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The Force - Blog Posts
I can’t get over the continued thematic follow-through of this idea that Jedi aren’t truly Jedi unless they’re standing up in defense of the innocent and helpless, they have to be active in the galaxy, they have to spread kindness and compassion wherever they go, it’s an uncontrollable urge, it’s an itch, “They cannot help it.“
And also the idea that it’s FORCE ITSELF that is whispering to them, calling them back, calling them home, telling them to take up their swords again, reach out in faith and find that the Light never left you, it’s still inside you and it needs you because the galaxy is so so dark and bleak and hopeless and there’s so much evil everywhere and the galaxy needs them to stand up and step out of the shadows and into the light so that they can reignite people’s hope.
It’s the pauses of awe and wonder in even the most miserable and selfish of underworld denizens because that’s a Jedi, the Jedi are back, the Jedi are here, everything will be okay now.
It’s F knighting herself, cutting her own padawan braid and proudly declaring she is a Jedi to save a frightened exploited village bride.
It’s Kanan igniting his saber for the first time in years to protect his future padawan and a clutch of Wookie slaves and the rattled composure in the Imperials when they realize, “Holy shit that’s a Jedi.“
It’s Cal and Cere deciding they were done hiding, done running from the Empire, they were going to fight back, and Saw gleefully pointing to them to inspire his band of Rebels.
It’s Obi-Wan unburying his lightsaber even after being so hopeless and broken and full of guilt and self-blame because people still need him, he’s the only one they can trust.
The whole Dark Times as a sloooooowly turning eucatastrophe, tiny lights of hope struggling to hold back the darkness long enough. Holding out. Buying time until the twin suns can rise. Until Luke and Leia and the destruction of the Death Star and the death of the Emperor and the glorious return of light to the galaxy.
I love it.
Force Translator Cody au
Hes still as force sensitive as a brick but hes been around so many jedi, Specifically Obi-wan "i have a bad feeling" Kenobi that he just, figures out what the Force is tryin to say with his cool collected strategic slut mind on his own
In short, Cody voice: the Force works in misterious ways to YOU, i get it tho
now here i am, thinking about the force talking to cody's cool collected strategic slut mind like it's the australien sea turtle in finding nemo
cody's not force-sensitive. like NOT AT ALL, not even one (1) midichlorian per million. zip nada nothing
he just meditates with obi-wan on a regular basis and ends up absorbing some force radiation that basically makes him a radio station that can tune into the force's daily commentary
it all starts on a mission where cody and obi-wan enter a really creepy cave and it's just really creepy and dark and suddenly there's this off-voice telling cody that the vibes are rancid
obi-wan then proceeds to say that the vibes feel rancid
and cody just looks at obi-wan like ??? uhm hello what the fuck and obi-wan doesn't have a single idea why his commander suddenly looks like a confused pineapple
meanwhile the force is going feral because this funky little commander apparently has the right receiving frequency to hear its ramblings while all the jedi in fact do NOT
everyone only feels the force. no one ever talks to the force. the force is bored. so of course it doesn't intend to leave cody alone e v e r
obi-wan, to cody, smiling: remember, the force will be with you. always
cody, who already listened to the force rambling about the tragedy of darth plagueis the wise for the past two hours, eye twitching:
anakin looks all mysterious and knowing while saying that there's a disturbance in the force and cody just stands right next to him, hearing the high-pitched fire siren-like screaming of the force in the background while trying to look like his eardrum didn't just get perforated
whenever cody notices that obi-wan and the other jedi aren't sleeping well because of some weird force shit, cody asks the force to keep it down for a while so that they can at least rest for a couple of hours. obi-wan is confused about the amount of sleep he gets all of the sudden
anakin wakes up and says he just had a vision. cody asks the force if anakin, in fact, just had a vision. the force says no
ahsoka, after something very weird happened: the force works in mysterious ways
the force, to cody, very disturbed: that wasn't me
everyone basically talks about the force as this ancient powerful energy field in a very earnest and serious way while cody passes the senate building and hears the force calling palpatine a nasty little apricot
