Why We Can't Agree About The Last Jedi (Or Art In General) 

My next video will be on something else, I swear. Just really felt the need to make this video! Hope you enjoy!

"when Rey learns she's the daughter of no one" simpler happier times....

Regardless of what you think of this movie or the others, I think the one thing we can all agree on is that this trilogy would have better overall if it was executed by one person with one vision for all three movies.

Damn. I somehow never twigged that it was a sunrise rather than a sunset. That makes the call-back even better.

shit man, when you said "a new hope" it gave me chills

I believe you're making an (albeit honourable) mistake in trying to figure out the mentality of those who disliked this movie: generalising the audience in the dislike camp as 'fans' who have rigid and irrational requirements reads like you can't accept that a rational person could dislike the film. As someone who liked the first two (original) films but none of the others, and who is most definitely not a fan, I can tell you that I dislike this movie for its uninteresting plot, its painfully bad humour, its incoherent tone (tragic one second / jokey the next), its almost laughably bad ship design (ships that move at a snails pace to drop bombs in a universe where there's such a thing as light speed), it's incoherent side plot featuring Finn, its pointless halting of the main plot, which leaves us with nothing to look forward to in the next film, it's ultimate predictability (Luke dies! What a surprise!), its uninspired soundtrack, its abysmal ending, its poor opening, the non-story with Luke, the pointless story with that Pink haired lady who deliberately acts incompetent - raising the suspicions of her colleagues - for no good reason. The dialog was bad. The CGI was over the top. They killed the main bad guy without giving us a reason to be afraid of him. Characters do things for reasons that don't make motivational sense. The list goes on. It was a pain to watch.

If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me that The Last Jedi is "objectively" bad, I'd have enough money to remake The Last Jedi. But who would want to remake an entire movie? That's just silly!

I came for the articulate conversation, but I subbed for the seamless Skill Share transition.

Also, during Luke's death, he's overseeing an ocean, a place filled to the brim with life, in contrast to the barren desert of Episode IV

*goes into comment section* *scrolls back up*

I think this video shows why critics and audiences can often be so divided. Most critics share the same way of interpretation because it's their job to review and critique all sorts of movies. Fans, however, see fewer films and have different standards and expectations.

"He overcomes the only force in the galaxy he hasn't conquered... Himself." Quality Star Wars pun.

"Luke gives the rebellion, and us, what he has always promised to provide....... A New Hope" INSTANT TEARS

Oh so I’m not crazy! I’m just part of a different interpretive community that actually liked TLJ. Also, you’re analysis of Luke’s final heroic act was brilliant. Keep up the good work!

For a channel that once spent a whole video lamenting the over-reliance of bathos in Marvel movies, it's odd to me that you weren't bothered by its omnipresence in this movie

Tbh this trilogy would’ve been much better if Johnson had done the whole thing. The biggest problem with the last Jedi is how jarring it is. Perhaps if Johnson had control over 7 then it would’ve worked better

Hmm...I honestly feel like I gained a new perspective on the last Jedi.

i don't love The Last Jedi, and I don't hate it, but since my opinion on the Internet isn't extreme, apparently, it doesn't matter

I have not seen the movie and honestly from what I have read and seen I am reluctant to. It goes back to how Han died, how he was a failure as a parent, husband, comrade. He abandoned everyone and ran off, backsliding to the life of a criminal because it was easier than facing his responsibilities. What I saw as character growth in the first Star Wars film, placing the lives of others ahead of his own self interest, was undone. Likewise we saw Leia as a failure since the First Order rose and she was unable either as a politician or political leader to take steps to prevent its rise or to form an adequate defense against them. Finally Luke was a failure as a teacher, a mentor, and rather than try to set things right he stole away to some remote planet to sulk. This is not like what Yoda or Obi Wan did, with the first being too old to fight and the latter actually serving a purpose, protecting Luke. My heroes were turned into pathetic screw ups and that is something I just did not want to see. Why should I give my money to Disney so they can show me how pathetic my protagonists, my childhood heroes, had become? Screw Disney, man. I don't need that sort of Star Wars in my life.

Ain't it ironic that people don't agree with your "Why we can't agree.." video.

There is an objective element of a franchise movie being part of a preexisting universe. Rian Johnson objectively failed to make a movie that fits in with the rest of the movies. His incompetence even destroyed the finale to the saga because all the plotlines were scrubbed and JJ had nothing to do but make a video game movie.

Ben: You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the force! Rey: You don’t need to, I’m taking a class for it on Skillshare.

Your look into the death of Luke made me tear up man. Great essay.

"We need to move beyond good and bad" *shows footage of beyond good and evil 2* Very clever my good man

I adore Luke’s storyline in The Last Jedi. What person doesn’t have to face some hard truths as they age. And although most people don’t have to face a failure on the level of Luke’s, we all face struggles. Of course the point of an epic fantasy is to show the challenges faced in an epic manner. And the fact that he overcomes his self-doubt, or how ever you want to describe what he is going through, is beautiful. He saves what is left of the Rebellion, faces Kylo in a way that avoids real violence and leaves the galaxy a new hope, dying with peace and purpose, as Rey states. BTW, I realize that many people share the complaint of Rey’s Force abilities. This is something that I wish this movie and The Force Awakens made clearer. The novelizations spell out that the connection forged by Kylo and Rey in her interrogation have allowed them to share memories, fears and skills. The novelization spells out that Rey feels like doors have been opened in her mind that allow her to access some of Kylo’s training. I hope they clear this up in The Rise of Skywalker, but I doubt it. One clever way that they represented this fact visually in The Last Jedi is through the lightsaber training Rey does on Ahch-To. If you watch the sequence of moves that she makes you will find that they are a mirror of the same moves, in the same order, that Kylo makes when facing Luke.

"This movie screwed up the core fantasy of Star Wars" is what many Star Wars fans hated about the movie, but "This movie subverted/deconstructed many stale Star Wars tropes" is what I and many others loved about it. Each camp has other things they liked or disliked about the film (even if they mostly disliked/liked it), but this core difference in vision is what caused the rift between self-proclaimed "true fans" and TLJ fans (and, presumably, the film's writers).

