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Trying Very Hard To Trust The Force

By Emily Cutler | Videos | November 28, 2016 |

By Emily Cutler | Videos | November 28, 2016 |


OK. OK. OK. This is all OK. This is good maybe even. This I can work with.

See, the thing is, I absolutely loved the first Rogue One trailer. The second one was pretty good. The most recent trailer though

Which at least means we’re on an upward trajectory with the new trailer called “Trust.” Trusting the Force, trusting your compatriots even if you don’t like them (because droids never like anyone, I don’t think), and trusting that a good blaster wielded by a friend will save your ass in a fight. But speaking of blasters, I have an issue.

I’m not trying to present myself as the biggest, or even that big of a, Star Wars fan. I’ve seen all of the movies, and there are parts that I love, but I don’t know a lot of the trivia or quote lines or anything. One of the things I do know, though, is that everybody’s crush Han Solo does not believe in the Force. There’s the “hokey religion/ancient weapons” line, but then he follows it with this:

Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe that there’s one all-powerful Force controlling everything. ‘Cause no mystical energy field controls my destiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.

In A New Hope, this makes perfect sense. Within the context of the larger Star Wars universe, it brings up a lot of issues about how the Jedis and the Force were seen. Is this trust in the Force only a characteristic for this group of Rebels? Was the Empire actively dissuading people from believing in/ worshiping the Force in order to legitimize their own power? Given that the Force was barely mentioned by most Rebels in episodes four - six, was Mon Mothma just rolling the shit out of her eyes every time Jyn invoked the Force?

And, yes, I’m being very nitpicky. I get that. That’s the issue with writing stories into other universes. You want to draw on the important elements of the original story while adding your own plots. Only the important elements of A New Hope’s was Luke’s connection to the Force, not its generally accepted theology. A New Hope told us that the Force and Jedis were already being regarded as a sham. You can’t just retcon the fact that as recently as ten years before that it was the driving factor in the team that pulled out the blueprints for the goddamn Death Star.

Again, nitpicky, I know. And I’m still hoping that Rogue One is the kick-ass movie I originally thought it would be. But if Disney insisted on reminding us every few minutes that droids are funny, and everyone loves the Force, they’re going to have a hell of an uphill battle.