“On occasion, the Force allows us to connect with another living being and communicate with them across great distances, seeing what they see and feeling what they feel. Though this may seem like a harmless–and perhaps even valuable–ability, it is easily manipulated by those on the dark side. Some powerful Force users have been able to create secret bonds with others who are unaware of their connection. They then use those bonds to corrupt their target and steer their actions. Even if the unwanted bond is detected, it can still be extremely difficult to break.” –Luke Skywalker, Secrets of the Jedi Hey, do you want some creepy Force horror? Apparently dark siders can create a bond with someone without them even knowing and use it to corrupt their target and steer their actions, and even if you detect the bond, it can still be difficult to break. THANKS, STAR WARS, THAT’S TERRIFYING, I LOVE IT. It’s interesting, because the prequels Jedi didn’t really seem to have a problem with it, there are multiple examples of bonds and potential bonds, where they seem to have their shit under control and can deal with it when it might become dangerous, but Luke’s point of view on them seems much more wary, which makes sense when you consider what happened with Ben and Snoke. But just that it’s at all possible is terrifying! It’s probably moreso for people who aren’t Force-sensitive, rather than those who are trained and have a solid mental foundation in the Force, but the idea of, say, being able to manipulate someone without them even knowing you’re in their head, being able to steer their actions without them knowing it, that even once they’re aware of you, it’s hard as hell to get you out of their head, THAT’S THE PSYCHIC FORCE HORROR STUFF I’M TALKING ABOUT. I mean, just think how hard it would have been for Anakin to get Palpatine’s connection out of his head, that of course Palpatine would have quietly and sneakily put little suggestions here and there. Never too much, because Anakin was so strong in the Force and he had the help of all the Jedi if Sidious was ever detected, but how easy would it have been for Palpatine to hide in amongst Anakin’s already terrified thoughts? That the source of those unexamined fears was still Anakin himself, it has always been Anakin that’s the source, but that Palpatine would sneak a bond onto him, that Anakin would be too afraid to examine his own mind and his own fears, so it’s just that little extra push that makes it all the worse? THE FORCE IS TERRIFYING, OKAY.
I headcanon that all of Yoda's finest teacups were made by younglings
In fact most masters of the order's finest teacups were made during crèche crafting time when the kids were learning pottery.
you know i was thinking about it and since both the force and the inner workings of the human mind are arguably non-observable phenomena i think force-based academia should look a lot like psychology. current arguments and achievements of note include:
are the living and universal force actually different???
are the living and universal force actually connected at all???
those two factions of academics who hate each other's guts and theories and methodology (feat. pragmatists who figured out that the theories work together really effectively when practiced??? just saying)
FIGURING OUT WHY IT WORKS IS SECONDARY TO THE FACT THAT IT DOES WORK, JOCASTA
YOU CANNOT JUST DO THINGS WITH THIS METHOD WHEN YOU CAN'T ESTABLISH ITS SCIENTIFIC VALIDITY, YODA
that one researcher who accidentally won the space nobel prize in physics while trying to figure out how it is Physically Possible for the Jedi to do That One Thing
we have no empirical evidence that "the force" exists and therefore we can ONLY make conclusions based on observable events--- (loud angry yelling)
incredible amounts of popular misinformation and pseudoscience being distributed to the public still somehow
psychometric abilities: discrete or dimensional?
look. this experiment was completely unethical and we would never do anything like it today BUT---
this used to be true but then we told people about it and it changed as a result of that awareness. no we're not lying to you----
everything can be 100% traced back to a biomedical source
nothing can be 100% traced back to a biomedical source
force abilities are actually linked to overarching social factors like socioeconomic status of parents and--- *yelling from the back* OKAY BUT WHAT DO WE DO WITH THAT
look. listen. 60% applicability is golden in this field. you're a hard science researcher you wouldn't understand how hard it is to study an invisible energy field with a mind of its own
and, of course, the interdisciplinary argument staple
that isn't actually a real science :/
Four followers of an old tenet Want to coup me and think that they’ll win it The truth’s my political Power’s now critical So I tell them that “I am the senate” - Mod M
Rey - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2017)
Rating: 9.8 of 10
We all know how it ends. Princess Leia got ahold of the plans to the Death Star, a moon-sized weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, which she then give to R2-D2 at the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope. This is a story of that first victory of the Rebels.
While the Star Wars trilogies focus on the Force-wielding people, Rogue One is the story of the struggle of the ordinary people. The closest thing to a “Chosen One” character is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), daughter to Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), a high-ranking officer of the Empire. But while his father had sympathy for the Rebel’s cause, Jyn has grown apathetic since she was left abandoned at 16 years old. She has connections, but it was her choice to help the Rebels that determines her character.
Other characters include Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a true believer of the Rebel’s cause with willingness to do anything for it; K2SO (Alan Tudyk), an unlikely friend in the form of reprogrammed Imperial droid; Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), a couple of warrior monks and sworn protector of the Kyber Crystals; and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a defecting Imperial cargo pilot.
