Click here to see what is next.Dear God, The Last Jedi movie manages to crap all over the Star Wars legacy even more than Attack of the Clones managed to do. Where to begin?
First of all, I suppose I should point out that while I still maintain that the prequels sucked, I do now recognize some of the important messages that George Lucas was trying to say in them. Living in Japan and being away from the USA and family there has helped change my perspective on politics and stuff. Back in 2001 I had written on my page here about 9/11 and how I was glad that George Bush was president instead of Al Gore. I now realize that the destruction of the Twin Towers was quite obviously a controlled demolition which could not have been pulled off without people in America rigging the buildings for demolition. Even if an airplane could penetrate steel buildings, they couldn't just cause the buildings to spontaneously collapse into their own foundations. I was living in Japan at the time of 9/11, and it's not like I had access to high speed internet at the time to watch and analyze unedited footage. But in this age of YouTube, private citizens are able to show the footage of this event on sites like LiveLeak and YouTube, to show the explosions detonating floor by floor all the way down to bring down the towers, showing interviews with the firemen on that first day who heard the explosions of the detonations and even getting caught in the lobby where the bombs went off, the BBC news anchor declaring the destruction of WTC7 before it even fell, and all the discrepancies and misinformation that the corporate-controlled media pulled on that day to buffalo the public. Thanks to watching videos by Infowars and documentaries on 9/11, I now realize the horror that elusive alliegences within the government (the "deep state" as they are called) are capable of inflicting on the public.
So knowing all of this, I could now finally see Lucas's message of false flags and proxy wars. Of how Palpatine was playing both sides of the war to his advantage, of false flag attacks like the bomb on Padme's starship, and fake wars. I now understand how AOTC gave a message of warning about conniving bankers, technocrats, corporate cronies, cleptocrats, and the military industrial complex. The problem remains with the prequels on how incredibly stupid these people are portrayed, as uniracial alien beings. Like, why are all the Trade Federation of a single race, or the Banker's Clan, etc? Stupid. But, the message is there. And as Alex Jones has pointed out, ROTS shows the true root of evil as portrayed in Anakin's final test that took his complete turn to the Dark Side: murdering children. Now in this day of the reality of Pedogate, this message rings truer to me than when I first saw the movie. I've since learned of Jimmy Saville, the despicable child molester who was rather chummy with the British elites, the media, and even the Royal Family. And the man running the BBC who covered for this loathsome monster all those years was none other than Mark Thompson, who is now the CEO of the New York Times. So am I to believe that Pizzagate is "debunked" and "fake" because the NYT tells me so? Disgusting. I think I will write about my changing political views and how living in Japan has given me a different perspective. But that will be another time.
So, about The Last Jedi... Oh gosh. Well, on December 29th I uploaded the video above, making my statement as to why I have no desire to watch this cinematic trainwreck. We were staying at the in-laws' place for New Years, and my sister-in-law Yukari, who actually didn't mind the prequels until I sat down with her to watch The People vs. George Lucas, asked me if I'd seen TLJ yet. I said no, and she said that she saw it on opening night, before she'd heard all the negative reviews. She hated the movie, and her husband Taka insisted on seeing it despite her recommendation not to. So he took her to the theater to see this terrible movie, and halfway through he was tempted to give up and walk out of the theater.
The trailers to this movie were completely uninteresting to me, but then again I hated the Rogue One trailers and I ended up loving that movie. It took me a month or so until I bothered watching the TLJ trailer for the first time. The movie's title really made me flinch, much more than "The Phantom Menace" or even worse, "Attack of the Clones." I figured that the only way I would give this movie a chance was to totally spoil the movie for myself. Well, I did, and watching one bad review after another, I am glad that I never saw this crappy social justice propaganda film. But even setting all the SJW crap aside, the movie itself is just poorly written.
While discussing TLJ with others online, I've noticed the prevalent attitude of those who had no issue with TLJ and are quick to defend it are the ones who quickly add something like "It's just a stupid Star Wars movie, so don't expect much" or "check your brain at the door and enjoy the movie." I will not go as far as to accuse you guys of not being "true Star Wars fans," but I will point out that there is a big reason why Star Wars is a household name ingrained in our culture and not the likes of Plan 9 From Outer Space. If I wanted to watch a brainless, stupid SF action movie that insults my intelligence, I'd watch a Michael Bay Transformers movie. But I won't even waste my time with those movies. I hold Star Wars to a higher regard than that.
Even as bad as the prequels were due to a lack of Lucas inviting others' input, at least those movies followed the established "hero's journey" in which Anakin developed his skills and grew as a character. JJ's The Force Awakens established a lot of mystery and intrigue, only to have Rian Johnson toss them away with a completely different vision for the series. The characters aren't even consistent.
And it turns out that all the Rebellion needed to do was hyperspace a frozen burrito into the Death Star's core at Yavin IV and not have bothered with all that "Lock S-Foils into attack position" business. Let's just cut the whole galaxy in half with hyperspace kamikaze attacks because we were able to do that all along, apparently.
