Saga How should the Force work?

This question is motivated by Han Solo's line "That's not how the Force works!" Prompted by this sentence, I think it would be interesting to revisit uses of the Force throughout the saga and ask whether the way that the Force works is fulfilling for the audience.

I believe it would be more meaningful to develop criteria to judge individual uses of the Force instead of isolating examples and merely establishing whether or not they contradict previous lore and examples. In particular, I am all right with criticising uses of the Force all the way back to Hope. I would also prefer to avoid a "the Force can work any way the creator wants it to" line of argument (in-universe it would be an equivalent of Hume's argument regarding the principle of uniformity of nature), as it would render the discussion redundant.

With the above as a starting point, I think the following are reasonable questions to raise when asking whether the way that the Force works is fulfilling for the audience.

• Has the audience seen a similar usage of the Force in a previous film which would lead them to find the current usage reasonable?
• Does introducing a usage of the Force make some other scenes silly because it would seem that the easiest way to solve a problem in another scene is to use the Force in a similar way there?
• If the second point occurs because the creators wrote themselves into a corner in a previous film, what kind of compromise would you accept? If you're the kind of person who tweak details in your headcanon, how would you do it?

• Do you expect some things to be easier or more difficult to accomplish with the Force, and why?
• Given that the Force is supposed to have a moral and spiritual significance, is it fulfilling for the Force to act in this way?

To avoid letting this discussion become purely theoretical, I'll raise a simple example of a usage of the Force that I think should have been cut: Force speed. The audience only sees Force speed used once in the films, when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape from droidekas, and it leads to the question of why Obi-Wan didn't use Force speed during the battle with Darth Maul. In my opinion, the films do not lose anything by cutting this usage of the Force, while making the narrative tighter. (Out of curiosity, are there any meaningful uses of Force speed in the TV series or EU?)

I'd be interested to see ideas and examples that others have!

 

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Tis is bit of a tough one. Mostly because we as fans, can only interpret so much from the creator who made the force in the first place...
However, I still have my thoughts on this.

The force would work for the primary narrative purpose and has to stay within it's own worldly boundaries. Meaning, it can't break it's own rules for the sake of contrived and conveniences, thus making the force seem less thematic and depth of story, but making it seem like it's for the sake of the plot for whatever reason.

I'm a bit tired so my words are disjointed and such, sorry

The Force speed, could have been cut yes. However, if you look at it closely, it doesn't affect the main story because it did not rely on that aspect. It becomes more of a "nitpick" than anything else after you analyze it, but it still should have been cut for the sake of making things less complicated.

EDIT: Don't have time to further get into this but these are some of my thoughts now..

 

I think Obi Wan did indeed use ''force speed''( albeit offscreen) during his first duel with Maul on Naboo. Look at 1.47. He is almost near the opposite end of the long catwalk( or a quarter of the way) from Qui-Gon and Maul then cut a few seconds later. Obi Wan is very close to the force fields where Qui-Gon and Maul are fighting,

 

Because he had just used the Force to make a massive jump between catwalks. Was it ever established that a Jedi can use the Force non-stop? I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine that one can't do that. Think of it like stamina or something...

 

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate your points. I'd rather not get bogged down discussing individual examples, though - I'd prefer to keep the topic on overarching criteria that the audience has regarding how they feel the Force should work (recognising that this may differ from person to person), and then apply that criteria to numerous examples, instead of just one. The intention of the example of Force speed was to illustrate the first two criteria I had raised.

 

I think the force should work as
1 a force field of sorts enhancing abilities such as speed and jumps as well as moving things with ones mind.
2 a Cosmic unity sort of things offering knowledge and guidance when necessary.

The only exception would be lightning which is the only overtly offensive ability it has (All others such as telekinesis is mostly for defense in the Jedi way, though the Sith twist it into an offensive way.). I wasn't very fond of how the old EU seemed to just make up random force powers every week, The force may be infinite in power, but individuals ability to use it is limited.

 

Why does Yoda run away after his blocking of Palpatine's lightning? He burnt out. Using the Force to wield a lightsaber with such skill that you can block fast moving things like blaster bolts, wielding it faster than a regular swordsman can, these things do not use as much power as a Push, Speed, Deflecting things.

 

I like this passage that Lucas wrote around 1980 (I think) on the force as a bit of an explanation.

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“The Force really doesn’t have anything to do with the lightsaber. Anybody can have a lightsaber. It’s just a weapon like a pistol, and Leia could use the lightsaber as well as anyone else. But she really hasn’t had any training with a lightsaber because she doesn’t really like them; she prefers pistols. The Force is really a way of feeling; it’s a way of being with life. It really has nothing to do with weapons. The Force gives you the power to have extrasensory perception and to be able to see things and hear things, read minds and levitate things. The Force is a perception of the reality that exists around us. You have to come to learn it. It’s not something you just get. It takes many, many years. Luke is on the road to knowing the Force, but it will be another twenty years before he actually begins to cope with it on a real level. He’s still an amateur. As far as Luke knows, Ben is the last of the Jedi Knights. But there could be more. Obviously Darth Vader knows the Force, but as far as we know at this point, Luke is one of the last surviving apprentices of the Force. The Force is always there, however. Anyone who studied and worked hard could learn it. But you would have to do it on your own.”