This is Star Wars, like you can live and breathe in it. Rogue One is definitely grittier than the trilogies, more grounded–less quip from the likes of Han Solo, no flashy lightsaber fights, or even the cuteness of a BB-8. It’s street-level Star Wars, but Rogue One does have lighter moments too (’I’M BLIND!’ is definitely the best line the movie IMO), and it is most definitely not without hope.
Hope, after all, is the stuff that Star Wars is made of. These people do not need to have the Force, or be the best of anything, they are just willing to do what it takes to make a difference and change the galaxy for the better. Nothing is going to be easy, and maybe not everyone is going to make it until the end, and yet, somehow it’s all going to be worth it. Devoid of Jedis or a Chosen One, Rogue One only has characters distinguished by their believes and their choices, and that’s okay. That’s kinda the point.
Rogue One did excellently to introduce us to all these new characters, and we fall in love with each of them effortlessly, each for different reasons. Most importantly, Rogue One succeeded in accomplishing what prequels and spin-offs should always do: make the universe feel bigger, more fleshed out. In it, we get to see the different corners of the galaxy and the people who inhabit it–the people who built and lived by it. I found Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), an almost Vader-like rebel extremist leader, to be a very interesting part of Star Wars history (We'll get to see more of him in Star Wars: Rebels series!).
Rogue One had to do so many things for it to succeed. It had to live up to the legacy of the original and prequel trilogies, not to mention The Force Awakens; fit the timeline and canon; and tell a compelling story with entirely new characters. It succeeded in all accounts. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story maybe is not a perfect movie (because nothing is), but to me it is a perfect Star Wars story.
Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Rating: 9.5 of 10
Finally, it's time for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA for short)! I'll try to keep this review vague because I don't want to delve into any spoiler, but first, let's talk about how this is an actual NEW Star Wars movie! I was meh for the prequels (and did not see them on the theaters either), and wasn't alive yet for the original trilogy so I never experienced what the hype felt like. When I went for TFA, I couldn’t shake a jarring feeling when the theater darkened, the stars and the title font appeared, then the crawl text came into view and I read it and it's a text I haven't read before. My mind couldn’t comprehend that it was a new Star Wars movie I was watching, and I can't imagine I'm the only one who felt that way, so it goes to show how important it was for this movie to be good (arguably we could also say that about the prequels, and we lived through them, so take that as you will). Of course, there were the Expanded Universe and animated series, and while they're good (I particularly kept hearing about how good The Clone Wars was), they're not the same. This time, it's a cinematic movie, and everyone is excited.
One thing I could say about TFA is that it's definitely a Star Wars movie. It wasn't like how JJ Abrams tried to "translate" Star Trek from the 60's to 00's; TFA is Star Wars. It's more Star Wars than what the prequels ever hoped to be. I might even go as far as saying that it does have all the good, but also bad, of the originals, but for the most part it's a very entertaining and well-executed movie.
TFA is basically a homage to the originals, and that's the only way for any Star Wars sequel can be done, honestly. The cast and crew are fans too, and they can't just ignore the huge legacy of the franchise. And they did it brilliantly, I say. In TFA, Jedi had evolved into a myth, in the same way that Star Wars had lived and grown in cultural conciousness throught these years. However, TFA very obviously drew its DNA from the original trilogy. Depending on the person, it could be a good thing or a bad thing. Nostalgia is abound (not in a bad way) and you could basically pin point which traits in each new characters are like Han, Luke, Anakin, etc. I myself didn't mind, because it wasn't like A New Hope (or as some others would call it, simply Star Wars) had the most original story ever. But what’s most important for me, all the visual spectacle and world building that made the franchise so famous, were there too. The various aliens, the lived-in technology, the dog fights, the visually cool villains--even down to the cantina, and also the appearance of sand (not Tatooine), and ice (not Hoth), and green (not Endor) planet. There's a shot that I particularly liked; it was about the first time we see new character Rey (Daisy Ridley), in a long shot near a spaceship wreckage, and it was both beautiful and had amazing sense of scale. It was the moment I knew the movie wouldn't disappoint me for being Star Wars.
Rey, Finn (John Boyega), and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) are the new additions to this movie, and viewers won't have problem falling in love with them. Kylo Ren is especially interesting, psychologically, and I'd like to know more about him. The old characters too, namely Luke Skywalker, now General Leia Organa, and Han Solo are also worthy and natural addition to the story. And BB-8! I was a fan of R2-D2 and BB-8 is an excellent progeny of R2-D2, and an even cuter one. And oh, the movie is extremely funny. It had great comedic timing that don't interfere with the actual movie and it's very fun.