Proust : "There are no books, only readers."

Where's the interpretive community that's "I'm fine with them throwing away the heroic escapism part of Star Wars to focus on more real-world themes of failure, but I'm not OK with how they went about it? And also, Canto Bight kinda sucks?" Cause that's basically where I am. I'm glad they swung high, but IMO they struck out on the scene-to-scene level. Almost all the "for" or "against" comments I see with this film focus on the big picture stuff, but that's not why I have an overall negative opinion of the film. I also must say, I don't think I've seen anyone criticize Luke's death at all. That's usually one of the more uncontested good moments from this film, and I agree.

I think Wisecrack had the best take on this movie. They tried subverting the Star Wars tropes, but still relied on them for catharsis. Luke tells Rey she shouldn't expect him to face the First Order alone with a lightsaber, but that's exactly what he pretended to do. He burned the tree with the Jedi books, but only after Rey took them. Finn can't sacrifice himself, but that admiral does. It's almost like the director was too afraid. He wanted to destroy the cake but still save it for later, just in case the next director is hungry.

This is some serious next level analysis. You are rapidly becoming my favorite video essayist. I truly think that we will be talking about and analyzing the Last Jedi for years and years, perhaps way more than any other Star Wars movie, and I'm glad so many great writers have stepped up to provide a foundation for the conversation.

The movie was really about finding one's true path by reversing course. Rey wanted find her past but realized she must embrace her destiny and in doing so had to pick a path. Finn wanted to run away from the war and realized he had to fight against tyranny. Poe wanted to fight against all odds and had to learn humility, to trust authority, and use brains over brawn. Luke was disgruntled and even acted indignant when he asked Rey if he should take on the entire first order with a lightsaber and then he did just that when he realized that there are things to fight for. There was so much character development in the story. Rey, Poe, and Finn were just props in The Force Awakens but became multidimensional characters with story arcs in The Last Jedi.

I think it’s easy to say that Last Jedi is easily the best movie in this trilogy now that it’s wrapped up.

Interesting how reader-response theory is manifest in the very comments of this video. It seems like some commenters watched a totally different video than I did. My own opinion: your retelling of Luke's arc is more poetic and relatable than how it's presented in TLJ. I didn't feel a connection to Luke in the theater, but I did here.

I loved this especially your interpretation of Luke’s death. As a life long Star Wars fan I hated this movie the first time I saw it. But after thinking about it for a long time I went to see it again with a more clear perspective and let go of my own expectations of what I felt or wish this story should be and just watched it for what it is. Since then I have come around to loving it more and more with each new viewing

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie when I watched it in cinemas, but couldn't put my finger on as to why. This video essay encapsulates what I could feel, but just couldn't say. Beautiful assessment, brother.

You made me realize one important takeaway from the last lightsaber fight: Kylo thinks everything can be solved with violence, and Luke is there to teach him, and everyone else, that he's wrong; that violence is pointless and self-perpetuating, brilliantly illustrated by the fact that, in practice, Kylo is just swinging his lightsaber at nothing. He's trying to kill the idea of peace and humanity but an idea is indestructible. Not even an AT-AT can kill it. Luke is there to prove that the war-cycle continues because people keep killing other people - an utterly self-defeating exercise. The solution to the Star Wars is not more Star Wars but some Star Peace for a change, and saving lives is much more important than killing one asshole so you can pat yourself in the back afterward. This movie is superb.

Just Write, the theory that the audience expectation influences their satisfaction is valid, obvious, and kinda the point of the backlash against TLJ. Think of it another way. You go into a restaurant and you order the breaded chicken. This is chicken you have ordered many times before and enjoyed. You've tried it many different times and even tried it by different chefs. One chef served it spicy with hot sauce, another served it traditional homestyle flavor, another served it as a sandwich with spinach and bacon, and every version you tried of the breaded chicken was a great tasting experience. Now they have a new chef who tells you he has created the very best version of your breaded chicken, ever. You order it, expecting, whatever you get to at least contain breaded chicken, but you get get served instead, a beef pot pie. Now, this is a wonderful, aromatic and well made beef pot pie, but you don't, and never have liked beef pot pies. In fact, there is a popular beef pot pie restaurant down the street, that you never go to, because you do not like beef pot pies. They are just not to your taste, no matter how well made. Would you not complain that what you ordered and expected was not delivered? Would you not be confused by all the people telling you how wonderful the beef pie is, when your very complaint is that it IS NOT breaded chicken? You don't care how good a beef pie it is. You don't like beef pies. Worse, the restaurant goes on to attack the customers, screaming about how you HATE beef, and all things beef. Of course you don't hate all things beef, you just don't like it in a pie, and it doesn't even matter because you ordered the chicken. It is bizzare in the extreme. TLJ is a beef pot pie, that wasn't even cooked that well. It certainly looks good on the plate. How it looks seems to be all the people who like it can talk about, not the substance of how it was made, or even the flavor. The star wars franchise is the breaded chicken we expected. We were ready for variations, surprises, new spins on the old recipe, new side dishes, and new ways of presenting it, but goddammit, we still expected it to at least be breaded chicken, like we have enjoyed for years and come back to time and time again over the last 40 years. The Last Jedi, I am sure is a great feast for your eyes. You can analyse each frame of each shot, and its composition, but you cannot defend the fact that it is full of plot holes, doesn't hold up to the franchise it is supposed to be a part of, doesn't even make sense as a part of the rest of the franchise. Why did Luke make a map to find him if the Galaxy had need in TFA, for him to claim he didn't want to be found in TLJ? Makes no sense. That is just one plot hole of HUNDREDS. You cannot justify Canto Bight, or that nowhere storyline. Nothing other than how beautifully the movie looks and sounds can truly be defended. Yes, if this movie was NOT a part of a franchise, and not supposed to be a seamless part of a 9 part story, I probably could have enjoyed it more as something separate, and its own thing. But that is NOT what we were sold, not what we expected, and NOT something we will be coming back for. If you enjoy TLJ, that is fine, enjoy it. There are good points in it. Hell, I like a lot of terrible movies that everyone else hates. But, don't try to tell us our hatred and dislike of it isn't valid because our expectations were off. Our expectations were not the issue. What we were delivered WAS.

