the thing that really bothers me about tlj is that it tries to have it both ways on so many levels. all of its messages contradict themselves and cancel each other out. it wants to deliver the standard beats of a Star Wars™ movie but then it also wants to ~not go the way you think~. it says its about ‘letting the past die’ but spends most of the narrative rehashing the past and also acknowledging the cyclical nature of life and history. it tries to say that the skywalkers are menaces while also glorifying their power in the end, especially the ending shot. its like ryan literally could not decide between debunking myths or continuing them so he just blended them all together and hoped it would work. but it just ends up saying nothing at all
This is but my opinion, but I think it did chose which message was the right one.
Everyone who glorified the past, like Poe with his maverick tactics, Finn and Rose with their infiltration ploy, or Rey with her trying to copy how Luke turned Vader, utterly fails.
Everyone who reject the past, like Luke who decided to let the Jedi die, or Kylo Ren who want to burn everything to the ground, is shown to be wrong by having their actions ultimately futile.
Those who wins are those who finds balance, who accept the past, but also accept the present. In the end, Rey abandon Kylo Ren rather than persist in the fantasy that she can redeem someone who actively chose the Dark, and go help the resistance. Luke decides to play on his legend to inspire people, milking the best out of the past to save the present, rather than wallowing on the worse part of his life. Poe finally understand that suicide runs and heroics only get you so far, and decides to retreat rather than go out in a blaze of glory.
There is even a nice metaphor by the end, as Yoda destroys the tree that holds the books, but Rey kept the books. The past is not to be worshipped or romanticized. Rey took the essential, and the film let the rest burns in order to make room for a future without the hindrance of tradition.
