Tag: the force

jewishcomeradebot:

@lj-writes

I got to thinking. I want a Stormtrooper rebellion as much as anyone, but leading the people out of Egypt wasn’t the only important thing Moses did. There are other important stories with him.

And when we take into account that the founding question of the ST apparently was “What relevance does to Force have in the present day world [in the GFFA universe]” I can’t help but recall that story with the hike up the mountain and the longish talk with G-d that led to a new Covenant and half a score new Commandments.

Are you thinking of Finn in a wilderness, seeking communion with the Force? Haircuts are optional but I hope he doesn’t go for 40 days without eating…😨

The question of the relevance of the Force in the sequel era got me thinking about Rogue One and Chirrut’s story in particular. Though RO is pre-OT timeline wise, it was made in the sequel era with canon meant to be usable in sequel works. What always struck me about Chirrut’s arc was how spiritual it was, with more focus on the will of the Force than on using the Force for what you want to do.

(I mean there are people who miss the hell out of the point, of course: One reviewer said the perfect culmination of Chirrut’s story would have been him flipping the master switch on Scarif with the Force, and I’m like uhhh… no? This same reviewer also said Kylo Ren was the only character who made sense as a human being in TFA, so deliver me from white male geeks basically.)

This spirituality of the Force is supported by the worldbuilding as well, with the Force sects and religions on Chirrut’s native Jedha and elsewhere, like the village Kylo Ren slaughtered at the start of TFA. And with the destruction of Jedha these religious groups are likely to have migrated far and wide along with refugees, which may have been how a branch of the Church of the Force ended up on Jakku. If Finn turns out to be a Jedhan, as we both fondly hope, he would be reclaiming his heritage as well by seeking out the guidance of the Jedhans, maybe to interpret the Jedi texts or something.

If Episode IX is to explore the spirituality of the Force, it may include not only relations to the supernatural but also relations among people, that is how people are allowed or obligated to treat each other. I said in my meta about the contrasts and comparisons of Finn’s and Rey’s backgrounds that if the Republic were to rise again it would have to find some solutions to the existing iniquities that did not go away with the end of the Empire. It looks like a covenant would be a good start to that, with not just top-down policy but bottom-up commitment and demand on the part of the peoples of the GFFA driving change. 

That would be a long leap from Finn at the end of TLJ, of course, so if he has longer hair throughout the movie it’s unlikely to be because he’s on a spiritual quest. One possibility is that he has longer hair to make him a little less recognizable to the FO while he carries out missions in areas where he might have run-ins with them. Or he just wanted a change, who knows. Part of his mission together with Rey might be to seek out groups potentially friendly to the Resistance because they’re in sort of desperate need of allies after getting wiped out in the previous movie for no good reason, and who would be more stridently antifascist than people who lost their home to the Empire? While he gets closer to the Jedhans he might find out about their religion as well and maybe seek guidance on the texts Rey brought back, and the story can go off from there.

“Let the hate flow through you” can actually be seen as good advice; it could be about letting your emotions pass through you and out of you naturally, instead of bottling/suppressing them like the Jedi. But Palpatine, ever the liar, actually meant “let the hate consume you” when he said those words.

hanukkahfinn:

Well, he’s a Sith after all and Sith are not just know liars they’re all about letting their passions rule them. And I wonder if the unhealthy parts of the Jedi’s philosophy wasn’t a result of fighting the Sith for so long?

If you look at the original Jedi code it is one that indicate balance in all things:

Emotion, yet peace.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Passion, yet serenity.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Death, yet the Force.

There’s nothing in this that hints that suppressing or dismissing your emotions should be part of the deal of being a Jedi. In fact it looks like the opposite, that both emotions and peace can coexist.

But then the Sith came along:

Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.
Through Passion I gain Strength.
Through Strength I gain Power.
Through Power I gain Victory.
Through Victory my chains are Broken.
The Force shall free me.

This isn’t balanced in any way.

I’ve seen it said that the Sith code isn’t evil and while I agree so far, I don’t find it particularly healthy as it is based on letting your passions rule you to the elimination of all else.

