The Last Jedi: Character Arcs, Part 1
This post contains spoilers for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.
It's great that The Last Jedi continues to make the franchise more inclusive, but I am not ready to sing its praises. The fact is, Episode VIII is primarily about two white men: Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker. Yes, there are a handful of strong women and people of color, but their development in the film leaves a lot to be desired.
At the beginning of the film, Poe Dameron is a headstrong, independent and overly optimistic pilot who doesn't like to follow orders. He wants to lead the Resistance in its fight against the First Order, but his dramatic conflict in the film is not with anyone in the First Order. It is with Leia, who censures and demotes him when his insubordination results in an extreme loss of life, and who even shoots him when he attempts a mutiny that almost kills the entire Resistance. He needs to learn restraint and humility, though there is little evidence that he overcomes his limitations. Yet, at the end of the film, he commands the remaining members of the Resistance to follow him. They hesitate and turn to Leia for guidance. Leia quips, "What are you looking at me for?", as if Poe has earned their unquestioning loyalty. In this light-hearted moment, Leia hands the baton of leadership over to Poe, signaling the completion of his character arc.
There is some evidence that Poe has changed, though not necessarily for the better: He may be less willing to sacrifice soldiers, and less confident in his ability to succeed against enormous odds. He suggests this when he calls off the mission to charge the First Order at the last minute, seeing his comrades being too easily picked off. However, this decision doesn't make Poe out to be a more competent or trustworthy leader, since he doesn't have a better plan for the Resistance's survival. What did he think was going to happen when he started the mission? Did he think they would be able to charge the First Order without significant casualties? It was a last ditch effort--of course there were going to be significant casualties--so why give up at the last minute? His actions make little sense and don't suggest an improved approach to leadership, so why does Leia now expect everyone to follow him? Is it just because she likes him? For whatever reason, Leia is satisfied with Poe, so we are supposed to be, too.
Leia's role in the film is particularly disappointing, as she has no arc to speak of at all. Her desire is to keep as many members of the Resistance alive as possible, but her actions are only in relation to Poe. She has nothing else to do but be an obstacle for him, until she decides he doesn't need her anymore. Admiral Holdo serves a similar role: She is a stand-in for Leia, and she sacrifices herself when Leia returns. Consider how much more powerful it would have been if Leia stayed behind to "pilot" the ship at the end. Why did Holdo do it? There's no sense of character here. They're both just props, there for Poe to resist and then to tell us that Poe is entirely likable and worthy despite his devastating choices.
On a more positive--if tragic--note, Luke has a coherent arc in this installment, though it is not without its problems. For one thing, it is hard to believe that his devastating failure with Ben Solo would turn him away from the Force completely. Luke Skywalker once walked into the belly of the beast to confront his father and turn him away from the Emperor. How did he become so overcome by fear that he would consider killing Ben Solo in cold blood, just because Ben was gradually turning towards the Dark Side? What had Ben done? What had Snoke done? While I like the Rashomon-style of storytelling--giving us three different versions of Luke's fateful confrontation with Kylo, and leaving the audience with uncertainty--none of the stories tell us what led Luke to that pivotal moment in the first place. It is therefore hard to accept that he has completely shut off himself from the Force. This is a significant gap that would probably take a whole separate film to fill.
Still, there is a clear redemption narrative here. Luke's goal is to find a way to live with his guilt and anger, but he cannot let go of the Jedi in him. For most of the film, he just wants to be left alone, thinking that he cannot be helped. He tries to destroy Rey's hope, though it's not clear if he has any compassion for her, or if he is just bitter. But he is not willing to destroy the ancient Jedi texts. Perhaps he hates the Jedi for still wielding power over him. He hates himself and the entire Jedi Order for all of their failures. He has shut himself off from the Force, even though he knows it is the greatest power in the universe. He's basically in hell. Then, Yoda frees him from bondage by tricking him into thinking he has destroyed the ancient texts. Yoda knows the texts aren't in the tree: Rey has taken them already. Yoda wants Luke to find his way back to the Force on his own. Freed from the burden of the past, Luke reconnects with the Force and finds hope again. It is perhaps ironic that Luke becomes a Jedi legend through an act of trickery. While Luke may be a fool, he is redeemed with his triumph over Kylo Ren--an act which doesn't actually make a lot of sense (if his goal was to give Leia time to escape, he might've told her when he saw her), but ends up helping the resistance escape, sending waves of hope throughout the galaxy.*
While Luke's development has its good and bad points, Finn's is overall just bad. He apparently change from a person who is only out to protect himself and the people he loves (that would be Rey, at least at the beginning of the film) to a person who is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. This comes about due to his connection to the compassionate and inspirational Rose, though his transformation (and their relationship) is rushed and mostly buried under a cartoonish escape and rescue sequence. Finn suddenly shifts from potential runaway to hero when he realizes he and Rose can help the Resistance escape. Within moments of meeting Rose, he eagerly goes on a "mission impossible" without the slightest hesitation. There could have been a compelling, even endearing, narrative here about compassion and self-sacrifice: Rose could have forced Finn to go along with the plan, threatening to expose his attempt to run away; he could have abandoned her at the casino, only to decide at the last minute to help Rose save the animals and return to help the Resistance. But no, we just get a magical shift in attitude early in the film.
