tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/the-last-jedi-44596/articlesThe Last Jedi – The Conversation2018-01-04T22:30:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/894432018-01-04T22:30:58Z2018-01-04T22:30:58ZStar Wars is a religion that primes us for war and violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200620/original/file-20180102-26166-1ow2dgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Star Wars: The Last Jedi grooms and prepares our minds for violence and war. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lucasfilm/Disney)</span></span></figcaption></figure><h2>$1</h2>
<p>That’s what it cost 14-year-old me to get into the <a href="https://www.biography.com/news/george-lucas-star-wars-facts">1977 <em>Star Wars</em></a> premiere. </p>
<h2>$10</h2>
<p>That’s how much I eventually stole from my mom so I could see it again and again. </p>
<p>I’m not ashamed to admit, as a 14-year-old boy, I was hooked. Standing along side Luke and Obi-Wan, I left this world. Joining Chewie, Leia and Han, I was lifted out of my excruciatingly boring Terran childhood and transported to galactic adventure, far far away. To be frank, it was an opiated pleasure hit that gave me a temporary way out.</p>
<p>Like a lot of people, and for the several decades since 1977, I didn’t realize I was addicted. I’m tempted to say that Jar Jar Binks — the most existentially annoying creature in all of cinematic history, according to some — was the rock-bottom that snapped me out of it, but not really. Even Anakin’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vMUj8bKr2E">burn scene</a>” was not enough, though it did get me thinking that something wasn’t right. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200684/original/file-20180103-26145-p74u25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Like many, the author was hooked on Star Wars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lucasfilm/Disney)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Honestly, it was a decade later, after I examined the <a href="https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/cjs/index.php/CJS/article/view/20000/17203">Western Tarot</a>, (an 18th century deck of 78 cards created by Freemasons), that I realized the <a href="https://www.athensjournals.gr/social/2017-1-X-Y-Sosteric.pdf">remarkable potentials of mystical experience</a>, and met a
prophet and mystic by the name of <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34504691/From_Zoroaster_to_Star_Wars_Jesus_to_Marx_The_Science_and_Technology_of_Mass_Human_Behavior">Zoroaster</a> that I finally figured it out. <em>Star Wars</em> is a carefully crafted religious experience. </p>
<p>For me, going to a <em>Star Wars</em> film was just like going to church on Sunday, only I was never addicted to church.</p>
<p>Now, before you go all “Jedi” on me, allow me to explain. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34504691/From_Zoroaster_to_Star_Wars_Jesus_to_Marx_The_Science_and_Technology_of_Mass_Human_Behavior"><em>Star Wars</em> has the same core ideas as Zorastrianism</a>, which is arguably this world’s first “revealed” religion. A “revealed” religion is a religion that derives from mystical connection. </p>
<p>You see my dear padawan (Jedi apprentice), Zoroaster, a Persian mystic, had ongoing mystical experiences — or what I call <a href="https://www.academia.edu/28919294/The_Science_of_Ascension_A_Neurologically_Grounded_Theory_of_Mystical_Spiritual_Experience">connection events</a>. Like Moses and his burning bush, or <a href="http://www.pbs.org/americanprophet/joseph-smith.html">Joseph Smith</a> and his sacred grove, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/309777.Zoroastrians">Zoroaster</a> had, according to his followers, revelatory conversations with God. </p>
<p>It’s in those conversations — or rather, in what elite Sasanian priests of the powerful Sasanian Empire said was in those conversations when they <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/491853.Sasanian_Persia">wrote them down in the Zoroastrian sacred script known as the Avesta</a> some 14 or so centuries after he died — that you find Star Wars’ religious roots. </p>
<p>Sasanian priests presented the world with several archetypal ideas (or archetypal <em>nodes</em>, as I call them) which they claimed came directly from Zoroaster.</p>
<p>These ideas, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34504691/From_Zoroaster_to_Star_Wars_Jesus_to_Marx_The_Science_and_Technology_of_Mass_Human_Behavior">which I summarize</a> in a longer article, are present in various forms in all the world’s religions, including my once sacred <em>Star Wars</em>. Because these ancient religious ideas are blatantly present in <em>Star Wars</em>, I conclude that <em>Star Wars</em> is a religion. </p>
<p>The Sasanian nodes most obvious in <em>Star Wars</em> are the idea of an <em>oppositional binary</em> between good and evil, the idea of a <em>cosmic battle</em> between the two, the notion that you have to make a choice and pick a side, and the notion that if you make the right choice you get to enter through the fancy gates and be rewarded at an <a href="http://www.entertainmentbuddha.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Screen-Shot-2012-09-27-at-5.26.27-PM.png">altar of light</a>. But if you make the wrong choice then, like Anakin Skywalker, it is “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vMUj8bKr2E">fire and brimstone</a>” for you. </p>
<h2>$100</h2>
