Last night, my family and I watched The Last Jedi.  Like many people my age, I grew up on Star Wars.  I watched on Betamax, the original three movies over and over.  I destroyed our copy of Empire from fast forwarding the movie to all the good parts.    However, this isn’t to say, that I’m a fanatic, expert, lore god…etc of Star Wars.

When the movie ended, I was very happily entertained.  I thought the visuals were some of the best in any of the previous movies.  I had a few times the thought of “where is this going?”  I only looked at my watch twice wondering “how much longer do we have?”.  I walked with my family to the car and then on the ride home we dissected, digested, and analyzed what we liked and disliked.  What it meant to the Star Wars universe.  Where all the symbology was, what was missing, and what does this mean going forward for the next movie.  Then, I watched on YouTube all the critics “aka Star Wars Fanatics” just rip the movie to shreds.

While some of the rantings, I agreed with what they said…I also understood that there are some very very deep emotions being destroyed with this movie.  Some people are raving like their lives mattered on how this movie treated their favorite character.  While some of this was funny to listen to, it also made me realize a stark reality.  It’s a movie.  It is not real.  This is a story that someone made up.  Unless you have some financial interest in this movie, in the end, it is someone else’s view and takes on another universe that you actually have zero say in.  No matter how much of “Nerd” “Geek” “Fan Boy” or whatever title that you want to throw down to say that you are entitled to have a movie of your liking, you don’t get that.  This movie was the director’s vision of the story.  If you don’t like what they did,  don’t watch the next movie or any other movies that the director did.  The individuals that made this movie are the ones with the vested interest.  They put their stock and money into this project.  They have the final say.  You don’t.  I listened to Mark Hamill’s statement about Luke Skywalker in the movie and completely agreed with it.  However, like it or not.  There is nothing that you can do change the movie nor the Star Wars world you live it.  It is just a movie.  The world will not explode.  Our imaginations are not going to stop.

If you don’t like it so much, then make a movie of your own.  Or write a story that you think should have happened.  Allow others to cut it up.  Allow others to tell you that your vision was wrong and “this is how it should have happened”.  Then you can make a visceral stance on the story and where it is going.  Until then, enjoy the movies for what they are because they are just to entertain you.  For 2+ hours, you are taken away, to a galaxy far far away.  However, you still have to come back to earth and continue the normal routine of this wonderful adventure called life.

-Lopaka-