I think the beautiful cinematography and good acting initially hides the massive flaws of TLJ hiding underneath. It feels like Rian was going for a postmodernist deconstruction of the hero's journey/grand narrative instead of telling a hero's journey. I don't think the rift this film has created will be healed with time, it's too deep.

'Luke gave what he always was meant to provide, a new hope" Damm, I love this movie even more now. When you said it I got goosebumps

I remember when I saw this in theaters and when he went out to fight the First Order I thought they had jump the shark and the film had because straight up fan service and it started to kill me a little. The revelation that he was projecting himself across the universe in a feat of force power never seen on screen before was really was made this whole film one of my favorite Star Wars movies.

I've always loved the Last Jedi, but your interpretation on Luke's death made me appreciate the movie even more.

The problems I have with The Last Jedi are actually symptomatic problems I have of The Force Awakens. TFA set up Rey and Finn as duo protagonists, sharing equal importance to the narratives forward progression. Rey is revealed to be force sensitive, and Finn holds onto and uses the blue lightsaber during this movie. The final battle, where they work together to fight Kylo Ren, embodies this idea of their shared importance to the new trilogy. As a viewer, the assumption would be that moving into the next movie, the two would continue sharing this narrative importance. After seeing The Last Jedi, most would admit that Finn being there didn't really add anything, which is a little weird since he felt so important in the prior movie. My personal take away from these two movies is that Finn narrative roll in the first was something a bit more tactical on the pre-production end. I believe his character was only written to be there, to soften the blow to more sexist audiences, when it is revealed that Rey was going to be the Heroin/Jedi of this series.

This interpretation hit me deep.. like I finally made sense of what I felt during the movie. Thank you!

I really liked the Last Jedi after the first viewing and was disapointed upon learning that everyone around consider it like REALLY bad Star Wars. Thanks to both your videos on the subject, I like it even more, especially after your explanation on Luke's "rebirth" or the metaphor on overcoming depression. Thank you! :) Love your work!

My problem with Last Jedi is that it is not a story that happens after the original trilogy, but a story that REWRITES the conclusion of the original trilogy. Leia is a strong force user and Luke's approach to problems made a 180 degree turnaround without any explanation. How can a person that runs from the world, because is afraid of child's potential be the man that had unwavering faith in his father - a serial killer to do the right thing and end the rule of a tyrant?

I had no problem with how Luke went out. However, I feel it would’ve been better if it had been in Ep. 9, as the grand finale of his story amidst the grand finale of the trilogy.

“A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” Luke’s final stand perfectly embodies this view of the Jedi, and was much more satisfying and creative for me than chopping up a mountain of Stormtroopers could ever have been.

Interesting experiment and I appreciate you taking the time to make this. Your description of the fan criteria isn’t congruent with mine. Empire is most broadly considered the best Star Wars movie and it’s very dark, as a middle chapter of any Campbellian myth should be. I’ve used the term “disrespects the franchise“, but what I mean by that, is that Rian Johnson made a standalone Star Wars film. Regardless of how you feel about it, he goes on the record to say this. He doesn’t respect his place as a middle part of a three episode arc that belongs to an even larger nine episode ARC. The biggest hurdle for Rise of Skywalker is that we have set up movie in Ep. 7, then set up movie in Ep. 8 , and now the creatives are meant to bring it all home in Ep. 9.

The overuse of subversion in tlj doesnt serve the story: it is an intentional attempt to tool with the audience. I think this has been accurately described as arrogant and self-serving. There are also enormous pacing issues and the tone is wildly inconsistent throughout. This film is a beautifully shot mess.

That intro into Reader Response Theory is really enlightening. It helps me put a lot of the critiques and reviews I've read into perspective, including my own. I feel like it holds quite a bit of merit in real life, and it would probably help a lot of writers to keep it in mind when they are creating something, especially when writing sequels or remakes or stuff like that.

This surprises me, because of the focus on the Jedi story. I love the Jedi arc in TLJ. My problem with the movie is purely the Resistance story. It's fine for heroes to fail. It's necessary for the situation to appear hopeless, so the heroes' victory feels meaningful and inspirational. TLJ missed this: between Poe, Holdo, and I guess the fortunes of war, they fail so hard that the Resistance is over. They have no ships, no pilots, no soldiers, and no leaders. All the senior figures who could have rallied a new Resistance force are dead, and the complete lack of response to their distress call all but explicitly tells us that even if there were, there is no one left to rally. Everyone else has already given up. While Luke and Rey's arcs (to me) come to a satisfactory conclusion, the Resistance arc is completely different. They failed. They lost - and nothing here gives us any hope for redemption. It's fine to tell a story about flawed heroes who struggle to overcome their flaws and become great. It's not OK to tell a story about how they fail, and those flaws simply hopelessly doom them and everyone around them. At least, not in Star Wars. If TLJ had committed to being a tragedy, then sure, it could have been great - but being a tragedy that pulls its punches makes it feel half like Star Wars and half something very confusing where the heroes never win and didn't deserve to.

Im enjoying the blowback in the comments. There seems to be a large contingent of fan critics who think that because their own expectations and personal context gets intonthe mix with their critical analysis that... Theyre less right. Because i see a lot of anti-TLJ criticism usually couched in being "objective". And that this video completely undercuts that concept to remind people.. No. You cant be objective. No one can. Who you are shapes a lot of your opinions. Regardless Cue the angry responses. Again, its fascinating.

The problem is that Luke before this movie never would have made the mistake that led to all this in the first place. If anything, his issue is hopeless optimism, not the attempted murder of his nephew/student. By the end of Return of the Jedi, he'd managed to help redeem freaking Darth Vader. The idea that Luke would even consider giving up on one of his students before they had done ANYTHING to deserve it is character assassination, plain and simple. Without this bit of information, yes, his arc in TLJ makes a lot of sense. Take the movie on its own and his arc is great, and that one moment DOES have fantastic synergy with the original Star Wars. But that's a surface level homage at best that completely ignores the meat of basically the entirety of Luke's character before TLJ, which has been a common trend with Disney's Star Wars films.

