jakku, where she becomes proficient as a scrapper and converts/ conceals her lightsaber in a staff to avoid unwanted attention. Okay, too much detail, lol. Number three is much shorter. 3. Legacy. The climax takes place on Exogal, where Kylo Ren has gathered the all the hidden Sith teachings across the galaxy, Rey confronts Kylo and, to her utter shock, he destroys all of them. Kylo’s goal, the entire time was to destroy any chance of the Sith cult rising again, and by extension, eliminating the need for Jedi to rise against darkness, putting an end to the Jedi vs Sith conflict that has persisted for over a thousand generations. If the Sith alone truly were the only force in the galaxy throwing the force out of balance, then Kylo wishes to test that narrative by making himself the only source of dark knowledge left in the galaxy. In his mind, if the Jedi are right about the dark side being what throws the force out of balance, he won’t win the duel since the force won’t allow him to. If he wins, then his conclusion will be that the light and dark sides of the force are meant to be in harmony with each other. I won’t spoil how the duel ends. This post is way too long, the opening quote is a TL;DR, I’m done talking.

It could have been handled better, but they do try to give Rey an arc in each movie. Her arc in TFA is about accepting that she must leave Jakku because she's now involved in the conflict and can't run away from her destiny. Her arc in TLJ is about how she needs to stop lying to herself about her parents ever coming back and accepting that she can't be the one to turn Kylo back to the light. Her arc in TROS is accepting that she's good enough to be a part of the Skywalker family despite her background.

I’ve started to realize that the true third story to the trilogy is the arc of Ashoka. I sure hope the new series is good.

God damn is this video underrated.

I actually thought the theme of Star Wars was actually uniquely consistent with religious philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Even some slight Christianity. Despite what this extremely atheist and pagan world beliefs.

Star wars theme is abot family, about fathers and sons facing their problems. It's a family supopera

Well said 🙏🏻

George Lucas should have released Star Wars into the public domain. 😔

please more star wars

I was fucking holding on to hope up until rise of Skywalker. I was fine with force awakens and liked *some* of the choices made in last Jedi but GOD DAMN did they shit the bed in the home stretch. (Sure the bed hadn't been cleaned in some time, but you get what I mean)

I think if it doesn’t have George Lucas’ blessing and contradicts what he built for decades it’s not, that’s why so many fans are against Disney

This is a proper good analysis but Rey does have a lie she has to deny that gives her an arc in force awakens, that her parents will return

"I know what you're thinking right now, do we really need more essays..." YES! Now shut the fuck up, take my views, and dance monkey!! DANCE! Loving thiese. You did great work. Liked and subbed.

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for something to be star wars, that is creating by someone other than george lucas and pre 2012 lucasfilm, it has to be good

You are right to point out that many people are to blame for the abomination that was the Disney trilogy, but imo you've forgotten the most important culprits: the self-proclaimed "fans" who who mindlessly hated the prequels (never even trying to approach them on a thematic and symbolic levels like you so brilliantly did) and hounded Lucas to the point of killing his passion for telling stories. After the amount of hate he received for just wanting to tell his story, can we really blame him for calling it quits? It's certainly a shame that we were robbed of his vision for what a sequel might have been, but at least he's gifted us six excellent, endlessly fascinating movies, and I am just grateful for that.

If Rey was going to be on the dark side than someone would be her opponent, a new protagonist.

I think it is a bit dishonest to say that Rey doesn't have an arc. She does, at least in TLJ. She for external validation, she wants to be told her purpose, her place in the galaxy. She thinks that luke is going to fill that role, give her guidance. Then Kylo uses that yearning to manipulate her into joining him. She rejects Kylo who, in a twisted way, is basically offering everything she dream off, belonging . At the end she cut that toxic link (i mean she literally shut the Millennium falcon door in kylo´s face) to become her own person. There's a nice parallel when she meets luke, he ask her who she is, and she say "the resistance sent me" even before introducing herself, again, all about external forces. And by end when poe approach her, she confidently say "im rey" ​now averyone is welcome to put cope or l take and move on. Thank you for reading!

Why Luke become goofy? Is he Jonkler?

Star Wars has always been such a poetic space opera 😭keep those short gags comedy to other proper places

I've watched many of your videos now and I kind of feel like you sometimes don't acknowledge things from the other side of the argument. For example you say this about the sequel trilogy: "Those responsible tried to create emotional moments, the only way they knew how by killing the previous characters we were taught to love. But that's the really the only trick of their sleeves" You choose to show one example of what you call an exception to this. But I can give you a dozen of more emotional moments that I think you should admit that many people found to be emotional. See the scene with Maz Kanata telling Rey that there will be nobody waiting for her on Jakku. Or the scene with Kylo revealing to Rey that she's a nobody and that she doesn't belong anywhere. Watch the scene where Snoke humiliates Kylo, when he had expected to be rewarded, and then realized in the elevator that he had killed his father totally in vain. Watch the scene where Tie-fighters blow up Leia into space because of Kylo Ren's actions. See the moment where Finn was about to sacrifice himself on Crait. (even though it was stopped it still showed his commitment to his cause). And try understand the journey that Luke went through in TLJ because it's incredibly powerful and touching. It has a hero that had to much weight of responsibly on his shoulders and he couldn't live up to the galaxy's (and the fans) expectations and became depressed, but ultimately in the finale lives up to those expectations and inspires the next generation. *My point is that when you make an essay about these topics, I think you should be more nuanced in the way you argue.* Sure maybe you don't find any of these scenes emotional, but you should still raise them because you must admit that there are so many people that do find them to be emotional.