<p>That is probably the total amount of money I have paid over the years to see the <em>Star Wars</em> films in theatres, before I realized what was up and stopped supporting the films. Unfortunately though, Star Wars isn’t isn’t the only source of ideology masquerading as entertainment that I’ve dropped money on. Think <em>Game of Thrones</em> or Harry Potter as well. Atheist or true believer, <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/">Communist</a> or capitalist, Muslim or Christian, Buddhist or Hindu, or whatever — we have all, through some cherished childhood belief system or some fancied up Hollywood spectacle, inherited many, if not all, of the ancient Sasanian nodes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200700/original/file-20180103-26145-zwxcwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Game of Thrones was also a Sasanian story of good vs. evil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(HBO)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Your particular version might be more gentle, more “liberal,” more secular, more science, or more fantasy than another’s version. But whether it is Christ, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Ahura Mazda versus The Devil, Darth Vader, Voldomort, Sauron or Angra Mainyu, we are all exposed. We’ve all absorbed, more or less unconsciously, some (or all) of the ancient Sasanian nodes. </p>
<p>At this point you should be ask yourself the question, “Why would ancient elite priests, medieval Catholic clerics, modern Hollywood directors, and authors like J.K. Rowling be dressing up and retelling an ancient Sasanian story?” </p>
<p>For one, because they don’t know better. For two, because ever since the elite Sasanian priests first codified it, it has become the kind of story that people with a lot of money like to pay for. They like to pay for Churches where priests teach it, they like to pay authors to spend time writing about it, and they like to pay actors, directors and movie crews money to display it all out. </p>
<p>Why? </p>
<p>It is not rocket science. </p>
<p>They do it because it is useful to them in their “civilization building” activities. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34504691/From_Zoroaster_to_Star_Wars_Jesus_to_Marx_The_Science_and_Technology_of_Mass_Human_Behavior">This ideology,</a> these days expressed in multiple cultural forms — <a href="https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/cjs/index.php/CJS/article/view/20000">like the Western Tarot</a> — helped (and helps) turn otherwise passive and peaceful people into obedient tools of violence. Elites can then easily wield this population to a) defend their nascent or established civilizations or b) go on expansionist and colonial campaigns. </p>
<p>With the population properly programmed it is a simple matter to get even educated folk to rise up and to aim them in attack or defence. All the ambitious leader of an ancient city state, or a modern nihilistic narcissist, would have to do to get his people to mobilize is paint the target as a heathen, infidel, gay, transsexual, Communist, atheist, feminist, evil or a bad hombre. </p>
<p>If you do that you have an immediate and powerful justification for all sorts of violent action. And that’s bad because, as history has shown, if you tie it into the Sasanian nodes tightly enough, you can get away with just about anything. </p>
<p>This is important, for all of us. Even burning people alive (as they did in the <a href="http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/were-witches-burned-at-the-stake-during-the-salem-witch-trials">disturbingly common</a> European witch trials), or gassing them in chambers becomes a justifiable action if you can convince yourself just how evil they are. </p>
<h2>$1,000</h2>
<p>That’s what I think George Lucas owes me in refund for tickets and time wasted watching his show. I walked away from Catholicism when I was eight. If I had wanted the ‘good versus evil, you’re going to burn in a pit of hell fire’ sermon, I would have stayed in church and saved myself time, and some cash. </p>
<p>Honestly, even if I could get that refund, I wouldn’t just leave things at that. I don’t think we, as a species, can go on believing these nodes anymore. It is a question of our planet’s survival. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200710/original/file-20180103-26166-9j0yw3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We can’t afford to go on believing in these ancient belief systems - which can easily be exploited by greedy leaders - for the sake of our planet’s survival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lucasfilm/Disney)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the past we might have been able to claim civilisation as the prize for playing on this planet’s bloody checker board floor. In the past, we may have been able to conveniently overlook all the trauma as the inevitable consequence of an evolutionary stage of development. </p>
<p>Now, we cannot. These ancient belief systems, which can be easily exploited by, for example, greedy narcissists with childhood trauma and deep-seated daddy issues, prime us all for violence and war. With industrial technologies, the worst that could happen was genocide. </p>
<p>Now we’re talking <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/06/25/most-innovative-decade-in-history/#1abbfa4f135a">DNA printing</a>, quantum computers, nanotechnology, and the <a href="https://edgylabs.com/war-robots-automated-kalashnikov-neural-network-gun">weaponization of neural networks</a> in murderous terminator bots. And that’s not even to mention the <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171113111127.htm">ecological holocaust that scientists say is on the way</a>. </p>
<p>If we keep thinking with these ancient ideas, we’re not going to be able to handle the transition from Industrial to <a href="https://www.inc.com/greg-satell/the-quantum-age-is-almost-upon-us-we-need-to-start.html">Quantum Age</a>, and we’re not going to be happy with the dystopia and destruction that is going to turn out. </p>
<p>This would be a sad thing to let happen, especially since we stand at the cusp of an automated and an <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/06/25/most-innovative-decade-in-history/#1abbfa4f135a">abundant</a> global utopia. </p>
