Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters and the film is quite divisive. You either hate it or you like it. There are some folks who love it, but it appears that the majority of people who enjoyed the film fall into the “like it” category rather than the “love it” category. I could be wrong, it’s just my initial reading of fans. But I digress.
What is this post about? Well, quite simply, this post is about the things within Rise of Skywalker that caused me to not like the film. This post is not intended to persuade others to not like the film. People are free to like things that I don’t like. I just felt the need to record my thoughts because I think my reasons for disliking the film are not understood by those who do like the film.
A bit of background about episodes 4, 5, and 6. The original trilogy (OT) is a space fantasy, or as some say, a space opera. The films are fantastical in nature with copious amounts of spectacle. Many people refer to them as mindless, yet fun-filled, entertainment. I suppose to a certain degree that definition of mindless is correct. However, I think that characterization is a bit too simplistic.
Star Wars is more than just mindless and/or fun-filled entertainment. It’s more than just a fantasy set in space. The OT is a crafted piece of storytelling that sits on a different level from most stories. The OT is a modern day myth.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines myth as a historical story that presents a “world view of a people or explain[s] a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon.”
Star Wars is presented as a historical tale with it’s opening words of “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”
During the OT we are presented with a philosophy of life and of a philosophy about the world around us. This philosophy is manifested in a concept known as The Force. During the course of the films we come to know that the Force has its own set of beliefs, practices, and values. These values are universal and develop people to become better than what they are.
The story of the OT follows a mythological hero journey. This journey is described in great detail in Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. If you haven’t read the book, I highly encourage you to do so. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/. In the book Campbell lays out the archetypal hero that is found in mythologies the world over. Campbell identifies the same archetypal hero characteristics in the characters of Luke and Anakin Skywalker. In fact, Campbell talked extensively about the OT’s symbolism, meaning, and structure as mythology.
The OT, as a story and as character development, is a modern day myth. The next question that is important to ask is, why does it matter that the OT is myth? To answer that question we need to explore more about why myths in general are important.
Dr. Jordan Peterson discussed the importance of myths in his book Maps of Meaning. Peterson discussed how humans use myths to understand the world and universe. Peterson also outlined in great detail how humans use myths to also grow and mature as productive members of civil society. Peterson’s central theme is that chaos, death, and slavery are the natural result of the world. Humans use myths to understand the world and to fight back against the natural destruction and decay that is nature. Myths give meaning that allow humans to understand their responsibilities in life. It is through having responsibilities that we can live a full and meaningful life. Without responsibility the human tendency is to spiral into chaos.
Side note: You can get Peterson’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Maps-of-Meaning/dp/B07B5KMGPG/. Be warned if you pursue it weary traveler… the book is very dense and difficult to get through. One doesn’t read Maps of Meaning. One studies Maps of Meaning.
The release of the OT. When Star Wars debuted it sent a massive shock wave through the world’s collective consciousness. The films were not only fun, but they resonated with people on a personal scale. The reason why it resonated on a personal scale is because the story was a mythological story. Mythological stories are timeless and they speak to us on a variety of levels (it’s why millions of people continue to find meaning in the life of a simple carpenter from Nazareth).
The release of the prequel trilogy (PT). When the PT hit theaters there was excitement, but the overall experience of the films were a let down. Let’s face it, the PT were not great films. Even Revenge of the Sith, arguably the best of the PT movies, was not arguably a good film. However, the PT continued to build on the mythology that the OT developed. The PT did not destroy the mythology of the OT; the PT added to it and enhanced it. The PT shows what happens when we give in to our natural state and allow chaos to consume us. We in turn become agents of chaos.
Where the PT is about a fall into darkness, the OT is about redemption and salvation.
Enter the sequel trilogy (SQ). The SQ may work as mindless and/or fun-filled entertainment. However, the SQ fails at continuing to build on mythology. This failure to build on mythology is why I dislike the SQ and why I disliked Rise of Skywalker.
The SQ does not have an archetypal hero. I don’t care that Rey is a female character. The hero’s gender is inconsequential. What the hero does, or does not do, is consequential. The archetypal hero must descend into darkness so they can return to the world changed and possessing the Fire of the Gods so that humanity can reap its benefits. The hero must encounter adversity on his or her journey, and while they may succeed at times, they must ultimately fail. The hero must fail so the hero can shed the trappings of his/her previous life and overcome those failings. We become wise and mature by failing. We learn by failing. By overcoming one’s failures, the hero learns new things, they shed their previous assumptions about their world, and they emerge transformed and ready to bring light to the world.
Rey is the perfect protagonist. She succeeds at everything she does. The first time she flies the Falcon, she flies it as good as, if not better than, Han/Chewie/Lando. The first time she has a lightsaber duel she wins—against a highly trained and experienced Force user in Kylo Ren no less. Contrast that with Luke who suffers a humiliating defeat by Vader in his first lightsaber duel. Rey receives very little training but yet she is able to do things other Force users dream of doing. For example, in The Last Jedi she kills 3 Tie Fighters with a single shot from the Falcon. Luke destroyed the Death Star in his first film, but he did so with allies backing him up and he had to focus on the Force to do so. Luke received minimal training and he struggled to lift rocks (and failed to lift his X-Wing); Rey brought down a mountain so her allies could escape.