It's great that The Last Jedi continues to make the franchise more inclusive, but I am not ready to sing its praises. The fact is, Episode VIII is primarily about two white men: Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker. Yes, there are a handful of strong women and people of color, but their development in the film leaves a lot to be desired.
At the beginning of the film, Poe Dameron is a headstrong, independent and overly optimistic pilot who doesn't like to follow orders. He wants to lead the Resistance in its fight against the First Order, but his dramatic conflict in the film is not with anyone in the First Order. It is with Leia, who censures and demotes him when his insubordination results in an extreme loss of life, and who even shoots him when he attempts a mutiny that almost kills the entire Resistance. He needs to learn restraint and humility, though there is little evidence that he overcomes his limitations. Yet, at the end of the film, he commands the remaining members of the Resistance to follow him. They hesitate and turn to Leia for guidance. Leia quips, "What are you looking at me for?", as if Poe has earned their unquestioning loyalty. In this light-hearted moment, Leia hands the baton of leadership over to Poe, signaling the completion of his character arc.
There is some evidence that Poe has changed, though not necessarily for the better: He may be less willing to sacrifice soldiers, and less confident in his ability to succeed against enormous odds. He suggests this when he calls off the mission to charge the First Order at the last minute, seeing his comrades being too easily picked off. However, this decision doesn't make Poe out to be a more competent or trustworthy leader, since he doesn't have a better plan for the Resistance's survival. What did he think was going to happen when he started the mission? Did he think they would be able to charge the First Order without significant casualties? It was a last ditch effort--of course there were going to be significant casualties--so why give up at the last minute? His actions make little sense and don't suggest an improved approach to leadership, so why does Leia now expect everyone to follow him? Is it just because she likes him? For whatever reason, Leia is satisfied with Poe, so we are supposed to be, too.
Leia's role in the film is particularly disappointing, as she has no arc to speak of at all. Her desire is to keep as many members of the Resistance alive as possible, but her actions are only in relation to Poe. She has nothing else to do but be an obstacle for him, until she decides he doesn't need her anymore. Admiral Holdo serves a similar role: She is a stand-in for Leia, and she sacrifices herself when Leia returns. Consider how much more powerful it would have been if Leia stayed behind to "pilot" the ship at the end. Why did Holdo do it? There's no sense of character here. They're both just props, there for Poe to resist and then to tell us that Poe is entirely likable and worthy despite his devastating choices.
On a more positive--if tragic--note, Luke has a coherent arc in this installment, though it is not without its problems. For one thing, it is hard to believe that his devastating failure with Ben Solo would turn him away from the Force completely. Luke Skywalker once walked into the belly of the beast to confront his father and turn him away from the Emperor. How did he become so overcome by fear that he would consider killing Ben Solo in cold blood, just because Ben was gradually turning towards the Dark Side? What had Ben done? What had Snoke done? While I like the Rashomon-style of storytelling--giving us three different versions of Luke's fateful confrontation with Kylo, and leaving the audience with uncertainty--none of the stories tell us what led Luke to that pivotal moment in the first place. It is therefore hard to accept that he has completely shut off himself from the Force. This is a significant gap that would probably take a whole separate film to fill.
Still, there is a clear redemption narrative here. Luke's goal is to find a way to live with his guilt and anger, but he cannot let go of the Jedi in him. For most of the film, he just wants to be left alone, thinking that he cannot be helped. He tries to destroy Rey's hope, though it's not clear if he has any compassion for her, or if he is just bitter. But he is not willing to destroy the ancient Jedi texts. Perhaps he hates the Jedi for still wielding power over him. He hates himself and the entire Jedi Order for all of their failures. He has shut himself off from the Force, even though he knows it is the greatest power in the universe. He's basically in hell. Then, Yoda frees him from bondage by tricking him into thinking he has destroyed the ancient texts. Yoda knows the texts aren't in the tree: Rey has taken them already. Yoda wants Luke to find his way back to the Force on his own. Freed from the burden of the past, Luke reconnects with the Force and finds hope again. It is perhaps ironic that Luke becomes a Jedi legend through an act of trickery. While Luke may be a fool, he is redeemed with his triumph over Kylo Ren--an act which doesn't actually make a lot of sense (if his goal was to give Leia time to escape, he might've told her when he saw her), but ends up helping the resistance escape, sending waves of hope throughout the galaxy.*
While Luke's development has its good and bad points, Finn's is overall just bad. He apparently change from a person who is only out to protect himself and the people he loves (that would be Rey, at least at the beginning of the film) to a person who is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. This comes about due to his connection to the compassionate and inspirational Rose, though his transformation (and their relationship) is rushed and mostly buried under a cartoonish escape and rescue sequence. Finn suddenly shifts from potential runaway to hero when he realizes he and Rose can help the Resistance escape. Within moments of meeting Rose, he eagerly goes on a "mission impossible" without the slightest hesitation. There could have been a compelling, even endearing, narrative here about compassion and self-sacrifice: Rose could have forced Finn to go along with the plan, threatening to expose his attempt to run away; he could have abandoned her at the casino, only to decide at the last minute to help Rose save the animals and return to help the Resistance. But no, we just get a magical shift in attitude early in the film.
