Wow, 30 years passed, you showed me there are more layers underneath the story that everyone knows by heart. This video deserves a million views to say the least.
I think there’s a fourth reading as well. Luke has been told by both the dead Jedi and the Emperor that he must kill his father. In throwing away his weapon, Luke rejects the choice altogether-and the entire struggle against the Empire. He rejects the notion that he must choose between one or the other. He chooses to stick to his principles, knowing full well it will kill him. He makes the statement that winning isn’t enough-it’s how we win that matters more.
The Jedi don't tell Luke to kill his father. They're trying to say that he needs to be ready and willing to kill his father if it comes to it, because Vader had shown(and does show) that he would be more than willing to do the same. The problem was in Luke's mindset. He's still in the habit of thinking that in what he can and can't do, when he should be thinking of what he will and won't do. Which is what he comes to realize upon defeating Vader: he *could* kill his father, as his father had just triggered him into the mindset to do so. But what you can or can't do isn't what matters nearly as much as what you will and won't do. And Luke would not be baited into killing his father. That's the point of the training - to show you what you can do so that you can decide what to do. Which is why having no attachments and overcoming emotion is so pivotal. Palpatine thought he could turn Luke by exploiting the love he had for his father in the same way he exploited Anakin's love for Padme. But where Anakin's love was possessive, prone to misunderstanding and manipulation, Luke's was compassionate, just as the Jedi teach it to be. There's nothing wrong with loving people, but if that same love can be used to justify heinous acts, it's not love. It's about fostering the will - the unlimited capability of the individual.
This was one of the most spiritually powerful and deeply moving things I have ever watched. I nearly cried and I don't cry. This changed me on a fundamental and deep level. This was a religious experience. Return of the jedi has always been my favorite movie, and it is even more my favorite movie now after watching this.
The trench run is borrowed from The Dam Busters. It still works extremely well in SW since it’s full of tension and George made it personal for the main character, which is of course the point of this video. Star Wars is full of this borrowing from the history of cinema to serve the creation of something greater than what came before. A man stood on the shoulders of giants and became a Titan among titans in an era of truly great filmmakers. Lucas, Spielberg, Kubrick, Coppola, and many more changed cinema and our lives in those years, and that energy, ingenuity and imagination is sorely missed today. All we get now are tired old men and tired old franchises waiting to die.
I see a lot of comments like this on a lot of videos from smaller creators, but you really deserve more subscribers. This is absolutely great. A lot of video essays from smaller creators suffer from low production value, but more so, they present ideas that are something of a logical stretch. They also tend to feel disjointed and lack any kind of introduction, development, or conclusion. Your video avoids all of these issues, provides insight into a topic that I was curious about, and has a satisfying conclusion. Truly million-sub-level quality.
Your analysis and use of William's music sucked me in so well that the first five minutes felt like the full runtime. Your uploads are masterful, I'm glad I stumbled upon your account.
@@josh_from_xboxlive I'm looking forward to it! I'll definitely be trying to share these around too, someone shared your Nolan essay with me and I was hooked lol.
13:34 there’s a difference though. All the other people Luke killed were actively fighting him, and he killed them in self defense. Darth Vader in that moment was disarmed, and defeated. If Luke killed Vader then, he would be killing for no reason other than vengeful anger, which can be considered morally different then killing in self defense, which he needed to do.
This is by far the most wonderfully in-depth look I've seen into Luke's character progression in the original trilogy. In fact, I'd argue it's the best on RUclips. Breaking it down into the metaphysical talking points, relating back to Oedipus Rex, and the Apollonian/Dionysian relations between Jabba and Palpatine, for examples, look far deeper than what many of us could have noticed, and have such beautifully nuanced talking points spread throughout this video without meandering and going off-point or taking anything away from the crux of your talking points about Luke's arc. I audibly gasped in agreement a few times during this video, those moments of "...I never thought about it like this. I don't know if I ever could have", and those realisations, of those comparisons, of those arcs, struck me like a eureka discovery. As someone else pointed out, this video is spiritually powerful. Immensely so. By the end of this video, you completely opened up a new perspective for me on viewing Luke's arc throughout the original trilogy. To have brought together all these points, coalesced magnificently into a sub-20 minute video, deserves nothing short of millions of views and many, many more subs. Next to The Philosophy of Kreia, this is now easily my favourite Star Wars video on RUclips. I am awe-struck, and honestly a bit emotional. Brilliant video. Subbed.
I noticed the physical characteristics and personality traits that Luke and Leia inherited from Anakin and Padme. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Luke has Padme's facial structure and nose with Anakin's coloring and chin. Leia has Anakin's facial structure and nose with Padme's coloring and chin. PERSONALITY TRAITS: Luke's mixture of traits from his parents seems less stable, and a lot more internally contradictory. He inherited his patience, compassion, and idealism from his mother and his impatience, passion, and depressive tendencies from his father. Leia's mixture of traits from her parents meshes fairly well, producing a very functional individual with some significant flaws. She inherited her focus, political acumen, persistence, and self-sacrifice from her mother and her temper, impatience, and ambition from her father.