And with this in mind it makes kinda sense that the Jedi Code eventually became this instead:

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force

See the difference between this one and the first? That the first one accepted, even embraced, the existence of emotions in the Jedi but this one demands that only peace exists?

This isn’t so much a Jedi Code as it’s an Anti-Sith Code.

The Jedi fought so long and hard against the Sith that they forgot what they were supposed to be and became only the antithesis of their enemies. But I doubt that the original Jedi subscribed to the bottling up and suppression of emotions that the PT era Jedi did, but by the time of Yoda, Mace and Anakin, the Jedi had lost their paths and become obsessed with eliminating the Dark, instead of promoting the Light.

I wonder if Jake Skywalker’s shutting himself up far away to die and let the Jedi Order die with him was meant to portray him following the Jedi code to the extreme, denying all the trauma, the shame he felt after his one moment of fear and anger had such disastrous effects? (Which doesn’t really make sense for Luke, so I’m using Mark’s terminology and calling him Jake instead.)

kimshinegyu:

lj-writes:

jedipadawan4589:

lj-writes:

Ok but can you imagine if someone tried to pull the “Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering” shit with Finn in the event of a Stormtrooper uprising, cautioning him against anger and violence? The look he’d give that person. Like, “Thank you for your TED talk, but we’ve had our lives stolen and been fed a regular diet of curated bullshit for years, YEAH we’re angry no shit and we’re gonna use our pain, our anger to burn those fascists down. Now help us or get the hell out of our way.” Wouldn’t that be a wonderful pushback against the real-world “both sides” rhetoric we see today?

YES. Yes it would. I love the Jedi and most of their ideals… but right then, would definitely not be the time. Righteous anger, and lashing out rage are two very different things! 

I think the power of righteous rage tempered by mercy would be a good case for what balance in the Force would look like, not some centrist compromise with evil as some suggest. Hence why I believe Finn is the best character to explore the idea of the Balance, because of how systematically he’s been wronged, how present and threatening that wrong still is, and how he must navigate that reality both within himself and socially with other Stormtroopers.

Okay now i kinda want Finn to have an Anansi style “angry gets shit done” speech

LOL I thought of Anansi too, and when I did this post contrasting Yoda’s and Anansi’s words I was definitely thinking of Finn. @thotfinn has you covered on an action-over-words, Finn-centric addition to this post here.

The trouble with the Light Side, and Finn as the Balance

What happens when you’re told, “Don’t think about the elephant?” Chances are, you’ll immediately think of an elephant.

I think that’s the problem with the Light Side of the Force as we have known it: So many of the doctrines and practices of the LS, such as the Old Jedi way of not forming attachments, are premised on resisting the temptations of the Dark Side.

If your goal is not to  turn Dark, then what are you going to be thinking about? The Dark Side. This is why puritanism of all stripes is destined to fail, because it’s consumed more with what it’s against (sex! rock ‘n roll! murder!) than what it’s for (eh, love and peace I guess?).

Anakin Skywalker’s story from the prequel trilogy is a prime example of this in the Star Wars saga, walking backwards into the one place you were determined not to go. Intentionally or not, the prequels were an indictment of the Jedi way.

I think similarly, trying not to turn to the Light Side has a polarizing effect on those who turn to the Dark Side of the Force. You can see this with Kylo Ren in the new trilogy, thinking too hard about how not to go Light and then running to bugfucking extremes in the other direction.

The results of such extremism, in turn, are so horrific that the other side becomes understandably all the more preoccupied with, you know, NOT BEING THAT HELL NO and, again, being more anti-Dark than anything else. This doesn’t make the LS morally equivalent to the DS, but it does mean that LS practitioners can fall into the trap of puritanism.

