No burying the lead here: I loved this film. It is not without its flaws, some of which I'll detail here, but this film was, to use an old Storywonk quote, made specifically to delight me. Character development along keen philosophical lines and potent sociopolitical commentary will always win me over, regardless of logical flaws or tactical errors.
Starting with the characters, oh me, oh my! The new generation of chess pieces in this age-old game between Light and Dark were treated unevenly, I will grant you. Finn and Poe (two men of color, we should point out) have storylines that have caused much discussion among the fandom, while Rey and Kylo's dance provides a refreshing rhythm to the story.
Finn, a former kidnapped child soldier for the First Order, spent TFA finding something to fight for, instead of merely something to fight against, as he was taught. He found it embodied in Rey, which is where his story starts here, but the Space Vegas excursion and meeting Benicio del Toro's morally grey grifter sprinkles more grit into his discovery. Is fighting for Good a war he can win? Does he want to fight anymore, especially for people who will not fight for him in return? Luckily, the answer is yes, but I am the sort of person who prefers questions to answers. "If you have all the answers, you've just been asking boring questions." The response to Poe's story has been complicated. There are articles about the empowering female leadership of Leia and Holdo, but there have been just as many metas detailing how that White Feminist leadership is flawed and comes at the expense of a Latino man, reproducing well-trod patterns we'd rather not look into. I, for one, thought the Poe storyline was deliciously complex. Did I understand that Leia would be tired of losing her people and be upset at the way Poe, to her, cavalierly treated lives in taking out one ship? Yes. Did I equally distrust Holdo and her soft-spoken condescension, feeling Poe's mutiny was justified? Also, yes. I did not see Holdo as a heroine until she saw her plan fall to pieces around her and learned the lesson that Poe and every soldier had tried to teach her: to sacrifice others as pieces in a game means you must be willing to sacrifice yourself. The entire storyline was messily done and I am unsure whether that was on purpose (to examine the mess of warfare and the power structure therein) or an accident of the writers being more preoccupied with other characters.
Speaking of those other characters: Rey and Kylo Ren are, to me, the highlight of the movie. I'm not talking about their chemistry or any of the people who want Rey to tame the beast and turn him to the Light. I'm talking about the reverberations in the Force as these two fight to find something better than Destiny: Choice. Rey, easily my favorite from TFA, continues to reach for more, to be tempted by the rage inside her--at the universe, at cruelty, at Kylo and Luke and her parents--and uses that rage for Good, instead of letting it use her. She does not yet have control over herself, but she has the willpower to learn. She wields her emotions, just as they wield her, a lesson from Luke on touching all aspects of the Force. The scene in the cave, with the unending line of reflections of her and, at the end, she is alone. While that revelation causes her a deep, desperate sadness, I find it more in line with that Buffy quote: when Angel taunts that she has "no weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what's left," she answers with complete clarity: "Me." When Rey leaves her friends and leaves her mentor, she has herself, whole and complete in her own power.
The sociopolitical commentary and philosophical underpinnings of this movie hit me where I live. You must face who you were to become who you must; your Choice is more important than your place in Destiny; power is not inherently bad, but power that comes from the exploitation of others will always corrupt you; traditions are only worth holding onto if they continue to benefit the people; if you do not Change, you Stagnate and Fall; failure teaches, if you have the courage to face yourself and the people you've hurt; the power of the universe is free for everyone to use, not just the elite.
Everyone seems to have gotten something different out of the story, which is the mark of a good tale: ambiguous enough for everyone to see themselves in its surface, but confident enough to have an internal emotional arc.
As much as I loved the experience of watching this movie, the discussion that it has spawned, both in meatspace and online, has been even more magnificent. Keep questioning. Keep examining. Keep having fun with it.
Starting with the characters, oh me, oh my! The new generation of chess pieces in this age-old game between Light and Dark were treated unevenly, I will grant you. Finn and Poe (two men of color, we should point out) have storylines that have caused much discussion among the fandom, while Rey and Kylo's dance provides a refreshing rhythm to the story.
Finn, a former kidnapped child soldier for the First Order, spent TFA finding something to fight for, instead of merely something to fight against, as he was taught. He found it embodied in Rey, which is where his story starts here, but the Space Vegas excursion and meeting Benicio del Toro's morally grey grifter sprinkles more grit into his discovery. Is fighting for Good a war he can win? Does he want to fight anymore, especially for people who will not fight for him in return? Luckily, the answer is yes, but I am the sort of person who prefers questions to answers. "If you have all the answers, you've just been asking boring questions." The response to Poe's story has been complicated. There are articles about the empowering female leadership of Leia and Holdo, but there have been just as many metas detailing how that White Feminist leadership is flawed and comes at the expense of a Latino man, reproducing well-trod patterns we'd rather not look into. I, for one, thought the Poe storyline was deliciously complex. Did I understand that Leia would be tired of losing her people and be upset at the way Poe, to her, cavalierly treated lives in taking out one ship? Yes. Did I equally distrust Holdo and her soft-spoken condescension, feeling Poe's mutiny was justified? Also, yes. I did not see Holdo as a heroine until she saw her plan fall to pieces around her and learned the lesson that Poe and every soldier had tried to teach her: to sacrifice others as pieces in a game means you must be willing to sacrifice yourself. The entire storyline was messily done and I am unsure whether that was on purpose (to examine the mess of warfare and the power structure therein) or an accident of the writers being more preoccupied with other characters.
Speaking of those other characters: Rey and Kylo Ren are, to me, the highlight of the movie. I'm not talking about their chemistry or any of the people who want Rey to tame the beast and turn him to the Light. I'm talking about the reverberations in the Force as these two fight to find something better than Destiny: Choice. Rey, easily my favorite from TFA, continues to reach for more, to be tempted by the rage inside her--at the universe, at cruelty, at Kylo and Luke and her parents--and uses that rage for Good, instead of letting it use her. She does not yet have control over herself, but she has the willpower to learn. She wields her emotions, just as they wield her, a lesson from Luke on touching all aspects of the Force. The scene in the cave, with the unending line of reflections of her and, at the end, she is alone. While that revelation causes her a deep, desperate sadness, I find it more in line with that Buffy quote: when Angel taunts that she has "no weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what's left," she answers with complete clarity: "Me." When Rey leaves her friends and leaves her mentor, she has herself, whole and complete in her own power.
The sociopolitical commentary and philosophical underpinnings of this movie hit me where I live. You must face who you were to become who you must; your Choice is more important than your place in Destiny; power is not inherently bad, but power that comes from the exploitation of others will always corrupt you; traditions are only worth holding onto if they continue to benefit the people; if you do not Change, you Stagnate and Fall; failure teaches, if you have the courage to face yourself and the people you've hurt; the power of the universe is free for everyone to use, not just the elite.
Everyone seems to have gotten something different out of the story, which is the mark of a good tale: ambiguous enough for everyone to see themselves in its surface, but confident enough to have an internal emotional arc.
As much as I loved the experience of watching this movie, the discussion that it has spawned, both in meatspace and online, has been even more magnificent. Keep questioning. Keep examining. Keep having fun with it.
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