This is not to say that Rey shouldn’t have had those prior wins. What’s important is that the hero must, at some point, have their assumptions destroyed so that new, more correct, assumptions can take hold. Rey would’ve been better if she suffered a tremendous defeat that required her to perform some type of introspection so that she could grow and become something greater.
Rey never takes actions that result in failure. Why is this important? Because we see ourselves in mythological heroes. We know we are frail and we know that we screw up. We want to see our mythological heroes fail so we can be inspired by their actions to persevere.
Mythological heroes also transform, spiritually, mentally, and physically. With Luke we see him transform spiritually as he gains a stronger grasp on the Force over three films. We see Luke transform mentally over the course of three films. Luke goes from whiny farm boy to mature, focused, and controlled Luke in Return of the Jedi. We see Luke transform physically through the various clothes/costumes he wears across the film. Luke wears white in episode 4 along with his orange pilot’s jumpsuit. In episode 5 Luke goes from arctic wear to the brown fatigues in his battle with Vader. In episode 6 Luke wears black (his transformation to Jedi complete). Luke also physically transforms via the loss of his hand (just like Anakin).
We never see Rey transform mentally or physically. Yes, Rey does grow stronger in the Force; however, she has the same view of her world at the end of episode 9 that she had at the beginning of episode 7. Rey never changes costumes—she never becomes something greater despite us seeing some of her training at the beginning of episode 9. Rey suffers no physical deformation like the loss of a hand or scar that can remind her of her ignorance of the world. Kylo Ren at least changes physically by at least getting a scar he suffered from Rey. If Rey doesn’t transform mentally or physically, then she doesn’t grow and mature into a person we want to become.
Rise of Skywalker (ROS). Episode 9 suffers from numerous problems from a basic storytelling architecture perspective: it takes zero time for people to move from point A to point B; it doesn’t explain how Palpatine survived; it has absolutely nothing to do with Skywalker; and it destroys its own verisimilitude (lightsabers can cut through steel but not human flesh). Ultimately, these things I could look past and accept. After all, I like plenty of movies that suffer basic storytelling architecture problems. Movies like Big Trouble in Little China, all of the Indiana Jones movies, and The Goonies to name a few.
What makes me dislike ROS is that it fails to enhance or add to the mythology that came before it. In fact, ROS dismantles that mythology. Consider Anakin Skywalker. Anakin was supposed to be “the chosen one.” It was prophesied that someone would come along and bring balance to the Force. We assume Anakin is the chosen one because, well, he was called that in the PQ. ROS makes it so Anakin was moot. Anakin Skywalker, or his children, didn’t bring balance to the Force, and Vader’s sacrifice at the end of episode 6 is now meaningless. It turns out that the SQ does not advance the story of Skywalker (any Skywalker) because the SQ has nothing to do with any Skywalker. The story of the House of Skywalker ended with episode 6. The SQ is essentially the redemption and triumph of the House of Palpatine. Imagine reading The Bible, learning about the House of King David, embracing the character of Jesus, only to find out that the House of Lucifer is really the path to redemption and the grandchild of Satan himself is the ultimate messiah that we all should embrace. ROS even fails to achieve balance in the Force. Rey defeated the Sith and embraced the Light. Great. The word “balance” implies to halves, and yet at the end of ROS we have only one side being the victor.
What could’ve made for a better mythological story? For starters Rey would need to fail, big time, at something. We almost saw that in ROS when she destroyed the transport. However, even in that situation Rey received a get out of jail free card. It would’ve been interesting if Rey was the daughter of Luke and Palpatine’s daughter. At least Rey would’ve been an actual Skywalker and she would’ve come from a line with ties to both light and dark. Rey could’ve embraced the dark side and struck down the Emperor at the end of ROS. After all, Palpatine held all of the past Sith within him and they would’ve passed into Rey. This would’ve not only been tragic, but it would’ve set up a fascinating encounter with Kylo Ren. Rey could be redeemed in the end and allow all the prior Jedi to inhabit her as well thus bringing true balance to the force by possessing both Jedi and Sith within her. Just an idea…
Conclusion. When I say I don’t like ROS it’s because I don’t like what it does to the mythology of Star Wars. The film is stunning to look at, yes. The film has some pretty good action sequences. I believe many people who like ROS like it because it’s pretty and the action sequences are fun. Yet, even people who say they like the film also admit that it is problematic. The film is problematic because it doesn’t synthesize with what came before. Since ROS doesn’t synthesize with episodes 1 through 6, that also means episodes 7 and 8 don’t synthesize either. Episodes 7 and 8’s place in the mythology hinged on what happened in episode 9. With episode 9 dismantling the established mythology, episodes 7 and 8 collapse right along with it. Rey may live on in the Light, but Star Wars as a whole falls to the Dark side.