Love the parallel on the usage of targeting system. Luke learns to trust his intuition whereas Vader relies on the machinery further explaining how far Vader have gone from the very intuitive Anakin to absolute deprivation of trusting his instincts aka becoming a machine. And to add even more layer, that very focus on the targeting system exposes Vader to Han to take him out hence speaking volumes of Vaders lost capability to even take on account that someone would have a friend to have their back (something Vader struggled with even when he was Anakin)
It's always fun to see patterns, lessons, and stories where none were intended. It really is a testament to the writers, director, and crew that they made something that can have new meaning even 46 years later.
Awwww, I'm sad that it ends so quickly. I was honestly hoping you'd go into detail about Luke's arc in the sequels and how his complacency in maintaining inner balance caused everything around him to fall yet again.
God damn bro, I watched the Anakin video before this one and just assumed you had at least 100k subscribers due to the thought provoking complexity of both videos. Needless to say both videos are extremely well done and thought out, superb job. Especially as a devout star wars fan, you pointed out layers to the story I previously hadn't realized.
I watch Star Wars and Star Wars related content my hole life and I'm alway surprised there are perspectives on the story I never considered. Great video.
I love your analyses! I am a published, Swedish fantasy author, and using dialectics and the balance between opposites have helped me with writing great character archs. I'm glad you're making this more known through Star Wars. It brings Lucas' geniousness to the forefront, after all the criticissm, showing why the pt is better than the st. Well done!
Brilliant video! 40+ years later and yet you’ve managed to bring a fresh, nuanced interpretation of Luke’s arc in a way that makes me want to rewatch the OT just to relive it. Love the foreshadowing for you next video at the very end, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well and was actually the first video recommended to me on your channel.
If he killed Vader, he wouldn’t just be killing his father, he would be just like him, living in his own shadow, his own darkness, and the Sith would live on in him. He had to use love in order to win not by killing, but by sacrificing himself to save his fqtehr
Everybody knows luke conquering vader is his moment of reaching equilibrium and finding balance within himself something yoda couldn’t do but you said it in a way that was more interesting compelling and different. That third conclusion i feel like was the best definition of Luke’s character arc that some fans who study sw know of & some fans who watch casually for the cool fights don’t. This video xplains it in a way you can catch it either by watching it casually or studying it
Thanks for watching! Find me on Letterboxd letterboxd.com/jeshuam/ Instagram instagram.com/josh_from_xboxlive Patreon patreon.com/Josh_from_xbolive Twitter twitter.com/josh_from_xbox
This is a great reading of the ending of Luke's arc. The Jungian reading is especially poingiant as I've believed something similar to that for a long time, but 1) I had no idea the reference point or what to refer to it as, and 2) I have yet to find anyone who has agreed with the point. When I bring up my belief that Luke has to embrace the dark side as well as the light in order to become whole and accept himself, I get a lot of push back about how we should only be aligned with the light. But I feel like as humans we all have a dark side, and we cannot eliminate it. I came to it from a more Catholic point of view growing up. Catholics believe we all have a fallen nature (due to Adam and Eve) and that we can never get rid of our attraction towards sin (they call it Concupiscence (which, contrary to popular belief, means any attraction or desire towards something deemed morally wrong (not merely lust or sexual desire, as some dictionaries list it). And because of this, we are constantly struggling with our darker nature. But often, the more we try to repress it wholly by ignoring it, we end up giving in to it. We need to understand and accept our flaws, our dark side, and only then can we accept our light side as well and thus be a complete person. Catholicism teaches that we are going to sin no matter what. But prayer and confession can help us to learn from those sins, dark impulses and better ourselves. I love how you brought up how Luke needed the anger of the dark side to stay alive and defeat Vader. He accepted the dark side within himself. But he never truly lost control to the dark side. He was still able to stop once he had won, and embrace the mercy of the light side. And the idea of Vader as Luke's shadow is also brilliant. It is like what the prequels were doing all along. Anakin's journey was almost identical to Luke's, accept he made a few choices that differed and it turned into a complete reversal. The two trilogies are shadows of each other. And if Luke had killed Vader, killed his own shadow, he could never have become a complete person. I know this might sound like hyperbole, especially regarding a mere RUclips video.... But years of being a Star Wars nerd, watching every video I could find, reading every book of analysis, studying every comic, novel, film, tracking down every obscure essay or self published work, reading every blog.... and I feel for the first time that someone truly gets Luke's story arc in the same way that it hit me and continues to hit more after all these years. Luke Skywalker has been my favorite character in all fiction (and most non-fiction) since I was 4 years old. And what you outlined in your video demonstrates some of the reasons why. George Lucas is a genius, and so under appreciated by so many. Star Wars is so layered and so nuanced.... all under the guise of being popcorn space opera for 12 year old boys. And that takes skill!
Yeah dude, WOW. This has really made me look at this in a whole new light. In life in general as well. Do you think these concepts were thought out before hand or "a universal story" that can't help but be played out in our lives and in the art we create. I love the deep thought. Great video, I'm subbing. Balance.... Mr Miyagi was right.
