[Music]
Star Wars The Last Jedi came out recently and it left many fans and audience members
divided.
With many people hating it, many loving it, and many confused about how they feel.
In a way I think everybody is right.
And I'm not just trying to play Galactic Peacekeeper here.
I think the Star Wars problem is because JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens and Rian Johnson's
The Last Jedi, have completely different chemistry, and the chemistry is causing a bad reaction.
Before we get into this it probably goes without saying but there's gonna be spoilers here.
You probably knew this when you clicked on the video but in case you didn't, pause the
video just see the movie already, there's gonna be some spoilers in a second.
The problem with The Last Jedi is chemistry.
And when I say that I don't mean romantic chemistry.
And I don't mean sexual chemistry.
I mean chemistry chemistry.
The science of story telling.
Story telling is an art but there's also a science to it.
The problems we feel in the new Star Wars movies can be tied in to the fact that JJ
Abrams, the writer/director of The Force Awakens, and Rian Johnson, the writer/director of The
Last Jedi, have a different science of story telling that are at odds with one another.
Now, JJ Abrams tells stories based on potential energy.
As he's mentioned in his TED Talk he's fascinated with the idea of the mystery box.
JJ: Well, what are stories but mystery boxes?
Look at like, Star Wars, you got the droids they meet the mysterious woman, who's that?
We don't know.
Mystery box!
You know.
Then you meet Luke Skywalker, he gets the droid, you see the holographic image, you
learn oh it's a message, she wants to, ya know, find Obi-Wan Kenobi he's her only hope.
But who the hell is Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Mystery box!
This is a man who definitely turns off the movie Seven with ten minutes left in the movie.
"OHHH WHAT'S IN THE BOX!?"
He doesn't want to know.
JJ wants to tell a story based on potential energy.
Every character, every setting, every plot point, contains a mystery and is thus overflowing
with potential energy.
What a story could be IS the story, who a character could be IS the character.
JJ loves the potential a mystery creates and how the possible answers can fascinate an
audience.
A trait you might remember overstaying it's welcome, in other JJ works like Lost and Fringe.
And we see this everywhere in The Force Awakens.
Who are Rey's parents, where is Luke hiding, who is Kylo Ren, who is Snoke, what happened
at the Jedi temple.
These are all questions that invoke the potential energy of story and character.
This is how JJ Abrams tells a story.
The world's possibilities are what define it.
However, Rian Johnson tells a story based on kinetic energy.
Objects in motion.
Characters and Plot are constantly moving forward.
Johnson's storytelling technique has no time for questions of what, how, and could.
Rian's is a story of is, are, and now.
Instead of lingering on potential like what is Luke thinking when Rey hands him his lightsaber,
the moment is gone in the blink of an eye and we're moving forward.
Instead of hovering on the mystery of who is Snoke and who are Rey's parents these
are resolved in one scene, choosing instead to move focus to the present, on the interaction
between Rey and Kylo as they move forward in their journey.
Both of these are great ways to tell a story.
Neither is right, neither wrong, just different.
But where it becomes a problem is when you put these different styles next to each other
in a trilogy.
I think Rian Johnson was the wrong person to create a second movie in a trilogy kicked
off by JJ Abrams, but would have been a great person to helm the third film.
To help visualize the metaphor here's real life footage of the Apollo 11 space launch.
Think of JJ's The Force Awakens as the story of the control room and the Shuttle on the
launch pad.
The story of what could be, the potential energy and mystery of what will happen.
A story at rest.
Rian Johnson's story is the story of Apollo 11 soaring through the atmosphere, the difficulty
of staying on course and the kinetic energy of what is happening, a story in motion.
But what's missing here?
Between these two shots should be the chemical reaction, the phase transition.
The problem is that these two parts, the launch pad and travelling through space, do not go
together in this sequence.
To tie them together you need to see this…
4...
3...
2...
1...
0 *explosion sounds*
The reason some people love The Force Awakens and hate The Last Jedi is the same reason
some people feel the opposite.
These two do not go together and it's easy to blame either for feeling like something's
missing.
Rian Johnson has effectively finished a lot of what JJ started in the first movie, but
did it so fast it seems jarring and unexplored.
I think the opportunity Disney missed out on was to have JJ Abrams direct the 1st movie,
start with potential energy and what could happen.
But, have Rian Johnson direct the 3rd movie, focusing on kinetic energy and all those parts
in motion and closing out these mysteries, but have a 2nd movie directed by someone who
can emphasize the chemical reaction that ties the two together, a director who is the story
equivalent of a phase transition, exploring and expanding on the potential energy of JJ
and handing over to the kinetic of Rian.
A few directors who excel at this include Brad Bird, who helped transition the Mission
Impossible series into a post JJ franchise.
Or Ryan Coogler who did a great job of transition with Creed, or Justin Lin who transitioned
the Fast and Furious movies into what they are today.
There's nothing wrong with JJ's storytelling style of potential energy, and there's nothing
wrong with Rian's storytelling style of kinetic energy.
But in a trilogy, without a catalyst in the middle to cause a chemical reaction, one style
can easily seem too boring and mysterious, and one can seem too forceful and absolute.
And it's not either movie's fault.
"It's not your fault"
It's not the fault of what's there but the fault of what isn't.
The problem is, it's hard to blame what you don't see.
And that's the chemistry problem with Star Wars.
Thanks for watching, and I just want to give a quick thank you to our friends over at Rode
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microphones.
But what did you think of The Last Jedi?
Sound off in the comments and let me know what you think.
I'm sincerely interested because this seems to have divided everybody.
Let me know what you think, the only thing I ask is just be civil in that comments section
down there.
Let's be good to each other, I know there's a lot of mixed emotions but be kind, it's
the holidays.
Also, for all you scientist types I know that the science is not accurate in this metaphor,
everything is simplified and a little bit mixed, just for the sake of the analogy so
please just roll with me on that one.
If you want to hear more of my thoughts on The last Jedi, be sure to subscribe to our
podcast, Talk From Superheroes.
Search Talk From Superheroes wherever you get your podcasts or visit www.TalkFromSuperheroes.com
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