PT An idea why midichlorians were unpopular

Hey having perused the internet I found an interesting reason a lot of people wouldn't like Midi-Chlorians needless to say this reason makes me like the idea more.

Basically having more of these microbes makes inequality a fact of life. If you have to have a certain midi-chlorinated count to be a Jedi it implies average Joe and Jane can't change anything.

Now I like this midi chlorian differences mean yes sorry average joe and Jane don't matter. Bloodlines do(the sky-solo clan in Legends).

What do you all think? Does the inherent inegalitiarian nature of midi-chlorians cause an dislike for the concept for a lot of fans?

 

Yeah I think that´s part of the reason, along with some fans maybe wanting to keep the force a mystery.
I kinda like the idea of the force being related to a certain gene, because it makes the whole setting more sience fiction and less fantasy.

 

Or as Darth Plagueis showed, Science fantasy.

But access to the force not being granted to every one alive in the GFFA has to upset people wouldn't it?

 

The force was inequal before Midichlorians. Luke and Leia inherit the force from Anakin in the OT. We don't see Han or Chewie or Lando using the force. Only those gifted few descended from the force.

If anything, the PT suggests a more equal concept of the force, as Shmi is completely non-force sensitive, while her son develops powers on his own.

 

It would, that´s maybe the reason the Jedi keep the midi clorians a secret. So the average people belive the force is gifted randomly.

 

Attunement to the Force was never equalitarian in the OT. Some people are more attuned than others, just like everything in life. Every living being has midi-chlorians, so everyone can connect and use the Force in some level. The higher the concentration, the higher your potential and the easier it is to tap into the Force.

Why they are unpopular? Because people don't pay attention to what was said and let their misconceptions dictate their willingness to accept what's being introduced/explained to them.

Midi-chlorians are not a secret, just like the components of a cell are not a secret in our world. They are part of every cell in every living being. To make a midi-chlorian count, Obi-Wan used the equipment available in Amidala's ship. If it were a secret, he wouldn't be able to do so.

 

People are free to pick what they like, and don't like. IMO it's pretty presumptuous to postulate, that people in general don't like a concept, because they have misconceptions about it. Some people might, but I know perfectly well what Lucas was going for, but I still don't like it.

 

I don't see how the midi-chlorians "demystified" the force, midi-chlorians are nothing more than an intermediary between the physical realm of droids, flesh, and the carnal and the metaphysical world of visions, life energies, and elemental universal forces, the arcane, and the mystical.

 

While I don't particularly like midichlorians, people seem to take them out of context. They are not the Force itself, but the broadcasters of force potential. I also don't see anything wrong with bloodlines giving way to powerful force users. Someone with a very high count can squander their potential, and vice versa. Anakin Skywalker had the highest midichlorian count in history, and yet he never surpassed Yoda or Palpatine. Granted, it was because he became more machine than man.

 

I think the force is more meaningful when it is compared to religion over science. In particular, the idea that characters across all trilogies can sense the force in someone negates the need for midichlorians to exist.

In a sense, it would be as believable if QGJ just said "This kid's connection to the force tells me we should train him". The feelings and senses of Jedi/Sith have been the greatest broadcasters of force sensitivity in the films. They didn't need to introduce another one.

 

People didn't want to go deeper into what Lucas was trying to add to the canon. It by NO means was written as a was to "explain" the force. It was just a gauge of force potential and a way to add another sublayer that human beings exist because of a symbiotic relationship with the lifeforms around us. It's all over the Phantom Menace. The symbiotic relationship of the gungans to the people of Naboo etc...

 

If you want mystery you have to keep it vague. If you can measure something part of the mystery is gone.

 

One reason might be that they don't like the circumstances behind Anakin's conception. But it really is the only way to explain the power in the Skywalker bloodline and Anakin's incredible conflict and unbelievable redemption. His unique ability has to be tied to his origin and his genetic makeup.

"It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together."
"Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist"
It's just expounding upon what we already know in the SW universe. Giving depth to what has to be explained later.

But with this, it also can create a basic understanding for why the Jedi and Sith conflict started. If there is a fundamental inequality in power available to people of the universe, a Sith might see that and say "See. I am meant to be as powerful as I can. You're weaker so I should rule you."

But if all life creates it and gives the power, then it gives the Jedi the grounds to believe they are to be responsible with it and not use it with disregard to the lives of others. Because if the select people who use it, kill the few who don't have it, it threatens it leaving only the Jedi to basically "repair"/balance the force.