<p>If we can just break free of our spiritual addictions and change our global thinking, maybe we can still save ourselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Sosteric does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Star Wars is a carefully crafted religious experience. Just like Game of Thrones and other epic stories between good and evil, these stories prepare us for violence and war.Mike Sosteric, Associate Professor, Sociology, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/892562017-12-15T15:33:39Z2017-12-15T15:33:39ZThe Last Jedi: latest Star Wars is a fable for our post-truth times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199427/original/file-20171215-17869-1n9owhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When Rey met Luke. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.net/xads/actions/layout/endusersearch.do?folder_max=48&selection_action=null&box=false&page=3&forward=search&product_nav_root=&product_nav=&category_nav=&search_spec=557777309&display_asset_matches=true&seldir=4&unselected_assets_prodgrid_search=557437154%2C557437155%2C557437156%2C557437157%2C557437158%2C557437159%2C557437160%2C557437161%2C557437162%2C557437163%2C557437164%2C557437165%2C557437166%2C557437167%2C557437168%2C557437169%2C557437170%2C557437172%2C557437173%2C557437174%2C557437175%2C557437176%2C557437177%2C557437178%2C&pageNoTop1=">Disney</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Warning: Spoiler alert</strong></p>
<p>The Star Wars universe is no stranger to political allegories. Many viewers <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-real-history-that-inspired-star-wars">have pointed out </a> the parallels between the original Empire and the Nazis, to give the most famous example, with the plucky Rebel Alliance cast as the US/British resistance who never gave up hope in the face of unconscionable evil. </p>
<p>Having just seen The Last Jedi, there are again political parallels aplenty. This time, however, they are not from the past but the present day, making this a contender for the most unambiguously political Star Wars movie yet. </p>
<p>It starts from the first sentence of the iconic opening crawl, which tells us “The First Order reigns”. As the movie rolls on, this ruling cabal looks increasingly like a proxy for the Trump administration. </p>
<p>The First Order is led by Snoke, as easy to mock as Trump with his old, grotesque appearance. We have Admiral Hux, the dapper “acceptable” face of the Order – not unlike some <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/these-are-the-faces-of-londons-young-altright-a3477731.html">young ideologues</a> of the alt-right. And the Order’s leadership is both white and male – the other key figure being Kylo Ren, who, like Snoke, uses the Dark Side of the Force. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199454/original/file-20171215-17848-96sj3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kylo Ren.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.net/xads/actions/layout/endusersearch.do?folder_max=48&selection_action=null&box=false&page=3&forward=search&product_nav_root=&product_nav=&category_nav=&search_spec=557777309&display_asset_matches=true&seldir=4&unselected_assets_prodgrid_search=557437154%2C557437155%2C557437156%2C557437157%2C557437158%2C557437159%2C557437160%2C557437161%2C557437162%2C557437163%2C557437164%2C557437165%2C557437166%2C557437167%2C557437168%2C557437169%2C557437170%2C557437172%2C557437173%2C557437174%2C557437175%2C557437176%2C557437177%2C557437178%2C&pageNoTop1=">Disney</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since its rise to power, the First Order has obsessively undermined the ideologies of the former New Republic, which calls to mind Trump repealing Obama-era legislation in areas such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/us/politics/trump-obamacare-repeal.html">health</a> and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/11/28/next-comes-welfare-reform-trumps-foolproof-plan-to-pass-poisonous-tax-bill/">welfare</a>. </p>
<p>In spreading fear among citizens and dismantling liberal institutions, its leaders also resemble ordinary businessmen and politicians. Where, in The Force Awakens, Kylo harboured fantasies of being the next Darth Vader, here Snoke sneers that he should “take that ridiculous” mask off. Facing Luke Skywalker in a duel, Kylo also removes his cloak. Dressed in a grey suit, he is less Darth Vader and more Donald Trump Jr. </p>
<p>The First Order’s arch enemy, General Leia Organa, meanwhile stands in for Hillary Clinton – another woman with too little support for her political agenda, with the air of a lost cause, whose loyalists happen to be much more ethnically diverse than their opponents. This latter difference is thrown into sharp relief when the white Captain Phasma attempts to destroy Finn and Rose, two Resistance fighters of colour, calling them “scum”. Not overt racism, but reminiscent of a US administration that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trump-racism-examples_us_5991dcabe4b09071f69b9261">has advocated</a> racist policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199453/original/file-20171215-17863-17jrda2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leia Organa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.net/xads/actions/layout/endusersearch.do?folder_max=48&selection_action=null&box=false&page=3&forward=search&product_nav_root=&product_nav=&category_nav=&search_spec=557777309&display_asset_matches=true&seldir=4&unselected_assets_prodgrid_search=557437154%2C557437155%2C557437156%2C557437157%2C557437158%2C557437159%2C557437160%2C557437161%2C557437162%2C557437163%2C557437164%2C557437165%2C557437166%2C557437167%2C557437168%2C557437169%2C557437170%2C557437172%2C557437173%2C557437174%2C557437175%2C557437176%2C557437177%2C557437178%2C&pageNoTop1=">Disney</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Broken systems</h2>
<p>Where once there was a new hope, The Last Jedi is more cynical about the future and the resources available to bring change. Luke Skywalker represents an organisation that can no longer be trusted to do the right thing. </p>