Going to extremes seems to be a major theme of the upcoming movie, The Last Jedi, and Adam Driver who plays Kylo Ren has discussed mass murder committed by “both sides” (maybe this is his character’s perspective, I don’t agree with it) and how he took inspiration from the absolute moral certainty of terrorists in playing his character. Since director Rian Johnson has repeatedly said the movie will showcase moral ambiguity, it’s a safe bet that we’ll see the good guys go to extremes, too, something we have also seen in Rogue One.

We can reliably tell where many of the characters old and new fit into this increasingly polarized galaxy: Leia, Poe, Holdo, Rose, Paige, and others on one side, Snoke, Kylo Ren, Phasma, and Hux on the other.

Other characters, on the other hand, stand in notable contrast to the characters whose allegiances are well known. Luke, the character we thought was the Rebel to end all Rebels and the Jediest of them all, not only stayed away for years but still seems reluctant to join the fight. Rey is definitely Resistance-allied, but is still trying to find her place in all this.  “DJ,” a new character, is a cynical outsider who’s only in it for the creds.

Then there’s Finn, who has been in and rejected the First Order and fought alongside the Resistance, but as of the beginning of TLJ is not a committed fighter. Like Luke, he’s wounded from past experience; like Rey, he’s still figuring himself out after his life was turned upside down; and like DJ, he has cause to be cynical of causes in general, something I have previously discussed.

In a universe of absolutes Finn stands out with the other uncommitted characters for his refusal, at first, to choose a side. Turning against the First Order does not mean he automatically chose the Resistance, though he has worked with them.

Interestingly, for someone who rejected absolute evil he seems to have very little to prove. He’s not obsessed with trying not to be evil, or with trying to be good by fighting evil. He suffers the undeserved shame of the abused, but he’s not consumed by it. He doesn’t beat himself up over killing Stormtroopers to defend himself or wonder if that makes him as bad as them, a lack of self-flagellation that some fans have criticized him for. He doesn’t agonize over whether he might be a bad person for lying to the Resistance so he could go back for Rey.

Finn is, in other words, the opposite of a puritan. He refuses to do evil, and that’s enough. He’s not consumed by the thought of it. He tries to be good to the people he meets and distrusts causes and grand theories.

Finn is most definitely not Dark Side, but he’s also not the Light Side as we’ve come to understand it, an anti-Dark puritanism. His allegiance, I believe, is to the Balance as near as I understand it, a goodness that is defined by what it supports, not what it opposes, a space that has room for human ambiguity and fallibility without fear of turning to irrevocable evil.

It’s significant to me that right after his arguably most morally questionable and admirably badass decision was revealed–that he had lied to the Resistance to come get Rey–Finn immediately brings up the Force to a livid Han.

Sure, it may read like a funny deflection, but think about the juxtapositions here: At this moment, we know Finn lied to the Resistance to walk into the heart of the First Order in an act of selfless love. He rejected an evil authority in the most final terms possible but also showed himself not to be following the authority that stands against it. Finn is beholden to no one, standing between all the lines, standing for nothing but the purest love and courage, as he invokes the Force. And he does so in a humorous way, like the trickster figure he is.

This is why I like the Stormtrooper uprising theory so much for Finn’s story, and why I believe it’s the cause that he found to fight for. Finn is not going back to the First Order other than to kick their collective butts across the galaxy (hi, Phasma!). But what does the Resistance mean to him? They stand against the First Order, true, which is why he’s worked with Leia and Poe and the others.

The Resistance is, however, also a Republic-affiliated organization, and what is the Republic to him? If he was ever a Republic citizen, it was by chance of birth and it certainly means very little to him now. This is something I also touched on in my Cassian meta and my Finn and Rey parallels meta, that the forgotten children like Finn and Rey, much like Cassian before them, were essentially failed by the Republic. The Republic is not the Empire or the First Order, sure, but it has to mean something other than that massively low bar.

Finn and his friends can fight the First Order and win. But what comes next? They know what they’re against. What are they for? Without answering that question they will fall into the same elephant trap as traditional Light Side practices, and of the Republic itself. In their shadow loom the Dark Side and Empire.

