Last Jedi Cured me of my Star Wars Fandom

Last Jedi came out in December and debate still rages on.

Last Jedi has lead to many many videos arguing for and against how good the film is.

I went to see it with a friend, and as soon as it was over, I felt no need ever to watch another Star Wars film again. Don’t get me wrong, as a kid, I loved Star Wars. I remember when they were brought back to the cinema in the late 90s. It was great. I would watch the special editions every weekend on VHS.

Then the prequels came out, and I didn’t think they were right. I know there are some who say Revenge of the Sith was good, but it wasn’t. It made me fed up with lightsabres.

Then the Force Awakens came out, and I gave it a chance and I really really didn’t like it.

All my problems aside from the coincidence cluster bomb that happened halfway through. It was like a fanfiction rewrite of a New Hope.

When The Last Jedi came out, I left it for a while. When I went to see it, I realised that it was the final nail in the coffin for my love of Star Wars.

Here are a few reasons why.

Last Jedi is lather rinse repeat.

Last Jedi hammered home to me how limited the Star Wars universe is, and that won’t change.

Looking back we have had ten Star Wars films. Four of them have had a Death star central to the plot, and another two have featured a Death Star.

60% of all Star Wars films feature a Death Star.

There has been no progress. There was the initial trilogy which was new and exciting. I’ll go so far as to say that Return of the Jedi is unsatisfying. If you want me to do a follow up on why ROTJ is trash, post a comment below.

The prequel trilogy set up the original. It was filling in the gaps that people may have been curious about. Having seen them maybe leaving it mysterious would have been better.

This new trilogy is just the same as the original. There is no progress. It’s just the same old same old, and I already have that with the original trilogy.

Thanks but no thanks.

If it is agenda driven, it’s a terrible agenda.

You have probably seen the accusations aimed at The Last Jedi for pushing a feminist agenda. If that is the case, then it is one of the worst arguments for women in power that I’ve ever seen. At the hands of Leia and Holdo, the Republic/rebellion (seriously, which is it?) is reduced to about twenty people. The ending seems like an odd joke “We have everything we need right here”. The females come across as maliciously incompetent. The male characters are dumb.

Admiral Holdo is passive aggressive to the point where she gets everyone killed. Her reason? She doesn’t want to tell anyone about her plan. There is no reason for not telling anyone, she is not revealed to be an enemy agent or a power-mad leader, no, it’s just spite.

Leia has a go at ace fighter pilot Poe Dameron for using violence to solve everything. Even though it has been that violence that has saved them.

Rose Tico gets derided for stopping Finn from making a heroic sacrifice. Only for her to lecture him about fighting for the things you love. All while the resistance base’s shield gets blown up. I laughed when I first saw it. Looking back it completely undercuts the lessons that she was trying to teach. The two are at odds when she stops him from trying to run away.

It had me potentially interested.

What frustrated me was that there were some interesting angles brought up in The Last Jedi. Such as the war economy, which side is worse than the other. If the world building was more transparent. If it was the New Republic hunting down the Imperial Remnant down to extinction. Then it would have been even more interesting. Of course, the whole idea is immediately brushed aside.

“The smart thing to do is not to join.”

“You’re wrong”, that’s it, that’s the argument.

Modern Disney has a problem with this in general. They give some of their best arguments to their villains. In Avenger’s Assemble Loki tells a group of people that humans love being subjugated. This is an exciting idea. How does the film end this topic, Captain America shows up and starts punching him.

If you want your audience to not side with the villain, have the hero prove him wrong through actions. Don’t just have them tell the villain to shut up.

Anyway, the other exciting idea that was brought up is the whole light v dark side. That culminates with Kylo offering a hand to Rey. The movie should have ended there. The entire idea of them moving away from the light v dark was genuinely interesting. Kylo is wanting to let go of the past. Instead, they go “No wait, let’s just start fighting again”. It was wasted potential.

It hammered home that no matter how intriguing the concepts might be Disney is always going to play it safe. Play it boring.

Two movies in and no world building

Is it so sorry that you want to know what state the world of the characters is in?

But Kieran it’s Star Wars.

This is shared the blame for both JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson. You and I are two movies into this new trilogy, and there has been no world building. I don’t know about you, but I don’t understand why things are happening in these films.

What was the system that was destroyed in TFA, was it essential? It doesn’t seem to be. What state is the Republic in? Why do they use Resistance and Rebels interchangeably? Did they become government and then get deposed straight away? How did the New Order become even more powerful than the Empire?

No sense of scale

You may get it, but the Star Wars galaxy has no sense of scale. It feels like a ghost galaxy. Aside from Cantobite which seems to be profiting from the war. There are only a few people on each of these ships so how lucrative can it be? It feels like each reveals in these new films raises more question than they answer.

I doubt that they are going to make amends in the third film. Even if they do, it’s too late. You never know what state the galaxy is in which is necessary if you want me to get an idea of steaks.

I can’t believe that I am going to say this, but at least in the prequels, there was a sense of the world and what was on the line. I can’t believe that I am referring to the prequels as a positive example.

Units of measurement

This one was the big one for me, and to you, it might be nitpicky but here goes.

This was the first Star Wars film that ever started going on about fuel. Fuel has never been an issue in any of the previous Star Wars films, and now they won’t shut up about it. That wasn’t the worst thing. It was, far I’ve only seen the movie the once and that was back in January so I may be getting the quote wrong. The bad guy says something to the effect of “Thy only have two hours of fuel left”.

Did you catch that?

Look again.

Two hours?

Hours?

This was more world breaking than hyper driving into the baddies.

Do you get why that is annoying?

Hours are unique to Earth, as in our planet Earth. A rotation takes 24 hours a lap of the sun takes 365 days. How many worlds out there that have that exact same set up as we do? You don’t even get that in our solar system.

But Kieran do you have a problem with them speaking English or looking like Humans. Yeah, that’s a fair point. There is a concept in any fiction writing called a willing suspension of disbelief. You know when you’re taking in a work of fiction that it’s not going to be 100% realistic. There are certain things that the creator must do such as not set up a rule and then break it. One of the standards set up by Star Wars is that it is a long time ago in a galaxy far away.

What I am trying to say is that references to measurements remind me of Earth. Telling me of Earth breaks the suspension of disbelief. If they said they would arrive at some place mid-August, it would have the same effect. August is named after the Roman Emperor Augustus. Apparently, they don’t do that so don’t do that with units of measurement.

The English language is called Basic. Why couldn’t they have renamed the units of time, the standard cycle would be alright.

Am I nuts?

I’m getting tangled up in myself here.

In essence, don’t make me think of my own planet when I’m trying to enjoy escapist nonsense.