Before I was actively involved in SW fandom, I wrote a really long essay trying to sort out my thoughts on The Last Jedi. One of my takeaways was that TLJ is a coming-of-age story. Every main character is on a journey of *self discovery.* No one's taking a ring to Mordor here.
Each main character has a mini coming-of-age drama that they play out against an antagonist/helper. There's no large overarching conflict that involves everyone. They each have a different challenge to overcome.
It’s a series of triangles, with a peer and/or mentor/elder:
No one works out their issues alone in The Last Jedi. Young people always need a foil—someone to challenge them or push them to grow.
But there must be friction.
They each have a mentor character who subverts the trope by being less than trustworthy or largely absent.
In The Last Jedi, characters lash out and kill off their “parents” metaphorically or literally. They all have different outcomes:
Finn knocks his authority figure, Phasma, down a fiery hole after his ideological awakening. It emboldens him, crystalizing his convictions
Rey attacks Luke ferociously after he misleads her. She lets go of the fantasy of her parents—her coping mechanism.
Kylo, who killed Han like two days ago, kills his father-figure/abuser, Snoke, and attempts to do the same to Luke, whom he considers the villain of his story.
Poe represents Leia’s “good son," but his parental rebellion gets projected onto Holdo. And even though Poe was in the wrong, it’s Holdo who sacrifices her life to carry out her plan, which is a whole other classic parent narrative.
In each case, the character’s turning point happens right after the parent is vanquished. After their parents are gone, they become slightly different people. Nothing has changed, but everything’s different.
“We are what they grow beyond.”
Classic coming-of-age stuff.
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