If there’s one thing we know Finn has always stood for, it’s the freedom and dignity of every individual. That’s why he refused to fire on the villagers in Tuanul. That’s why he escaped at the risk to his own life, and why he meant to flee to the ends of the known universe, to be free. That’s why he came back for Rey.

That is why, I believe, he will find a cause to fight for in the freedom of other Stormtroopers like himself. It’s a cause greater than himself, greater than Rey, and to him, greater than the First Order or the Resistance or the Republic or anything else. He is likely to ally with the Resistance again so far as their goals match his, but much as in Act 3 of TFA, except on a greater scale, he may not concern himself with loyalties or scruples other than his own true North.

He might not always be squeaky clean in the process, either. He could be ruthless. He could be violent. He could be dishonest. He has proven himself capable of all of this in the past.

What he will always be is committed, not to being Not Evil or a perfect vision of Good, but to being free. And he will realize, I think, that he cannot be free alone. His journey to freedom was always with others, from the moment Slip’s death marked him forever, to having to free Poe first to get away, to realizing he could not be free while Rey was in captivity, and finally, I hope, to seeing that others who were abducted and enslaved like he was must also be free.

This is what the Balance could mean for Finn’s story: not two opposing sides locked in extremes, not a cynical equivalence or sophistic compromise between the two, but a moral code that has meaning outside of what it is not. Now that is a code worth living and dying for.

loopy777:

lj-writes:

lionmystic:

lj-writes:

Yoda:

Anansi, an intellectual:

Though really, does it???

I think it does? As with much of life the correct answer is “it depends,” but a just and proportional anger–such as the one Mr. Nancy was invoking here of captured and enslaved people–often is helpful. As others have pointed out in the tags, the idea that anger is bad no matter what the cause is a pretty smug and oblivious position.

The philosophy of Star Wars isn’t that anger can’t accomplish things. Luke used his anger to beat Darth Vader down. Star Wars is clear: anger is effective. And (unless TLJ reveals things I’m not expecting) Luke isn’t forever ruined by that burst of anger.

The point of Star Wars is that anger is corrosive to one’s individual spirit. The Classic Trilogy is concerned with the big Choice Between Light And Dark stuff, while the Prequel Trilogy illustrates (whether intentionally or not) that attempting to deny emotions completely is unfeasible.

The old EU book ‘Traitor’ (by- yes, go on, say it all with me: Matthew Woodring Stover) is the story of a son of Han and Leia gaining a deeper understanding of how emotions play into one’s connection with the Force. He discovers that the ‘negative’ emotions can indeed be useful and fuel for accomplishing epic- even good – things, but not in an anti-hero Do Mean Things For The Greater Good kind of way.

Rather, it’s as part of a mix with Universal Love.

Love can lead to anger, but the anger is fuel to protect the people you love, and also the fuel to take the appropriate path against the enemies who you also love as fellow humans (or living sapients, in a sci-fi universe with aliens). Anger without love will lead to Kylo Ren smashing his console in a tantrum. Anger with love leads to Jacen Solo saving a ship full of slaves. The one who teaches this philosophy, Vergere, is often misinterpreted as advocating for shades of gray in the Force, or even that there isn’t any such thing as the dark side or an evil act. (Don’t post that quote at me, people who dislike Traitor, as it will just prove you don’t understand the book or what the quote is meant to actually teach.) But, really, she’s saying that there’s more nuance in our feelings and the path to Mastery of the Force. And in that nuance, one of the characters finds a path to true greatness.

Anyway, I’m hoping this tack is what is explored in the rest of the sequel trilogy. It’s a natural evolution of the series thus far, and relevant to our cultures.

Yeah, I definitely don’t think Yoda’s was the final word on the Force, and in fact was rather badly repudiated (intentionally or not, as you say). The new canon has a number of different Force traditions, so fingers crossed we’ll be getting alternate takes.

Character analysis: Finn

rotschild:

lj-writes:

rotschild:

image

In the picture: Phasma looking at Finn and baby Finn files

After re-watching The Force Awakens, as it is often the case when you see a movie for a second or third time, I came to appreciate a few characters  insights and general details that I had previously missed out on. I would like to share them with you.