So the most divisive aspect of SW is in fact its very heartbeat. LOL

 

To me it seems they were simply there to serve as an explanation of just how strong the Force was with Anakin.
"Even Master Yoda doesn't have a count that high"..There you go, this kids special.

 

It seems I've stimulated the hornet's nest.

 

People also feel it was unneeded, excessive exposition, it never bothered me at all.

 

I didn't really have an opinion of midichlorians before reading Darth Plagueis. After reading DP, I love them.

 

Indeed, they are. But the topic is not about those who don't like them out of mere personal preference, but the criticism addressed at them. That's what my post is about.

Not just human beings. Living beings.

 

I think it removed a lot of the mystical/spiritual aspects of being in tune with the Force, and made it sound like it was just a simple biological matter of having these 'things' in your cells. Made it seem like a medical condition. Whereas, in ANH/ESB/ROTJ, there was definitely a suggestion that some might have greater "Force sensitivity", innately, but there was also a suggestion that the Force was accessible to anyone, with sufficient faith, study, meditation, and so forth. The midichlorians seemed to make the Force about biology, genetics, and science, and not about faith, mysticism, and character.

 

Being a massive Plageuis and Qui-Gon fan, I love midichlorians. That being said, I think that Chirrut Imwe is a good showing of your suggestion, SHADOW-JEDI. He is not a force wielder, but he still is attuned to it in some nature through all those things that you mentioned.

 

The primary reason is because the midis took the mystery out of the Force. I have no problem with this.

 

The midi chlorians are not the Force. They are messengers.
There is no demystification at all. Something mysterious is something unexplicable, not something vague. Something vague is just something that stay unexplained but is not unexplicable. And the PT keep it unexplicable, in these times just the religion and the science were not in conflict, as was during the time of the Byzantine Empire for example, where the ancient achievments was conserved and embeded in the understanding of the world when it was possible. The conflict between science and religion is Western phenomenon, even phenomenon of the modern times, as were the Imperial times in the movies.
What the prequels did is to present more holistic vision to the world where the science served to the religious views. In the world of the Empire this was broken and the spiritual, mysterious religious things were forgotten in favor of the human creations or better said monstrosities: machines and machines for killing (the paradoxical Death Star).
Also I don‘t see nothing misterious in the explanation of the Force in ANH: an energy field. It sounds to me like pseudo sci fi definition a la Star Trek. In PT the explanation is more religious like, although this word is never said.

 

The fact is, that the PT introduced a scientific component to the interaction with the Force, that wasn't there before. In the OT Force users could sense the Force interacting with another individual (The Force is strong with this one), whereas in TPM the Jedi needed some kind of scientific confirmation, that the Force was indeed exceptionally strong with Anakin. In TPM it seems the Jedi trust science more than their intuition. I would have preferred keeping science out of it. The Jedi feeling Anakin's potential would have been my preference.

 

I think the reading of midi-chlorian levels has a scientific element to it, yes, but it seems to be no more scientific than poking a person and saying, "Look, blood."

And the relationship between Force Users and midi-chlorians is far from scientific. The symbiosis is less naturalistic and more mystical.

 

I have to respectfully disagree - with the idea that the midichlorians don't make the Force into a scientific "thing" versus a spiritual "thing".

Basically - although the movies don't get into this in a lot of detail - people with high Force affinity have that affinity because their bodies contain more of these "things" . The midichlorians sound a lot like mitochondria (SP?), and from my limited knowledge, there was (is?) some question whether mitochondria were once independent organisms that merged with other living things, or whether they developed as a part of cells. Regardless, these are physical, measurable things found in the human body (and in animals? plants? The movies understandably don't say). You can do a blood test and find them. Measure them. Quantify them.

Thus Yoda isn't amazingly in tune with the Force and its wisdom so much because of his character, or faith, or meditations, or the like, but rather because he hit the genetic lottery. Same for Sidious, Analkin, Qui-Gonn, you name it. Tapping into the Force doesn't require special discipline or insight, it requires a high midichlorian count. It's biology. That's why some have suggested Anakin was literally less powerful once his limbs were lopped off - he lost body mass/midichlorians. That's about as literal, as tangible, as physical as it gets. Sure, training can help you harness what you have, but all the training in the world doesn't matter if you fail that blood test.

Now - you may like this explanation. It may be fine for you, it may work for you, you may enjoy Star Wars when it leans more on 'science' and less on 'fantasy'. That's totally cool. However, for some of us, this attempt to make the Force into a science experiment, to ground it in blood tests and biology and the like, versus grounding it in spirituality, character, wisdom, etc? It is less appealing, less interesting. That's all.