Rian Johnson Finds Fake ‘Return of the Jedi’ Reading Illuminating – Perfectly Explains Why The Last Jedi is Horrible
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson found a fake reading of Return of the Jedi illuminating and it perfectly captures why his The Last Jedi and its treatment of Luke Skywalker is horrible.
This illuminated something I found totally baffling, thank you.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) July 11, 2018
The fake reading comes courtesy of Twitter user Jonathan McIntosh who says “a handful of The Last Jedi haters in my mentions are offering up a fascinating misreading of the final showdown between Luke and Vader in RoTJ.”
A handful of The Last Jedi haters in my mentions are offering up a fascinating misreading of the final showdown between Luke and Vader in RotJ. I think it’s worth taking a moment to discuss because it may help explain why these guys hate Luke’s character so much in Episode VIII. pic.twitter.com/zI9ZY9JL9q
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
He goes on to describe this “misreading.”
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
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
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
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
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
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
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
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
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
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
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
— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) July 10, 2018
McIntosh did not offer any proof of anyone but himself coming up with this “misreading.” In fact, he was promptly called out for it.
RotJ was the 1st movie I saw in the cinema. Been a huge fan up ’til recently. Never seen anyone “misread” it as that. Pretty clear that Luke didn’t want to kill his father & instead sought to save him.
— Flatbread_Max (@flatbread_yt) July 12, 2018
WTF?! That was my favorite scene in all SW movies. It was the only scene that had an emotional toll in the fights. Even at the age of 4 I knew it had nothing to do with skilled warrior & had everything to do with emotions, that would lead him to the dark side.
— Unstable Idiot (@JtotheAC) July 11, 2018
Sparing his enemy? Luke only considered Vader as an enemy up to ESB. The path to redeem Anakin started the moment Luke turned himself in Endor. First attack from Luke came out of desperation since Rebels weren’t advancing. Second attack came Leia revealed to Vader.
— Cito PR ? ?? (@Cito_PR) July 11, 2018
I’ve run a Star Wars site for 15 years and I’ve never seen anyone express this take of the throne room scene. Seems obvious from Luke’s initial refusal to fight and his long stare at his hand that he knew giving in to his anger was weak, and the first step in becoming his father.
— Jay Sylvester (@JayIsAngry) July 12, 2018
How could anyone misread this? Palpatine baits Luke into embracing his anger but Vader finally succeeds by threatening to turn Leia. Luke is about to kill Vader but realizes by doing so he becomes him via the visual cue of the robot hand. PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD GUYS. ?♂️
— Mister Ooh-La-La (@MisterOohlala) July 12, 2018
People actually think this? Never. Never did this even cross my mind. But then again, I didn’t hate Luke in VIII so I guess this thread isn’t for me. Totally agree with the rest, tho.
— EG Nolan ?? (@TheEGNolan) July 12, 2018
It appears McIntosh might have actually made this “misreading” up. And the fact that Rian Johnson finds this “misreading” illuminating just proves that he just can’t deal with the criticism of The Last Jedi. In fact, it appears he’s trying to find any way to deflect criticism of his film now that it’s being roundly accepted as a complete failure of a film with bad characterizations of iconic characters, horrible story choices, and a complete lack of understanding about the Star Wars universe.
But let’s actually examine McIntosh’s statement about what really happened. He claims Luke tries to avoid fighting. Is that true? No, it’s a complete lie. Luke Skywalker succumbs to his emotions and attempts to strike down the Emperor with his lighstaber, but is stopped by Darth Vader. Luke even takes the fight to Darth Vader knocking him down a set of stairs. However, once he realizes that the Emperor is manipulating him, he sheathes his lightsaber.
That’s when Luke decides he won’t fight Darth Vader. He says, “I will not fight you father.” However, he is still forced to defend himself when Vader takes the fight to him. Luke then gets back on mission and attempts to convert Vader back to the Light. He even goes into hiding, refusing to fight Vader. But when Vader realizes Leia is Luke’s sister, Luke begins a vicious assault on Vader to protect his sister. He wants to protect Leia from Vader and the Emperor. It’s not until Luke has defeated Vader and has him at the edge of his lightsaber that the Emperor makes his move and tries to fully convert Luke to the Dark Side.
Luke refuses and throws his lightsaber away saying he will never turn to the Dark Side. The Emperor then begins to shock the life out of him until Vader intervenes and throws the Emperor down the shaft.
However, you have to remember that the Emperor tells Luke that his weakness is, “Your faith in your friends is yours.” It’s quite possible that in the moment he realized he was falling to the Dark Side he also realized the sacrifice he needed to endure in order to redeem his Father. He had faith that his father could be saved. In fact, he says it multiple times leading up to and even during the fight with Darth Vader. Luke believes his father won’t kill him and that he can be saved.
Not only did McIntosh apparently create a fake misreading in order to defend The Last Jedi, but he also had his own horrible misreading of what actually went down. The fact that Rian Johnson buys this bogus “misreading” shows his wild misunderstanding of Luke Skywalker and it’s why we got a Luke Skywalker who is nothing like Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi. A Luke Skywalker who would fight for his friends and especially his sister. A Luke Skywalker who would sacrifice his own life in order to prevent himself from turning to the Dark Side. Do you think the Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker wouldn’t do the same to prevent his nephew from turning to the Dark Side? That’s why Rian Johnson’s version of Luke Skywalker is an abomination and why the film goes down as the worst Star Wars film ever made at least up until this point.
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