Posted on 12/22/2017 8:50:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
Thought it was all about lightsabers and the Force? Nah, think again... it's all about plant-based living
There are a few reasons why The Last Jedi is the best of the Disney-made Star Wars films.
Despite a lukewarm reception from fans so far, after being lauded by the critics, I think it’s what’s called a “grower”.
I loved it from the off. Not only for its gender balance, leftist messages – alongside the usual good-versus-evil trope, a staple Star Wars motif – and edge-of-the-seat galactic dogfights, but because there are also some pretty obvious anti-cruelty messages which prove, ultimately, that this film is really a love letter to veganism.
(Warning: there now follow some minor spoilers, not major ones, just stuff about porgs and glass foxes – but if you’ve not seen TLJ yet, you might as well look away now.)
The bit with Chewy and the puffins
OK, they’re not puffins. They’re more like hamster puffins.
And actually, they’re called porgs and they’re the latest cutesy doll-type creatures destined to keep the Star Wars franchise in rude financial health until the release of the Han Solo movie, thanks to millions of porg stuffed toys definitely turning up in our stocking this Christmas.
The scene is set when everyone’s favourite wookiee, Chewbacca, sits down for his meal, a barbecued porg, as he patiently waits for Rey and Luke Skywalker to do their thing on Ahch-To (bless you).
The island retreat on the ocean planet Ahch-To (Gesundheit) where reclusive old jedi Luke lives, is overrun by a colony of fluffy porgs flying about the place and making everyone go “aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh”.
It would be remiss of any self-respecting wookiee to spurn the opportunity to gorge on such a bounty of protein.
As Chewie sits down to a butchered and roasted porg, he is surrounded by dozens of sad living ones.
Pierced by sad porg eyes, mourning the loss of their friend, Chewie decides he can’t devour his tea, so sets aside the glistening carcass and sits staring into his bonfire beneath the Millennium Falcon, wondering what the hell he can eat that’s not porg.
Welcome to veganism, Chewie!
The bit where Luke milks a dinosaur
Among the many weird moments in this instalment is Luke going up to a strange animal which is leaning against the rocks baring its mammary glands.
It’s like a dinosaur but it’s not quite one. And it’s probably the size of a bear. It also seems quite docile.
I can’t explain it any more clearly than that.
These things have clearly provided Luke with sustenance (blue milk – yay!) and he casually milks one before thirstily swigging some of that freshly squeezed liquid, while Rey chases him round his island.
Her sense of abhorrence at this arrogant old man draining the udder of an innocent creature and drinking its warm secretion is clear.
The bit with the racing horse-type things
The sub-plot of Finn and Rose going off to a Las Vegas-style city where arms dealers gamble in casinos and on fathier racing has infuriated many (OK, we get it, Star Wars nerds aren’t happy about TLJ).
But, again, I quite liked it – and for a great many reasons.
Most relevant here because of the animals rights message.
The fathiers, graceful mammalian horse creatures, are raced around a track to a baying crowd and cooped up in cell-like stables when they’re not needed.
They cut sad figures – but relish the freedom afforded to them by the two Rebel heroes.
In reality, human beings are more than happy to incarcerate animals for all kinds of entertainment and forget about the impact of that on those creatures.
The bit with the crystal foxes
As if to really prove how harmonious the Rebel is with the galaxy and all its living creatures, the film’s climax comes with another new animal: a pack of vulptices.
These canines, with shimmering crystal fur, dwell on the salt planet Crait, which the remaining Rebels have been cornered on by their enemy, and seem plugged into the chase-fatigue of General Leia Organa, Poe Dameron et al.
Instead of blasting them away or piercing them with lightsabers, the Rebels simply accept their presence and use them for their benefit.
After all, these bright creatures prove to be of use in the never-ending battle with the First Order.
No jodhpurs, hunting horns, or packs of vulptice-thirsty quartz hounds on Crait.
Vegan Star Wars ... gag me with a spoon...
Complete about face from the manly battle for freedom (even when done by a woman and a Wookie). Even JarJar Binks was better. Sheesh, what next; battling hamsters or is that in there too.
Pillow fights so everyone gets a medal and no hurt feelings arise. BAH.
Almost everyone I know who has seen this film, really didn’t care for it. This article further convinces me that I probably won’t bother to watch it when it hits the bargain bin.
He catches a fish and they eat that.
LOL
Asked my adult son if he thought the movie worth the price of admission. He was lukewarm at best and said the movie seemed to have about 30 min of ‘filler’ to stretch the runtime.
My grandchildren (age 9 and 13) were less kind.
“it sucked” was one opinion and the other? “Sucked rocks, just stupid, dumb characters and no plot” The funnest comment was the head villain wasn’t evil, just whiny” Harsh.
Nothing like Corporate bean counters to kill any chance at a real story.
The Star Wars franchise is dead. The Last Jedi has the stench to prove that.
The director of TLJ isn’t making Episode IX, so don’t give up hope just yet.
Vegan Jedi’s get their asses kicked by the Klingons.
The earlier scenes with Kylo Ren I could forgive as evil in training, waffling. Kill the evil overlord that can sense your actions to save Ren and then having Ren reject him, I expected to turn him totally over to evil.
And he was still a weak, whiny guy! No anger, rage, certainty. He remained a whiny boy-man, evil only in the way liberal racists say all white guys are evil because they cannot distinguish competency from tyranny. Yet they still fail because the “bad guy” is tyrannical but incompetent.
The originals hold a lot of nostalgia for me. I saw “Empire” with my father in the movie theater. He is now 90 in a nearby nursing home. He has always been distant and not a particularly involved father and this is one of the few memories I have of us doing something together. My mother now deceased made popcorn and we snuck it in, just my dad and I watching to see Luke and Vader battle it out.
I read the spoilers and can’t bear to see what Disney has done to this American movie that somehow captures our inner yearning for heroes that channel all that is good to defeat evil. There is real evil in the world and often it seems to win. A movie with a hero that defeats that evil and redeems it makes us cheer. I have no interest in watching 2017 Hollywood decide that in the end maybe it wasn’t a victory after all.
This article broke my brain.
The franchise is dead, Jim.
Rogue One was far better and it was a spin off.
Rogue Onee was basically a WWII drama film set in space. It was better because it had plot and recognizable strucure.
I have always loved Star Wars...not even going to bother with this one. Went to the movies yesterday and saw The Greatest Showman instead. A feel good movie, which I enjoyed, though it’s a big lie from beginning to end...turning PT Barnam into a good guy and Jennie Lynd into a scoundrel. But I digess..Star Wars ended with the old trilogy for me, and I’m sad about that. Star Wars used to be fun.
A long boring feminist sermon ...
Homowood, the marketers of deviance, antiamericanism, and all things negative. Why support them?
This review reminds me of homosexual “projection”. They see a heterosexual couple and if the guy looks their way they think “oh, there’s another gay man that hasn’t outed himself, looking at us wistfully and with jealousy”.
Right.
I saw the movie. It’s very good. The bit with Chewy was a gag. The blue milk thing was gross (on purpose) and the look was “uh, no, not doing that”.
See it or don’t, but don’t base your decision on this stupid article.
So, grilled or baked?
it at 600,000,000+ worldwide in 9 days with another 9 days of Christmas vacation. If you’re waiting for a flop you may have along wait.
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