Star Wars: The Last Jedi is trending on Twitter, again.
It began with a Twitter thread regarding the sacred Jedi texts that appear in 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which ignited yet another online debate among fans about the Star Wars film. "[Apropos] of nothing, I'm reminded of how, in [The Last Jedi], the Jedi Sacred Texts are held to be worth burning because they're 'a bunch of old books' that are 'not page-turners,'" Twitter user PEG said in a lengthy thread.
Specifically, this thread is referencing a scene between Luke and Yoda in director Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, wherein Yoda burns the sacred Jedi texts so Luke can "look past a bunch of old books." "I've been told that the books are saved in the end," PEG said. "That's fair enough. But the point is about how the movie feels about old books/traditions. What makes the Jedi compelling is that they're an ancient order with powerful esoteric knowledge and the movie is like 'LOL, nope!'" Author of Hillbilly Elegy J.D. Vance weighed in as well, saying that the scene -- and movie -- not only ruined Luke but "ruined Yoda, too."
This thread has prompted responses from Star Wars fans across the board. Writer and Twitter user Jordan Black referred to the thread as an example of an "unbelievable lack of media literacy." According to Black, "The Last Jedi is trending because people don't understand the very basic message that obsessively holding onto the past (pictured below) is in fact a bad thing."
This is not the first time Johnson's The Last Jedi has sparked a debate amongst Star Wars fans. Mark Hamill, the actor behind Luke Skywalker, has said that the version of the character that appears in the 2017 film is "not my Luke Skywalker." When Hamill was asked to return as an age-regressed version of Luke for the Season 2 finale of Disney+'s Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Hamill thanked director Peyton Reed for giving him "the unexpected opportunity to revisit my character when he was still a symbol of hope & optimism."
Hamill's comment that the Luke that appeared in The Mandalorian was "still" a symbol of hope suggests that the older version seen in The Last Jedi was not, sparking thousands of replies from fans on Twitter, who argued that despite Johnson's depiction of Luke as a disillusioned hermit cut off from the Force, the character is still a symbol of hope.
While The Last Jedi received critical acclaim upon its release, it garnered criticism from long-time Star Wars fans, including Star Wars novelist Alan Dean Foster, who called it "a terrible film." However, Frank Oz, the voice of Yoda, has come to the defense of the film -- and of Johnson -- in the past, saying that Johnson is "a great director, writer & human being" and that "writers & directors are not here to fulfill audience's expectations. Great work breaks expectations."