Okay something important but not Starwars related; AT 3:15 La'Ron says that people with melinated skin wouldn't get skin cancer on Tattooine. Unfortunately melanin provides protection from sunburn, but it does not provide meaningful protection from skin cancers. It does provide some protection, but it's fairly minor. Skin cancer is a very important concern for people with dark skin! Doubly so because medical racism (in the US, not sure about elsewhere) means people with melinated skin are much less likely to be diagnosed! Please protect yourself by wearing sunscreen and covering up!
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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Imagine if there was a Jedi cop that was basically 
. I'd watch the hell out of that, especially the drunken with-the-Force hijinks.
Closest thing to that is this.
If Disney weren't cowards one of the "lightsaber forms" (gag me) would have been drunken boxing.
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=74OBuMA2qEk
Drunken Boxing would work really well for Jedi since it's all about flow, evasion, being unpredictable. And it's silly and fun, it'd be a nice mix-up of the very serious Jedi being serious.
I really really liked Donnie Yen's character in Rogue One because he really mixed up what a Jedi when the concept had become really very static. Idk what Chirrut's story is supposed to be, but I interpreted him as an old Jedi who had survived the purge by going in to hiding and keeping a low profile. I thought his staff was made from the remains of his lightsaber. Having him use a longbow instead of a saber showed a different kind of martial prowess from the swordplay Jedi are known for and I really enjoyed that.
I wanted to hope that Chirrut's story had nothing directly to do with the Jedi because I'd prefer to see the Force as a setting-wide supernatural presence and not one that is exclusive to one specific dogmatic interpretation.
The Acolyte's "power of one, power of two, power of maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany" failure as a series probably torpedo'd that possibility for a while in Star Wars canon.
Yeah, I'm totally cool with Chirrut as not-a-jedi, too. And I really like that interpretation because, like you said, it breaks the Jedi's monopoly on the force. It's the kid at the end of TLJ force-pulling the broom; You don't have to be a Jedi to be a force user, the Jedi are just one tradition.
The old continuity books got in to this a fair amount. Luke was always stumbling across esoteric force traditions or individual practitioners without formal trading. One really goofy thing I liked about the old version of the Jedi Order; There were tons of different kinds of Jedi. The Knights were the martial branch, but there were scholars and academics, medics, diplomats, explorers. And my favorite was that the Jedi had an agricultural corps! Some Jedi were agricultural experts and would use the force to help people improve their agricultural practices and yields. I never read any of the stories where they showed up directly but I like to think of a Jedi sitting zazen in front of a tomato plant while some farmers look on being like "Is this guy for real?" and then the Jedi is like "The tomatoes say your soil could be slightly more acidic".
It's the kid at the end of TLJ force-pulling the broom; You don't have to be a Jedi to be a force user, the Jedi are just one tradition.
I would have liked The Last Jedi if Rian Johnson actually committed to some of his plot twists instead of yoinking them back at the last minute. Granted, the broom kid was at the end of the movie and Abrams fucked up that for himself by making it about special destiny dynastic failson magician families, but you get me I hope.
And my favorite was that the Jedi had an agricultural corps!
The Jedi should have had non lightsaber branches if it was supposedly a galaxy-wide religion intended to be about life itself, but nope, we get magic cops that kidnap children to indoctrinate them to be more magic cops.
Agreed. TLJ is a flawed movie with a lot of ideas I like.
I would deeply love a slice of life story about Jedi just doing stuff. Like one episode is a Jedi settling a dispute over animal grazing by talking to a bunch of elders about customary law, one is just an entire quiet montage of a group of Jedi cleaning their temple in preparation for a festival. Have an episode with two Jedi going shopping for supplies for their monastery. Have an episode where a padawan adopts a dog-alien and it turns out the dog can also use the force in doggy ways.
Basically the Tales from Ba Sing Se episode of Avatar, but with robes on.
I would deeply love a slice of life story about Jedi just doing stuff. Like one episode is a Jedi settling a dispute over animal grazing by talking to a bunch of elders about customary law, one is just an entire quiet montage of a group of Jedi cleaning their temple in preparation for a festival. Have an episode with two Jedi going shopping for supplies for their monastery. Have an episode where a padawan adopts a dog-alien and it turns out the dog can also use the force in doggy ways.