How the hell are you only at 400 subs? The quality here is freakin incredible! Very interesting video essay about a topic I find interesting, with no points that are really boring or hard to watch. You, fine sir, have gained my sub, and here's hoping you gain many, many more
Josh, brilliant multi-layered analysis. Well put & backed up. It also explains why Disney has failed with their Star Wars arcs as they lack the multiple layered understanding of the myth of Star Wars & its human connection. You should try to write your own story so good is your depth of myth insight.🎉🎉🎉
15:35 This is why Luke training the Jedi the exact same way as yoda and Obi Wan did again; the exact same mistakes, is so frustrating in the sequel trilogy/mandalorian. As dumb as the EU was (and beleive me, i absolutely DESPISE a lot of the EU), this was the one thing they understood very well; Luke's Jedi Order would've been a significantly different order since it was led by someone who's conception of the Force and the balance within was very different than most of the Jedi of the past (Qui Gon being a possible exception) And there could've been a very interesting conflict about people obsessed with the scales of balance of the Force vs the balance within; the connection to the cosmic force vs the Living force; but that would imply Disney would think about consequences.
I could cry, so good are your analysis videos on Star Wars (I-VI)!!! Please, keep exploring the Star Wars movies and then sharing with us your knowledge! Thank you!!! I subscribed!
This mindset is alluded to by apollo in rocky 4, the champion throughout the ages who exists for the challenge and when the time comes...goes into 'the zone'of confidence,control,to make the killer blow.
@@someguy9982Not universally. There are bad lines don't get me wrong, but 99% of the time it's fine. And there are parts that are even great, like the Opera house scene.
For half of the year Apollo would reside at Delphi and the other half of the year Dionysus would reside at Delphi Just thought that was worth mentioning
I didn't even realise the way I read likes victory over vader as the 3rd option you put forward I always read it as he recognised vader inside of himself and unlike anikan he was able to fully accept that he has a dark side and doesn't decides to not let that darkness control him but for him to control that darkness which is what anakin tried and failed to do himself
I have always thought that what you've described as the "Jungian Reading" is the story of Star Wars and the sequel trilogy's largest misstep. The Jedi have strayed too far from the center, toward the "Light Side," that they become careless and corrupt. Too blinded by their ways to see the evil that's already won. They continue to be blind, refusing to train Luke initially, lying to him, giving him advice that he can't follow, telling him to ignore his emotions, and ultimately, failing him. It isn't until Luke defeats the Sith by using his emotions- most of all love, which the Jedi forbid- that the balance is restored. This is getting into Prequel territory, and I am about to watch your Anakin video so I apologize if you address this there, but Anakin is another example of their failure. The Jedi's cold lack of feelings makes them okay with abandoning extremely force-sensitive children to be slaves in the outer rim because they understand that a child has attachment and love by the age of ten. Qui-Gon, a character that recognizes and uses his emotions to better the galaxy, resents this, and is against the order; it is not an original opinion of mine that Anakin may have received the parental treatment he needed if Qui-Gon had lived. Obi-Wan did his best to follow in the ways of the order (their differing viewpoints on this are shown in the very beginning of Episode 1), and raised Anakin- and briefly Luke- in the way he thought he should, not in the way he was. Obi-Wan became one of the greatest Jedi of all time. Anakin became their greatest failure. But it was Luke that saved the Galaxy.
Damn, it’s safe to say I’m here before this video and channel blows up lmao. 787 subs right now? Bro you’re gonna hit 100k real quick if you keep the quality up 🤘🏽
Body, soul and intellect (nous) is a view of man that is distinctly Christian throughout history primarily in Eastern Christianity of course as the west philosophically collapsed the intellect and soul into each other scholastically speaking.
Ngl i never got the idea of ROTJ Luke of looking like and being a sith. In fact I'm pretty sure when Luke choked those two guards, the writers weren't thinking "yes this is sith Luke now", im pretty sure they just thought it looked badass.
I prefer Christian philosophy (Orthodox in particular) over say Buddhist or jungian philosophy because it harmonizes and disarms dialectics. One becomes free of attachments yet chooses also to sacrifice himself for the sake of others for he knows he has no reward in wealth or influence yet knows he must love others above all else, love your enemies lest you be like them. It also favors balance being achieved by purgation of evil, not using the correct amount of evil to keep the good in check.
If the pull between the intuitive and the rational is resolved in episode 6, then how do you think Luke's arc/character would have been handled in a sequel trilogy? Or does he just become a perfect, static mentor.
After watching the end of Empire Strikes back, we’ve realized that you are wrong about Luke achieving “exactly nothing” at Bespin. He achieves exactly ONE thing that saves everyone multiple times over: He brings R2 with him. R2 saves Leia and co when fleeing and then saves everyone by fixing the hyper drive at the end when they realize Lando’s people still didn’t fix it. Without him, they’d’ve been unable to jump and been caught again. R2 is the true hero of Empire strikes back. Thanks for bringing him, Luke!
That X shaped chart is great. It's especially good if you're trying to write characters in terms of establishing both their conflicts and how they resolve it Is that a chart you found or did you make it yourself?
