Failure is the Goal:
an essay on Star Wars: The Last Jedi
My favorite thing about The Last Jedi is its theme of youthful zeal that is well-intentioned and courageous yet still foolhardy and immature.
Poe is a hotheaded pilot that defies orders and rushes to action, not knowing what it means to truly serve and benefit the Resistance. Rey has a reductive understanding of the Force and believes that simply turning Kylo Ren will end the war. Kylo Ren is still vastly insecure and his pursuit for power is driven by a need to prove himself. And most telling of all, Finn and Rose embark on a mission that only ends up in failure, embarrassment, and their near execution.
In fact, Yoda, the wisest character in the Star Wars universe, explicitly mentions that failure is the greatest teacher. Our young characters are gifted but inexperienced. They must encounter failure in order to achieve the height of their potential.
Then you have the older, more experienced, and much more mature characters. Leia is a genius military strategist that leads with aplomb even in chaos. Luke has a deeply developed relationship with the Force and can differentiate nuances between darkness and light. Holdo, not at all flashy in her leadership, displays what true sacrifice for the Resistance looks like. Snoke is a ruthless dictator that can gaslight others to do his bidding by exploiting their character flaws. And of course, Yoda is… Yoda.
But the film comments further: in order for Hope to survive and Progress to be made, the older era must pass on to usher in the newer generation.
On the dark side, Kylo Ren kills Snoke and establishes a brand new regime as the new supreme leader. On the light side, Yoda sets fire to the Jedi tree along with the sacred texts, claiming the old ways served their purpose for the time but will no longer be needed.
Time has moved on. The forebears must step aside for the younger heroes and villains to take their place because their skills and talents are better suited for the present because this is now the timeline of their destinies. Kylo will wield a lightsaber with skill the world has not yet seen. Rey will utilize and manipulate the Force in ways Luke has only dreamed of.
“Let the past die,” Kylo Ren says to Rey, “Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you are meant to be.”
I can’t help but think this must be exactly how Rian Johnson felt in approaching this franchise. Having only three feature films under his belt and in being handed the keys to the Star Wars kingdom, he crafts a meta-narrative that is infused with his own reckless risk-taking and foolhardy trepidation. It shows a great amount of self-awareness and even humility because he’s admitting that failure is not a possibility, it’s a necessary step. But even still, in the face of his own naivety, he must soldier on, learn from his failure, and allow the past to run its course, rather than be beholden to it.
With such a well known, universally loved, and sacred universe like Star Wars, Johnson could have been utterly slavish to the elder George Lucas and carve deeper into the path he already breached, but instead Johnson torches the entire map and sets off into brand new uncharted territory. It’s a bold move, but one that comes with great respect and even self-deprecation.
In a way, it’s a genius move because by admitting that failure is the point, he ends up succeeding. Storytelling is only as effective as it is personal and by wrapping a space opera narrative around deeply personal fears and ambitions, he makes a blockbuster franchise feel intimate and personal.
In terms of craft and style, he makes it his own. There are radical POV shots, whip pans, slow push-ins, effective uses of slow motion, and even changes in the direction of a screen wipe from side to side to radial! He has pushed the cinematic grammar of Star Wars into more visual sophistication. The humor is also sillier and more idiosyncratic. He is a younger, fresher talent, and he is ready, even in his clumsiness, to take the franchise into an exciting new direction.
I’ve now come to realize that The Last Jedi may not be referring to the final one in the lineage, but actually the previous torchbearer that has paved the way for the current holder to audaciously (and ultimately victoriously) take their place.