VidUKon 2019 Premiere: A Certain Point of View (Star Wars/Luke Skywalker)

[brokenmnemonic]

Song: - Nimrod
Artist: - Green Day
Source: - Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi/The Last Jedi
Vidder: - brokenmnemonic
Betas: - FinlandiatipuX
Spoilers: - Character... death?
Warnings: - Nothing major
Rating: - 12?
Disclaimers: - Not mine, by a long shot. No infringements intended
Downloads: at AngstNRomance.net (right-click and save as)

Short summary: My VidUKon 2019 Premieré, which is a direct result of my watching The Last Jedi and realising it was my Star Wars film. The film is all about how the lead characters have failed, and how they responded to that failure, and I realised that it was Luke's failures that really hooked me. Luke never finished his Jedi training, but ended up being single-handedly responsible for trying to ressurect the Jedi order after the fall of the Empire. He went from being a farmboy, to a celebrated hero of the rebellion, to a Jedi in training, to the only Jedi instructor - and failed.

Watch on Vimeo

Star Wars - A Certain Point of View from Broken Mnemonic on Vimeo.

Password: jedi

Comments

[croissantkatie]

Oh gosh, FEELINGS <3

[brokenmnemonic]

It's been a while since I made a vid that was literally throwing my feelings at people, so I was really nervous about this one - I'm delighted you like it :D

[colls]

I really love this vid.

[brokenmnemonic]

Thank you :) I'm not sure whether to try and find something else I have a lot of feelings about next year, or go back to something more lighthearted...

[colls]

decisions, decisions
(the "finding a vid" part of vidding is one of my favorite parts)

[brokenmnemonic]

It drives me potty ;)

[shadowscast]

Oh, whoops, you just made me cry.

[brokenmnemonic]

May I offer a handkerchief? Premieres was an emotional show this year...

[just_ann_now]

Oh, that was gorgeous! *wipes tear*

[brokenmnemonic]

Thank you :) I'm delighted that you liked it :D

[amalthia]

loved your video, great song choice and editing.

[brokenmnemonic]

Thank you! Back when I first started vidding, lots of people used this song for a vid, but I hadn't seen anyone use it in years, and it just felt really right for the idea I wanted to try and explore :)

Luke

[oldtoadwoman]

Lovely!

Re: Luke

[brokenmnemonic]

Thank you :D

[impala_chick]

Here via a recc, and this is so well-done! I already adore that song, but I love the way you weaved in past films and The Last Jedi clips to show how Luke has grown but yet is still not a fully realized Jedi in a lot of ways. I was especially touched by the way he seemed to be reminiscing about Han and Leia - it almost seemed like he knew he was better with them by his side.

[brokenmnemonic]

Thank you for the lovely comment :)

This started out with my just throwing all my feelings after watching TLJ onto a timeline, but whenI thought about it more, I realised there were several things I wanted to bring out, particularly around how Luke deals (or doesn't) with both guilt, and the sense of responsibility he feels from being the last jedi, rightly or wrongly - and the way he reacts to both by cutting himself off from everyone in his life who would argue with what's in his head. For all the emphasis on him being a jedi, a jedi master, the last jedi master, the founder of the last jedi temple... none of those were things that ever made him happy, and by isolating himself, he cut off everything good in his life and locked himself into stasis. His friendships with Han and Leia are things that brought him joy, and I really loved that at least at the end, the thing he did first was make that last connection with Leia. His life would've been so different if he'd acted differently, but one of the best things about TLJ was the way that he'd acted was entirely consistent with what we knew of his character, even though it was wrong and painful (and stupid, as Yoda or Obi-Wan would've told him, if he'd let them)...

[impala_chick]

Yeah, it's fairly obvious the responsibility of being the only jedi was not something Luke wanted. I do appreciate how you linked up TLJ with the original films, because that connection to his past characterization hadn't been so obvious to me before.

[brokenmnemonic]

I think one of the reasons I liked TLJ so much was because it defied expectations from some parts of fandom, where people were convinced the movie would be Luke picking up some Jedi superweapon to smite the First Order with. For all the things Luke's done - like decapitating Jabba's organisation - I think that the choices he eventually made in TLJ echoed those from ROTJ, where he realised that trying to solve something through force of arms was actively working against him. He put down the lightsabre in ROTJ, and he did it again in TLJ - initially for the wrong reasons, but then for the right ones. Of course, he was sarcastic as hell to Kylo, because... well, Luke's always had the streak in him, even before he met Yoda... but it felt so much like he was actually clear in his own mind about how the image he had of himself was wrong, that what he'd tried to do in founding that Jedi temple and in punishing himself afterwards was wrong, and how he could do something right. I think what he said to Leia mattered as much as anything else, and I love that they went that way. I'm sad that we won't get to explore more about who Luke could've been, but at the same time, it fits. In the end, he went beyond accepting what had gone before - he was able to make a positive difference, both on individuals and more widely, without harming anyone else, and just by being himself. The scene with Kylo is great, but the compassion and empathy he shared with Leia is what I loved so much, and seeing the scene with the children where they were re-enacting his last stand. I think Luke got lost for so long because he could only see the things he felt he'd done wrong, and because he was out of touch with his friends and deliberately cut off from Yoda and Obi-Wan, he didn't have anything to shake him out of that point of view. And it's so marvellously bittersweet, because even if someone says Luke could've done much more if he hadn't gone into that hermetic retreat, it wouldn't have worked, because he'd still have found other ways to lose himself. I think Rey shook him up enough - followed up by Yoda - to let him be how he was in that moment - and what we saw was someone who empathised so much with Leia, and wanted to give comfort; someone who wanted Kylo Ren to have the chance to change, even knowing that he might not; and someone who couldn't resist being sarcastic and cutting at the same time, because he's not a saint.

Sorry, I'm kind of throwing feelings and opinions at you, but it turns out I have more to say about Luke than I thought I did :P

[impala_chick]

Love these thoughts! There's definitely a lot there to explore, and his relationship with Leia is definitely the most powerful I think. Although Rey had a huge part in, as you say, shaking him up.

[jb_slasher]

My Luke feels, dammit. <3

[brokenmnemonic]

In all fairness, it didn't seem fair to keep all the feelings to myself... ;)