Now that I've been half-way cultured for a time, can I be a geek again? Can I?
My original idea was to write a defence of The Rise of Skywalker, which I really enjoyed when I saw it at the cinema, but which has been widely criticised, partly, in my view, for snobbish reasons ("too much fan service"). However, many of the things people complained about regarding the sequel trilogy's finale have their origin in the other two films, whether it was a story line followed through, or completely disregarded, or picked up again after having been shot down in flames by The Last Jedi. And as I can't possibly fit a defence of all three sequel films into a single post (they all have merits, in my opinion), it makes sense to apply some order and method and begin at the beginning, working my way through one film at a time (hopefully, with less nerdy posts in between).
We start, then, with The Force Awakens. I remember this film as being well received by critics and public alike, and it remains the strongest of the sequels. There were some quibbles that it was too derivative - many plot points were reminiscent of the very first Star Wars film, A New Hope - but seeing where the sequels then went, I don't think many people mind the reminders of the good old days now. Instead, with the completion of the trilogy, other things seem to have started to grate on the viewers in a way I can't remember them doing at the time.
A legitimate complaint against the sequels, which has its root in The Force Awakens, is that they in some ways spoil the happy ending of the first trilogy. Much of the success of the Star Wars franchise depends on the immense likeability of the original trilogy's golden trio: Luke, Leia and Han Solo. Even a villain-lover like myself wished them well. There was such triumph at the end of Return of the Jedi: the yoke of the Empire was lifted, there was widespread celebration and the heroes were free to live their own lives. Leia and Han could get married, and as Luke didn't seem to buy into all of that "you shouldn't care for anyone" Jedi nonsense, it wasn't out of the question that he could find a nice girl (surely?) and settle down.
From what we can gather from The Force Awakens, though, the trio were never given much of a break. In their private life, one can assume that things went well until Leia's and Han's son Ben turned to the Dark Side and became Kylo Ren. But after that, Luke vamoosed to a far-away island to brood, and Han and Leia split up! This saddened me even at the first viewing. Sure, they are reconciled later, but as with Rumbelle in season six of Once Upon A Time, I was yet again left to wonder:"Wait, so are they together as in really together now, or as in 'let's unite to save our kid?'". And then Han dies.
Politically, the fall of the Empire was supposedly followed swiftly by the rise of the very Empire-like First Order. Defecting storm trooper Finn remembers being abducted by them as a child, so they've been around for quite some time. And this isn't some pesky little fringe of old empire nostalgics we're talking about - the First Order is so powerful that Leia's opposing force calls itself The Resistance (whereas, as Leia has the backing of the New Republic, it should really be the First Order who are the resistance in this scenario). How much breathing space did this leave the galaxy far, far away, one might ask?
Ruining things for Luke, Leia and Han did have some powerful payoffs, though. The only way not to touch their happily-ever-after would have been to make the sequels entirely their own thing, with none of the Old Guard (except perhaps a droid or two) reappearing. The First Order could have risen later, after a long, prosperous era while Solo and the Skywalkers held the fort. But would we really have wanted that? The price of seeing Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill again was that bad things had to happen to their characters. That's how drama works. And they were great. Some of the most memorable moments from The Force Awakens involved the Old Guard: Han and Chewie reentering the Millennium Falcon, Han reuniting with Leia, Ben/Kylo killing his father... If happy endings from the original trilogy had to be spoiled, this was the right way to do it.
Fans minding what had become of the old characters I understand. What I don't quite get is the Rey hate. When she first appeared, I had the impression that most viewers liked Rey. With time, though, the protests grew. Rey was a "Mary Sue", a too-perfect character who ruined the story by being good at everything and admired by everyone. How, the fans asked, could someone who hadn't had any force training at all almost kill the powerful Kylo Ren in a duel? How could she be such a fighter after having lived her whole life on an isolated desert planet?
Well... if living as a scavenger on a desert planet after having been sold into slavery as a kid doesn't make you tough, what will? Rey would have more experience of fighting off low-life than Luke did in A New Hope - he was sheltered by his uncle and aunt, after all. And yet, with little more training than trying to hit a humming ball and shooting womp rats, it's he who destroys the Death Star. I don't have much trouble with over-capable protagonists as a rule - every film can't have a training montage, after all. Sometimes we just have to accept that the hero/heroine know their stuff, even if they're relatively unprepared, just so we can move on with the story.
What matters is that the main character shouldn't be bland or too perfect. And Rey, in my view, is neither. I've previously mentioned her as an example of a strong female protagonist done right. She's not flawless: she almost passes on the opportunity to be a part of The Resistance because she's so hung up about her missing parents and feels she should go back to Jakku to wait for them. That duel with Kylo Ren? She's in with a fighting chance because she's so furious about Han's death and tapping into the Dark Side of the Force with gusto. On the subject of Kylo Ren, there are sparks between the two from the start, and you can't tell me that Rey only fancies his good Ben Solo side.
I'm not one to deny that there seems to be an ongoing trend - in films, on TV and sometimes even in books - of supposedly "strong" female protagonists with little personality and interest whose main characteristic, apparently, is that they can "kick ass". I've not seen the live-action remake of Mulan, but reports of what they have done with the character fill me with horror. But Rey, in my book, isn't one of these bland heroines, and her being the focus of the new trilogy doesn't take anything away from characters from the old one, like Luke. But more of that another time.