<p>At the end of The Force Awakens we saw Rey handing Luke his old lightsaber, amid soaring music and with a sense of poignancy. When the scene is completed here, Luke unceremoniously throws it away. He may want to archive the ancient Jedi texts, but he is reluctant to help the Resistance fight the First Order. </p>
<p>A living legend, he has failed, as he admits himself, to live up to the expectations of the galaxy’s repressed people. He’s a little like the crumbling systems of social justice often unable to protect citizens’ rights in America – take the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/politics/trump-travel-ban-supreme-court.html">recent failure</a> to prevent Trump’s travel ban, for example. When Luke calls the Jedi hypocrites for failing to prevent the rise of their enemies, it could be a comment on current times. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199457/original/file-20171215-17860-1wj7iqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Luke to the future?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.net/xads/actions/layout/endusersearch.do?folder_max=48&selection_action=null&box=false&page=3&forward=search&product_nav_root=&product_nav=&category_nav=&search_spec=557777309&display_asset_matches=true&seldir=4&unselected_assets_prodgrid_search=557437154%2C557437155%2C557437156%2C557437157%2C557437158%2C557437159%2C557437160%2C557437161%2C557437162%2C557437163%2C557437164%2C557437165%2C557437166%2C557437167%2C557437168%2C557437169%2C557437170%2C557437172%2C557437173%2C557437174%2C557437175%2C557437176%2C557437177%2C557437178%2C&pageNoTop1=">Disney</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rey also learns Luke has lied to her about Kylo’s Jedi training, part of a recurring theme in the movie about confusion and not knowing who or what to trust. Take, for example, Kylo’s new use of the Force, which means he can appear in the same location as Rey even when they are light years apart. If that was not confusing enough, she later learns that his apparent interest was orchestrated by Snoke to manipulate her. </p>
<p>Eventually, Rey realises that even Jedi Master Luke is unreliable. It seems there are no obvious certainties in a constructed reality. “I thought I’d find the answers here,” she says. “I was wrong.” </p>
<h2>A New Hope?</h2>
<p>While it looks to the future, the film is haunted by its past. There are numerous flashbacks to the earlier films. The charts that swirl around the Resistance fighters on glass screens are reminiscent of those in the original trilogy, and Artoo plays Leia’s famous “Help me Obi-Wan” message to persuade Luke to help Rey. </p>
<p>Then, arriving at a base on a seemingly snow-covered planet where the Resistance must face an army of next-generation Walkers, it seems like ice planet Hoth, site of the famous battle sequence from The Empire Strikes Back. But just as Obi Wan once said “that’s no moon” of the Death Star, this is no Hoth. One of the fighters licks the white stuff laying on the ground. Not snow: salt. Again, our expectations are undermined. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q0CbN8sfihY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately The Last Jedi only offers bleak optimism. There is no certainty of good triumphing over evil; no one in the galaxy answers Leia’s call for help. As Finn and Rose’s discovery of a wealthy arms dealer suggests, the game of war is an economically fruitful one – a sideshow masking ongoing political corruption. </p>
<p>There is still hope, of course. This is Star Wars, after all – and of course you might expect part two in the trilogy to end on a downbeat note, just like The Empire Strikes Back did. But whereas in the original trilogy it was the current generation – Luke, Leia, Han Solo – who promised to deliver the galaxy from evil, here we are already looking beyond Rey, Finn and Rose to a new generation of children. </p>
<p>Luke may not be the last Jedi, but, the film suggests, the damage done by the real-life political equivalent of the First Order is lasting. Without BB-8 or Artoo on-hand in our own galaxy, nothing is easily fixed. Broken systems will take decades to repair.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Harrison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Creaky crazy old leader, misdirection at every turn – is this beginning to sound familiar?Rebecca Harrison, Lecturer in Film and Television, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887522017-12-13T23:53:45Z2017-12-13T23:53:45ZStar Wars is colonial fantasy: How our future imaginings are limited by our past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199049/original/file-20171213-27568-19sfb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Star Wars series looks to our past to tell our future. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Star Wars: The Last Jedi)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most Star Wars films open with the simple text “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” To many people this is a cute gimmick, but it actually gives the audience an important sense of what is to come because the Star Wars franchise is, and has always been, far more interested in our past than in our future. </p>
<p>Despite the “long time ago,” Star Wars is set in the future in terms of how we conceive of it. The human society depicted is one that features more advanced technology than we currently have, a technology that reflects our trajectory in transportation, telecommunication, military technology, artificial intelligence and robotics. </p>
<p>All the things they have, it seems, are better than what we have, yet these are all things that our society is clearly inching closer and closer to obtaining. </p>
<p>So what kind of future does Star Wars show us? Well, a familiar one, to put it mildly — one that in spite of the spaceships and laser-swords is more reflective than speculative. We are taken away to the far reaches of space, but, once there, we find the Second World War, feudal Japan, 1930s America and even the classical age of heroes from Grecco-Roman culture. </p>
