The misreading: Luke Skywalker uses his great warrior skills to defeat Darth Vader. Once he’s proven himself in combat and stands victorious, Luke does the honorable thing by showing mercy and sparing his enemy. Thereby saving himself from corruption and redeeming his father.pic.twitter.com/Xf5u9yHcc3
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What really happened: Luke tries to avoid fighting but gives into anger. As he bests Vader in combat, Luke realizes his great mistake, winning this fight means losing his soul to the Dark Side. The battle itself is corrupting him, understanding this Luke throws away his weapon.pic.twitter.com/QmqkbDyROg
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Notice that the misreading (above) reframes Luke as a badass warrior and reframes his refusal to kill Vader as an act of mercy stemming from a position of power. This is significant because Luke beating Vader in combat is explicitly depicted as a moment of weakness NOT strength.pic.twitter.com/w5xrQVP9ip
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The desire of some fans to re-imagine Luke as a powerful warrior who spares the bad guy out of benevolence is consistent with the way male heroes are often represented. It’s the way Batman is framed when he doesn't kill The Joker. But Luke Skywalker isn’t the typical action hero.pic.twitter.com/JALHNEpSyJ
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Luke’s arc in the original trilogy ends with him not only refusing to kill the bad guy, but refusing to even fight a worse villain. This is why Luke’s force projection standoff with Kylo in The Last Jedi is so perfect. It's the ultimate expression of everything Luke has learned.pic.twitter.com/lts9ydsOft
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The fact that an iconic figure like Luke Skywalker was explicitly framed as *weak* for fighting a murderous villain like Darth Vader is a pretty subversive message, especially for a male hero in Hollywood. And it’s something that, 35 years later, some fans still refuse to accept.pic.twitter.com/ypBKK3IVZ3
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The narrative gets muddied because the Jedi in the prequels are these badass warriors and since the OT came out first the realization that that isn’t working isn’t really spelled out as clearly. Everyone thinks Jedi like PT Jedi and miss all that Yoda and Ben have learned.
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Oh please... Leave the prequels alone! They're good! And no, they don't frame Jedi as badass warriors at all. They were way more vulnerability and non-conventional male characters in the PT and people hated on them, Jar Jar being one!
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And a severe misunderstanding of Joseph Campbell— the monomyth is represented in TLJ via both Rey and Luke’s hero journeys. The rewrite campaign really needs to do some actual research if they want to seem like they aren’t just hating on diverse representations in sf
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Since they ARE just hating on diverse representation in SF, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
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