"Can't we all just "let the past die"?" Topic

Asks Kylo Ren and James Whitbrook of io9:

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Kinda reminds me of this Orwell quote:

"History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present"
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Well, I say many have already let go of the past completely:

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So that Paradise is already here! Perhaps completely by 2084 :)

Dan

Is it a reference to Jar Jar?

No, I'm not going to let the past die! Have you taken a good look at the present lately?

Pfff. It's neither an original concept nor an original quote. And while on a personal level it can be a good thing to set aside past mistakes, there are plenty of things in our past that are as equally important to hang on to and indeed carry into and nourish in our futures. So what past are we killing? The one that taught us to love and value others? The one that expresses concepts of liberty and human rights? Those are from the past, too!

So as a concept, no, it's a problematic quote (and not really memorable, either. But then, neither is the film).

As a statement on the Star Wars franchise, it's also just as silly. The original movies were exciting, original and iconic. They had great, quotable lines, interesting characters, and an inviting setting. The current round of follow-ons are neither original nor iconic, and TLJ was boring, to boot. And the characters quickly descend into either the kitschy-cute or sad shadows of the original (Kyle Ren being a prime example; he *is* just an example of bad Darth Vader cosplay). Why should we kill the past for this? The truth is, Star Wars *is* its past. Every element that makes it Star Wars is from the original work. Kill those, and you don't have Star Wars. You just have a themeless morass desperate to make a story and a point…which, ironically, pretty much sums up the entirety of TLJ.

I'm more of a Star Trek fan …

Is someone seriously WANTING us to judge the Star Wars franchise solely on the last couple of movies?

Gutsy.

Stupid, but gutsy.

But, if we let the past die, what would be fight our tabletop battles over?
FREE MARS!!!

Ghostrunner

Perhaps they actually believe that you are only as good as your last performance(s), and that it makes it all good now. Let's all just put aside the majority of their work. :)

Dan
PS. As for our individual pasts, Parzival is spot on. Deleting the past from our minds is like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Instead of imagining that that the bad never happened we need to accept it and move on to try to do our best work and do so consistently. If we delete our mistakes, or never refer to them, then when will we ever learn how not to repeat them?

They want you to forget the good stuff in the past so that their new (horribly stale bad) stuff looks good…

They had great, quotable lines, interesting characters, and an inviting setting.

Ages ago, a friend sent me a list of thirty "unintentionally sexually suggestive" quotes from the Original Trilogy- ten from each. They were every one funny. And I knew exactly where each line placed and who said it.

Not because I'm another SW super-fan, but because they were that good. I have actually sat down and watched most of the prequels again (for the second time, two too many), for no other reason but to find ANYTHING vaguely quotable in them. There's nothing- lots and lots of droning, non-character-building exposition. And horrid acting. You know the director's garbage when veteran actors seem to be reading a menu without their bifocals.

The post Lucas "numbered" films aren't nearly so vacuous, but, with the hindsight of such artistic failure, ages to get their act together, and billions riding on their success, the results are more than a tad disappointing.