To quote Han Solo: "Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick wouldn't it?" This was when Han was waiting for precise coordinates from the navicomputer. Expanded Star Wars lore had already established that hyperdrives have a failsafe that aborts a hyperspace jump when there is an object in the way. Too many times while playing the X-Wing flight simulator on my PC in the '90s, my hyperdrive jump would be cancelled when there was a Star Destroyer blocking my escape route and I had to try to avoid its lasers and TIE Fighters to flee. You can see this in the movie Rogue One when the Rebel fleet is jumping to hyperspace at the end. Suddenly Vader's Star Destroyer Devastator pops out of hyperspace, and several ships' hyperspace jumps are automatically aborted when it blocks their way, and they are shot down while some even collide with the huge ship. The difference here to note is that the people who made Rogue One were actual Star Wars fans who really paid attention to detail. Raian Johnson is just an idiot.
Lucasfilm is now in the hands of Kathleen Kennedy. Seeing her credentials is amazing, with all of the famous movies she has been involved in. But it is evident that she is a complete social justice warrior nincompoop and is hell-bent on destroying Star Wars. She is the type of person who would unleash a gastly fart in a crowded elevator and then sneer at everyone and accuse them of having unpleasant body odor. The new Lucasfilm propensity to denigrate longtime Star Wars fans in favor of SJW nitwits is very alarming. This woman is trying to rebrand Star Wars in favor of a new demographic that never really cares about Star Wars to begin with. These are flighty, insincere twerps devoid of intellect, and TLJ is trying to win their favor. These are not the loyal fans who buy the merchandise.
I liked The Force Awakens, and although it was contrived, it at least felt like a Star Wars movie. But my appreciation for that movie was hinged on what how the next movie would turn out, primarily with having to explain how Rey could suddenly become a master Jedi without any training. JJ Abrams set up plenty of intrigue and potential, such as the theory that Rey was related to Ben Kenobi. JJ set up so much to be exploited in the next movie, but then Rian Johnson just took it all and tossed it over his shoulder, just as Luke tosses the lightsaber over his shoulder. What a dingus. Rey apparently doesn't need to undergo the hero's journey, to overcome hardships and grow as a character. No training is necessary for her because she's a strong woman and she doesn't need training apparently. The attitude at Lucasfilm is that if you call bullshit on that, then you are a filthy, mysoginist Nazi.
Now here I will attempt to illustrate how modern-day attitudes have changed things from people embracing compelling, strong female characters to rejecting forced, contrived female characters. The problem here is that Star Wars never lacked "diversity" to begin with, but people like Kathleen Kennedy don't seem to realize this and are trying to fix something that was never broken. The writer of Rogue One faced a backlash with his safety pin crap and inane comments on Twitter and he is responsible for hurting box office sales for what actually turned out to be a great movie. People boycotting Rogue One were painted as "white supremacists," despite one of the biggest voices in the boycott was Malik Obama. It turns out that yes, it was rather diverse cast in terms of ethnicity, but the problem with the SJW "safety pin" ilk is that they don't realize that nobody really fixates on ethnicity the way they do, and thus normal people don't really dwell on such things. I was afraid that Jane Urso or whatever her name is was going to be contrived character, but the father/daughter theme was rather touching. I was afraid that I was gonna hate "Magic Stick Man" because at first he seemed laughable in the trailer. Turns out that I liked his character best, along with his gun-totting friend. And when they were addressed as the "Guardians of the Whills" or whatever, it was immediately evident that the writers were rather intimately familiar with the Star Wars universe. So if things are natural and not contrived or condescending, people won't object to it.
But that apparently isn't the case with this new movie. Here are the main reasons why people object to the politicization of TLJ.
Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
Poe Dameron was Leia's right hand man, whom she entrusted on a vital mission to track down her brother Luke. It was abundantly obvious that Poe would do anything, including laying his life down, to serve Leia. Now along comes the purple-haired, Vice Admiral "Instant Meme Goldmine" Dildo. Or Holdo. Whatever. (The purple hair is a cringeworthy message in itself, and says a lot about her function in the movie. Sargon hilariously calls her "Vice Admiral Gender Studies" and it fits the image.) Does she have green skin or something? No, just purple hair. Sheesh. So here comes Admoral Holdo and... get this... Poe Dameron is suddenly a pig-headed chauvinist prick who doesn't like taking orders from women just for the sake of the movie giving a lesson on misogyny. So the writer has Poe make a snide, sexist remark. Uh oh, a woman is being repressed by the patriarchy! This scene not only craps on Poe's character, but instantly makes Holdo into the second-most loathsome character in Star Wars, second only to Jar Jar. Vice Admiral Dildo.
A woman can do anything a man can do, only betterer.