I just realized something but there isn’t gravity when people in starwars are in the fighters. Like stuff should be floating around Lukes Xwing cockpit but it isn’t.
Yes. The synthesis becomes a new thesis, which is challenged by a new antithesis, and so on to infinity. Hegel and Marx and many philosophers see this as a model for how history progresses.
Luke had a arc disney just decided other people should have one unfortunately. Luke will forever be my favorite. Hermit luke is not cannon in my opinion. I hope in this new ahsoka series we see his full potential once again
So I know this video is old, but I just wanted to throw in there as a practicing Buddhist, that I don’t think the pacifist route is entirely accurate-Buddhism by definition is the practice of the middle way-to exist in balance. I personally read these stories in terms of yin-yang theory, which runs along side the development of Mahayana Buddhism in China and that’s my frustration with the third trilogy as you put it-both Rey and Kilo were opposites, yin and yang, and him dying alone made no sense-they either should have destroyed themselves in their battle, with him having a redemption arc towards the Jedi and her have fallen to the Sith-or found a way to live together in true balance.
Yoda and Obi-Wan never told Luke to kill Vader. They told him to FACE him. He interpreted that as killing Vader, but that's not what they said. That false interpretation is why Obi-Wan sighed and said the emperor has already won.
Great video, but the part about the Jedi telling Luke to kill Vader is not true. Ben tells him that in case of self-defense he has to be ready to kill Vader. Luke doesn't want that or a confrontation at all. "A Jedi can't kill for the sake of killing. The mission isn't for Luke to go out and kill his father and get rid of him. The issue is, if he confronts his father again, he may, in defending himself, have to kill him, because his father will try to kill him." ― George Lucas
Even though I disagree that any superpower was meant to the point. Luke struggle Is with the medane Hero’s aren’t the ones that run in and save the day It was the 10,000 hours put into mastering anything The hero is the one that can make the shot through focus and above all skill. Luke needs to trust his ability to hit womprats But ur take that Luke is a flawed character is more keen to the truth. It makes legends read like fan fiction. It makes George’s treatment of Luke being self exiled make complete sense. It makes way more sense then yoda exile himself after almost single handedly defeating palpatine. Yoda keeps his hands!!!! To the uninitiated You’re so hilarious. I don’t comment on these most of the time bc they are usually so off on what’s really going on. The fact that Luke is still staring at the horizon after the empire is defeated. This means that it wasn’t adventure or evil that causes Luke’s internal flaw. It’s hubris itself Luke believes he’s special and is meant for greatness but there is no greatness that will satisfy this fundamental insecurity which comes from a lack of purpose …. From a lack of a father Same insecurity born in the virgin birth savior anakin
Holy shit. Even just your reading of Luke's arc in Episode 4 dealing with time is the most original thought about these movies I've heard in years
Wow, 30 years passed, you showed me there are more layers underneath the story that everyone knows by heart. This video deserves a million views to say the least.
a million views is a lot of views tbf
10^6 is a big number😮
Indeed
"Life in slow motion is torture when you're a farmer" as a former gifted elementary schooler, that hit so hard
I think there’s a fourth reading as well. Luke has been told by both the dead Jedi and the Emperor that he must kill his father. In throwing away his weapon, Luke rejects the choice altogether-and the entire struggle against the Empire. He rejects the notion that he must choose between one or the other. He chooses to stick to his principles, knowing full well it will kill him. He makes the statement that winning isn’t enough-it’s how we win that matters more.
It is fascinating that at the end, he rejects both the Jedi and the Sith. The Student truly became the Master.
The Jedi don't tell Luke to kill his father. They're trying to say that he needs to be ready and willing to kill his father if it comes to it, because Vader had shown(and does show) that he would be more than willing to do the same. The problem was in Luke's mindset. He's still in the habit of thinking that in what he can and can't do, when he should be thinking of what he will and won't do. Which is what he comes to realize upon defeating Vader: he *could* kill his father, as his father had just triggered him into the mindset to do so. But what you can or can't do isn't what matters nearly as much as what you will and won't do. And Luke would not be baited into killing his father.
That's the point of the training - to show you what you can do so that you can decide what to do. Which is why having no attachments and overcoming emotion is so pivotal. Palpatine thought he could turn Luke by exploiting the love he had for his father in the same way he exploited Anakin's love for Padme. But where Anakin's love was possessive, prone to misunderstanding and manipulation, Luke's was compassionate, just as the Jedi teach it to be. There's nothing wrong with loving people, but if that same love can be used to justify heinous acts, it's not love.
It's about fostering the will - the unlimited capability of the individual.
This was one of the most spiritually powerful and deeply moving things I have ever watched. I nearly cried and I don't cry. This changed me on a fundamental and deep level. This was a religious experience. Return of the jedi has always been my favorite movie, and it is even more my favorite movie now after watching this.
