2,149. The Theme of Failure in Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi
Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy · Allen Voivod
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Show Notes
I hinted at us coming to this episode earlier in the week, about a thematic similarity between The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi. Well, here we are now: ready to talk about failure.
The Last Jedi wears this theme on its sleeve, so to speak - failure is actively spoken of, and Yoda identifies failure as one of the most important lessons Luke could ever have passed on to Jedi students. Luke, Leia, Rey, Poe, Finn, and Rose all faces failures in particular ways, and their character arcs are built around them learning lessons from those failures in order to succeed when things are at their darkest hour.
As it turns out, The Empire Strikes Back is very much about failure, too. We watch the Rebels suffer their first major onscreen defeat; we watch Luke fail time and again with Yoda on Dagobah; for every heroic deed by Han, the odds against his success get worse and worse until finally it all comes crashing down; and Leia, our take-charge heroine, has all control taken away from her.
We'll talk about this and more on today's episode... Punch it!
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