<h2>Star Wars as colonial fantasy</h2>
<p>When George Lucas and his collaborators built their world, they sought to give it a sense of depth and politics (sometimes to the chagrin of the prequel-watchers). Star Wars draws on our past to create everything from political structures to the very ecosystems of the planets themselves. </p>
<p>One of the more commonly described oddities of the Star Wars universe is the notion of entire planets with one climate. We are introduced to desert planets and ice planets and swamp planets. Of course, any one planet could have a myriad of different climates and ecosystems in the real world. But this peculiar detail reveals the metaphor that Star Wars is working with: each planet in Star Wars is basically each country in our world. </p>
<p>This metaphor allows the Star Wars universe to essentially retell stories from the era of British imperialism. The empire then becomes quite familiar to us, especially on the surface. In Star Wars, though, the empire is the enemy and the undisciplined, free-spirited rebels become the heroes — thus aligning Star Wars with thematic elements from the American Western even amid the trappings of British imperialist narratives. </p>
<p>A star destroyer, or perhaps even a Death Star, reads a lot like a navy warship and space itself becomes little more than an ocean to travel across in search of new adventures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199078/original/file-20171213-27562-253fzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Star Wars spaceships can be seen as a metaphor for Second World War navy ships traveling across the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Star Wars)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We see this metaphor further reflected in the ranks and hierarchies of the Galactic Empire, which is often reminiscent of the British naval hierarchy. </p>
<p>Harkening back to imperialism is obviously problematic, yet still somewhat common for science fiction (SF). The great SF writer, Ursula Le Guin, wrote about this in her famous 1975 essay, “American SF and the Other.” </p>
<p>“From a social point of view most SF has been incredibly regressive and unimaginative. All those Galactic Empires, taken straight from the British Empire of 1880. All those planets — with 80 trillion miles between them! — conceived of as warring nation-states, or as colonies to be exploited, or to be nudged by the benevolent Imperium of Earth towards self-development — the White Man’s Burden all over again. The Rotary Club on Alpha Centauri, that’s the size of it.”</p>
<p>For Le Guin, who was writing just two years before the first Star Wars film premiered, this imperial metaphor was problematic and indicative of a tendency in SF to long for the past rather than to aspire toward the future. </p>
<h2>A longing for the past</h2>
<p>Consider, for example, that Star Wars draws on the aerial dogfighting genre in order to create a satisfying yet familiar depiction of our future. If you compare that depiction to our current state of aviation warfare — with unmanned drones and missiles that leave the aircraft long before the enemy fighter is even visible to the pilot — the reality just isn’t as satisfying. </p>
<p>Similarly, the cantina scene is a nod to the watering holes of film noir and, before that, to the den-of-thieves inns so common to fantasy literature. </p>
<p>The Jedi culture is, of course, feudal Japan by way of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/mar/23/akira-kurosawa-100-google-doodle-anniversary">Akira Kurosawa’s films</a>. The Star Wars empire’s aesthetic is that of the Nazi era. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199082/original/file-20171213-27575-gznbym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nazi echos: The Star Wars empire’s aesthetic is that of the Nazi era.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Star Wars)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even the artificial intelligence is somewhat backwards in its conception, with advanced AI automatons who act within a familiar paradigm: the classic “odd couple” dynamic. </p>
<p>The plot is equally attentive to the past. <a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/11/07/the_heros_journey_the_idea_you_never_knew_had_shaped_star_wars/">As noted by many scholars, and by George Lucas himself, Star Wars is a classic example of a monomyth</a>, the hero’s journey — a basic storytelling structure identified by Joseph Campbell in 1949. The monomyth has some room for interpretation, but also a surprising amount of specificity to it; and Star Wars sticks very closely to that structure, thus aligning the journey of Luke Skywalker with that of classical heroes such as Hercules, Theseus and Odysseus.</p>
<h2>Star Wars is great fantasy, not science fiction</h2>
<p>All of this leads to a simple question: If Star Wars is so compelled by our past, what does it say about us that, even in our most dynamic futurescape, we feel the need to seek out the familiar? The best answer to this might entail a sort of perceptual paradigm shift that begins with a controversial realization: Star Wars isn’t science fiction. </p>
<p>Beginning with Mary Shelley and Jules Verne, SF was a genre that defined itself by exploring, in fiction, the consequences of our society’s technological development. Star Wars, however, isn’t engaged with that exploration. In fact, by most any widely accepted definition of SF, Star Wars doesn’t count, and that’s OK. </p>
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<p>Instead of comparing it to the works of H.G. Wells or Isaac Asimov or Kim Stanley Robinson, we can compare Star Wars to the works of George MacDonald and J.R.R. Tolkien and Neil Gaiman, and there we find a much more favourable lens by which to understand and appreciate what the Star Wars universe accomplishes. This isn’t SF – it’s fantasy in outer space, and, more than that, it’s really good fantasy.</p>