The trench run is borrowed from The Dam Busters. It still works extremely well in SW since it’s full of tension and George made it personal for the main character, which is of course the point of this video. Star Wars is full of this borrowing from the history of cinema to serve the creation of something greater than what came before. A man stood on the shoulders of giants and became a Titan among titans in an era of truly great filmmakers. Lucas, Spielberg, Kubrick, Coppola, and many more changed cinema and our lives in those years, and that energy, ingenuity and imagination is sorely missed today. All we get now are tired old men and tired old franchises waiting to die.
"quit smoking or people die." As a guy trying to quit smoking, my apologies to Alderaan.
I see a lot of comments like this on a lot of videos from smaller creators, but you really deserve more subscribers. This is absolutely great. A lot of video essays from smaller creators suffer from low production value, but more so, they present ideas that are something of a logical stretch. They also tend to feel disjointed and lack any kind of introduction, development, or conclusion. Your video avoids all of these issues, provides insight into a topic that I was curious about, and has a satisfying conclusion. Truly million-sub-level quality.
I am so flattered and humbled. Thanks so much for the kind words, it means a lot.
Totally agree
Your analysis and use of William's music sucked me in so well that the first five minutes felt like the full runtime. Your uploads are masterful, I'm glad I stumbled upon your account.
Thank you so much!!!
@@josh_from_xboxlive I'm looking forward to it! I'll definitely be trying to share these around too, someone shared your Nolan essay with me and I was hooked lol.
God I love the phycology and subtle themes at play in Star Wars 🎉
13:34 there’s a difference though. All the other people Luke killed were actively fighting him, and he killed them in self defense. Darth Vader in that moment was disarmed, and defeated. If Luke killed Vader then, he would be killing for no reason other than vengeful anger, which can be considered morally different then killing in self defense, which he needed to do.
This is by far the most wonderfully in-depth look I've seen into Luke's character progression in the original trilogy. In fact, I'd argue it's the best on RUclips. Breaking it down into the metaphysical talking points, relating back to Oedipus Rex, and the Apollonian/Dionysian relations between Jabba and Palpatine, for examples, look far deeper than what many of us could have noticed, and have such beautifully nuanced talking points spread throughout this video without meandering and going off-point or taking anything away from the crux of your talking points about Luke's arc. I audibly gasped in agreement a few times during this video, those moments of "...I never thought about it like this. I don't know if I ever could have", and those realisations, of those comparisons, of those arcs, struck me like a eureka discovery. As someone else pointed out, this video is spiritually powerful. Immensely so. By the end of this video, you completely opened up a new perspective for me on viewing Luke's arc throughout the original trilogy. To have brought together all these points, coalesced magnificently into a sub-20 minute video, deserves nothing short of millions of views and many, many more subs.
Next to The Philosophy of Kreia, this is now easily my favourite Star Wars video on RUclips.
I am awe-struck, and honestly a bit emotional. Brilliant video. Subbed.
I would say he has riffs more than one solid arc, which is exactly what you need for a trilogy.
I noticed the physical characteristics and personality traits that Luke and Leia inherited from Anakin and Padme.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Luke has Padme's facial structure and nose with Anakin's coloring and chin.
Leia has Anakin's facial structure and nose with Padme's coloring and chin.
PERSONALITY TRAITS:
Luke's mixture of traits from his parents seems less stable, and a lot more internally contradictory. He inherited his patience, compassion, and idealism from his mother and his impatience, passion, and depressive tendencies from his father.
Leia's mixture of traits from her parents meshes fairly well, producing a very functional individual with some significant flaws. She inherited her focus, political acumen, persistence, and self-sacrifice from her mother and her temper, impatience, and ambition from her father.
I legit though the same thing for months now, when it came to how Luke and Leia look similar to Anakin and Padme.
Love the parallel on the usage of targeting system. Luke learns to trust his intuition whereas Vader relies on the machinery further explaining how far Vader have gone from the very intuitive Anakin to absolute deprivation of trusting his instincts aka becoming a machine. And to add even more layer, that very focus on the targeting system exposes Vader to Han to take him out hence speaking volumes of Vaders lost capability to even take on account that someone would have a friend to have their back (something Vader struggled with even when he was Anakin)
It's always fun to see patterns, lessons, and stories where none were intended. It really is a testament to the writers, director, and crew that they made something that can have new meaning even 46 years later.
Youre gonna have a huge sub count one day if you keep this up
Bless you man, I appreciate your positivity
Awwww, I'm sad that it ends so quickly. I was honestly hoping you'd go into detail about Luke's arc in the sequels and how his complacency in maintaining inner balance caused everything around him to fall yet again.
Great analysis. Always love to see level headed and informed opinions of these films.
How does this not have more views? Great video!
God damn bro, I watched the Anakin video before this one and just assumed you had at least 100k subscribers due to the thought provoking complexity of both videos. Needless to say both videos are extremely well done and thought out, superb job. Especially as a devout star wars fan, you pointed out layers to the story I previously hadn't realized.
I watch Star Wars and Star Wars related content my hole life and I'm alway surprised there are perspectives on the story I never considered. Great video.
this is one of the best videos on star wars i’ve ever seen. I hope your proud brother!
