Discussion Other sides of the Force?

Do you think the ST will introduce new ideas about the nature of the Force? For instance, perhaps it's more complicated than simply a "dark" or a "light" side, but rather more like a spectrum (something like the emotional spectrum of the Lanterns in the DC Universe. Say, the Sith represent anger while Jedi represent willpower or something). Maybe in the years after ROTJ, Luke goes off to explore the history of the Jedi and Sith, and in his investigation discovers these new sides of the Force.

Perhaps instead of the Sith, another group of Force-users aligned with a different negative or neutral side of the Force appear to threaten the galaxy.

Thoughts?

 

I don't think they will mess with the duality of the Dark/Light. We may see some new insights into Jedi thinking, especially given what happened to the old Jedi order. But that duality is so ingrained into Star Wars that it would be a mistake to start tinkering with that.

I do think that we could see dark side being represented by something other than Sith. Fans obsess over that word too much in general IMO.

 

Duality is central to Lucas' concept of the Force. Unfortunately, with Lucas out of the picture, the Force could end up being whatever someone wants it to be, and Lucas' view of the Force could be thrown under the bus.

 

I don't believe they would be so foolish as to mess around with such a central tenet of the franchise, especially with Kennedy in the picture.

 

I wish I could be so confident, but there will likely be a lot of pressure from Traitor worshipers. Lucas is famously not very verbose at times, as Carrie Fisher will tell you, and his views are often misrepresented.

 

They are making a movie made for wide theatrical release. They aren't going to be pressured by a minority of film goers who even know what that book is. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the audience at large. This is billion dollar business we are talking about here.

 

For simplicity, they probably won't mess with the Light/Dark Side idea because once you start introducing gray areas, things get a lot more complicated from a storytelling view. How do we know if someone is a true Jedi/Sith, or leaning one way or another? Although Disney wouldn't surprise me, I think that sticking to the yin-yang idea would be the easiest to pull off for the writers because it is already so firmly entrenched in the SW universe.

 

I hope you're right. Duality doesn't seem very popular these days. To clarify, what I'm primarily concerned with is the possibility that the new writers will show up with a revisionist view of the Force, as opposed to random fans.

 

I think Kennedy will keep things generally in line with what we know of basic tenents of Star Wars. I wouldn't worry about it too much, at least with the big picture kind of stuff like the nature of the force.

 

I completely agree. I want the existing view of the Force to stick around, because that's what makes SW what it is.

 

Take, for example, the concept of the balance of the Force. Why am I worried that new blood will screw it up? Because I've seen many people screw it up constantly, on a daily basis, for years.

IMO it all comes down to how much influence over the project Lucas may or may not retain.

 

I would also prefer to maintain the OT's more mystic view of the force, as opposed to the PT's slant towards the biological. They don't need to go out and contradict the PT view, but to de-emphasize it would be nice.

 

It worked in the OT because 1. we hadn't seen the Force in action before then, and 2. the only good practitioners were basically washed-up has-beens who have magical powers. I think that we've now seen what Jedi/Sith were like before the OT, that a compromise will have to be made towards that end. Getting a mystical view of the Force would be nice, but I think the story has gotten to the point where it can't just be "that one Power that no one believes in" anymore.

 

Meh, the biological outlook in the PT was a mistake to introduce. It wasn't necessary.

 

Both can easily be maintained because they are not in conflict. In fact, the PT does not present a more biological view of the Force. It only presents a biological basis for Force sensitivity, which had already been indicated in ROTJ. The Force itself is no less mystical in the PT than it is in the OT, and it is no less biological in the OT ( where it is described as an energy field generated by living things ) than it is in the PT.

 

It's true that they aren't technically in conflict. I just think one is far better than the other, and it was a mistake to tinker with it in the first place.

Sort of like what we are discussing here now. I think maybe they learned their lesson there too.

Obviously, I am not a fan of midiclorians.

 

The PT doesn't really tell us what the Force is; it doesn't need to. The definition from the OT still applies. It's the same Force with the same biological inheritance that we had already witnessed in the case of the Skywalker clan. In the PT we have Palpatine calling it "the great mystery"; we are led to believe that it has a will; we find that midichlorians have a special relationship with it; we are told that the dead transform into it; in a somewhat off-film context we learn of the living Force/unifying Force dichotomy; we hear a Jedi master say that nothing happens by accident. It has arguably lost none of the mystical quality attributed to its presentation in the OT.

 

It just doesn't work for me. I don't like it, I never did and never will. I understand their artistic choice, I simply don't like it. There is no explanation out there that will make me like it more.

Being a fan doesn't mean I have to agree or like everything they do.

I also don't think it's an accident that we saw less of things like Midiclorians and Jar Jar as the series went on. Lucas was aware that it wasn't working with audiences.

 

Jar Jar was reduced, the Midis needed no further info.

And The Force was only mystical in a symbolic sense. It was described from the beginning as an energy field, not a magic field.

I have seen it over the years that people think being a Jedi is boring because they are not "cool". Sith are evil though they try to imply a grey area so the Sith are not evil so they can pretend to be Sith in their own mind because they think they might look good in black.

One can use the Force without being a Jedi and still be good. Whatever the case a basic duality can be maintained.

 

I don't see any way this idea has any merit whatsoever. There's plenty of gray shading in everyday life and I'm sure it will be explored in the ST but there's no middle road of the Force. You're either light or dark.

 

I have a strong doubt that they will introduce any more sides of the force. As stated up top the duality of the two makes the Force interesting to us... or to me at least. BTW I really think you can only be on the light side or the dark side of the force. I do not think there is some sort of grey area.

 

I don't know that we will get more "sides of the force", but rather more about the prophecy, which will likely give us a bit more about the force itself......

 

It's an interesting question. As my avatar might suggest, I found the Mortis story arc in TCW interesting. I think that added something to our knowledge of the Force. I like the idea of Luke making new discoveries about the Force, perhaps going into some kind of self-imposed exile to wrestle with important force-related matters - e.g. Mortis, the Whills etc. It doesn't have to be those two or two at all, but you get my point.

 

-) The Imperial Knights
-) The Prophets of the Dark Side
-) Other religious orders (such as the Mind Walkers)
-) Leor Hal and his Potentium movement
-) ...

 

Agreed. If anything, they will explore dark siders with good intentions/light siders with bad intentions. That would be the 'gray area'. The actual sides of the Force remain consistent.