Luke Skywalker's darker journey in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' was just good storytelling
It's been said before, it'll be said again: Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. That's what Rian Johnson did.
Luke Skywalker's gruff, disillusioned old man in Star Wars: The Last Jedi left a lot of fans angry. But writer/director Johnson had a good reason for going that route, as he articulated very well during a South by Southwest panel this week.
"If you look at any classic hero's myth that is actually worth its salt, at the beginning of the hero's journey, like with King Arthur, he pulls the sword from the stone and he's ascendant — he has setbacks but he unites all the kingdoms," Johnson told the SXSW crowd (h/t The Hollywood Reporter).
"But then if you keep reading, when it deals with the hero's life as they get into middle-age and beyond, it always starts to get into darker places. And there’s a reason for that: It’s because myths are not made to sell action figures; myths are made to reflect the most difficult transitions we go through in life."
For all the fandom anger that chased The Last Jedi's release -- at least some of which wasn't about the movie, really -- pretty much anyone who watched the movie with both eyes open comprehended Luke's journey. The guy became a hero in his late teens and then derailed a galactic civil war almost single-handedly.
In the years after Return of the Jedi, this former farmboy-turned-last hope of the Jedi went ahead and tried to rekindle the Jedi Order. He failed, badly, and that failure was largely his fault. He didn't turn to the Dark Side (thankfully), but he got super-depressed and up in his own head, so he retreated from public life.
It was a very natural, human reaction, and credit to Johnson for taking that direction when he could have easily turned Luke into Hero of the Rebellion 2.0 -- which, in turn, would have robbed The Last Jedi of its emotional core.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