Let’s now look at FINN:

Finn’s escape and subsequent journey really are remarkable. His emotions are palpable and there’s that scene where he takes his helmet off on the Star Destroyer where you can literally see all his feelings dancing behind the “glass” of his eyes, like little fires. You get this sense of panicking urgency, this need he has of getting out of the First Order asap, and to me, it all felt very real.

One detail I found fascinating in the opening scene is that Poe – the first meaningful “outsider” Finn iteracts with – is the one who kills his stormtrooper friend (killing the last friendly image of the First Order he has), effectively initiating the domino that will lead to Finn’s “awakening”.

image
  • Finn’s test:

Director Rian Johnson, while addressing The Last Jedi content, commented on how the 2nd instalment of the sequel trilogy will prove to be “testing” for all the main characters.

Now, while Kylo Ren’s problems, weaknesses and tribulations are often discussed and quite easy to pinpoint, as are Rey’s, Luke’s, Poe’s and Leia’s; Finn the Cupcake’s (a well-earned title, no less) demons haven’t quite received the same amount of attention. Perhaps because they’re – at this point – subtler (and no, I am not talking about Finn’s attachment to those he cares about: I tend to associate that more with his “light side”, since it’s so obvious and out in the open).

Let’s discuss them a bit more in depth:

I have personally found two features of Finn’s that could be conductive to growth or, likewise, darkness. One of them fully escalated and found resolution during TFA, the other hasn’t, as of yet. 

1) fear (and, to an extent, sloth) – Finn’s escape was likely catalysed by two factors: fear of killing innocents for a wrong cause and fear for his own life (and, implicitly, fear of growing up/letting go). 

While escaping, obedient Finn is also confronted for the first time with his own individuality, in a deep manner. 

The questions “who am I?” and “where am I going?” were likely to be the background music to his rocambolesque escape, though more subconsciously than in a Jedi-like meditative manner at that. 

Fear of dying is what keeps Finn anchored to his child self. What keeps him from hoping. And daring. 

Finn outgrows this the moment he ditches the Outer Rim guys to go fight the First Order at Maz Kanata’s castle, Rey having played a key (human) part in his decision.

After this, Finn gains a piece of his identity, making one step forward towards adulthood.

2) Phasma – yes. Phasma. The captain. The warleader. The steely soldier in a mask …his parental figure, in a sense. The embodiment of Imperial care and “tough love” every subservient citizen should look up to. 

Kylo Ren and Rey are not the only ones troubled by their families. Finn is too, in his own way, and by the end of TFA he still struggles to come to terms with it in a mature way. 

The line “I’m in charge, I’m in charge now Phasma, I’m in charge!” after he and Han capture the Captain and the wary, aggressive way he holds her captive and orders her around while pointing a blaster at her head prove that beautifully, showing us a rougher, conflicted side of Finn’s that had stayed dormant up until that point. 

Everything about this scene with Phasma shouts “trial”. Finn’s self-confidence wavers as he partially loses his cool, portraying the adolescent Phasma trained. It’s as if he is actually doubting his freedom, while in her presence, and hasn’t quite grasped how to handle that. 

The TLJ trailer, alongside the purpose of Finn and Rose’s undercover mission, give us reason to think that this Phasma demon will be addressed in the upcoming movie.

Finn does not hate Kylo Ren. He does not hate Hux, nor Snoke. But he could hate Phasma, because of what she attempted shaping him into. Because deep down he feels that he’s not completely free as long as he hasn’t proven that to her. And although as informal as any Imperial training can get, there’s still a level of intimacy a trainer and her stormtrooper share, as opposed to fighting against any other faceless First Order follower.

Phasma acts as a sort of Frollo to Finn’s (able-bodied) Quasimodo.

Will Finn free himself of Phasma’s (literal and figurative) influence without succumbing to hatred? 

I’m looking forward to seeing where this is going to end, and I seriously hope Johnson has given this arc the depth it deserves.