Basically the Tales from Ba Sing Se episode of Avatar, but with robes on.
The Mouse is never going to allow anything this good. 
Hell yeah
Duel of the Fates intensifies 
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
The sequels came out 20 years ago and i'm still mad that Lucas made the Jedi a bunch of cops instead of weird esoteric warrior monks wandering around the universe doing esoteric warrior monk stuff. It's been, for me, the most consistently disapointing thing. "Oh yeah the mysterious knightly order of wizards who just kind of show up and do cool shit and leave? They're literally just feds. Fuck you."
Like someone was explaining the Acolyte to me and I basically scrunched up my nose at it because they were telling me "The Jedi are cops" and I sincerely do not want that story. I want my yamabushi and ronin Jedi who live in temples on distant planets training and growing in the force and wandering around doing heroic yamabushi/ronin/ninja stuff.
The Jedi as cops was always weird because, wait, are these guys an order of knights in the medieval sense where they are independent and have their own fortresses and serfs and fiefs and stuff? Are they monks who live in temples and train in Kung Fu? You're telling me that they're part of a liberal government and more or less officially work for and serve that government? Uhhhhh this is coming as a complete surprise to me! If they're medieval knights then yeah, it makes perfect sense for them to take on very young children as pages. In medieval society it was very common for children of the knightly classes to start training as young children, and an important part of that training was just following knights around and carrying stuff for them. Same thing with guild artisans; Kids started really young, either working for their parents or as apprentices. And some monastic traditions took in young children, too. So, if Star Wars is a space medieval society then yeah, taking in young kids for training makes complete sense, it fits the source material.
But, wait, you're telling me this is actually a modern liberal democratic society? Well then it doesn't make any sense at all. There are child labor laws. There are human rights that make it a crime to send children to war! There's industrial capitalism that has largely replaced any form of artisan craft that would necessitate children be apprentices. There's mandatory public education! Now the taking young kids in to the temple to train as esoteric warrior monks thing doesn't make any sense. What's it doing here? It's a contradiction, now.
And, wait. Wait. This galaxy spanning republic has no army? No NATO equivalent? No high command? It can't levy troops from member nations in times of war? It has nothing?! There's no major conflicts or rouge nations or anything in the entire galaxy that they need a standing army to oppose? Okay... that's fucking weird, but whatever. But wait. Wait. The Jedi are their entire high command structure?!?!
You're telling me these esoteric warrior monk knights... are all general staff officers with experience leading large armies in industrial warfare? Why? How? Where did they learn to do that?!?! That doesn't make any sense! They're not feudal daimyos with their own army of retainers, they're not European lords who can call on levy forces, they're... idk, bureaucrats. Cops. Where did they learn to do this? Why?
See, cause in my head, when Ben Kenobi, Anakin, and Vader (who was maybe/maybe not a separate person in ANH), participated in the Clone Wars, I always imagined that the clone wars were the clone wars because some kind of multi-faction war had broken out and all sides were using rapidly grown clones to replace massive manpower losses. I always imagined that the Jedi Knights participated as knights; Independent warriors with feudal obligations who provided their own war-gear and retainers. I figured they were fighting along side whatever the factions were, doing the kind of stuff we see them doing in the OT - spooky ninja wizard stuff like Ben turning off the Death Star tractor beam, flying high risk, very important fighter missions, confronting evil wizards. I never imagined them being the generals of a modern liberal democrat military because they were really never portrayed that way. As far as I can remember Luke never has a military command in the OT, regardless of his being given the rank of Commander and I think General. The closest is on Hoth where he's leading Rogue squadron in the attack on the AT-ATs, and that's a squadron of like a dozen ground attack craft. Luke isn't a general leading the overall defense of the planet; That's Leia and the Alliance general staff. Luke is out there doing knight stuff - riding his war horse in to battle with enemy cavalry. He actually fights a lot of cavalry, come to think of it. War elephants on Hoth, the biker scout cavalry on Endor... either way, he's important, he's helping out, but his primary focus is on the spiritual battle against the evil space wizards, while the military side of things is a secular conflict lead by normal people.
