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swan_towerOpinions on the Star Wars sequels have been polarized from the start, and from what I’ve seen, that’s no less true of Rise of Skywalker. I don’t see much point in wading into that — if you liked it then you liked it (I did), and if you didn’t you didn’t (I’m not liable to change your mind) — so I thought I’d post about something different. Instead I’d like to step back and evaluate what I consider to be the strongest and weakest narrative decisions made overall.
Spoilers for Rise of Skywalker, since both of these things play into the final episode.
WEAK: The First Order
What the hell is the First Order, anyway? Other than a name slapped on some bad guys?
Consider the Empire in the original trilogy. It doesn’t require explanation, because we all know what an empire is and what it does; we know what kinds of authority it probably has and how the common person probably feels about it. Nor do we need to know where it came from: the prequels eventually gave some backstory, but for the purposes of the original trilogy, it was simply the status quo of the characters’ lives.
But it’s different for the sequels. They can’t just handwave the First Order as the status quo; last we saw this setting, everybody was celebrating the overthrow of the evil Emperor and his jackbooted thugs, but now they’re . . . being oppressed again? . . . by more jackbooted thugs? Led by some offstage Emperor-type villain that came out of nowhere? Except it’s totally not clear if the First Order is in charge of anything?
Apparently if you dig around enough in the various Star Wars media you can learn that the First Order is basically an enemy state outside the New Republic that’s formed out of the remnants of the Empire, using contingency plans set in place by Palpatine, and that after they blow up the leadership of the New Republic in The Force Awakens they start taking things over again, which is why in the later movies it seems like they’re in charge of stuff. But you have to dig for this information, because it is not remotely clear enough in the films.
And on top of that, it’s kinda boring. In general I don’t bear the sequels a grudge for the ways in which they echo the original trilogy, because in general the sequels do interesting things with inverting or rearranging those pieces. The First Order, unfortunately, just feels like the Empire 2.0 with nothing particularly new or interesting about it. And when you get to the Final Order, there’s the omgwtfbbq enormous fleet of thousands of star destroyers that each have the planet-destroying capability of the Death Star, which Palpatine apparently pulls directly out of his ass, because the final threat has to be Even! Goddamned! Bigger! It was so far over the top I just utterly didn’t care anymore. While there were individual villains I liked very much in this trilogy, the antagonists as an organization were just kind of . . . there.
STRONG: The Force Dyad
While the specific idea of Rey and Kylo/Ben being a Force dyad should have been brought up sooner (I’d say at the end of the second film), I bloody loved the effect it had: the ability of those characters to communicate, interact, and even transfer objects over distance.
I burbled happily about this after The Last Jedi, because it was such an elegant solution to the problem of having two opponents you can’t put into the same room without ending your plot Real Quick. Letting them talk but not fight each other meant the story could build a meaningful relationship between them — which was not only satisfying on its own terms (a common flaw I see in stories of this type is that I have zero emotional investment in the hero/villain relationship because they’re essentially strangers to each other), but also necessary in the long run for making the end of their story work.
But here it paid off even more! I genuinely had an “oh shit” moment when he pulled the beads off Rey’s neck, and when their fight dropped Vader’s helmet to the floor, both times allowing him to fgure out where she was. And when she passes Luke’s lightsaber off to him behind her back . . . I was not the only person in my theatre punching the air. (Also, the little shrug he gives the Knights of Ren when he’s suddenly armed. Adam Driver had a number of excellent little beats like that.)
So I hope that whoever came up with the idea and effects of the Force Dyad got a nice parking spot and monthly cookie baskets for the next few years, because I honestly consider it to be the best storytelling decision in the entire sequel trilogy. It was new, and it paid off both emotionally and as a plot device, at more than one point in the story.
There were other good and bad things, but in terms of stuff that runs throughout the story, I genuinely think those were the worst and best moves they made.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-03 11:12 pm (UTC)Are Force dyads supposed to have existed throughout history, or are Rey and Kylo the first? (Having not seen the film, I am trying to differentiate between a concept that's new to the audience vs. new to the characters.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 06:05 am (UTC)So what is a Force dyad, beyond a pair of people powerfully bonded to one another through the Force?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 06:11 am (UTC)Gurer'f nyfb n Fxljnyxre/Cnycngvar guvat tbvat ba, orpnhfr Erl vf gur Rzcrebe'f tenaqqnhtugre, naq Ora vf Yrvn'f fba. V qb fbeg bs jvfu gurer unq orra rabhtu birenepuvat pnaba cyna sbe guvf gb fbzrubj gvr onpx vagb gur cerdhry vqrn gung Nanxva jnf tbvat gb "oevat onynapr gb gur Sbepr," ohg nynf, abobql jnf ernyyl guvaxvat guvatf guebhtu gung jryy.
But it's really the narrative effect of the idea, rather than where it fits into the worldbuilding, that makes me list it as the best element of the sequels. For the purposes of character and relationship development and also plot twists, it works very well.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 06:25 am (UTC)I pretty much just consider the passion/reason (or attachment/detachment) thing canonical, so I see no reason you should not. It makes much more sense of the stories than moral dualism.