Then, apparently Rose is supposed to teach Finn something at the end about saving those you love. Except that's what Finn was trying to do at the beginning of the movie: Save himself and Rey. And at the end, wasn't Finn also trying to save people? That was the purpose of his attempted self-sacrifice. Is Rose saying self-sacrifice is never a good idea? (Strange, considering she easily could have died trying to save Finn the way she did.) Or was this just a moment of weakness for Rose: Was she being selfish, trying to keep Finn alive at the expense of the Resistance? Why was Finn wrong to keep going? Rose risked her life and Finn's by colliding right in front of the First Order. She had no reasonable hope for saving anyone's life, and good reason to think that she was destroying any hope for the Resistance.
That leaves us with Rey and Kylo Ren, the two central characters in the new and final trilogy in the Skywalker saga. I'll save Rey for another post. As for Kylo Ren, his conflicts are not clearly defined or resolved. For one thing, his interests and desires are always in question. Does he want Snoke's approval, or is he just using Snoke so he can become stronger? Is his goal to start a new world order? He asks Rey to join him: Is this a tactical decision or does he want her companionship, or both? Does he just want to be loved? Does he want revenge on Luke Skywalker for not believing in him? What about his mother? He didn't want to kill her, but he seems fine when he thinks she is dead. Does he ever discover that she is still alive? With so much in doubt, we cannot say for sure if he changes at all over the course of the film.
Early in the film, Snoke ridicules him for wearing a mask, knowing--as we all did--that the mask was keeping Kylo from reaching his true potential. Humiliated, Kylo immediately destroys the mask, but it doesn't have the effect Snoke had expected. The newly confident Kylo won't kill Leia, and when given the chance, he seems to explore his compassionate side with Rey. But was he really opening up to compassion? Perhaps. In any case, when faced with the choice between killing Rey and killing Snoke, Kylo chooses to kill his master. He is free from Snoke's influence, free from the past, and ready to create a future of his own making--but has he only done it so he can be with Rey? He is still an incompetent leader prone to temper tantrums. He has not gained compassion or self-control. And while he may be leading the fight against the Resistance, he's going to have to sleep with one eye open, since nobody in the First Order wants to follow him.
That leaves us with Rey and Kylo Ren, the two central characters in the new and final trilogy in the Skywalker saga. I'll save Rey for another post. As for Kylo Ren, his conflicts are not clearly defined or resolved. For one thing, his interests and desires are always in question. Does he want Snoke's approval, or is he just using Snoke so he can become stronger? Is his goal to start a new world order? He asks Rey to join him: Is this a tactical decision or does he want her companionship, or both? Does he just want to be loved? Does he want revenge on Luke Skywalker for not believing in him? What about his mother? He didn't want to kill her, but he seems fine when he thinks she is dead. Does he ever discover that she is still alive? With so much in doubt, we cannot say for sure if he changes at all over the course of the film.
Early in the film, Snoke ridicules him for wearing a mask, knowing--as we all did--that the mask was keeping Kylo from reaching his true potential. Humiliated, Kylo immediately destroys the mask, but it doesn't have the effect Snoke had expected. The newly confident Kylo won't kill Leia, and when given the chance, he seems to explore his compassionate side with Rey. But was he really opening up to compassion? Perhaps. In any case, when faced with the choice between killing Rey and killing Snoke, Kylo chooses to kill his master. He is free from Snoke's influence, free from the past, and ready to create a future of his own making--but has he only done it so he can be with Rey? He is still an incompetent leader prone to temper tantrums. He has not gained compassion or self-control. And while he may be leading the fight against the Resistance, he's going to have to sleep with one eye open, since nobody in the First Order wants to follow him.
* How do slave children on Canto Bight learn of Luke's victory, anyway? Also, it's more than a little frustrating that Luke's death doesn't have a profound effect on any of the other characters, even though many lives had been lost in the effort to find him and bring him back to the Resistance. We don't even get a reaction to his death from R2D2? The shallow treatment of this crucial moment takes away some of the power of Luke's arc, and the film as a whole.
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