Now all I see is a naked old Obi just wearing a belt and boots.
And a pumpkin.
Now all I see is a naked old Obi just wearing a belt and boots.
And a pumpkin.
I agree. In that moment he became more powerful than death itself. If Vader had never imagined that to ever be a possibility then Ben's words were true. It always seemed pretty cut and dry to me.
Come to think of it, if I'm remembering right, wasn't Qui Gon the first to pull off being Ghost-y or am I imagining it? If so, why didn't his body vanish?
My explanation is because he's non-canon.
You are too literal in your interpretations of this stuff and in so doing overlook the most powerful, core appeal of SW. You keep forgetting - SW is about a dream reality. That's where ghosts DO exist in our world - in the same state of mind that believes in aliens, demons and other supernatural entities and realities. I would guarantee that hundreds of millions of people 100% believe in one of these phenomna and would claim to have direct experience with them. Is that not "real"? Belief (to differing degrees) in this is a key attribute of all human minds. This fact is what makes SW so hauntingly resonant.
And Ben doesn't help Luke blow up the Death Star - he simply asks him to trust his feelings. It's not like suddenly the fighter turns on its own and the computer turns off and Ben's invisible hand launches and guides the torpedo. In Luke's mind, was it really Ben's voice speaking to him, or a powerful sense of connection to Ben's being and teachings - no different to people "connecting" to a dead parent or loved one in a fraught moment (that feels real but everyone including them would doubt it after the fact)?
The key appeal of Ben's living on for the audience is our collective sense of the supernatural, our experience of it (either directly or through our culture.) Turning it into a superpower beyond that of a ghost as we know it is just pointless, because it goes beyond the point of what the story element's appeal to the audience is. Ben's ghost is like our own father or loved one connecting to us beyond the grave in a heightened moment (was that really his ghost, or did I imagine it to get me through the experience?), it's not some silly learned skill. That's just GL losing the plot years later.
This elevation of force ghosts as a jedi skill (beyond simply as ghostly personal spirit guides to Luke) to me is like force projection - it's deeply problematic because it calls into question why these "powers" weren't used earlier. Why Yoda didn't force project to help save a (surely dead) Luke on Bespin, or as a force ghost help the rebellion in their greatest need in the ROTJ battle. He shows up 35 years later to fell a tree - yippee! Felling an ATST or helping take down the Emperor would have been better.
Same with Ben - if these were POWERS, where the hell was he when those powers were needed? Remember "help me Obi Wan Kenobi"? Why didn't Ben force-project to Alderaan from his hut in ANH to tell them about the plans and Leia, why didn't he as a force ghost directly aid the rebellion in ESB or ROTJ? If these are powers, why don't they manifest to everyone and kick some *ss?
Kenobi also shows up on Hoth to tell Luke, "you will go to the Dagobah System . . . there you will learn from Yoda." It would be absurd to interpret that as some kind of metaphor for Luke's subconscious awareness (or to his recall of what Ben had taught him) during a "fraught moment" out in the snow. There's no reason to believe that Luke could've identified Dagobah or Yoda at that point. Instead, it was literally an audible message from a visible "ghost" providing new information to Luke. That's not me misinterpreting GL's intent by taking things too literally; it's me taking things literally because that was GL's intent.
In ESB, Ben's ghost interacts with Yoda too (not just Luke). That undermines the notion that Luke could be seeing Kenobi's ghost merely as a psychological or emotional representation of his mentor. It also departs from the association you describe about loved ones connecting from beyond the grave. The enigmatic Yoda wouldn't be having that sort of family/loved ones experience in ESB for the audience to be able to naturally relate to.
You can (and will) continue to dismiss GL's expansion of the premise in later years, but I think this Force ghost thing is one instance where GL stayed consistent with his intent from OT to PT. If you're willing to overlook evidence like what Khev provided about the annotated screenplay for ROTJ, then nothing I post here has any chance of swaying your opinion. And that's fine; I love reading your opinion and gaining the perspective of your particular insights. I just truly believe that GL intended for Kenobi to become "more powerful than you can possibly imagine" by gaining immortality (as a Force ghost/spirit).
Kenobi ghost: "If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere."
Luke: "I understand."
That's all I needed to know. It's not the filmmaker's obligation to fill in every detail for me as to why these space wizard ghosts can help in certain ways but not others. That's partly how fantasy works; there's often a need for the audience to willfully accept vaguely-established constructs.
Lucas used that bit of dialogue in ESB to basically say, "Hey, I'm setting a rule that these Force ghosts don't get directly involved in solving conflicts in the living world." That's it; there's no need to be more specific than that. The audience can interpret the "why" if we choose to (and I often do), but it really doesn't matter. The implication is clear enough: Force ghosts can't/won't fight your battles. That's good enough.
A similar rule, even if equally vague, was established in TLJ with Force projection. When Kylo tells Rey that the effort to project herself would kill her, that established a key parameter of this new fantasy ability. When Luke goes on to die after projecting himself, it's the culmination of that established parameter. Being more specific in defining the ability would do nothing more than get mired in technicalities when fantasy should require nothing of the sort.
We aren't having this conversation because Ben doesn't help Luke as a force ghost - we're having it because Yoda shows up as a force ghost in TLJ, summons lightning and destroys a tree. That to me betrays the central concept. Because the resonant core of the idea - that these ghosts have meaning to us because they are like our deceased loved ones helping us in times of deep trauma - is betrayed by the idea of giving them actual power in the real world.
Oh, I didn't pick up on that. It was SO very subtle.
