ST Philosophical Themes in the Sequel Trilogy

Lucas indicated on a few occasions that the sequel trilogy would engage with philosophical issues. The first two trilogies occasionally touched on questions of what is truth (Obi-Wan's "certain point of view"), morality (Palpatine's opera house speech about good being a point of view and Obi-Wan's "only a Sith deals in absolutes") and attachment (Yoda's advice to Anakin.)

I am creating this thread now for when hints or spoilers arise that indicate which philosophical themes the trilogy will, in fact, engage with. I am hopeful that there will be something of substance in these films and that Abrams and co will be brave enough to engage with some philosophical issues and have not abandoned this aspect or make it too simplistic. I hope for something more than a few vague statements from Yoda.

If Luke has changed a lot, questions of what constitute's one's identity and whether a person's selfhood/personality is fixed or ever changing is one aspect that they could touch on. Is some essence of the Luke of today the same as the callow youth from Tatooine or is the notion of a fixed selfhood an illusion?

 

- You're better off with chaos than with dictatorship
- emotions are a good thing as long as they're not malevolent

 

I feel like there is already a thread pertaining to ideas like these.

 

I've been thinking consistently since 2012 that the ST will deal with a more neutral view. Arguably, the PT focused more on the dark side and the OT more on the light. I've found that there's a huge lack of attention to the grey side of the Force. I feel that the ST will be, in many ways, sort of a medium balance of PT and OT

 

That would tie in if there is a more ambiguous view around the nature of good and evil and they may draw on notions of moral relativism (a little less crudely than Palpatine did in his opera house speech, I hope though!)

 

Rumor has it that when Luke finally turns up at the end of the movie, he's basically a dark Jedi, so it will be interesting to see where this leads us in VIII and IX (provided Luke survives). I doubt they'd want to repeat the whole Anakin/Vader thing by having Luke be a completely evil Sith Lord, but there's definitely room for new philosophical dynamics with this new "grey" Luke.

My first question in regard to this matter is what happened to Luke to make him dark and unheroic? He's been missing for thirty years, so what happened to him in the meantime? Was he just digruntled and burned out by the state of the galaxy? Were there too many expectations placed upon him? Did he become a hermit only for it to effect his mind in some way? Perhaps the galaxy no longer accepts Force users (in general) given what's happened during the rise of the Empire period, which forced Luke into hiding. The other side of the coin is how will Luke get out of the rut he seems to be stuck in?

 

Where did this rumour come from? It hardly seems plausible given what just happened on Skellig....

On the broader topic, I'd love to see some more exploration about the Dark side vs. Light side, done in some interesting ways, possibly bringing in some moral relativism. It's most likely to come in a training scene, but maybe I'm just itching to see that some more. The Yoda scenes in ESB, especially the cave, are my favorite from the whole saga so that might explain it.

 

It seems to me that the OT dealt with the immediate, the present or the center. Although the PT was the backstory to the OT, it was always about the future. What will be. By this logic I think the ST should be about the past. It should deal with the big, open questions. How did we get here, and understanding that, how do we resolve it (the problem).

The title "The Ancient Fear" hints at the possibility of this.

 

I just now realize that The Ancient Fear is just the opposite of A New Hope. Sounds more like a working title.

 

The nature of good and evil would seem to be the big one