So, the way the Clone Wars were portrayed in the sequels, it never really gelled for me. Like, I do really like the old clone wars cartoons, and I've seen some amateur edits of the sequels that I think make a really good movie, but it never fit the image of the Jedi I had as a kid growing up.
I haven't watched the Acolyte because I'm just extremely Star Wars'd out but that little snippet of the fight where the guy blocks a lightsaber with his helmet is pretty neat.
This is a really good analysis video. Like, even having not seen The Acolyte, like, yeah, this is it. This is good analysis of how the Jedi are depicted from the Sequels forward.
What even are the Nightsisters anymore? Back in the day I vaguely remember them being sort of dark side and riding around on Rancors but that was literally thirty years ago.
I do seriously disagree with "grey" or "nuanced" force. There is only the light side and the dark side because the dark side is using the force to get things that you want for yourself. Like it's that simple; If you have magical powers and you use them for your own benefit you're going to start using your powers to hurt people sooner or later. It's just too easy to get in the habit of avoiding arguments by mind controlling people. That's what the OT depicts; Luke is most vulnerable to the Dark when he's doing things for personal reasons. He goes in to the Dark Side cave out of pride and what he finds there is himself, is fear of becoming something like Vader. When he goes to Cloud City it's to try to rescue his friends despite knowing that it puts him at great risk of falling. And in the end his friends rescue themselves and he's left horribly maimed after walking in to Vader's trap. In the final confrontation with Vader he's not fighting for noble purpose, he's lashing out in anger and fear and it's only when he's fully given himself over to rage that he manages to defeat vader in combat. But what really defeats Vader is luke's compassion; He sees himself in his father, sees the path his father took, and rejects it. The conflict between the Light and Dark in the OT is spiritual and Luke's victory is spiritual, he realizes that killing Vader would be a spiritual defeat that would lead to him becoming Vader. After striking down Darth Vader, lord of the Sith, what's holding you back? The next time you're frustrated, scared, hurt, angry, why not solve the problem with magical violence? It worked on Vader. You won! You became a great hero, the man who defeated the most feared warrior in the Galaxy. Why not solve your problems with a light saber and telekinesis?
This is all why I've long rejected the notion that Palpatine's force lighting is actually electrical discharge. That's not electricity. That's pride. Hated. Anger. Contempt. The Emperor is unleashing raw hatred against Luke. Lighting doesn't make your bones visible!. This is magic. That's why there's no "Light side" force lighting. It's not lightning. It's not electricity. It's magical hatred and rage and contempt. You can't light side force choke someone because force choking is torture. It's an expression of dominance and power. The Light Side force choke is the Jedi Mind Trick. Obi-Wan could have used the Force to just outright kill those Stormtroopers in Mos Eisly. He had that power. But he didn't use it because he didn't need to. Simple, subtle misdirection was enough to achieve his goals. But when Ponda Baba and that other dude pulled blasters in the cantina Obi-Wan used his lightsaber without hesitation. It was necessary, he was acting to protect himself and others from an immediate threat. And he did try to defuse the situation first, offering to buy a friendly drink. Again, he could have killed Ponda Baba and what's his ass the second they shoved Luke, but he didn't. He didn't need to. He was in control of the situation the entire time, there was no need to intimidate or overawe or torment.
You see this again in the Death Star. Sure, Obi-Wan could have cut a swath through the Stormtroopers, leaving a pile of corpses in his wake, then cut the Death Star's tractor beam controls apart with his sword. But he didn't. He just... walked there. Without anyone stopping him. And when he needed people to look the other way he used the force to make a noise and distract them. He flowed through the Death Star as easily as water flows to the sea. That's the Force, the real Force. Subtlety, misdirection, calm control, using a small action at the right moment to achieve great things. In the OT Luke's great moment with the force wasn't destroying a bunch of fighters or killing a bazillion Storm Troopers. It was letting go, relaxing, trusting, and achieving a nearly impossible shot to save his friends and the rebellion. It wasn't a moment of rage, fear, or haste. It was a moment of profound calm and peace. It was an action that resulted in enormous violence, but it was a subtle action done for good reasons. The least amount of force to achieve the greatest possible result.
So, yeah. There isn't really a "Dark" side. The Dark side is inside oneself when one pushes away the Light by using the force to hurt people, to dominate, to take. The Dark Side is what happens when a wizard wields their magical power selfishly and carelessly, when they begin to view magic power as a means of getting what want.