The problem with the Last Jedi is that it went for a radical (in your face ) departure of the original/established themes, only to have in the end, go right back to status quo. It felt like the studio jumped in and pulled it back. It basically, rode down the middle opposing lanes of a highway and got hit both ways. Pick a lane. Before we point at the audience, it should mention that the studio and the very films themselves have laid a rigid structure of the of this unwavering narrative norms in the zeighist. So, I for one have a problem when the studio, chastise the fan base, only to go right back to ingrain the same painful structure in the next generation. For an example of this, see Solo.

I personally hate this movie for the opposite reason of fanboys, I thought the movie didn't push the envelope enough, I think they pussied out. I thought if Rey would've joined Kylo (not romantically) and gotten rid of the rebellion, empire, etc the movie could've been great it could've sent SW in a whole new direction. Instead we're just going to keep getting the same god damn SW movie over and over again. Infinity War did these same themes a much more satisfying way

I watched this video just as i had come to the decision that, much as i love Star Wars, i can't stand most of the fandom anymore. It's just become so toxic and fraught and divided. I loved TLJ (and love it more the more i watch and think about it) and i was really disappointed by TROS, but i find i just don't want to talk about Star Wars with other fans anymore, and that makes me really sad. This video has really helped me get perspective on why so many people felt TLJ was such a "failure" and a "betrayal" of the franchise and the fandom: they just want something different from these movies than i do, and i have to be okay with that. Doesn't mean i have to agree with it.

Damn that segway to the sponsor tho

6:07 - Nope. That’s not at all the experience I or the other friends who critique the film feel at all. Luke was not awesome because he was some swashbuckler. He’s at his best in ROTJ when he is compassionate (which this Luke is not at all) Kylo Ren: Are you here to save my soul? Luke: No. Me: What!? You’re not saving this kid but you’ll save Vader who’s crimes are far more grave and far more evident than, what was originally, a mere vision. No, no. And no. I didn’t care about his death cause he died in a blaze of glory. In fact, before the reveal when I thought he was sliced through I literally had a sigh of relief because this “Luke” would finally be dead.

Luke actually taught Rey and everyone watching how to meditate. Sit still, close your eyes, and just breathe. In Star Wars lore, meditating is how Jedi grow their understanding and connection to The Force. In real life, meditation can help you to better understand yourself and your connection to the Universe. Food for thought.

I enjoyed this movie so much it hurts me to see how many hated it.

If child slavery is supposed to be a theme of the film, why do our 'heroes' leave the child slaves behind?

This is such an insanely well made video dude! Appreciate the effort, turned out amazing.

"The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography." - Oscar Wilde

I have such mixed feelings about this movie. You even got me for a second there at the end, explaining Luke, and I agreed...and then you went and mentioned Rose and I was like "Oh yes, that's it. Stuff like that was why I didn't like this movie." Luke's arc was controversial, but I can appreciate that, a lot of the other characters just act like idiots with chips on their shoulders or an utter lack of common sense.

I'm not saying there isn't _any_ subjectivity in disliking The Last Jedi, but there's a lot of more objective features of good writing that are violated here; e.g. failing the Little Kid Test, and characters acting more like plot contrivances than real people. One of the biggest complaints is that Luke Skywalker was behaving completely out of character for sake of the plot, which is generally bad writing. Look at this way: if the next Harry Potter film had Harry sell his friends and family for drinking money with no explanation for why he's acting so against what defined his character, this wouldn't be taken very well. Holdo told nobody the plan, which didn't make any sense. I know in one earlier video the explanation is that Holdo thought Poe was reckless. Reckless in what way? Reckless like Poe creating a mutiny against Holdo because they all seemed doomed because Holdo didn't tell Poe what the plan was? Holdo believing Poe to be reckless is a reason _for_ telling Poe the plan, not a reason against it (as the movie proved). For why The Last Jedi is objectively bad: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fyZtylDq2Zw.html (I don't agree with everything he says, but a lot of it seems right to me.)

I still don't enjoy the last Jedi - but it's well made videos like this that allow me to appreciate it more. I think that the feelings around this movie are poisonous, and people look for reasons not to like it. Whilst I still feel like it was quite a mess, I think it's important to appreciate the good things about it. If Star Wars is truly important to you, then even if it goes wrong (hello attack of the clones!!!!!) you will still stick with it.

Thanks for this video. It completely sums my feelings about Luke in the movie.

I love how The Last Jedi is in spirit sequel to Empire Strikes Back without reducing itself to being a rehash. It follows up on the themes of finding hope, meaning and purpose in incredibly dark times of failure, which I found to be such a brave and inspiring direction for Empire in the original trilogy. I honestly thought a Star Wars movie would never touch on those themes again. I jokingly said to a friend of mine after TFA that "If Luke turns out to be a remake of Yoda in TLJ, I'm out. Can't they do something interesting like making him a cynical asshole or something?" Needless to say, I was beyond pleased with his character arc in this film.

1:16 Did Yoda write that sentence? I absolutely loved your interpretation of Luke's story btw. Great stuff.