I think the Force is, as mentioned in the passage above, something that has basically exists in everything. It can be used to your advantage if you believe strongly enough in it (and yourself). It doesn't confer specific abilities like 'push, speed, whatever'. You can do those things if you believe and concentrate strongly enough. Think of Yoda lifting the X-wing in Empire, how hard he has to concentrate. You shouldn't be able to throw your opponent around like in EpIII (as there's not enough time to concentrate that strongly), and the Force should not make a force user nearly unbeatable in hand to hand combat (by a non-force user) like in the PT era. Exceptional physical force, determined and focussed should be able to overcome a physically much weaker force user. Overall it is should be something that can be used to assist and augment your own abilities beyond those of a normal person, but it doesn't imbue superpowers, as the concentration for such acts would be very great.

And I'd like to point out the last three sentences. Anybody can learn the ways of the force through belief and maintenance of knowledge. Being a Jedi does not make the force exclusive, but the Jedi have merely dedicated their lives to belief in it and so are stronger in it.
Overall I'm with more of an OT interpretation, not the PT (and now ST) 'Jedi/force users as superheroes' one.

Just my $129.99 $0.02

 

I like to think of the Force foremost in terms of your second point and second in terms of your first point. To me, Force-sensitive beings are beings who have the privilege to be able to perform certain physical and mental actions that ordinary beings cannot, but there is an accompanying expectation of noblesse oblige - they are expected to use their abilities to help the galaxy attain a state hinted at by that cosmic unity. In the Star Wars universe, whether or not one has the potential to develop these abilities is determined at birth, and one can, to a certain extent, choose for oneself or one's wards whether or not to hone these abilities; however, it's believed that it's generally better not to try to avoid honing those abilities (pretty much the same attitude as towards learning to use magic in Harry Potter), and this leads to the Jedi Order that we see.

From this starting point it's interesting to explore what abilities Force-sensitive beings have to assist them in their mission, and to a certain extent it's reasonable to say that if they are able to fight more quickly, they should also be able to run more quickly. However, I think that there's also a moral and spiritual significance behind certain Force powers (a notable example being the Jedi mind trick - a high-powered version of ordinary people being able to influence others through speech), and if one explores Force powers through too physical a perspective, one runs the risk of reducing their moral and spiritual significance. In this sense keeping the repertoire of Force powers more limited helps keep the focus on the significance of each Force power, although a reduced variety may lead to boredom due to repetition and a query about why Force powers are so limited. From a story-writing perspective, I would also say that the wider the range of Force powers, the larger a can of worms one opens up, simply because the storyteller doesn't actually have experience using Force powers in real life and so might not necessarily think of a solution to a problem the way a Force-sensitive being would.

 

Yes, I didn't number them to say one is more important than the other, I did so as they came to me. But eloquently said.

 

Well, I don't think mind reading was ever a part of the force. Sensing emotion, yes. Forcibly removing information, no. I'm not sure what happened in TFA...

I have no problem with force speed. There was never another time to use it in the story; it had its place.

 

Vader in ROTJ reads that Luke has a sister.

 

And in addition The Council reads Anakins mind in episode I about missing his mother.

Though I do see where your coming from, nowhere has it yet shown that people can outright FORCE/Torture peoples thoughts out of there mind. But that is one of the few complaints I don't have with TFA, its not that big of jump, i'm thinking.

 

The thing is, in TFA it looks, when you haven't thought it through, like it's a "new" power - in the same way that levitating a laser bolt is new - but this is only because, rather than remotely and effortlessly reading his opponent from a distance of a few meters as Vader and Windu could, he has to be close and hold his hand over their face and strain himself to do so, which implies that he's rubbish at it IMO.

 

It's the emotion Vader reads, the love for a sister. Just as it's an emotion Mundi reads, Anakin's love for his mother. Jedi have never been mind readers. I'm sure Vader would have had a lot more success with Captain Antilles had he just read his mind, instead of breaking his neck

 

LUKE Your thoughts betray you, father. I feel the good in you...the
conflict.

VADER Give yourself to the dark side. It is the only way you can save your
friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially
for...

VADER Sister! So...you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed
her, too.

Look like they talk about mind-reading (thoughts), but then Vader makes it clear it's only about feelings / empathy.

And apparently it only really works between Force users, yet Palpatine is somewhat at a disadvantage regarding Vader and Luke:

VADER (after a beat)
My son is with them.

EMPEROR (very cool)
Are you sure?

VADER I have felt him, my Master.

EMPEROR Strange, that I have not.