Now I could easily rationalize why Rey was a badass with a bo staff who didn't like being touched when I first saw TFA. She was abandoned on a rough planet and had to fight to survive. Needless to say, she has abandonment issues. I'm fine with that. Now the prequels could have been good if Lucas had allowed other people help him develop them better. But as absurd as the prequels were, even those movies got the spirit of the "hero journey" right (except that Anakin's turn to the Dark Side was more like he was tricked rather than seduced). We never got to see Anakin's training, but it was implied that he had gone through training to develop himself in the Force.
All of that was thrown out the window with Rey. Training? Forget it. Who needs training? I figured that she had the Force as a child and had been trained, and that her memories were suppressed to hide her and that the Force was awakening in her, thus the title. No, she's just some nobody. There is a chance that JJ might try to salvage this and reveal something in the third movie, and it's not like lying about one's parentage in order to protect them is a new thing to Star Wars. But this is the second movie already and they still are going with the "she doesn't need training because she's perfect and doesn't need help to find the Force on her own." If that is indeed not the case, then it's simply sloppy writing. Skipping the hero's journey with Rey makes her an uninteresting character.
Making Rey just a "Mary Sue" makes her far less compelling of a character. Luke sensed her reaching out to the Dark Side, but that was just a pointless cul-de-sac and isn't brought up again. Well, whatever. You cannot deny that Kathleen "The Force Is Female" Kennedy has an agenda she wishes to force on The Force. But by doing so, she is really crapping on Star Wars. Pretty much anybody is open to the idea of a badass Jedi woman. Remember Mara Jade? But forcing a Mary Sue into a flawless Force master is dumb. What is the Force? The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
Burned all my notebooks! What good are notebooks? They won't help me survive!
Yes, it's been explained to me that the Jedi books are seen in the Millennium Falcon at the end of the movie, but the message is still there: "Burn the books. Let's not be bound by history and forge a new future together as we see fit!" Oh God, do I really need to point out that this was the crux of the Communist revolution around the world and National Socialism in Germany? This remains at the heart of cultural Marxism and is evident across the USA's university campuses. Either figuratively or literally, there is a push to burn and destroy history. But history shouldn't come with "trigger warnings." Telling any of these SJW snowflakes that one of the earliest and most prominent slave owners in North America (and possibly one of the first) was actually a black man named Anthony Johnson is enough to send them into a screaming temper tantrum. Ohmygosh. Here comes a yamaka-wearing Jewish man telling us "facts don't care about your feelings." Ohmygosh, he must be a Nazi because that's exactly what Hitler would say. We don't have any arguments grounded in common sense to refute what he says, so let's brutally attack his audience and let the property damage ensue. We can't fight fascism without blood and fire. So now the freedom of speech comes at a cost of over $600k for security to have an unimposing young Jewish man say rather benign common sense things (and not to mention the hospital bills of those in his audience who are viciously attacked by these imbeciles claiming to be open-minded defenders of diversity).
Destroying history is one of the most destructive, horrible things to do. It's also a rather popular notion among those who rationalize it. Cultural Marxism. Take a guess which end of the political spectrum this sentiment lies.
One of the multitude of problems with with forced feminism is when people feel that in order to elevate a woman, men must be pushed down. In TLJ and in so many other movies and shows, in order to portray a woman as being strong, the men must be shown to be pig-headed and part of the problem. So basically if someone is elevated (to make Holdo a good leader), others must be reduced (Poe must play the role of a douchebag). This "zero-sum game" is a logical fallacy and has so many social and economic ramifications that it goes without saying that populism is bound to reject it. However, the zero-sum is at the heart of social justice philosophy. Take a pick which end of the political spectrum this stupidity lies.
Modern feminism is not about equality, but rather superiority. This movie basically says that men just need to shut up and let women be in charge. And what's weird is that Leia wore Rebel Alliance uniforms in the original trilogy. Why she and Vice Admiral Holdo refuse to do so in this new movie is rather odd, I think. She looks like a giraffe in a cocktail dress. I'm rather disappointed how the female pilots from ROTJ were removed from the movie, and how one woman's voice was dubbed over by a male. Dumb. The old Battlestar Galactica featured several female pilots back in 1978. Female pilots are cool. Female commanders are cool.Leia was a strong leader. Mon Mothma was the overall leader of the Rebellion. She was cool in ROTJ as well as in Rogue 1 and I believe the character was treated rather well in it.
But even as a movie with a heavy-handed dissertation on the importance of feminism, it fails at that, given that the female-dominated military manages to get everyone killed by the end of the movie.
So Rogue One proved that as long as the story and characters are compelling, I don't care what the political philosophies of the writers are. But when a movie becomes heavy-handed social justice propaganda, that's where I draw the line. Rian Johnson, I won't call you a "cuck" or a "soyboy" or whatever. You're just a hack fraud and you are no more of a Star Wars fan as JJ Abrams is a Star Trek fan. You suck, Rian Johnson!
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