HMSwolfe
Master Member
The idea of the Force controlling all things in the galaxy is perhaps the worst thing to come out of Star Wars ever, and that is saying a lot considering how much junk has been thrown in since 1983. Why on earth would anybody watch a movie where the main characters are just puppets to a faceless, formless void; one that inexplicably can control the good guys in order to “right the balance”, but can’t just control the bad guys or stop them from being bad in the first place? It’s the absolute worst basis for a fictional world in the history of all fiction. Characters must be allowed free will and must make their own choices. They must fight their own battles and come to grips with their own defeats. Relying on “the Force” as a be-all, catch-all perfect plot hole plug to fill in every blank that the PT and ST created is terrible, and it’s honestly an inappropriate way to analyze or critique these movies, because there is no narrative if there is no choice. If anyone chooses to continue believing in the “all-powerful force” that controls everything but also conveniently not everything, so be it. But stop bringing it up when we analyze the films from narrative and character perspectives, because it has no place in any discussion like this. This is why I increasingly don’t describe myself as a Star Wars fan—I don’t just like anything that has the words Star Wars on it, and I don’t treat everything that has the words Star Wars on it at face value. I like ANH and ESB as really great films, and ROTJ for being a satisfying conclusion to Luke’s journey, with a few entertaining moments sprinkled in. But I won’t swallow any EU, “George said this/the visual dictionary/glove of Darth Vader books/the Clone Wars said that” garbage and believe that it somehow compares in any way to the simplicity and the brilliance of the OT. To me, none of that junk is Star Wars. It’s a cluttered mess, and it’s why there will never again be any Star Wars media that satisfies a general audience and Star Wars fans, because it’s too stuffed with all these expectations and delusions of what Star Wars is and so much is so far removed from the actual movies. Seriously. It’s a damn disgrace. I shudder to think that when I say the words Darth Vader, some people think of an annoying sidekick from a cartoon that was added on thirty years after the fact, or that Yoda’s indelible scenes from ESB have been horrible thrashed by a CG monstrosity flailing about, and with nonsensical, narrative-destroying concepts of the force as some sort of detached deity. Some of you act like I have to take all of that and accept it as though it’s of the same value and has the same weight.