I love your analyses! I am a published, Swedish fantasy author, and using dialectics and the balance between opposites have helped me with writing great character archs. I'm glad you're making this more known through Star Wars. It brings Lucas' geniousness to the forefront, after all the criticissm, showing why the pt is better than the st. Well done!
Brilliant video! 40+ years later and yet you’ve managed to bring a fresh, nuanced interpretation of Luke’s arc in a way that makes me want to rewatch the OT just to relive it. Love the foreshadowing for you next video at the very end, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well and was actually the first video recommended to me on your channel.
the fact that your channel isn’t big should be a crime.
hard to find actually thoughtful and unique analysis on youtube. good work :)
You’re so talented!!? This is incredible!! I love you!!
I thought there was nothing else to say about Star Wars but Ive never thought about Luke’s character like this
Now this is quality content
If he killed Vader, he wouldn’t just be killing his father, he would be just like him, living in his own shadow, his own darkness, and the Sith would live on in him. He had to use love in order to win not by killing, but by sacrificing himself to save his fqtehr
“The moment he wins is not when he kills the bad guy, it’s when he recognizes himself in the bad guy.” Brilliant man😢😊
This video has given me a deeper understanding and connection with Luke.
Love your content, thank you for this.
Very nice analysis!!! Seriously, well done! A good story always has many layers to it, and obviously deeper themes!
Everybody knows luke conquering vader is his moment of reaching equilibrium and finding balance within himself something yoda couldn’t do but you said it in a way that was more interesting compelling and different. That third conclusion i feel like was the best definition of Luke’s character arc that some fans who study sw know of & some fans who watch casually for the cool fights don’t. This video xplains it in a way you can catch it either by watching it casually or studying it
thankyou for explaining the philosophy and psychology so well.
your production quality is amazing. I just subbed.
Great video man. ✊️
It’s fuckin crazy you aren’t getting the views you deserve. Amazing bro
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This is a great reading of the ending of Luke's arc. The Jungian reading is especially poingiant as I've believed something similar to that for a long time, but 1) I had no idea the reference point or what to refer to it as, and 2) I have yet to find anyone who has agreed with the point. When I bring up my belief that Luke has to embrace the dark side as well as the light in order to become whole and accept himself, I get a lot of push back about how we should only be aligned with the light. But I feel like as humans we all have a dark side, and we cannot eliminate it.
I came to it from a more Catholic point of view growing up. Catholics believe we all have a fallen nature (due to Adam and Eve) and that we can never get rid of our attraction towards sin (they call it Concupiscence (which, contrary to popular belief, means any attraction or desire towards something deemed morally wrong (not merely lust or sexual desire, as some dictionaries list it). And because of this, we are constantly struggling with our darker nature. But often, the more we try to repress it wholly by ignoring it, we end up giving in to it. We need to understand and accept our flaws, our dark side, and only then can we accept our light side as well and thus be a complete person. Catholicism teaches that we are going to sin no matter what. But prayer and confession can help us to learn from those sins, dark impulses and better ourselves.
I love how you brought up how Luke needed the anger of the dark side to stay alive and defeat Vader. He accepted the dark side within himself. But he never truly lost control to the dark side. He was still able to stop once he had won, and embrace the mercy of the light side. And the idea of Vader as Luke's shadow is also brilliant. It is like what the prequels were doing all along. Anakin's journey was almost identical to Luke's, accept he made a few choices that differed and it turned into a complete reversal. The two trilogies are shadows of each other. And if Luke had killed Vader, killed his own shadow, he could never have become a complete person.
I know this might sound like hyperbole, especially regarding a mere RUclips video.... But years of being a Star Wars nerd, watching every video I could find, reading every book of analysis, studying every comic, novel, film, tracking down every obscure essay or self published work, reading every blog.... and I feel for the first time that someone truly gets Luke's story arc in the same way that it hit me and continues to hit more after all these years. Luke Skywalker has been my favorite character in all fiction (and most non-fiction) since I was 4 years old. And what you outlined in your video demonstrates some of the reasons why. George Lucas is a genius, and so under appreciated by so many. Star Wars is so layered and so nuanced.... all under the guise of being popcorn space opera for 12 year old boys. And that takes skill!
And this is why the Disney sequels failed so miserably. They are devoid of meaning and complexity. And heart. An awesome trip. Thank you.
Wow man speechless that was one of the best Star wars videos i seen hands down🔥💪🏼🙌🏼🤩
Yeah dude, WOW. This has really made me look at this in a whole new light. In life in general as well. Do you think these concepts were thought out before hand or "a universal story" that can't help but be played out in our lives and in the art we create. I love the deep thought. Great video, I'm subbing. Balance.... Mr Miyagi was right.
How the hell are you only at 400 subs? The quality here is freakin incredible! Very interesting video essay about a topic I find interesting, with no points that are really boring or hard to watch. You, fine sir, have gained my sub, and here's hoping you gain many, many more
Josh, brilliant multi-layered analysis. Well put & backed up. It also explains why Disney has failed with their Star Wars arcs as they lack the multiple layered understanding of the myth of Star Wars & its human connection. You should try to write your own story so good is your depth of myth insight.🎉🎉🎉
Luke’s soul = world soul
15:35 This is why Luke training the Jedi the exact same way as yoda and Obi Wan did again; the exact same mistakes, is so frustrating in the sequel trilogy/mandalorian.