An excellent synopsis but there's two things that I'd add to this: One "Disrespecting the franchise" can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. The comic style of the movies (drop to silence jokes, weirdly out of place jokes about answering machines, etc), the failure to explain key characters (Snoke) and concepts (Where did the first order even come from?), the deviation from existing characters (Luke) or (for some people) the departure from strong male leads and concepts of lineage and destiny. All of the people with those complaints might be categorized as "disrespecting the franchise". And lumping the last group in (primarily people I would consider trolls) undermines the more "legitimate" complaints from others (it's basically why talking to Rian Johnson about the movie has become a futile exercise... he has decided that all people who dislike the movie are misogynists). Second, beyond the franchise, even as a stand alone movie, there were some pretty dramatic narrative failures. 1) Rose falls in love with someone she met literally 16 hours prior 2) Rose thinks that crashing her ship into his ship is the best way to save him 3) Holdo's suicide tactic, absent explanation, opens up HUGE problems for the universe 4) Also, Holdo's suicide tactic seems to completely undercut (or be undercut by?) Rose's saving of Finn 5) The Canto Bight storyline (pointless as it was, that's not actually my complaint) is setup by a pretty fortuitous coincidence ("There's only one man who could possibly break that code and fortunately for you he's super close by") but then when they fail to meet the legendary codebreaker they happen to be put in a jail cell with this other guy who can randomly break the code. 6) The opening sequence sets Poe up for failure (the leadership allowed this mission with the context being, "take out all the guns and we can take out the big bad First Order ship", he then did his job and they decided it wasn't worth it... what was the context for a "successful" mission if this wasn't it?) and then everything that comes after appears to be simply an attempt to confuse the audience. It comes off as kind of manipulative. And then all is forgiven. Hurray. He learned his lesson. Mutiny forgotten! 7) Leia's "almost death" is similarly manipulative. She just randomly floats in space for awhile, ice forming on her skin. Then wakes up and floats home? Wait... why? Just to mess with the audience. 8) Several characters (Holdo and Rose most specifically) are simply "air dropped" into the plot out of convenience. They have no real arc (in the case of Holdo) or their arc is SUPER forced (in the case of Rose's sudden romantic interest in Finn). I got the impression watching the movie that Rian Johnson's goal was to cram as many plot twists into a movie as possible. He wanted to subvert every theme and every expectation that he could in a 2+ hour epic. And he was willing to use bad/lazy writing to get there. When the goal of the author becomes to do something cute with the narrative rather than delivering a cohesive, consistent, tight and rewarding story then the narrative suffers. I think that a lot of the narrative failures (and others I haven't mentioned) are what bother people but they don't always have the critical eye or the training to see those things. And the people that LOVE the Last Jedi seem hell bent on seeing "good writing" when what they really mean when pressed is that they enjoyed the theme (bury the past, kill it if you have to) and the more diverse cast. But I contend that there was a script out there that delivered that theme with that cast diversity but coupled it with actual good writing. And that's the movie I wish they'd made.

great video! i love how you explain your points so well

My issue was that the new characters lacked growth except for Kylo. I felt like I knew less about Rey then what I learned in the first movie

Great analysis there at the end. I, for one, loved The Last Jedi for the exact reason you pointed out there about Luke and his story. I think another problem that people have about the movie, even if they like liked it, is the poor development of the current trilogy's story arc. TLJ does a poor job of connecting with TFA and the original trilogy. TLJ basically serves as a second restart for Star Wars, when at this point we should be in the middle of resolving the trilogy.

"The film denies us the catharsis of violence" No. no. That's assuming we wanted violence. All we wanted was a story. All we wanted was connective tissue to bridge the gap between the depressed Luke we have in the present, and the optimistic Luke we last saw in the end of Return of the Jedi. The film asked us to write its screenplay for it. The moment that was shown, is quite flimsy. It's not connective at all. A luke that would, even for a moment, consider killing his nephew is still closer to the hermit we have at present, than the optimistic young hero who would attempt to turn his father away from the dark side. I like the idea of hermit luke, but I would also like it more if it (the movie) showed us how he got there, instead of asking us, the audience, to do the heavy lifting. That's what we mean when we say "we didn't like the execution" of this movie. Because far too often, we find ourselves doing the movies job for it. All the symbolism of the scenery in luke's death? It feels empty, because the justification, history, and depth behind it was provided by us, not by the storytelling of the movie itself. The Last Jedi felt like going to a gourmet restaurant, paying top dollar, then being forced to cook your food yourself then hand it to the staff, then the staff plates your meal in beautiful symbolism and imagery, and hands it back to you and asks you to praise them for a job well done.

12:21 no, the biggest sin is messing with the established continuity. Am I the only one who thought the empire was defeated at the end of episode 6?!

What a great video! Thanks for sharing your insights with us.