Finn doesn’t hate Kylo Ren, Hux or Snoke? The people who stole him from his family, nearly ruined his life, and seriously physically hurt him and his friends? Could you share your reasoning behind this statement?

I’m also unsure why Finn shouldn’t hate Phasma or the rest of her gang for that matter. He has every right to be angry at his abusers. Anger and, dare I say, hatred at Kylo Ren helped him fight an overwhelming enemy, and anger no doubt helped him return to and function in Starkiller Base, the last place in the Galaxy he wanted to be.

@lj-writes Well, Darth :-), since you raised this point, let me start by asking you a question: what is the message Star Wars heroes convey?

Would Luke still be the hero we all love if revenge had been the motive behind the defeat of his terrible father? 

Would we still hold Obi-Wan in high regard if hate had been the driving force behind his maiming of Anakin?

Feeling anger and hate is natural, acting upon them is naturally brutish, especially for a Star Wars positive character of such relevance. Finn sure does hate what Kylo Ren did, what Snoke represents, but he does not hate, nor obsess, over the annihilation of their personas (for personal ends especially). He has a much higher purpose than that. And even if he hates them, his challenge (like all other main characters’ challenges, even Poe’s) will be to allow these negative feelings to relent their grip on him, and to mature into overcoming his obstacles without resorting to them. Why else would we look up to Finn, if this weren’t the case?

Otherwise…well. There’s always another avenue, if that suits you best. Star Wars has plenty of characters who let themselves be driven by the winds of vengeful, bloodthirsty passions, too: Darth Maul and Darth Vader are two among them, and look where this way of seeing life brought them!

Remember Finn’s interactions with Kylo? He was always fearful (not cowardly, but with the knowledge of someone who knows what the First Order is all about), not angry. After the knight of Ren slayed his own father, Finn and Rey ran away from him. The time when Finn realized he needed to act, for himself, for life, for the right thing – was when Kylo hurt Rey. And no, I couldn’t see the eyes of hate when he wielded that blue lightsaber. The eyes of a lion who fights against another creature, sure. But not the eyes of hatred.

On the other hand, Finn could hate Phasma on a more personal level simply because of the fact that – as his teacher and trainer, someone whom he shares a more “intimate” bond with, at least figuratively – she represents a part of him that he hasn’t fully elaborated yet in the context of his new life as a free man. 

Let us not forget that before defecting, Finn was just one among many obedient Stormtroopers. In one of the opening scenes, Phasma and Hux examine his history files, stating aloud that he had never created any problems: that is, he was raised to be one of them, believing he was doing the right thing.

“I was taken from a family that I will never know” Finn told Rey, true. But I don’t believe that the main underlying message here was that he resented them for that. I think that the main underlying message was that he had practically known no life outside them. No other reality. I think that the way we negotiate our present with apparently contradicting roots is relatable to many of us.

If Luke and Obi-Wan (and even Rey, when she didn’t inflict the final blow to an injured Kylo) emerged victorious from their battles without falling into the black pit of hate that could have claimed them, why wouldn’t you wish the same sort of elevation for Finn?

We’re in Star Wars, not in some badly subbed Vegeta vs Majin Bu match, for Force’s sake. 



P.S. For clarifcation: my Finn character analysis is by no means complete, it is just the transcription of some new things I noticed after recently re-watching TLJ. The personal journey part is partially covered, the Phasma part is the bulk of it but interactions with other characters are missing.

P.P.S. tell me, is the word “hate” a bit more nuanced in Korean? I ask you this out of curiosity, since there is often no perfect black-and-white translation between languages, especially when they have different roots.

That’s pretty much the generic “hating your oppressor makes you just as bad as them.” I like how you take the Jedi Code that helped lead Anakin to ruin as the last word in this universe.

Thank you, I wanted to know if you had factual basis for your assertions and for differentiating between Hux/Ren/Snoke and Phasma in their relation to Finn, I gotta say that was the most words it took to say “no” I’ve seen in a while.

Darth L.J.