<p>What makes Star Wars great isn’t a vision of our future, but the imaginative satisfaction that Star Wars creates in drawing from our past. There’s no prophecy here, just a tacit acceptance that thinking about the future is disorienting and frightening, and a little familiarity can be a whole lot of fun. </p>
<p>Perhaps more than that, Star Wars can be seen to provide our society with a sort of regression therapy, by allowing us to work through our past within the safe space of a detached future. With fresh eyes, we see the evil of imperialism, the power of the righteous individual, and the range and scope of the transcendent force that binds us all as human beings. </p>
<p>With the release of a brand new Star Wars film, it is compelling to reflect upon just how much our love for the Star Wars universe says about who we are in this universe. </p>
<p>Wrapped in the visual trappings of a future society, Star Wars is a nostalgic hodgepodge of the most dynamic and captivating concepts from our past — real and fictional. The art of creating that, the delicate balance it requires (one that so many other films have tried and failed to achieve) is, like the best Star Wars films themselves, a wonder to behold.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88752/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Andrew Deman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Science fiction is a genre meant to imagine the future, but in the case of Star Wars, it also looks to the past—revisiting old imperialist battles.J. Andrew Deman, Professor, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887642017-12-12T00:00:19Z2017-12-12T00:00:19ZStar Wars’ last Jedi may use the Force of quantum science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198903/original/file-20171213-31684-phbmd5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, trains in the ways of the Force in _Star Wars: The Last Jedi._</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Handout)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As <em>Star Wars: The Last Jedi</em> opens in theatres and its heroine Rey seeks to learn the ways of the Force from an aged and isolated Luke Skywalker, it raises some obvious and ongoing questions: </p>
<p>Is there anything in science — particularly in quantum physics — that resembles the Force? Can objects be manipulated instantaneously from a distance?</p>
<p>Answers, modern physics might have.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Rey, the heroine of <em>Star Wars: The Last Jedi</em>, practices her skills in the Force, in this preview film trailer. (Lucasfilm)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>These aren’t the forces that you are looking for</h2>
<p>Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke Skywalker in the original <em>Star Wars</em> film that the Force “surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” </p>
<p>Modern physicists know that there are actually <a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Forces/funfor.html#c1">four fundamental forces</a>: the two nuclear forces, the electromagnetic force and the gravitational force. <a href="https://home.cern/about/physics/standard-model">All of these play a role</a> in binding matter together, from the tiniest of atoms to the largest of planets.</p>
<p>However, these are probably not the forces we are looking for. Old Ben Kenobi, Yoda, and, eventually, Luke, could communicate telepathically over large distances and move objects with their minds. </p>
<p>Are these feats possible? What do the laws of physics say about this?</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) explains the Force to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in <em>Star Wars</em>. (Lucasfilm via YouTube)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>I find your lack of faith disturbing</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/theory-of-relativity-then-and-now-180956622/">Einstein’s theory of relativity</a> put some strict limits on how fast we can communicate — the ultimate speed limit is the speed of light. </p>
<p>So, if you needed to send a message to Alderaan to warn the citizens of an Imperial attack, there would always be a delay. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t warn them in time to evacuate because it takes time for light to travel to transmit the message. </p>
<p>Ben Kenobi couldn’t possibly have felt a disturbance in the Force only a few instants after the Death Star destroyed Alderaan. Or could he?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EKu7TYWNxqA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ben Kenobi feels a great disturbance in the Force. Can information be transmitted instantly? (Lucasfilm via YouTube)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s true, all of it</h2>
<p>What does quantum physics say about information transferred over large distances? Unfortunately we cannot break Einstein’s speed limit, even if we had the Millennium Falcon. We’ll set aside <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/02/kessel-run-12-parsecs/">Han Solo’s perhaps not-so-absurd claim that it made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs</a> — a measure of distance, not time.</p>
<p>However, through a trick of quantum mechanics, you can link two particles in a special way, separate them, and then observe the effects of one upon the other over large distances. This is known as quantum entanglement — placing two objects in the same entangled quantum state. And it is weirder than anything that <em>Star Wars</em> creator George Lucas could come up with (<a href="http://www.starwars.com/databank/jar-jar-binks">Jar Jar Binks</a> excluded, of course).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/china-s-quantum-satellite-achieves-spooky-action-record-distance">Entanglement can be demonstrated in the lab with particles of light.</a> When these two particles, or photons, are separated over large distances, they are still correlated with each other. If you measure one particle, the other particle’s state will be determined immediately no matter how far it is away. </p>