To me, this video is a bit inconsistent. The start I very much appreciate, and its very on point, and is something I think most people, at least those who criticise the movie, already understand; it depends on how you look at it. Naturally, this isn't everyone, and there are some who will just decry it as being bad in every which way, but many often say that they can see how you could get something out of it if you are looking at it in certain ways, or expecting something from it, but that it really isn't for everyone, and fails in as many perspectives as it succeeds. The problem that has been come across, IMO, is that people couldn't take different peoples opinions. From my experience going from release day to now, discussing the movie every step of the way, its those who liked the movie who couldn't stand other opinions, largely stirred up by media and the studio itself; the movie started getting negative reviews and bad things said about it, and those who liked it suddenly became very defensive and started inventing reasons for others not to like it. "You were just expecting something and ruined it for yourself", "You just don't get it", "You're misogynistic/racist/ect.", "Its just trolls on the internet". After this, things exploded. I'm sure others have different opinions on it. My biggest problem with this video, is about halfway through you do the same; you take a large variety of opinions, simplify them down to one core feeling, and then impose your own interpretation of that feeling onto everyone you just generalised. I am willing to wager that's probably not why most people disliked TLJ. I'm sure there are some who feel that way, but the "You didn't respect the franchise" that most people I've read are saying, is not that it should have been a Flash Gordon serial again, with great heroics and lightsaber battles everywhere. In fact, its this very issue; "You just expected normal Star Wars and that's why you didn't like it" - that IMO made the whole discussion explode in the first place. Its NOT people's problems with TLJ. As you said; your interpretation says more about you than it does those comments, and to me it just says that that's how you view those who dislike TLJ, that's your inherent biased reading of their motives, before you even see what they have to say. And its that bias that keeps most people still arguing about this. Were people able to admit "The film has problems outside of expectations, and people disliked those problems while I didn't mind them/didn't see them as problems", and accept people's different opinions without needing to impose their own reasons onto it, things would be very different. So, I'll explain to you how I feel about the movie, and why I feel that way. TLJ is a mess. It has a lot of great ideas - not just on paper "This is what you need for a good story" ideas, like your 7 points last video, but good ideas at its core. Reys parents being nobodies is, IMO, the only real route things could have gone without being ridiculous. Luke being despondent over his failures is ok - a broken Luke is one of the only Lukes that could have a compelling character arc themselves. Deconstructing the idea of heroism, and showing how it can fail, is also a great idea that could make for a really compelling story. TLJ just doesn't pull any of it off though. It tries, and I can see it trying, and appreciate that, but it ends up running contrary to near everything it tries to do IMO, and just undermining all of its themes, messages and everything else it does 'different'. What do I mean by this? Lets start with a simple, very surface level example; Rey's parents. Them being nobodies is the only thing that really would have worked. Most people's problem with it? Firstly, TFA hinted at some importance there, at least moreso than them just selling her for drinking money. I'd just leave it vague there; they weren't important, but you don't know more than that. Secondly, and IMO more importantly, it was one of the few possible explanations for Rey being a Mary Sue. She is an uninteresting and uncompelling character, and it wouldn't have fixed those core issues, but it would have explained her frankly immersion breaking power levels; using advanced force techniques with no training, no practice, no experience, and limited if any knowledge that the force even exists. It felt out of place in TFA, and TLJ just continues with that trend. Rey's parents were one out. Her relationship with Luke was another, and was also hinted at in TFA. Instead, we're told that Rey is nobody, but she's also more powerful than literal Space Jesus was in his time. Its a minor surface level detail that's easy to overlook, but for many, after TFA brought attention to this exact point, to overlook it is unsatisfying. It doesn't single handedly ruin the movie, but it does make Rey a further uncompelling and uninteresting character. A further addition I'd posit is that Rey's Mary-Sueness prevents her parental 'struggles' from mattering at all. They are a surface level flaw that never cause her to make a mistake, or even if you want to consider going to the 'Dark Side place' as a mistake, it has no consequences. Its just there for its own sake. It doesn't inform her as a character, she just whines about it sometimes then proceeds to ignore it constantly; her need for belonging isn't abused by Kylo, she's the protagonist so she can't fall into the trap of accepting his attention and care to fill the hole her parents left. That would have been far more interesting, as it would have shown her flaws and weaknesses, and required her to grow as a character, learn something, and overcome them. Instead, while she is flawed and weak in this way, her inherent knowledge of what is right and wrong prevents her from ever actually making a mistake. Its a wasted character trait. Further, lets look at Luke. Him being upset at the loss of his students, and it ultimately being his fault, is a great plotline. The idea that her thought he was perfect and unbeatable because he was Luke Skywalker, growing arrogant from his victories in the OT, which the movie itself actually directly states was his issue, would have been a great plotline to lead to his fall. But it doesn't. No, his fall is in that he made a momentary mistake caused by a lack of confidence in his abilities. Rather than assuming he could save Kylo, he assumed he couldn't, and drew his lightsaber. There are arguments to hell and high water on whether this was in character for him or not, but it does not follow from how he at the end of RotJ would have behaved IMO. Put that exact Luke here, and he wouldn't have done that. People change over time, but it isn't time itself that changes them; its experiences, and what led Luke down this dark path BEFORE he attacked Kylo is never touched on. This makes Luke feel out of character. Its not that he can't be a different character now, but its never justified as to why, and for strongly established ex primary protagonist, you kind of need to do that. The issue isn't as much that he is sad and moany, but that its never properly justified as to why this all happened. And for a slightly more abstract example; the theme of failure. This would have been the perfect theme to explore in the middle movie of a trilogy. It is where the heroes should hit their low point anyway; failure is almost a requirement. Deconstructing heroism and exploring how even the greatest can fall and fail, would have been a great fit. But TLJ didn't pull it off. There are a lot of ways it failed to do so IMO, but for this paragraph, I'll focus on just one; where in the story it sits. TLJ isn't a standalone story, and honestly shouldn't be treated as one. It is the middle of 3 acts in the new trilogy. It has certain tasks it should perform as that position; deepening the conflict, growing the characters, and setting up the finale, among others. IMO, it fails all 3. The conflict is not deepened. We are in essentially the exact same position as we were at the end of TFA; The First Order just suffered a crushing blow to some expensive infrastructure, while the Rebels won a pretty Phyrric victory, and needed to build up the Rebellion to properly fight the First Order. The stakes haven't been upped. If anything, they've reduced. We no longer have Luke to care about, and finding him and bringing him back or not has been resolved, with nothing to replace it. Characters also don't really develop. Finn repeats his character arc from TFA. There are some thematic differences, but it doesn't do much to distinguish the lesson the character learns in TLJ from the one he learns in TFA. Poe never had a character to begin with, so while he may have had his character now established, it feels more ancilliary - like his character - than a core part of the story told in the trilogy. The one character I'll give proper development to is Kylo. It has barely put him in a different position to where he was in TFA, but his motivations have shifted from imitating Vader to getting rid of his family's legacy. When it comes to setting up the finale though... That's where this movie completely falls apart. It acts as its own finale, and the only ongoing plotline is "How will the Rebellion fight the Empire?". There isn't even an established battle or stakes in the battle, its just the core premise of Star Wars; light vs dark in one form or another, and that's the only thing the final act of the trilogy has to work with. Its like if Two Towers ended with Frodo throwing the Ring into Mount Doom, and then forming up an adventuring party to go in search of treasure. It wouldn't flow. Return of the King just would not fit into the same story. Its an additional story, not part of a trilogy. TLJ tries to act like a standlone, ignoring many plot points from its prequel, and leaving nothing for its sequel to conclude, and that just... doesn't work. Continued in comments...

My biggest problem with the movie is it's facade of "risk taking" or "subverting" expectations. The movie moves on the ideas of doing something different with the series aside from the dark fights the light, but doesn't commit to it and only falls back into what it did before. We are again at a point of a new Jedi has appeared, Rey, and has to fight off the replacement Darth Vader and the evil guys. The series doesn't take risks and this movie is a clear example of it.

I have used the phrase "disrespecting the franchise" in different word. Not for the reasons he pointed out. But for taking the rules star wars had in place and throwing them out. In order to safely jump into hyperspace without ending up in the center of a planet you need to plot a course. And you brought up in one of these videos that Holdo not letting Poe know the plan was fine but isn't it a leaders responsibility to come up with a plan and communicate it with everyone else. According to Poe she doesn't have a plan, they are running out of fuel, and everyone he cares about is going to die unless he does something.