The problem with Rey and Kylo's force-texting is that it's so RADICALLY different from what Luke does - and also, they aren't even the ones doing it. Snoke is initiating a group chat using his own bandwidth.
The Rey/Kylo thing is really just a small step beyond the Luke/Vader connection at the end of ESB (just adding the idea of actually seeing them through a sort of hazy portal.) What Luke does with the projection to Crait is SO radically beyond that, that it's laughable to say a rule that RJ conveniently drops in there for us would have any bearing, but yeah - that was the very obvious intention.
We aren't having this conversation because Ben doesn't help Luke as a force ghost - we're having it because Yoda shows up as a force ghost in TLJ, summons lightning and destroys a tree. That to me betrays the central concept. Because the resonant core of the idea - that these ghosts have meaning to us because they are like our deceased loved ones helping us in times of deep trauma - is betrayed by the idea of giving them actual power in the real world.
In ROTJ, Yoda ghost could have set Vader on fire and the Emperor, saved the galaxy a lot of loss and death. But nooooooooooooooooo....
What happened to the "I cannot interfere" rule?
Do you mean "what happened to the 'I cannot interfere' rule" in terms of Yoda calling lightning onto a tree?
If so, I suppose this would become a matter of semantics regarding what does it mean to "interfere." Was Kenobi already interfering by telling Luke to go to Dagobah for training? Was he interfering by persuading Yoda to train Luke? Or by telling Luke the details about Leia? I don't think any of those things qualify as "interfering" in the way Obi-Wan meant it.
To me, burning down a tree that no longer had any sacred books in it doesn't amount to interfering in that way either. It'd be a bit like objecting if Obi-Wan had cracked the log he sat on. Who cares?
Fair enough. I'd be lying if I said that I'm perfectly fine with Yoda's ghost summoning lightning. I'm not. It's not a big enough deal to bother me (Luke tossing the lightsaber bothers me WAY more). As most of us do with movies that we largely appreciate a great deal, I forgive the things I object to in TLJ in favor of embracing everything that I love about it.
As far as the Force ghost element, though: if one accepts how Lucas defines them (as I do, and you don't), Force ghosts are the result of a learned Jedi skill. On screen in ROTS, this point becomes indisputable. Therefore, what Yoda does in TLJ has a logical basis. Force ghosts have more than just consciousness; they have a "presence" that is manifested by that Jedi's mastery of the Force. Felling a tree is . . . kinda, sorta acceptable.
Kylo's line about "the effort would kill you" *is* a reference to the type of projection that Luke does. When Kylo is trying to figure out what the hell is going on as he keeps seeing Rey in his environment, his first instinct is that she must be using Force projection (the same type that Luke uses later). When he dismisses that possibility, it's because the effort to project herself that way would kill her.
The Force Skype stuff was . . . well, as Kylo put it: "this is something else." The hint RJ dropped was intended to preface what we would later see happen to Luke. The bit of Kylo dialogue set that lethal consequences rule/parameter. You can criticize the lack of subtlety, but I don't think it needed to be any more subtle or clever. If you Force project yourself, as Rey appeared at first to be doing (and Luke later *did* do), the effort ends up killing you. That keeps it from being a perpetual go-to "cheat" for the Jedi. Simple.
I'm really glad that you recognize the difference between Snoke's Force Skype deal and Luke's projection. Some fans confuse the two as being the same thing when voicing their objections, and it has frustrated me repeatedly. They're actually two entirely different things, and I think you nailed the distinction.
I disagree that that alone betrays the the OT concept of Force ghosts. There's no hard and fast universal law of ghosts that TLJ betrayed. There are tons of stories and movies where ghosts can interact with the physical world. Mostly horror films of course but not always; Valeria in Conan the Barbarian and Patrick Swayze in Ghost are two obvious examples of good ghosts directly interfering with bad guys to help the good. So Yoda nuking the tree in and of itself isn't a huge deal. Obviously Lucas was toying with such interactions all the way back during the writing of ROTJ.
The problem I see it is having Jedi ghosts interacting with the physical world seemingly without rules or limitations. Yoda doing it 35 years later really begs the question as to why he wasn't doing it all the time. Compared to say Valeria who we can assume simply appeared as a one time thing to fulfill a very specific promise she made in life.
The problem I see it is having Jedi ghosts interacting with the physical world seemingly without rules or limitations. Yoda doing it 35 years later really begs the question as to why he wasn't doing it all the time. Compared to say Valeria who we can assume simply appeared as a one time thing to fulfill a very specific promise she made in life.
Do you mean "what happened to the 'I cannot interfere' rule" in terms of Yoda calling lightning onto a tree?
If so, I suppose this would become a matter of semantics regarding what does it mean to "interfere." Was Kenobi already interfering by telling Luke to go to Dagobah for training? Was he interfering by persuading Yoda to train Luke? Or by telling Luke the details about Leia? I don't think any of those things qualify as "interfering" in the way Obi-Wan meant it.
To me, burning down a tree that no longer had any sacred books in it doesn't amount to interfering in that way either. It'd be a bit like objecting if Obi-Wan had cracked the log he sat on. Who cares?
It's all just retcons upon retcons upon retcons.
Bottom line...Star Wars needs to die
True. Eventually the very soul of the thing disappears and it simply becomes 'clay' for any *** to play with. Star Wars IS clay.
Agreed. If it hasn't already.
At a certain point, you just need to get away from something to appreciate it again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Besides the movies, Star Wars was best from about 1988 to 1998 when the movies were long gone and all you had was imagination.
Ohh i’m afraid the hype will be quite operational when episode 9 arrives.
Ohh i’m afraid the hype will be quite operational when episode 9 arrives.
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