I hate when people make fun of stories or don’t know how to properly write one, I hate it when they use stories to get money, put their personal opinions or political views in it that has no substance or purpose to the characters or story

1:41 …Or it was a multilayered process making these movies with many reasons why they end up how they end up. I think the number one reasons is that movies now don’t work like movies back then. They wanted every movie to be planned individually so when hate came they had the opportunity to turn the wheel around and they did after the Last Jedi which destroyed the trilogies legacy

The Acolyte, which leads into the prequels, is justifying the actions of the Sith while making the Jedi outright villains so it breaks the entire saga for me. Interestingly enough, they made Rey "all the Jedi" but are making the Jedi evil, so they just made Rey "all the evil." They can't even be consistent with their own logic. So I think I'm out - I gave the sequels a pass but what the Acolyte is doing just breaks everything on a fundamental level.

I don’t hate or love the sequels. The fandom gets very toxic when it comes to these films and the prequels. I think these movies aren’t as bad as the 1000s of RU-vid videos who have repeated the same points and nitpicking for years on end. I think there’s issues don’t get me wrong. But overall the films are fine. They’re not bad, there is so much artistic integrity there. The issues primarily stem from disney trying to appease the fans. Each film is a course creation due to fan feedback rather than lucas who just made movies who wanted to make disney wanted to make movies that would make the most money. But these films aren’t bad they have bad moments. They’re not good either, but they do have good moments. My main issue is that there is so much potential that was squandered. Also must be added that Kathleen Kennedy did fight to get extra time to work on these but disney rejected her. The rise is my least favourite and I think the fact it was cancelled half way through production and completely reshot and messed about with hurt it. George took 3 years with each of his film, Disney made theirs in 1-2 years with tons of studio interference and messy productions.

Idk man I beg to differ at some of these points

So it's fine to like the prequels and not like the sequels, but if you think the sequels are universally hated you should know that when the prequels were new they were hated so much more than the sequels are now

this video is a notch above most anti-sequel fare, like it has some genuine points and an actual sense of humour and isnt just a stream-of consciousness screed, but these criticisms are still ultimately so filmsily rendered. you want to compare the "do or do not speech" to lukes lessons on ach-to? then actually do so! dont just compare it to a one off gag, the actual analogue of which would be like, yoda's goofiness with r2 when he's first introduced. luke has a real scene where he actually talks about the fucking force and it mirrors the yoda speech. hack criticism. locating the critique in the alleged authenticity, or sincerity of the different texts is so wooly and here ends up useless. you honestly should have compared the films on a formal level. it likely wouldve been a better video. as it stands, i am left with the last jedi being among the most moving of any stories set in the star wars world, tired (and incorrect) complaints about how "all they do is kill the old heroes!!!" be damned. the arc critique could be made a lot shorter by replacing it with "i liked and was emotionally effected by x story, and wasnt by y story". trying to say that rey or finn have, not just bad arcs, but no arcs at all, in tlj especially, is just really silly. the preoccupation with lucas or any one man as the axis on which a story should spin is so tiresome, as is the lionisation of kershner or marquands apparent fidelity to lucas' vision and lack of pretension to being a star wars storyteller. i dont consider it a bad thing when storytellers have confidence in their stories and want to share their uncompromised vision.

The spin offs suck too. Rogue one is a movie we didn’t need and has so many problems. Solo is an origin story we never asked for. Also Lucas would never have sold his legacy to Disney if we didn’t give such an outrage. If we just didn’t make a big fuss about the prequels and the changes Lucas made to the original trilogy. Also Lucas produced two Ewok movies that are garbage. You may have not seen them but I did and hated them.

We need a Star Wars that brings back Luke's instruction on the force and lightsaber. How Vader was able to conduct the force through the Jedi weapon. Featuring a whole new cast with familiar names. Sorry Ahsoka doesn't count. Sticking to the struggle between the empire and rebels without deviating too much from the technology. The prequels displayed much more advanced technology than the originals. As if bringing everyone together as a galactic empire would reverse their technology. Remaining in a universe where the force is recognized as delusional sorcery (Original Trilogy). We should also get a better explanation for a red lightsaber. Like a kyber crystal that has stronger power the more lives it took or something. I'm not sure I'm into the emo kid blood letting onto the crystal bit. Romance in a space western/ action movie shouldn't be a mushy gross mess (prequels). Action scenes should have a flair of suspense, making you actually feel something when a likable character dies(Rogue One).

I STRONGLY disagree 😅 real people go anywhere for no reason. Simply to observe things Also not looking to fiction or star wars to be REAL

Star wars had crashed and bottomed out with the prequel trilogy, and disney star wars sequel trilogy and shows have redeemed it. Rian Johnson should have directed ep 9 though. TLJ was peek star wars and JJ isn't nearly as good of a director as Rian Johnson is. If Rian had done ep 9 it would have ended much better.

I was really looking forward to finding a new channel that really got Star Wars and I could sink my teeth into and then you went and called Rey perfect and now I question whether you got these films at all. So disappointed. I subbed, watched a few videos, and have to unsub :/

The presupposition of this trash essay fails before it begins. The over abundance of subjective nonsense portrayed as objective fact shows that even when people ask the right questions, they still don’t have a clue what the answers are.

1-3 sucked. So did 4-6

Star Wars is dead mate. Thanks to Kathleen Kennedy.