Asshole. Puttin' all them onions in this video. I think that this is the video I'm going to point people to when they ask about why I liked The Last Jedi. Good interpretation. :)

Awesome vid as per usual!! Noticed some people are upset that you did another video on Star Wars: The Last Jedi. No complaints from me. When I was going through the criminal justice program, we spent almost an entire semester studying the O.J. Simpson trial. When it’s something that is so big and controversial, sometimes you need to slice down the movie/trial and say “Okay, for the next two weeks we’re going to be looking at the prosecution team and figure out what went wrong.” Or “This week we’re going to be looking at the police’s involvement in the case, evidence gathering, media presence, etc etc.” Same with the movie. Whether you hated or loved the movie, I think there’s a lot more to cover, and so that’s why there will (and should) be several videos about it. Just my $0.02

It's not just that it doesn't fulfill expectations. This number 8. To succeed it needs artistic coherence with 1-7. A book that delivers a moral lesson, but spends the first half of the story undermining that lesson: each half may be well crafted and executed, but they attack each-other which destroys secondary belief and divests the reader. Rian wanted to make *his* Star Wars, but he was hired to make *more* Star Wars using the characters, the title, the plot, and the production of *the* Star Wars. He is disrespecting the previous artists by claiming to continue their work while attacking the core of it. Not mentioning the terrible dialogue, flimsy plot, amateur acting, and witless humor. Previous episodes had some of each, but never so much all at the same time.

The movie was branded as "Star Wars" and marketed as a sequel to The Force Awakens. Fans are not unreasonable to expect a degree of consistency with material released over the past 40+ years and continuity with its trilogy predecessor.

“Sometimes you have to saves the ones you love” 😂

As a non-fan of Star Wars who watched The Last Jedi simply because I wanted to see what all the controversy was about, I think dismissing people's complaints as simply "disrespecting the franchise" is a bit off point. As a person who holds little love for the Star Wars franchise I thought TLJ was fascinating, and I respected what it was trying to do and say, but it is a mess. It's way too long, many of the characters are utterly pointless and should've been cut, the Finn subplot could've probably been dropped entirely to hand more focus to the actual interesting part aka the Rey-Kylo-Luke conflict, and many of the decisions made by the characters in the story are simply baffling. It's a story with some amazing ideas and characters that face plants on execution. TLJ did do something the Force Awaken did not though, it has me looking forward to the next part of Star Wars, simply because I want to see what the hell they do with the story from here.

Personally: I didn’t love the last Jedi; but I enjoyed it.

So when JJ Abrams chose to cater to the angry fanbase that hated TLJ, well... We all saw what resulted in that. A convoluted mess filled with spiteful and apologetic writing. It was obvious and distracting.

The main conflict I have with the LAST JEDI is that the great moments are REALLY GREAT but the bad moments are like REALLY REALLY BAD

Love it that Luke's final choice was to reject violence. I don't understand why so many people think that's such a bad thing. It's him rejecting his worst qualities - the thing that Yoda tells him in "Empire" is to reject violence and aggression and the moment that's almost his downfall in ROTJ is his aggressive attack on Vader. That he chooses not to indulge that side of himself, the side that almost destroyed him, really seems to upset people and it just seems backwards to me.

That ending about "new hope" was beautiful, mygod I love this channel

I just discovered your channel and can't get enough. Well done!

What makes a good Star Wars movie is a movie that challenges the audiences perception. There hasn't been a Star Wars movie like this since Empire Strikes Back where people didn't like it but grew to like it over time after getting past it's flaws. The Last Jedi isn't a perfect movie but I hated this movie when it released. Today I love it because this is the Star Wars movie we've needed for years.

By comparing this to romance novels, you're missing one critical aspect: romance novels never have sequels. This had preexisting characters and preexisting events / storylines. If you change a character fundamentally or mess with established plot points (like making the entire rebellion somehow weak and defeated), you are creating a fundamentally different story and then calling it a sequel.

_"I can think of no better visual representation of overcoming depression than seeing Luke walk out of the darkness, through a field of fire, to face his past mistakes in the bright light of day."_ This is well put, and perhaps it would indeed have been a good metaphor if only it hadn't been an illusion! Remember, Luke earlier ridicules the very idea of facing the first order with his "laser sword". The fact that he does it through a projection means he *doesn't* face his past mistakes at all. The scene is instead a reassurance that such a thing would be silly and upon the audience realizing Luke actually hasn't changed his stance one bit, it becomes as much a ruse for the audience as it was for Kylo. It's on par with seeing Bobby walk out of the shower in Dallas! The fact that Luke also tries so hard not to physically participate that he dies from the effort makes it more pathetic than poetic. Are the twin suns in TLJ a "hallucination", really? That's certainly debatable. The movie makes a habit of serving plenty of visual candy that makes little or no sense. Trying to rationalize this scene as anything but that, is a stretch. _"The film denies us the catharsis of violence in this moment..."_ As far as I understand, denying catharsis was literally Rhian Johnson's working principle. But it seems subversion of expectation can cut both ways. Who would have thunk it? Luke could have given the rebellion a "new hope" in a myriad of different ways. Unfortunately, the way chosen was arguably inferior to any conceivable alternative.

*uses skillshare* *becomes a jedi* *Force ghosts across space* *dies*

Please keep up the excellent work! You Are AMAZING Freaking breath of fresh air to literary analysis

I agree there is a certain prescriptive element that Star Wars fans bring to a new movie in the franchise. But the reason comes down to the expectations created, only partly by the original trilogy, but especially by Episode 7 and this supposedly new trilogy. 7 pointed fans in one direction, 8 behaved as if 7 barely happened. This lack of cohesion has exposed the main problem - LucasFilm does not seem to have an overarching story to tell, but instead is piecemealing different people's ideas and pretending to tell a cohesive story. There are more specific problems with both movies, especially with the poor development of some characters. But why most people are upset at this point, 7 months later, is that they distrust the people running the franchise and their ability to create a story that can envelop multiple movies. And based on the dysfunction behind the scenes of several movies in the new Disney regime, it seems that nobody at Disney agrees on what direction Star Wars should go. Ultimately, this is why there is growing lack of anticipation for Episode 9, and why many fans feel that their favorite franchise has been not necessarily ruined, but certainly mishandled and mismanaged... Sorry for the rant.