<p>Einstein didn’t like this idea, since it was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbWx2COU0E">“spooky action at a distance.”</a> However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-use-einsteins-spooky-entanglement-to-invent-super-sensitive-gravitational-wave-detector-77822">modern physics</a> experiments have shown that entanglement is real — particles can be connected over large distances. </p>
<p>As Han Solo would say: “It’s true. All of it.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Han Solo (Harrison Ford) discusses the Force in <em>Star Wars: The Force Awakens</em>. (Lucasfilm via YouTube)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, George Lucas was influenced by quantum theory when he was writing the original script for <em>Star Wars</em>. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-stenger/the-revolution-that-didnt_b_5600647.html">New Age thinkers</a> proposed that quantum entanglement is a “force” that really does bind us all together. </p>
<p>It is well known in physics experiments that the <a href="https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=125449">observer can become entangled with the object that they are measuring</a>, changing the measurement. </p>
<p>This led to the idea that we are all entangled in some way, and there really is a connection between every living thing in the galaxy. </p>
<h2>I’ve got a bad feeling about this</h2>
<p>There is a catch, though. The effects of quantum entanglement tend to be very small for everyday objects.</p>
<p>If Kylo Ren was a physicist, he could manipulate a few particles of light to become quantum entangled, but stopping <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/17561">a laser beam in its tracks would be more difficult</a>.</p>
<p>However, in the world of <a href="https://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/research/research-landing-pages/quantum-condensed-matter.html">condensed matter physics</a> — the study of solids — entanglement is more commonplace.</p>
<p>Solid-state physicists study entanglement of billions and billions of particles together, often with spectacular new results such as <a href="https://home.cern/about/engineering/superconductivity">superconductivity</a>. </p>
<p>These new phenomena — such as a superconductor floating over a magnet in the <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engineering-and-technology/engineering/superconductivity/content-section-2.3">Meissner effect</a> — are from macroscopic quantum entanglements of electrons, or a spooky “force” acting over large distances.</p>
<p>The “Force” of quantum entanglement really awakens in these new “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-quantum-materials-may-soon-make-star-trek-technology-reality-86378">quantum materials</a>.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Physicist Michio Kaku describes a quantum-entangled state of matter — a superconductor — and the Meissner effect that leads to magnetic levitation. (BBC via YouTube)</span></figcaption>
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<h2>From a certain point of view</h2>
<p>So, there is some truth in the idea behind “The Force,” from a certain point of view, as Ben Kenobi would say.</p>
<p>Quantum entanglement plays a role in modern physics and it is a binding principle for matter and energy. However, quantum entanglement on a large scale is difficult to achieve, and even more difficult to observe in living creatures. </p>
<p>What about the Force as “an energy field created by all living things?” </p>
<p>Physicists are only just now studying the effects of quantum entanglement in biology, in a relatively new field called “quantum biology.” </p>
<p>There is <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/nphys1652">circumstantial evidence that processes in large biomolecules could be influenced by quantum entanglement</a> effects.</p>
<p>The odds of entanglement playing a significant role in the processes of life seem to be low. However, as Han Solo would say: “Never tell me the odds!”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Wiebe receives funding from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Canada Research Chairs Program (CRC), and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).</span></em></p>The Force in Star Wars may be a form of quantum entanglement. Here’s how.Christopher Wiebe, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Quantum Materials Discovery, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/845352017-10-10T09:35:41Z2017-10-10T09:35:41ZLast Jedi trailer revealed – but is the Force still strong with this one?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189429/original/file-20171009-6956-12757qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">They're back!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.image.net/xads/actions/layout/endusersearch.do?search_type=basic&display_asset_matches=true&search_text=%22The+Last+Jedi%22">Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A long, long time ago, in a galaxy not that far away, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm40ux03gfE">trailer</a> for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace opened with the promise that “every generation has a legend”. Although it was not ultimately the film many fans were looking for, that trailer was very well received and – after Lucasfilm responded to fan demand and made it available online – it inadvertently ushered in a new era of online trailer viewing and audience commentary.</p>
<p>Almost 20 years later, the new Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi trailer faces a different pressure. While the trailer reveals (and obscures) much about the forthcoming feature, it also needs to steady the nerves of fans who are concerned about the health of the long-running Star Wars franchise. </p>
