[CaptainCrunch]

I get it, Poe is supposed to be on this hero's journey and evolution, where he goes from being that gung ho pilot who can only see the objective in front of his face while ignoring the big picture.


So he's stuck on taking out a Dreadnought and he ignores orders to take it out at the risk of the big picture.


Then throughout the movie he's supposed to evolve, to the point in the end as he's getting people to flee through the back door that you can stand up and say, the torch has been passed. At the same time Holdo is supposed to and Leia to a lesser extent are the mentors who bring him along this journey.


So realistically that journey really reaches the peak when he calls the retreat from attacking the super weapon death star tech door knocker, and then confirms when he rushes out the back door.


But realistically while Poe supposedly gets better at doing battle calculations, can you say that the change is actually sincere?



There's no question in my mind that at the start of the next movie that Poe will be the military head of the resistance, but here's the problem, because of the ham fisted way that his whole hero's journey has been handled, do we really believe that the audience is going to invest in him.


At the same time, JJ and everyone involved in this movie got too caught up in everyone has to have a major journey or aha moment in this movie.


I mean if we look at the OT and the main characters.


OT


Leia doesn't have a hero's journey, she's already there, she's too an extent the companion character, facilitating the journey.


Han had his entire hero journey in the first movie, after that he was the hero and reacted accordingly in the final movie, we didn't have a great moment of evolution.


Vader - not a hero's journey, but a redemption journey which takes place somewhat grandually, but he resists it to the end, so while there is evolution, its not really anything but the shock turn at the enbd


Luke - Realistically is the only real hero's journey through all the movies, he goes from the farm boy to the warrior to the wise man through the journey, but make no mistake the whole PT is really about Luke Skywalker.


So why does the ST feel confusing? Because they're trying to cram a bunch of major character journey's and revelations into 7 hours of movies.


Rey - The hero's journey of the Trilogy, she has to go from abandoned and broken and incomplete to being a full fledged wise jedi


Leia - She doesn't have a journey, she's the conduit for all of the hero's journey which is tough


Kylo - Major Antagonists hero's journey, goes from what is basically a one dimensional thug with anger issues to the evolution of of Thanos where he wants to basically end everything.


Poe - A major hero's journey from hot shot pilot to the next general of the republic who cares about his people.


Finn - Major hero's journey with too much screen time, goes from a number to a full fledge person, he's the Pinocchio of the story. They need to give him the love interest/sympathetic friend/moral compass/faithful companion, and its literally too much for a non main character.


Luke Skywalker - a rebooted hero's journey, where he goes from sullen and angry and withdrawn to the martyr.


The problem when you do too much character is that as a viewer you can't give all of the characters the attention that they deserve and the movie becomes too dense.


In a simpler time the formula was simpler and really made the hero/ the hero.


Usually you had


The hero-on the road of his journey, the usual formula is he or she goes from being a nobody, to being the incidental hero, to self doubt, top hero


The mentor - Guides the hero along his path


The bufoon/heart - the character that reminds the hero that along the journey its important not to lose your humanity/empathy/or joy of the journey



The antagonist - Creates the foil for the hero and the motivation for continuing down the road.


The faithful companion - The one who helps and sacrifices along the road


The love interest/damsel in distress/unrequited love/mother/father figure - could be any of these, but they provide the motivation of depth beyond the antoagonist


The obstacle/betrayer/voice of sober throught - The person or thing that gives the character pause.


Under those rules you follow one hero's journey that can become epic. In the ST there are so many things and journey's happening that you can lose track, or instead of a series of achievements, you get a series of forgettable mehs.