As dumb as the EU was (and beleive me, i absolutely DESPISE a lot of the EU), this was the one thing they understood very well; Luke's Jedi Order would've been a significantly different order since it was led by someone who's conception of the Force and the balance within was very different than most of the Jedi of the past (Qui Gon being a possible exception)
And there could've been a very interesting conflict about people obsessed with the scales of balance of the Force vs the balance within; the connection to the cosmic force vs the Living force; but that would imply Disney would think about consequences.
Where's my arc, Paulie?
Loved your star wars analyses! Hoping you will do one for Return of the Jedi as well!
I could cry, so good are your analysis videos on Star Wars (I-VI)!!! Please, keep exploring the Star Wars movies and then sharing with us your knowledge! Thank you!!!
I subscribed!
Luke was only character in the entire franchise capable of actually calling Palpatine's bluff.
Just subscribed , you definitely deserve way more views and subs
Very good review!
I love all of these Star Wars / mythology videos of yours Josh, hopefully your content (old and new) gets much attention in times to come ❤
Great vids. We will be watching your career with great interest
Damn, that is great thought material! Awesome vid 👌
This mindset is alluded to by apollo in rocky 4, the champion throughout the ages who exists for the challenge and when the time comes...goes into 'the zone'of confidence,control,to make the killer blow.
Man, I love your videos. Thank you!
this was fantastic.
3:59min "Let go of everything you fear to lose!"
You make surprisingly good content for someone so new to the field. Almost made me think the prequels were good with that Anakin ark video.
Can I just say here how perfect the choice was of having The Birth of the Twins and Padme's Destiny underscoring Luke's failure in Cloud City?
Episode 1-6 has such great characters even in the parts of bad dialogue in the prequels and originals
I have yet to hear a single line of bad dialogue in episodes 1-6, to be honest. Is it on some kind of hiddden track after the actual movie? 🤔
@@someguy9982Not universally. There are bad lines don't get me wrong, but 99% of the time it's fine. And there are parts that are even great, like the Opera house scene.
@@someguy9982 You have shit taste then. Can't be helped.
@@someguy9982 Then it's call stop watching the movies. You Prequel haters never learn.
@@someguy9982 Nowhere near as flawed mate wtf you on about "just as" 😂
For half of the year Apollo would reside at Delphi and the other half of the year Dionysus would reside at Delphi
Just thought that was worth mentioning
I didn't even realise the way I read likes victory over vader as the 3rd option you put forward I always read it as he recognised vader inside of himself and unlike anikan he was able to fully accept that he has a dark side and doesn't decides to not let that darkness control him but for him to control that darkness which is what anakin tried and failed to do himself
You have fantastic analysis of my favorite movies. Subscribing
This guy nails it
What you said in the first two minutes can be summed up by „Luke is young, his uncle is old, because of that they experience time differently”
I have always thought that what you've described as the "Jungian Reading" is the story of Star Wars and the sequel trilogy's largest misstep. The Jedi have strayed too far from the center, toward the "Light Side," that they become careless and corrupt. Too blinded by their ways to see the evil that's already won. They continue to be blind, refusing to train Luke initially, lying to him, giving him advice that he can't follow, telling him to ignore his emotions, and ultimately, failing him. It isn't until Luke defeats the Sith by using his emotions- most of all love, which the Jedi forbid- that the balance is restored.
This is getting into Prequel territory, and I am about to watch your Anakin video so I apologize if you address this there, but Anakin is another example of their failure. The Jedi's cold lack of feelings makes them okay with abandoning extremely force-sensitive children to be slaves in the outer rim because they understand that a child has attachment and love by the age of ten. Qui-Gon, a character that recognizes and uses his emotions to better the galaxy, resents this, and is against the order; it is not an original opinion of mine that Anakin may have received the parental treatment he needed if Qui-Gon had lived. Obi-Wan did his best to follow in the ways of the order (their differing viewpoints on this are shown in the very beginning of Episode 1), and raised Anakin- and briefly Luke- in the way he thought he should, not in the way he was.
Obi-Wan became one of the greatest Jedi of all time. Anakin became their greatest failure. But it was Luke that saved the Galaxy.
Damn, it’s safe to say I’m here before this video and channel blows up lmao. 787 subs right now? Bro you’re gonna hit 100k real quick if you keep the quality up 🤘🏽
This is a masterpiece
Body, soul and intellect (nous) is a view of man that is distinctly Christian throughout history primarily in Eastern Christianity of course as the west philosophically collapsed the intellect and soul into each other scholastically speaking.
This video helps make RotJ make sense, which is a good thing since it seems so disjointed and odd compared to the rest of the OT. Good job!