V qb fbeg bs jvfu gurer unq orra rabhtu birenepuvat pnaba cyna sbe guvf gb fbzrubj gvr onpx vagb gur cerdhry vqrn gung Nanxva jnf tbvat gb "oevat onynapr gb gur Sbepr," ohg nynf, abobql jnf ernyyl guvaxvat guvatf guebhtu gung jryy.
Bu, zna. Gung jbhyq unir orra n pyrire erpynzngvba bs jung V unir bgurejvfr nyjnlf pbafvqrerq na naablvat cvrpr bs abafrafr.
(V jnf abg guevyyrq ol gur eriryngvba bs Erl'f cneragntr, ohg V nyjnlf yvxrq gur raq bs gur Puebavpyrf bs Celqnva.)
Ner gurl obaqrq vagevafvpnyyl, be whfg sebz gur gvzr gurl zrg, be vf gung arire tbar vagb?
But it's really the narrative effect of the idea, rather than where it fits into the worldbuilding, that makes me list it as the best element of the sequels.
That's fair. Even if it was retcon-justification of an existing dynamic, it sounds as though it really works.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 06:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 07:07 am (UTC)Lrnu, ohg gura lbh fubhyqa'g xvyy bss unys bs lbhe qhnyvfz.
There's a point at which looking for something different from this saga feels like it's missing the point, especially when I consider failure to be properly mythic one of the huge failings of the prequels.
I understand your point; I don't think I'm asking for the non-mythic. "Npghny Abobql → Tnynpgvp Ureb" vf n cresrpgyl ivnoyr zlgu.
(I no longer remember all the ins and outs of it, but after Revenge of the Sith I remember working up an alternate plan for it that would have started with a non-child Anakin and built an Arthurian triangle with him, Obi-Wan, and Amidala, Anakin falling to the dark side out of jealousy.)
I'd have watched it.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 07:31 am (UTC)Fair. Though I did like how it played out in this instance -- vg gheaf bhg V nz zber zbirq ol "ur tnir uvf yvsr gb fnir uref guebhtu urnyvat" guna ol "ur tnir uvf yvsr gb fnir uvf fba'f guebhtu xvyyvat."
(It occurs to me that since there is already a spoiler warning on this post, and you've shown you have no reluctance to discuss spoilery specifics, there's probably no need for the rot13 . . .)
"Npghny Abobql → Tnynpgvp Ureb" vf n cresrpgyl ivnoyr zlgu.
And that's entirely true, too. But since family has been such a core element of the story in both the original trilogy and the sequels, it isn't surprising to see it play in for Rey, too.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 07:51 am (UTC)That makes sense to me. We see much less of the former.
(It occurs to me that since there is already a spoiler warning on this post, and you've shown you have no reluctance to discuss spoilery specifics, there's probably no need for the rot13 . . .)
I was trying to be nice to people who read the comments!
(I am significantly spoiler-indifferent: I can't think of a single time that knowing something about a story in advance has lessened my interest in reading/seeing it, unless it was something that I wouldn't want in my head in the first place.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 07:58 am (UTC)In general, so am I. But the whole post is a spoiler, so if they're down here reading the comments, either they saw the movie already or have decided (like you) that they don't mind spoilers. I probably wouldn't have used rot13 in the first place except that your comment made it clear you hadn't seen it yet, and I wasn't sure how far your spoiler-indifference went.
I tend to be of your mind with spoilers, except insofar as I don't want to hear people complaining about a thing I'm excited to see. Often I disagree with the substance of their complaints anyway, and all it does is rain on my parade ahead of time.
(But oh, Cats. I love the musical and was going to see the movie, because apparently I don't care as much as everybody else does about things like "but what size are the cats??? they keep changing!!!" . . . until I heard that 1) the dancing is poorly filmed and 2) the sound editing on the songs is bad, too. Since the two reasons to go see Cats are 1) the dancing and 2) the singing, it's now off my list. Even if I really wanted to see Ian McKellan as Gus the Theatre Cat and Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy. But that's not actually an instance of plot spoilers turning me away.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 08:21 am (UTC)I appreciate the care.
Since the two reasons to go see Cats are 1) the dancing and 2) the singing, it's now off my list.
That is what
(I do care about things like the CGI fur, because all photographic evidence suggests that it takes the characters into deep uncanny valley and also the show makeup is really quite good. I am much more attached to the Eliot poems than to the musical, but come on, what kind of person do you have to be not to appreciate '80's glam dance cats? Tom Hooper, apparently.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 07:45 pm (UTC)So basically giving your opponents an easy private phone line.
Hmm, not sure I've ever seen that used in fiction, even fanfic, before? I had a related idea years ago, opposed Exalted using advanced communication magic to trash talk each other[1], like a newbie Lunar spamming Chejop. And there's various epistolary fiction of course, including a fic of 'texting' between Nerdanel and dead Feanor. But I can't think of heavy correspondence or calls between opponents. Tolkien had Sauron/Denethor but we don't get to see it.
[1] _Wonders of the Lost Age_ had the neat idea of one goddess earning her prayer through a voice mail service: you pray to her, she sends dreams to the recipient or something. Could generalize that to a mailing list. And of course there was sorcery and DB Charms for messaging someone, the sorcery even called IM (Infallible Messenger).