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emma_in_dreamI have clearly been reading too much fanfic because I misread the direction of the narrative in *Star Wars*.
I thought that when Rose and Finn were captured by the First Order, Finn would give some kind of inspirational speech in front of the assembled Storm Troopers to remind them that they could be free, that they could choose to leave the Order and that they were valuable. No such speech ensued and the plot continued to assume that blowing up Storm Troopers was fine because they are objects like the ships they man.
I had the same problem on a lesser level with Snoke’s guards who attacked after his death. To what end? If their job was to protect Snoke they had already failed, so why risk their lives? What were they getting out of it? (Unless possibly the way to become the head of the First Order is to kill off the previous head, in which case perhaps they were each out for the crown that Ren won.)
And in a broader sense, what do the Storm Troopers get out of the First Order? Why does the Rebel Alliance not prioritise pointing out that they value each individual and will pay them and make efforts to ensure they are not used as cannon fodder? They don’t even have to get them to defect to the Alliance; they just have to get enough soldiers to leave for life as moisture farmers on Tattoine so that the Order cannot man its ships and armies properly.
I am disappointed that the Storm Troopers continue to be an amorphous blob of people who are not spoken to.
ETA: This is not a complaint about *The Last Jedi*. It is merely an observation. If I want more about formenting rebellion against the First Order by freeing Storm Troopers, I’ll just go and read some fanfic.
I thought that when Rose and Finn were captured by the First Order, Finn would give some kind of inspirational speech in front of the assembled Storm Troopers to remind them that they could be free, that they could choose to leave the Order and that they were valuable. No such speech ensued and the plot continued to assume that blowing up Storm Troopers was fine because they are objects like the ships they man.
I had the same problem on a lesser level with Snoke’s guards who attacked after his death. To what end? If their job was to protect Snoke they had already failed, so why risk their lives? What were they getting out of it? (Unless possibly the way to become the head of the First Order is to kill off the previous head, in which case perhaps they were each out for the crown that Ren won.)
And in a broader sense, what do the Storm Troopers get out of the First Order? Why does the Rebel Alliance not prioritise pointing out that they value each individual and will pay them and make efforts to ensure they are not used as cannon fodder? They don’t even have to get them to defect to the Alliance; they just have to get enough soldiers to leave for life as moisture farmers on Tattoine so that the Order cannot man its ships and armies properly.
I am disappointed that the Storm Troopers continue to be an amorphous blob of people who are not spoken to.
ETA: This is not a complaint about *The Last Jedi*. It is merely an observation. If I want more about formenting rebellion against the First Order by freeing Storm Troopers, I’ll just go and read some fanfic.
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Date: 2018-01-02 12:53 pm (UTC)But I realise, looking back, that I didn't ever question the way the film treated the stormtroopers, even though I've read some of those fanfics too. I think that on some level I've come to take it for granted that the movies are going to go on treating them like objects.