A Catholic Perspective on Why Star Wars Fans Hated The Last Jedi

Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm for $4.1 Billion in 2012 generated a lot of excitement from Lucasfilm fans.  At the time I was a moderate Star Wars fan, but I was and still am a big Indiana Jones fan.  I, and so many other fans of these two franchises, were excited about the possibility of more chapters being added on, of more stories being told.

Although the next chapter in the Indiana Jones saga is still a few years off, Disney immediately began producing a new set of Star Wars movies.  Even more exciting to fans was the fact that a new trilogy would be produced and would include the characters from the original trilogy produced back in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  How exciting to see the heroes of our childhoods back for more adventures!

Luke fights Vader in an epic battle between good and evil

The first new film opened to near universal acclaim.  Movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes showed the movie was given positive reviews by 93% of movie critics and 87% of audiences.  Although many themes and plot elements were very similar to the original Star Wars trilogy, there was enough new material to keep both hardcore Star Wars fans, as well as the general media, happy and entertained.  After more than 30 years, fans finally got to see Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C3PO, and R2-D2 back on the screen.  We witnessed the death of Han Solo (who was the best character in a franchise driven mostly on the strength of its characters), but had to wait until the closing seconds to finally get a glimpse of the elderly Luke Skywalker.  The Force Awakens ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Rey finally finding the planet of Luke’s exile.  The movie ends with Rey handing Luke the lightsaber he lost at the end of The Empire Strikes Back and symbolically telling him the universe was once again in need of the hero Luke Skywalker.  The film created many questions that left the audience excited and anxious for the next sequel.

The Force Awakens was liked by almost everyone.

After two long years of waiting, the next chapter titled The Last Jedi was released, and the reaction was much different.  While Rotten Tomatoes showed that a very strong 91% of critics approved of the movie, only 46% of audiences reported liking it.

The Last Jedi was controversial among Star Wars fans.

There were various suggestions thrown out as to why fans were so critical of the latest chapter.  Perhaps it was because very few of the questions raised in The Force Awakens were answered in a meaningful way.  Or maybe it was because of the many plot contrivances that used concepts not seen in any of the previous eight Star Wars movies.  Conceivably it was because the characters were mostly dull and underdeveloped.  Some even suggested it was because Disney focused too much energy on advancing the female characters at the expense of the male characters – most the male characters were weak, ineffectual, or foolish while the female characters were smart, graceful, and determined.

I believe it was so despised by Star Wars fans because the producers of the movie made a concerted effort to subvert the characters – especially Luke Skywalker.  In one of the trailers, the villain Kylo Ren is heard saying “Let the past die.  Kill it if you have to.”  The producers chose to make this the major theme of the movie.  But what they set out to kill was the feelings of admiration for the heroic character that we’d appreciated since childhood.  Throughout the movie Luke is made to look like a grumpy, miserable failure.  He stubbornly and selfishly refuses to leave his self-imposed exile, even it it means letting the entire universe fall into evil.  Instead of looking at the priest-like Jedi order as the keepers of peace and justice in the galaxy, he now sees them as hypocritical, vain failures.

This is all so very different from the Luke Skywalker of the original trilogy.  In the OT Luke had to struggle against evil, both evil that assailed him by being his direct enemy (the Empire), and the evil that tried to seduce him from within (his father being Vader).  He is repeatedly warned by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda not to give in to the dark side of the force.  Though it would give him great power, it would corrupt him.  He is warned against anger and the desire for vengeance, and exhorted to overcome them.  In the end, the only way to defeat the Emperor, who is the personification of evil, is to abandon all power, the light and dark sides of the force, and depend on his father’s conversion back to good to save him. The final message of the original trilogy is that mercy and love are more powerful than hate and sin, and Luke is the personification of that message.

The Luke of the original trilogy is a completely different character than the Luke of the new trilogy.

How does this tie into our Catholic faith?  The Last Jedi is taking the virtue that the original Star Wars movies inspired in us and throwing it into the trash.  Star Wars isn’t, and never was, a set of Catholic movies.  It has some concepts in it that are decidedly un-Catholic.  But one does not have to look hard to find many Catholic messages in it.  Messages about self sacrifice, about caring for others more than yourself, about struggling against evil, even when all hope seems lost.  “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)”  Messages that good wins out over evil in the end if we have courage and perseverance, and that their is no gray line between good and evil.  “God is not the author of confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33)”  The Last Jedi is here to tell us we’re stupid for finding these messages in the original trilogy.  And that is why so many Star Wars fans hated it.

Lisa Simpson speaks to the Catholic understanding of sex

The majority of political disagreements between Catholics and everyone else in some way comes down to sex.  You won’t hear many arguments on whether we should feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, or visit the sick.  Those are issues everyone agrees on, no matter their religious beliefs.  However, when it comes to sex, Catholics and non-Catholics agree about as well as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  The Catholic understanding of the purpose and nature of sex touches on abortion, contraception, Planned Parenthood, same-sex unions, gender confusion, and many other hot-button topics in our modern news cycle.

The Catholic understanding of sex starts by observing its purpose.  We can study our digestive system – mouth, throat, stomach, intestines – and observe that its purpose is supplying food for our bodies.  While eating is often pleasurable (especially Taco Bell for me!), it’s actual function is fuel for us.  Likewise we can study our reproductive system and observe its purpose.  The first and most obvious purpose is for making babies.  The second purpose is related to the first, but not quite as obvious.  Humans take a long time to mature.  In the US we consider someone an adult once they reach the age of 18 years.  Children have the best chance of success when raised in stable families.  So the second purpose is the strengthening of the union between the Mother and Father.  Although sex is pleasurable, it’s real purposes are babies and bonding.

It is possible to abuse our bodily systems.  If we eat nothing but ice cream and candy, it will be pleasurable, but our bodies will quickly break down.  This is because we’re not using the digestive system for its proper purpose.  Rather we are exploiting it to increase our pleasure.  Similarly, we can suppress one or both purposes of our reproductive system, through contraception or fornication, but this will also cause harm to ourselves.  It is because of this that Catholics believe that sex only belongs in a marriage and must be open to life every time.  This isn’t easy, but by the grace of Jesus Christ it is possible.

To our modern society, sex is meaningless – it’s just a way to have fun.  But from the Catholic perspective, sex is a message you tell with your body.  The message says that I love you so much that I give myself to you completely – fertility and all.  Likewise, I receive your gift of yourself completely – including your fertility.  Even if you don’t intend it, that is the message your body is communicating during the sexual act.  When a mental health professional finds out a teenage girl is sexually active, the psychologist/psychologist automatically screens her for depression.  This is because teenager girls who are sexually active are much more likely to be depressed than their non-sexual counterparts.  From the Catholic perspective, this makes a lot of sense.  If sex has such an inherent message of selfless love built right into it then who wouldn’t feel depressed when it treated as an empty method for fun or pleasure?

I love watching the Simpsons, and I noticed the other day that this message of meaning behind an affectionate action is taken for granted by our society.  In one episode, Lisa had discovered she had a crush on Nelson, the school bully.  He won’t change his bad behavior for her, but does enjoy the affection that the relationship brings.  The clip below shows what happens when Lisa realizes that Nelson’s feelings for her are mostly selfish.

Nelson: Alright, alright, I lied, I’m sorry, let’s kiss.

Lisa: No.  You don’t understand Nelson.  A kiss doesn’t mean anything if it’s dishonest.

Nelson: Uh, there’s a niceness to it.

As Lisa points out, even in something as innocent as a kiss, there is a message being communicated.  When we try to ignore sex’s message or pretend it doesn’t exist, we harm ourselves and our society.