An interesting topic, but actually, I strongly disagree. I don't think There's a very popular narrative that the fans who hated TLJ are whiney man-babies who don't like their precious franchise f*ed with. They have condemned an otherwise strong film because they can't deal with representation, expectation subversion and a change in subject material. I'm sure there is a lot of that too, but it's missing the point. It's a bad film. It's ambitious, and tries some interesting things, but ultimately it fails due to the execution. 1. Tonally, it's a schizophrenic mess. it can't work out if it's a comedy film or a dramatic epic. It tries to do both, and messes up both. Almost every heartfelt, dramatic moment is ruined with cheap jokes. It does't ruin "the tone of a traditional Star Wars movie" with cheap jokes- it fails at it's OWN objectives because of them. The film is literally riddled with poorly applied moments of bathos which serve to undermine the dramatic tension the film tries to create. It's inappropriate, and breaks the integrity of its own myth creation. 2. Like almost every hollywood movie nowadays it's about 45 minutes too long- and there's a 45 minute sequence in the middle which has absolutely no relevance to the overall plot (casino nonsense). 3. There is no character development in any of the main characters. Whatsoever. Finn was utterly wasted, and once again Rey is just swept along by circumstance and makes no meaningful choices which develop her as a person. Nobody has any reason to have an emotional investment in Poe, and yet he's treated like some fan favourite who everyone loves from pre-development, rather than the strength of his presence in this film alone. The first film did a fantastic job in setting up both Rey and Finn. This film was (if he is to be included as a main character) Poe's turn, but yet the director acted as though the work was done already. 4. In real terms, everything ends pretty much exactly as it began. Basically, the film danced on a sixpence for 3 hours and made no significant meta-plot progress. 5. The film did not operate within the very well established lore constraints of the existing Star Wars universe. As much as this sounds like "doesn't respect the source material" complaint there's an important difference- I'm not talking about artistic, tonal or thematic breaks. This is something the prequels also did- when operating in an existing universe you have to play by the rules of that universe, or you piss on the work everyone else has done. Now, you can say that this is whiney man-baby nerd-speak, but ultimately, nobody likes a story set in the real world that doesn't operate within the rules of the real world- it's jarring, cheap and lazy. Those rules still apply in a fantasy universe. 6. The premise of the main plot is weak and somewhat nonsensical. It doesn't involve any of the main characters, and seems bland and poorly thought through. There was no tension, drama or emotional resonance. Despite these glaringly obvious flaws in the film anyone who dislikes it is characterised as some kind of knuckle dragging neanderthal who just can't deal with fair representation of human beings. There is a middle ground where you can be fine with all those things, but also realise that the film is bad because... it was badly made.

It's great how interesting these breakdowns sound and really help improve the overall perception of the film - but definitely from the filmmakers it had to be conveyea d in a more refined manner. That New Hope parallel is a great catch and I think its also a good area to discuss for relatability. The scene from A New Hope was what establishes the audience's connection with Luke, as you mentioned. It is about despair and a sense of feeling trapped and shackled - longing for a sense of freedom. This is an emotion which a child or a young adult would highly relate to especially someone living at home with their parents. As you described the fantasy of Star Wars, this is the moment which puts the audience in that position as sharing Luke's perspective. From here on out as Luke goes out on his adventure - making friends, training under masters, saving his friends and finally confronting his father/antagonist - The audience feels connected and emotionally invested in his progress and growth. The scene in the Last Jedi is something which the video above did a GREAT job explaining the completion of Luke's arc. However, I think the reason why it was criticized - not only for Luke's death- but also the context. The completion feels much more satisfying to the person who actually saw the scene from the original but now again this person is in Luke's shoes and the fading away , I think, serves to some extent to bring on a sense of mortality or irrelevance. Yes their is redemption, in a way. In my thinking, there are three routes which would have prompted a more positive response from the audience - (1) Redemption - Yes Luke comes out and is here to face Kylo and the First Order all by himself - audience gasping in surprise and smiles start to crack on people's face. This is what they were waiting for - The hero is back after all his failures and guilt. Yes he walked out from the darkness- but I would say the apparition would have been fine - had he not faded away. Even a cut to that ending scene would suffice - he doesn't need to fight the battles all the time anymore but he is made his journey back and has overcome his darkneep ss. The following films could use him or do away with him but as a character - and the viewers that put themselves in his shoes when they saw A New Hope - they are redeemed or atleast can aspire to redeem themselves without it leading straight to mortality. (2) Passing the torch. Lets say we keep all other plot points intact but add in just one extra scene between Luke and Rey - perhaps, even before he fades. Just either appearing to her or exchanging a glance. There would be multiple ways to execute this but this sentiment would also add a level of closure to the character. The audience can now let Luke's story wrap up as their own personal resonance continues with Rey. Of course, we all know that Rey is this generation's Luke right down to the clothes , the backstory, and the Jedi mantle. However, I still think a scene like that would be powerful and would be a better accepted end for the character. (3) Going out in a blaze of glory - as mentioned in the video! Of course, this takes the level of complexity out but just as the Darth Vader scene at the end of Rogue One got audiences sitting up in their seats - actually letting Luke physically complete the battle would added a highly emotional response from the audiences. If we don't want to show Luke losing - you can opt for an Obi Wan Kenobi type self-sacrificial hit once the Rebels were safe. It would become a not so subtle callback I agree - but then again he would be going out as one of his mentors had and would suit the narrative of tradition and how Rey will continue the Jedi ways. Just a few thoughts on this whole thing.

Very interesting video man, makes a lot of sense to me. There is so much meaning in what happens with Luke and you found something similar yet different to me. Great video I have subbed!