<p>With directors leaving (or being replaced) on the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-why-han-solo-movie-directors-were-fired-1015474">upcoming Han Solo</a> and <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/j-j-abrams-star-wars-episode-ix-director-colin-trevorrow-1202548094/">Episode IX</a> films, and the release date of Episode IX put back to December 2019, The Last Jedi trailer must steady the (space)ship – and set the stage for Disney to make <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/12/disney-star-wars-return-on-investment/">a lot of money</a>.</p>
<h2>So, how did it do?</h2>
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<p>It’s no surprise that this is a slick piece of modern movie marketing. The trailer will have been put together, taken apart, and tested to within an inch of its audio-visual life before its television and internet debut last night. </p>
<p>Notably, the two-and-a-half minute taster is linked by four pieces of significant dialogue – from Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), Rey (Daisy Ridley), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) – and none of them hint at a happy ending. Visually, we get a fast-paced montage of new (and old) locations, characters, and much-loved Star Wars iconography. This includes glimpses of X-wings, TIE-fighters, AT-ATs, the Millennium Falcon – and a species of birdlike critter that may or may not be the new trilogy’s Ewok. In many ways, it is reminscent of the darker second instalment of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back.</p>
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<p>Trailer audiences responded positively to familiar iconography when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbxmsDFVnE">The Force Awakens</a> trailer was released two years ago. At that time, my <a href="http://www.participations.org/Volume%2013/Issue%202/5.pdf">trailer audience project</a> found that <a href="http://www.watchingthetrailer.com/">people responded most positively</a> to nostalgic cues from the classic, original trilogy. “You saw the Millennium Falcon” and “Harrison Ford’s appearance” were key positives. </p>
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<p>But while The Force Awakens trailer featured the star return of Han Solo and Chewbacca aboard the Millennium Falcon and spin-off Rogue One the looming presence of the Death Star, The Last Jedi arguably features no such whizzbang moment. Instead, the moody monologues of Luke, Rey, and Ren (who may or may not be trying to kill Princess Leia) suggest a gloomier narrative focus for the film. Newer characters Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), BB-8 and Finn (John Boyega) are only briefly glimpsed, with the latter fighting Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie, badly wasted in The Force Awakens) on what appears to be the rumoured casino planet Canto Blight.</p>
<p>The three most suggestive moments, then, are those that push the story in a new direction. First, Luke’s apparent (we can never be sure how much we are being misdirected) worrying about Rey’s power, echoing Ben Solo turning into the darker Ren and Annakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader, complicates the expected Luke-Rey training narrative. Then there’s the hint that Ren and Rey could work together, leading to further speculation about Rey’s heritage (as the main new lightsaber-wielder without a clear Skywalker or Kenobi connection). </p>
<p>For me, however, the most intriguing moment is when Ren and General Leia (Carrie Fisher) seem to share a telepathic connection in the midst of a major space battle – a connection which possibly prevents him from firing on her ship. As Leia’s Force sensitivity is rarely discussed in the films, this could be leading somewhere important.</p>
<h2>Are we being duped?</h2>
<p>Of course, the trailer could be a masterpiece of misdirection, editing together elements that may not be directly related in the finished film. After all, the success of the initial teaser for The Phantom Menace still rankles with some trailer viewers – one noted “I’ve been burnt before (see Phantom Menace)” – while others are wary of trailers more generally. </p>
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<p>Indeed, some viewers have adopted Yoda-style exile to try and avoid trailers completely, hoping to create “a fresh cinema experience” so that they won’t “get spoiled by it” – an opinion Last Jedi director Rian Johnson seemed to share. On Twitter, he first advised fans NOT to watch this latest trailer.</p>
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<p>But then changed his mind, shouting:</p>
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<p>Overall, The Last Jedi trailer strives to achieve the same balance as The Force Awakens – harking back to the past while promising a new future. As one of our survey responses noted, The Force Awakens trailer did “a good job of triggering nostalgia while introducing new concepts and characters”. </p>
<p>While The Last Jedi may lack The Force Awakens’ Han Solo moment, its suggestion of Luke’s expanded role, more detail on Rey’s background, narrative complications, and at least three major battle locations, including one which looks startlingly like the AT-AT assault on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, will calm nerves around the franchise, and ensure a healthy audience come December 15.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it seems the Force remains strong with this one …</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith M. Johnston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Audience research suggests Star Wars has still ‘got it’.Keith M. Johnston, Reader in Film & Television Studies, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.