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jadejedi · 4 years

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So You Hate The Last Jedi (part four)

Part One- Theme Part Two- Luke Part Three- Rey Part Four- Finn

Part Four- Finn

Okay, this section will deal with Finn. While I’ve already discussed a lot of the main complaints surrounding Finn’s story in TLJ, specifically regarding Canto Bight, I still have a couple of things to circle back to from the first two parts of this stupid long argument about a movie that came out two and half years ago. I want to start out by saying that while I do enjoy the Canto Bight part of the movie, I do acknowledge that the pacing is a little (or a lot) off. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in it.

First of all, the Canto Bight plotline doesn’t just tie in to the theme of failure, it also connects into the theme of dealing with a collective dark history. It serves to remind us that the galaxy is not a pretty place. It is full of corruption, to this day. It reminds us that in order to truly succeed, these corrupting elements must be dealt with and acknowledged. The prequels, and the Clone Wars tv show especially, pull back the curtain on the GFFA’s dark side (pardon the pun) of institutional corruption. It’s not just that Palpatine was evil, it was that the whole Republic was corrupt, even before he was elected Chancellor.

I mean, any system where a trade conglomerate like the Trade Federation has literal representation in the Senate, especially while other groups don’t have official representation, like the Gungans, is pretty corrupt. (Does Jar-Jar even have any power when Padmé is there? What is the point of his position??)

Any attempt by the New Republic to form a post-Imperial government without dealing with the corruption of the old Republic would only lead to a repeat of history, which is exactly what happens. That’s why it was important for Finn to see that *this* is the evil at the core of the galaxy. Not just the Empire, or the First Order, but the system that allows them to continue to operate and flourish. Theoretically, this should have set him up for an arc in episode IX where he does in some way deal with this, or confront someone about this corruption, maybe Leia or something, but whatever.

Okay, moving on to the next complaint. So, why were Rose and Finn separated from Poe and Rey the whole movie? They’re the trio, right? They should be together.

Well, look back at the second episode in the other two trilogies. Obi-Wan is separated from Padmé and Anakin, and Luke is separated from Han and Leia. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the trio is split up for this movie. While in the previous two trilogies the romantically involved couple was together, it’s unclear if Disney ever meant for Finn and Rey to end up together, and they DEFINITELY didn’t intend for Finn and Poe to end up together, and wonderful as either of those scenarios are. So it makes sense for them to all be split up.

Also, as discussed in Just Write’s video that I mentioned in part one, the three main characters, Finn, Poe, and Rey all have their respective individual conflicts personified by the characters around them. Finn has Rose and DJ, Poe has Leia and Holdo, and Rey has Luke and Ren. They are all being pulled in two directions, between their wants and needs. To be honest, this movie has some of the most fleshed out and developed character arcs and themes of the entire Star Wars Saga. All three characters have a clear start point and end point, clear wants and needs, and a clear impact on the story.

While it may have been possible to have this while having the trio together, I think it was theoretically smart to separate them, have them grow as characters, before chucking them back together to fully actualize in the final movie. It’s not Rian Johnson’s fault that didn’t happen.

So, I’ve already mentioned a bit that the three trilogies echo each other (or as George would say, it’s like poetry, it rhymes), and that really comes into play with Finn. I have a theory, as in a theoretical framework, not as in a hunch, about the trios of Star Wars, and I’m sure others have discussed this, I just haven’t seen anyone using these terms. In my theory, there are three archetypes repeated in the trios of each trilogy. These roles are not about personality, but about narrative function. First and most obvious, The Chosen One. The one with the special destiny and the special powers. Luke, Anakin, and Rey. Next, the Established Politician/Believer, who already has a connection to the main ‘good guy’ political force. Leia, Padmé, and Poe. And finally, the Doubter. The Doubter has doubts. Doubts about the Chosen one, doubts about the political entity or the established politician, or any combination of the above. Han, Obi-Wan, Finn. This lines up very nicely because each of the members of the ST trio spend a large amount of time with their OT counterpart, throughout the first two movies especially.

So, Finn is the Han character. At the beginning of their respective trilogies, they have doubts about the rebellion/resistance, but save the Chosen One because of their established friendship. Finn goes to Starkiller base to rescue Rey, and Han saves Luke from getting shot down on the Death Star run.

Now, by the end of both of these movies, The Force Awakens and A New Hope, Finn and Han have no actual connection to the Resistance/Rebellion. They are both there for their friends, not because they believe in any cause (despite what Solo would tell you).

However, in the OT, Han just gets left there. ESB picks up three years later, and Han is deeply involved in the Rebellion, including having a military rank, if I remember correctly. He leaves, but not because he doesn’t believe in the Rebellion’s cause, but because there’s a price on his head. We don’t get to see the character development that got him to that point, and is probably why Harrison Ford didn’t find him to be a particularly interesting character.

With Finn, on the other hand, we do get to see that intermediate step. We get to see him radicalized, from someone who is just fighting to save his friends, to someone who believes in and fights for a cause. I LOVE that arc. It makes Finn a 100000% more complex and interesting character than Han, IMO, and would have set him up perfectly to, say, lead a stormtrooper revolution in IX. It seemed like he was being set up to take a really large leading man/leadership role, but again that didn’t happen.

So, if his story arc was about being radicalized, then why did it not end with him dying in a blaze of glory? (I know that this isn’t a problem that everyone had with the movie, but I’ve seen it enough to address it.)

Well, first of all, Star Wars isn’t the kind of saga that really seems to buy into the whole ‘heroic sacrifice’ narrative. Now, I want to state that there is nothing inherently wrong with sacrificing yourself for a just cause or whatever. BUT, a lot of what I’ve seen around the whole ‘Rose should have let Finn sacrifice his life’ argument reminds more of what Umberto Eco calls in his essay “Ur-Fascism,” ‘the cult of heroism’, and the ‘cult of death’. In fascism, believers are taught that, first of all, everyone is a hero. Everyone is basically trained to die. Dying is seen not just as an unfortunate consequence of the fight, but as the reward for the fight.

And that’s kind of what this whole argument around Finn’s sacrifice felt like to me. Rose didn’t ‘steal’ anything from Finn. She literally saved his life. Because there is no glory in dying for a cause. It can be a necessity, but especially in Star Wars, seeing war and death as some sort of search for glory is frowned upon.

In Empire Strikes Back Yoda states, “War does not make one great.”

In the season one episode of the Clone Wars, Trespass, Senator Chuchi says, “To die for one’s people is a great sacrifice. To live for one’s people, an even greater sacrifice.”

And as Rose explains, “That’s how we’re going to win. Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.”

In Star Wars, it is the fighting and living for a cause that is more heroic than needlessly dying for it. Because, it would have been needless and pointless for Finn to die. Yeah, that cannon would have been destroyed, but eventually the First Order’s forces would have gotten through. The Resistance was still hugely outnumbered. Plus, do we really want one of the franchise's few black heroes dying? I sure don’t. And, as has been mentioned on this website before, Star Wars is a fairytale. It’s supposed to end with the main trio living happily ever after.

And, as I will talk about in the final part, this decision to not go through with the suicide mission was a big part of Poe’s character arc.

#so you hate the last jedi #star wars #star wars meta #sw #sw meta #hannah talks #finn #the last jedi #tlj #whoa i meant to get this out like a week ago oops

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