TL;DR A fun, hearty movie with great worldbuilding unique to Star Wars, this movie won't disappoint newly introduced viewers or old fans.
and the force is with us
independent_variables
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: CC-4477 | Thire, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CT-7567 | Rex, CT-6116 | Kix, Original Clone Trooper Character(s) Additional Tags: The Force, Force-Sensitive Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Fix-It, Not Canon Compliant, the force is musical because i said so, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, basically just an exuse to write clones being force sensitive badasses, and taking control of their futures, Clone Trooper-centric (Star Wars) Series: Part 1 of Bind Summary:
If he let himself think about it, Thire could tell where each stroke of the lightsaber would land seconds before it did.
He was scared to let himself think about it.
But.
“Clones you may be,” General Yoda had said. “But the Force resides in all life forms.”
—
Another older one I’m posting for @starwarsalltypesoflove week! This one is very much agape again, with the Force and the way the Force loves.
something inside you is singing
independent_variables
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ezra Bridger & Kanan Jarrus Characters: Ezra Bridger, The Force (Star Wars), Kanan Jarrus Additional Tags: Homelessness, Accidental Use of the Force (Star Wars), Young Ezra Bridger, Pre-Canon, ezra growing up homeless and unknowlingly force sensative, and how that might have played out, kanan doesn’t really show up until the end, why don’t they have a relationship tag for the force smh Summary:
If he thought about it hard enough, Ezra could hear something inside him singing. Just a simple tempo, beating in time with his heart. A tune set to the rhythm of the universe.
But he didn’t like to think about it too hard.
—
This is an older fic that focuses on how Ezra interacts with the Force growing up. It’s enough about how the Force loves Ezra that I felt comfortable sharing for Star Wars: All Types of Love week, for Agape.
Hi @reconstructwriter !
We are glad to have your attention and happy you're feeling excited about this!!! We're excited too!
"Love of god" is the love of an unknowable, higher power, exercised with spirituality, through meditation. That is Agape. It totally counts! And we're excited about what you may come up with this!
In Star Wars, this is definitively the Force 😉
How I would have changed Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Before I begin this I want it on the record that I very much enjoyed The Last Jedi. It’s far from perfect but where TFA was a lot of fun but fairly uninspired, a new hope for a new generation, TLJ for all its flaws tried new things and dug in deep to big themes and a dissection of the franchise as a whole. I loved it. There’s no denying the film was far too long and the subplots were a mixed bag. The Rey/Kylo/Luke stuff on a thematic level worked for me. Some minor details near the end perhaps could have been done differently but all in all I think it’s fairly rock solid. Some rocks can be moved around though as the film very much confirms. I do this not to tell anyone how it should be done but just to give my two cents. I enjoy script writing and would love to be a script doctor/ consultant so I write this in that spirit.. I will try to keep it succinct.
Canto Bight
My brother made the canny suggestion that the Canto Bight story line should have been at the beginning of the film. Imagine panning over the crazy tables, spying all those diverse aliens, we reach a big table, where some ostentatious high roller is wowing a crowd but we can’t see his face. He turns around and it’s Finn! It would be a great surprise since the last time we saw him was in a bio bed unconscious and now here he is in a totally different milieu and having fun. We could even throw in a shameless piece of exposition where Rose tells him to calm down since it’s not that long since he got the all clear. Finn could say how he’s still feeling a bit raw but that his luck is changing... That should be when he comes across someone from his past in the Casino...Phasma. But in a twist Phasma is sans mask and Finn doesn’t know who this is. This would give Gwendoline Christie an actual character to play. If the audience knows she’s Phasma then the tension comes from not knowing when Finn will figure it out. If you don’t know the actress is Phasma it would be a nice reveal. So Finn believe he has a rapport with this new person and finally feels like he is escaping his past (the film’s central theme) but the reveal of her true identity would shatter that illusion and the ensuing battle would allow him to put the past to bed once and for all. I also think Phasma should have been evolved beyond the Boba Fett clone (not an actual in story clone!) she ended up being.
