Star Wars: The Last Jedi has become one of the most polarizing Star Wars films in the history, and it has unleashed fierce debates among emotional fans. Director Rian Johnson tried everything to please fans and explain the reasoning behind all the decisions taken, and the biggest grouse of fans is the depiction of Luke Skywalker. That’s the issue which Director Kevin Smith’s theory regarding the reason for the fan hatred of The Last Jedi, and it has a great deal of merit.
Kevin Smith explained on his Fat Man on Batman podcast about fan expectations being the cause of such hatred for The Last Jedi and in particular, the way Luke has been shown. Smith stated that the fans of the franchise wanted the Luke that they are familiar with. The director keeps saying that Luke Skywalker’s appearance in the promotional material heightened the fan expectations. This is what he said.
“I think at the end of the day audience expectation plays into that. Like when, you know, you’re like ‘alright the next movie is going to be all about Luke, and I’ve seen Luke in the trailer and I know exactly who Luke Skywalker is and now he looks like Obi-Wan, so he’s going to be like this version of Obi-Wan,’ and then they give you a version of Luke that even Mark Hamill reportedly was like ‘I don’t know, is this really supposed to be Luke Skywalker? He’s not the one I remember.'”
To substantiate his theory, Kevin Smith said that the director Rian Johnson didn’t give the fans what they expected, and that’s why the fans became anti The Last Jedi. That is probably the logical clarification, considering people these days either love or hate things. There is no consideration for anything in-between. Smith said.
“Some people, it hit them the wrong way in a big way. I’ve seen, it’s not just people going like, ‘oh, I didn’t like it,’ when they don’t like it. It’s vitriolic as if somebody f$%ked up their childhood.”
Rian Johnson had given his opinion on a debate related to the new Force powers of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. A couple of men were discussing about the source of Luke’s new powers and insisted on there being an explanation for it. But, Johnson referred to the original trilogy and said that everything in that trilogy was without any elaborate “setup.” A fan sided with Rian Johnson and said that nobody ever questioned how the Emperor managed to shoot lightning bolts from his hands at the end of Return of the Jedi.
There might be more reasons why people hate Star Wars: The Last Jedi, however, mostly it is all related to Rian Johnson’s portrayal of Luke Skywalker. The moviemaker provided Star Wars fans with an unexpected twist and according to Kevin Smith, it caused all the negativity related to the film. You can find out more about what Kevin Smith said about the hatred for Star Wars: The Last Jedi courtesy The Fat Man on Batman podcast.