Disjointed...? Absolutely not haha, possibly the dumbest/weirdest take I've heard on RoTJ
great job
Ngl i never got the idea of ROTJ Luke of looking like and being a sith. In fact I'm pretty sure when Luke choked those two guards, the writers weren't thinking "yes this is sith Luke now", im pretty sure they just thought it looked badass.
I prefer Christian philosophy (Orthodox in particular) over say Buddhist or jungian philosophy because it harmonizes and disarms dialectics. One becomes free of attachments yet chooses also to sacrifice himself for the sake of others for he knows he has no reward in wealth or influence yet knows he must love others above all else, love your enemies lest you be like them. It also favors balance being achieved by purgation of evil, not using the correct amount of evil to keep the good in check.
If the pull between the intuitive and the rational is resolved in episode 6, then how do you think Luke's arc/character would have been handled in a sequel trilogy?
Or does he just become a perfect, static mentor.
Fantastic!
After watching the end of Empire Strikes back, we’ve realized that you are wrong about Luke achieving “exactly nothing” at Bespin. He achieves exactly ONE thing that saves everyone multiple times over: He brings R2 with him. R2 saves Leia and co when fleeing and then saves everyone by fixing the hyper drive at the end when they realize Lando’s people still didn’t fix it. Without him, they’d’ve been unable to jump and been caught again. R2 is the true hero of Empire strikes back. Thanks for bringing him, Luke!
Thanks for pointing this out. It's always a little more nuanced than it seems!
i’m too high for this man
Amaziiiing. Please do one about Ashoka Tano.
A season in farming is actually a year though
That X shaped chart is great. It's especially good if you're trying to write characters in terms of establishing both their conflicts and how they resolve it
Is that a chart you found or did you make it yourself?
Made it myself just for the video :)
I just realized something but there isn’t gravity when people in starwars are in the fighters. Like stuff should be floating around Lukes Xwing cockpit but it isn’t.
People hate the musical number in Jabba’s Palace?
👏🏼 all in favor of letting this man cook say aye
Do you think it would be possible to continue a character arc past the synthesis stage?
Yes. The synthesis becomes a new thesis, which is challenged by a new antithesis, and so on to infinity. Hegel and Marx and many philosophers see this as a model for how history progresses.
@@josh_from_xboxlive I see, interesting. So it's a never ending cycle of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. Thanks for the response 👍
16:04 master skywalker, theres too many of them, what are we going to do?
Luke had a arc disney just decided other people should have one unfortunately. Luke will forever be my favorite. Hermit luke is not cannon in my opinion. I hope in this new ahsoka series we see his full potential once again
Bro you blew my mind right off the bat with the slow-motion thing. LITERALLY never heard anything close to that and it makes great sense. 🤯
how do you have under 300 subs?
I dont understand what youre saying at all but it sounds cool
You know who had an arc? Noah
Can you do a part 2 with The last Jedi?
I really hope so. This video itself actually shows how in-line with Luke's OT arc his character in the sequels is.
Let go of technology and rely on the Force.
So I know this video is old, but I just wanted to throw in there as a practicing Buddhist, that I don’t think the pacifist route is entirely accurate-Buddhism by definition is the practice of the middle way-to exist in balance. I personally read these stories in terms of yin-yang theory, which runs along side the development of Mahayana Buddhism in China and that’s my frustration with the third trilogy as you put it-both Rey and Kilo were opposites, yin and yang, and him dying alone made no sense-they either should have destroyed themselves in their battle, with him having a redemption arc towards the Jedi and her have fallen to the Sith-or found a way to live together in true balance.
Yoda and Obi-Wan never told Luke to kill Vader. They told him to FACE him. He interpreted that as killing Vader, but that's not what they said.
That false interpretation is why Obi-Wan sighed and said the emperor has already won.
Great video, but the part about the Jedi telling Luke to kill Vader is not true. Ben tells him that in case of self-defense he has to be ready to kill Vader. Luke doesn't want that or a confrontation at all.
"A Jedi can't kill for the sake of killing. The mission isn't for Luke to go out and kill his father and get rid of him. The issue is, if he confronts his father again, he may, in defending himself, have to kill him, because his father will try to kill him." ― George Lucas
Even though I disagree that any superpower was meant to the point.
Luke struggle Is with the medane
Hero’s aren’t the ones that run in and save the day
It was the 10,000 hours put into mastering anything
The hero is the one that can make the shot through focus and above all skill.
Luke needs to trust his ability to hit womprats
But ur take that Luke is a flawed character is more keen to the truth.
It makes legends read like fan fiction. It makes George’s treatment of Luke being self exiled make complete sense.
It makes way more sense then yoda exile himself after almost single handedly defeating palpatine. Yoda keeps his hands!!!!
To the uninitiated
You’re so hilarious.
I don’t comment on these most of the time bc they are usually so off on what’s really going on.
The fact that Luke is still staring at the horizon after the empire is defeated. This means that it wasn’t adventure or evil that causes Luke’s internal flaw.
It’s hubris itself
Luke believes he’s special and is meant for greatness but there is no greatness that will satisfy this fundamental insecurity which comes from a lack of purpose …. From a lack of a father
Same insecurity born in the virgin birth savior anakin