Poe is also on Canto Bight with Rose and Finn because they have discovered that the Casino is a front for a weapons facility in which the Empire are stocking up brand new ships such as Dreadnoughts. Their plans is to infiltrate and destroy this place before they can be added to the First Order’s fleet. They need to find a code breaker in the Casino who can be turned to their side. I would have just gone with Justin Theroux’s character here but it still could have been Benecio Del Toro’s DJ either way. Poe is not himself after a botched operation in which he got a number of the fleet killed, including someone important to Rose. I would have made this her lover instead of her sister, explicitly putting in more LGBTQ representation, (having a gay character be killed could be problematic, I admit, but when watching the film the first time and seeing the shared necklace, I honestly assumed this was Rose’s girlfriend/wife and found the sister thing a little meh). There is understandable tension between Rose and Poe. These story points could be alluded to in PTSD type flashbacks that are interspersed and while Poe is to blame, which has shaken the character from the cocky pilot of the first film, we could see the operation from different Rashomon type flashbacks which would be a nice narrative parallel to the Luke/ Kylo Ren flashbacks.
Leia’s choice to allow Poe on this mission has not been popular and we see a holographic message from Admiral Holdo criticising the decision while still greatly respecting Leia (this is important to establish as their genuine friendship was great and a fantastic rebuke to the two strong women being at odds trope you find in a lot of fiction). Leia says she has faith in Poe and Holdo is forced to see if that faith is justified. Poe himself is conflicted about his future in the Resistance but helping Rose and Finn free those animals that cut a swath through Canto Bight is the metaphor for the Resistance Poe needs to reawaken his faith. He sees that the downtrodden must be free to make a difference.
Leia
The Leia force scene has been a big controversial moment for a lot of people and I would suggest a minor tweak of this could have been more effective. Leia is blasted out into space. We still have the same shots of her floating but we hear her breathing, her heart beating. But suddenly a calm falls over her. She is using the Force to slow down everything to give her a few more precious moments of life when suddenly a fighter appears and picks her up, being flown by Holdo. It would have been a great physical introduction for the character having previously been shown as just a hologram. You’d still have Leia saving herself with the Force but just not in so a cartoony or pronounced way. There could be some fun banter about how Holdo wasn’t meant to be there but she was just passing by the star system and knew Leia would be out for a walk, or something to that effect.
Here is where I will give an odd suggestion for how to deal with Leia in Episode 9. This could be controversial but I’d have it that the General gets sick or is injured and they know they can’t save her so she asks to be frozen in Carbonite but kept alive. She could be the leader who never died and is a living monument to how the Resistance should never die. It’s not perfect but its as elegant a solution to what cruel fate has provided us.
So a single Dreadnought survives the destruction of the weapons facility and this could give us the Holdo sacrifice (clearly Leia could have been the one to do this too, but I digress). Holdo contacts Poe and congratulates him on his successful mission, welcoming him back into the fold but says “As cocky as you are Poe...you missed one.” And she hyperspaces into the Dreadnought to prevent it from destroying the fleet.
As you can see most of the film would be unaffected and I do believe the subplots would tie in more organically. Throwing in a Casino jaunt into a ticking clock plot remains my biggest problem with the film and I think structuring it like this would solve a lot of problems.
Snoke
A brief final note on another issue fandom has with the film, the identity of Snoke. The decision to make Rey’s parents nobodies was inspired and I hope they don’t reverse that in future installments. As for Snoke, I have a theory that won’t satisfy everyone but is my take on the character. Although to be honest I don’t think we need to know where he came from. His dispatching was fantastic and allows the series to focus on the more nuanced and interesting antagonist in Kylo Ren but if people were so desperate for an answer here is one.
There should be a scene with Luke in the dark pit with the Infinite Recursion that we see Rey in half way through the film. This can be from a long time ago. Luke has gone their to face his demons. We see him force jump out of the pit and the delayed reflections all follow suit...except one. An obscured reflection in the distance remains down that pit. This is Snoke. He is a manifestation of Luke’s anger and bitterness and the darker thoughts inside of him. (It’s a bit Onslaught with Professor Xavier if I’m to be honest). Snoke didn’t want anyone to find Skywalker because he needs him alive to continue existing and Luke remaining in exile suited his plans perfectly. It even adds an irony to Kylo Ren who unknowingly is still an apprentice to a version of Luke Skywalker. In fact this revelation would have been a nice extra motivation for Kylo killing Snoke. Fandom could have called this character Snoke Starkiller as a nod to the original name of Luke Skywalker! I very much believe in drawing thematic parallels and contrasts across different narrative threads. For example Kylo sheds his armour to move on but Phasma re-embraces her armour as a symbol of the past. Both Finn and Rey do not know their parents and are in situations due to this abandonment. There’s definitely more of this stuff that could be teased out over the whole story. So there you go, suggestions for something that has already been made and for adventures that have already happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
The Mandalorian and the Child ✴️🚀🌕