Ever since the first trailer of The Last Jedi was launched, fans have been excited and scared in equal measures. The biggest reason was the last line from Luke Skywalker: “I only know one truth: It’s time for the Jedi to end.”
Over the decades, the Star Wars franchise followed a well-defined ideology: the battle is between the good and the bad; the Light and the Dark side of the Force. The Jedi Order was always portrayed as the protector of peace and the realm. This is how Obi-Wan Kenobi described the Jedi:
“The guardians of peace in the galaxy.”
Hence, the statement made in The Last Jedi questions what the franchise stands for. Once we look closer, we realize that the Jedi (individually and as a group) have failed more than one could ignore. Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council failed when he couldn’t stop Anakin from turning towards the Dark side. Obi-Wan and Yoda again failed Luke by lying to him about his parentage. The entire Jedi Oder failed when they couldn’t protect the Old Republic from Emperor Palpatine, despite swearing an oath to guard it. Even recently, Luke failed Ben Solo when he tried to train him in old Jedi ways, and Ben instead turned towards the Dark side.
The abundance of such instances prove that the traditional way of seeing Jedi Order as the ultimate group of good guys is not working anymore. Perhaps this is what we saw in the trailer because it appears that Luke might have achieved an understanding about the Force deeper than any other Jedi before him. In his words, “There’s so much more.”
Honestly, this is a very refreshing deviation from the conventional story. If The Last Jedi could challenge the way we have started to look at things due to the previous six installments, it would a great feat. Also, it is also in direct contrast with the recent Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story also promised something very different. However, the actual movie just proved that the trailer was a misleading garbage. The entire movie revolved around Saw Gerrara, a formal Rebel fighter who was removed due to his radical ways to doing things. He was a brave warrior who wanted to end the Empire (even if he was alone), but his characterization was way different than anything else we saw.
Saw Gerrara was a broken person, but also cruel, cold and paranoid. He wanted to put an end to Imperial forces but didn’t care if civilians died in the crossfire. He even had a device to help him breathe and robotic legs. In short, he was what Anakin Skywalker would be if he were a Rebel instead of Darth Vader.
However, despite getting such a dark lead character, the movie didn’t put the focus where it should have. The philosophical questions about the objectives of the rebellion and the justifiable means to achieve them were simply ignored. Despite being morally wrong, Saw Gerrara gets a free pass. Why? Well, because he was one of the “good guys,” and good guys can’t do any wrong.
It could change with The Last Jedi. However, there is no reason to be sure about it. The trailer of Rogue One looked promising too, but the movie failed to deliver. The same could happen to this movie too. However, if we assume that Luke doesn’t chew on his words in the trailer, it looks like that the film will give a fresh perspective on the nature of Force and whether it is always divided between good and evil.
The point the movie might want to tackle is that what happens once the war between good and evil is over. The original trilogy provided a clear victory of good over evil, yet 30 years later in The Force Awakens, we see that things are as bad as they ever were.
The overwhelming theme of the Star Wars movies was always about the good getting lured towards the Dark Side, while the heroes redeem them through sacrifices on the Light side. It was good at the time it was released, but today it has been overused. What fans want is to see the characters struggling to understand the very definitions of “good” and “bad,” and realize that they can fight their battle without belonging to the Jedi Council or the Sith Order.
In any case, our expectations from the upcoming movie are enormous.
