The Disney Star Wars trilogy has divided the fans of the original movies into many camps. No other movie is more divisive of the fans than The Last Jedi. Many fans did not care for Rian Johnson’s subversion of expectations and a measuring contest with J.J. Abrams. The Last Jedi closed many of the things The Force Awakens left open, perhaps the most egregious being the removal of Snoke which left a hole were the main antagonist had been. Once people watched The Last Jedi, many wondered where the story could go next. Was the Disney Star Wars trilogy actually over now?
Enter The Rise Of Skywalker.
J.J. Abrams retconned and undid many of the failings of The Last Jedi. So much was rushed and packed into The Rise of Skywalker, many viewers left the theater out of breath. Once she had taken the last movie of the Disney Star Wars trilogy in, Donna Dickens returned to The Last Jedi and re-evaluated the movie Rian Johnson had created. Through the backward lens of hindsight, Donn Dickens was able to appreciate the Last Jedi in a new light, including learning to love old grumpy cat Luke Skywalker. So much so, she wrote a blog post about the experience, using Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as inspiration for the title. By the way, if you have not seen Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, you do owe it to yourself to watch it. Peter Sellers is fantastic.
Join along as Brainmuffin reads Donna Dickens’ article about what she now sees in The Last Jedi. Is she reading too much into the Rian Johnson film? Are these connections with the Rise of Skywalker and the Force Awakens really in the film? Are these connections nothing more than well created fan fiction to help understand a horribly written and edited movie? Are Rian Johnson’s subversion of expectations brilliant plot devices or should they be seen as incoherent ramblings of a mad man? Listen to Brainmuffin read the article and leave your feedback in the comments.
Donna Dickens article might push too far into Star Wars explained, though she does let J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson’s movies align more than many fans, most notably Geeks and Gamers, allows. Kathleen Kennedy was the overseer of the sequel Star Wars trilogy and she approved the approaches and the stories. Kathleen Kennedy fired nearly as many directors as who finished their movies. The ride through the new Star Wars era has been and odd one. While the movies brought in good money, except Solo: A Star Wars Story, the merchandise sales have plummeted to all time lows and Disney is not getting the money they expected when they bought the cash cow from George Lucas.
Young adult fiction fans really want Kylo Ren and Rey to be together romantically. If Kylo fully turned back to the Light side of the Force, should be now be called Ben Solo? If Rey was honoring his sacrifice and she was aligning to her statement to him as wanting Ben’s hand, should she have said her name is Rey Solo instead of Rey Skywalker at the end of The Rise Of Skywalker? As for nicknames for the pair, Reylo works much better than ReyBen. Perhaps in the next season of The Mandalorian, Baby Yoda will give Reylo a proper name.
Do you like Brainmuffin reading articles? Would you rather have Channel Dad read them? Have ideas for articles to be covered? Leave a comment below and let these old men know.
#TheLastJedi #OldManLuke #DisneyWars