Yoda says
For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.
And this is key. The Force isn't magic power for taking what you want. It's a spiritual force created by all things, binding all things. If you use it to take then you're placing yourself outside of the Force, harming the very creatures and things that create the power you're drawing on. You're no longer part of that fabric, and the more you isolate yourself from it the more blind to it you become, until all you can see is your own power.
That's why Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin disapear when they die. Because they didn't die. They were always part of the force, and at the moment of their death they transcended, becoming truly and totally part of the force that binds all living things together. They really are more powerful than Vader could imagine. Vader only sees himself, and sees the Force as a tool for taking what he wants. When Obi-wan dies he becomes part of the force, able to be everywhere and nowhere, unable to be harmed by a blaster or a lightsaber, able to given Luke counsel and aid anywhere in the Galaxy. When Luke reaches across space to confront Kylo he's engaging with the Force on a profound level. Yoda demonstrates this during Luke's training; Lifting the X-wing has nothing to do with the mass of the space craft. And when Luke projects himself between worlds it has nothing to do with the distance between those two planets! And Luke doesn't necessarily die from the strain, or at least you don't have to interpret it that way. By bridging such a distance, by becoming so deeply immersed in the Force that distance is no longer a boundary for him, Luke achieves a state of transcendence where he leaves behind his body and becomes a pure spirit.
And he's able to do this because, in part, he defeated his fear of Kylo. Long ago he tried to strike Kylo down with a sword, acting out of fear of what might be. It was a horrible mistake. Much later he's able to defeat Kylo by exploiting Kylo's own fear and hatred without landing a single blow with his sword. At that point, with Rey's help, he's recognized how and why he failed and he's redeemed himself by acting as a Jedi should; winning without fighting, defeating his enemies with subtle misdirection, using his power for good reasons to help people.
Rey's experience in the Dark Side cave ties in to this, too, because Rey succeeds where Luke failed. When Luke went in to the cave he did so out of fear. He confronted himself and failed, and was rewarded with a premonition of what he might become. The cave isn't evil. It is a nexus for the Dark, but all the evil in the cave is what Luke brought in himself. Rey's experience mirrors this and subverts it; Rey's desperate goal was family. She wanted connection, friends, family, people. She wanted to be part of the world. So when she goes in to the cave she confronts the same thing Luke does; Herself. And that's not what she wants. She's able to recognize that the Dark Side may offer great power, but it's power only for her. That power comes at the cost of withdrawing from everyone around you, withdrawing from the Force, and becoming bound up in your own magic. And that's not what she wants. She's able to recognize that, and reject it, and emerges from the cave wiser.
Idk, I'm just rambling a ramble I've rambled many times. I have issues with some oft he ways Star Wars has developed over the years.
To tie this in to real life; I'm a really, really big man. Like really big. I'm in the top 1% of human height and weight. There are over Eight billion people on the planet that are smaller than I am, including almost all women.
That gives me a lot of power. People ascribe authority to height and size. They ascribe the capacity for violence. People are intimidated by tall men, they're afraid of them. I can use that power. I do, often. But i have to be extremely careful about when I use it, and how. I could intimidate someone to get what I want. I can do that, and I do.
But if I do that? They'll never trust me again. They'll always know, at some level, that I threatened them. That any fears they had about me are real. Once that trust is gone it can never be mended. I can shove people, hit them, pick them up, yell at them, loom over them, but doing so always comes at a cost. I only have to fuck up one time in front of a woman I care about and she will never be able to trust me again.
And I have to be mindful that I don't do it by accident. I have to manage how I express my emotions. If I'm feeling great anger I need to be cautious about how I express it because I'm a threat. It's not enough to passively recognize that I can loom over people, that I can threaten people, I have to actively avoid doing it. I maintain space when addressing people I don't know. I give women on the street wide berth. I frequently sit down so people can engage with me without the enormous height difference. I make a lot of jokes. It's a process of deliberate awareness.
That's my real-world example of the Force. If you have power you have to be careful and responsible about how you use it. Being tall isn't the same as dodging lasers or being able to jump thirty feet, but it is a real-world example of a power that is very easy to misuse, and very easy to come to rely on.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: