The Resistance Will Be Televised — The Politics of Rebel Rhetoric in “Justice League” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Warning: This post contains significant spoilers for Justice League and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Proceed at your own risk!
By: Ariana Aboulafia
Anyone who has studied film in any capacity, or who has spent an important portion of their life watching films, likely understands and appreciates the role that movies have historically played in reflecting our sociopolitical climate. For whatever reason, trends in particularly horror and science fiction films have reflected American cultural fears and anxieties for decades.
For example, according to J.P. Telotte, a professor of film and media studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in the 1930s many films centered around apocalyptic destruction, including Deluge and SOS Tidal Wave, two American films that depicted giant tsunamis that destroyed part of the United States. According to Telotte, these types of films are thought to be reflective not of a fear of actual tidal waves, or even any other form of actual apocalypse; rather, they stood as metaphors of the post-Great Depression and World War I shock and upheaval that, still, were shaking the country and the world. Similarly, in the 1950s a slew of alien-related films (including I Married a Monster from Outer Space, Invaders from Mars, and the incredibly popular Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and monster movies (particularly the horror classic The Blob) were produced, leading many film scholars to believe that these scary creatures were reflective of Cold War anxieties, particularly those related to communism.
Currently, there are certain trends in science fiction and horror films that reflect certain American fears that seem pretty similar to the ones we experienced over sixty years ago. For example, The New York Times noted that so many films have been made reflecting a fear of global destruction due to climate change that they can be considered a sub-genre all of their own, dubbed “cli-fi.” Similarly in an article for Vox, Aja Romano noted that the home invasion film trope that was popular in many of 2016’s horror films (exemplified in part through one of my personal favorite films of that year, Don’t Breathe) could be a metaphor for the growing white American fear, spurred on by Trump’s divisive rhetoric, of dangerous immigrants “invading” the United States and bringing danger and death along with them.
Recently, I’ve noticed a bit of a trend in popular fantasy and action films myself, particularly in the flop Justice League and critic-favorite Star Wars: The Last Jedi. At first glance, these films have very little in common, starting with their critical reception. Critics largely disliked Justice League, with Sara Stewart of the New York Post calling it “a pointless flail” and Chris Klimek of NPR saying it was “a C-grade B-movie where all involved fully satisfy their contractual obligations.” The Justice League film was perhaps particularly disappointing coming on the heels of Wonder Woman, an inspiring and engaging 141-minute display of pure girl power. Indeed, the best scene in Justice League comes at the very beginning, when Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman saves a bunch of children from a handful of nogoodniks. Without director Patty Jenkins, though, the rest of the movie — even the scenes with Wonder Woman, fall flat. It is, in general, achingly predictable, with special effects that look shockingly cheap and an at-best-okay performance from no one’s favorite Batman, Ben Affleck.
The Last Jedi, on the other hand, has gotten wonderful reviews from critics, and is “Certified Fresh” on film review website Rotten Tomatoes. Matthew Lickona from the San Diego Reader noted that the 152-minute saga is “punctuated by a few moments of genuine awe,” while Peter Travers from Rolling Stone called it “the epic you’ve been looking for.” Super-fans of the Star Wars franchise will, in all likelihood, love the film — personally, I’m more of a Trekkie myself, but found The Last Jedi to be an enjoyable romp through the various planets and galaxies and sides of the Force anyway. The effects are up to par with what you’d expect from the revered franchise, and, although Danny Elfman (who scored Justice League) is a wonderful composer in his own right, whose best work is likely one of his collaborations with Tim Burton, realistically there’s no one who can compete with John Williams when it comes to film scoring.
These points aside, there is one major theme that both Justice League and The Last Jedi have in common, one which I believe clearly reflects the particularly political fears and anxieties that many Americans, particular those that are members of minority groups, are facing today, in Trump’s America.
Justice League takes place after the death of Superman, in a depressed world that is reeling from the loss of the hero to so many, the man who personified hope and change and then was missing when we needed him the most. The villain in the film is, naturally, a monster who goes by the name of Steppenwolf, who is so powerful that only the combined forces of the Justice League — comprised of Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman — can possibly take him on. Batman travels the world trying to first find, and the join together, the five super-humans, and then to convince them all to put their differences aside and learn how to fight together. The five are a rather diverse bunch, considering that Cyborg is played by African-American actor Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa, who plays Aquaman, is half of Hawaiian descent; then, of course, there is the feminist badass role of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. And, eventually, to no one’s surprise, they find a way to link arms and stand as one, to fight against Steppenwolf for the good of all mankind.
There are certain parallels between this film and the current sociopolitical climate in the United States. The death and disappearance of Superman, the bringer of hope, and the darkness that came afterward can be seen as a metaphor for the ending of Barack Obama’s time in office and the descent of violence and racism that came afterward. The villain, Steppenwolf, can be seen as a personification of those violent and racist values — Steppenwolf is German for coyote, which may be a jab at the rising power of neo-Nazism in the United States, although that may admittedly be a bit of a stretch.
Ben Affleck’s struggle to join together the Justice League, however, draws a parallel between film and real-life that is a bit more obvious. The Justice League is a group of diverse and uniquely talented individuals that are at first preoccupied only with their own needs rather than the “greater good,” which is indicative of the larger, current struggle of the Democratic party. Still reeling from the loss of Barack Obama (and, perhaps even more so, from Hillary Clinton’s loss of the 2016 election) the Democratic party has been fighting to find their identity once more. During the 2016 election, they had branded themselves as nothing more than the “not-Trump” party, which proved to be unsuccessful. Now, Democrats (both those that are in office, and those that are not) must find a way to bring together various minority populations — women, people of color, Jews, Muslims, members of the LGBT community, immigrants, and more — and help them find common ground.
Batman is not a good enough leader to do this, as perhaps Hillary Clinton was not either. Perhaps, as in Justice League, an old leader will rise from the dead and orchestrate the troops. Perhaps not. But, for all of its bad points — of which there are many — Justice League does bring any person who currently feels that they are fighting against an unstoppably powerful force a message of hope, which is desperately needed at this point in time.
The Star Wars franchise has, in many ways, always been at least somewhat political, and more “woke” than it perhaps is given credit for. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the first trilogy was released, Princess Leia’s badassery was understated, and yet her most powerful moments were still obvious enough for viewers to realize just where she stood on women’s rights, in the midst of nationwide movement of second-wave feminism and glass-ceiling shattering. This was epitomized in several scenes, but perhaps most famously in the “I love you… I know” scene in Return of the Jedi, when Leia makes it clear just who was going to get the last word in her relationship with Han Solo.
Indeed, the entire theme of the film — of dark side versus light side, good versus evil, a suffocating and powerful institutional force versus “rebel scum” — has roots in age-old political struggles, such as those that motivated the Revolutionary War and World War II. But, in an age where Mark Hamill and Ted Cruz are getting into Twitter wars about net neutrality, it is hardly surprising that The Last Jedi is perhaps the most political film that the franchise has produced thus far.
As in Justice League, The Last Jedi features a diverse group of Resistance fighters — Finn, played by African-American actor John Boyega; Poe, played by Oscar Isaac, a half-Cuban and half-Guatemalan actor; Rey, the female protagonist who is played by English actress Daisy Ridley; and perhaps most notably Rose, who is played by Vietnamese actress Kelly Marie Tran. These people, regardless of their differences in background, race, and gender are joined together seemingly only by their hatred of the First Order, Emperor Snoke and Kylo Ren. But, as the film goes on, it becomes clear that the Resistance is bound together by more than mutual hate as they — like the members of the Justice League — attempt to find their identity once more.
Before going any further, I’m going to say this one more time for all of the Star Wars fans in the back — there are major spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own risk!
Anyway. Rather early on in the film, a large percentage of the Resistance — and most of its leadership — is killed in a bombing led by General Hux (and his odd, slightly off-putting sense of humor). In this same bombing, Princess Leia is injured, and new leadership must be appointed, in the form of the purple-haired Vice Admiral Holdo. While Poe angrily attempts to mansplain to the Vice Admiral how to do her job, and goes the route of a vigilante in spearheading an alternative attempt to infiltrate the First Order, Holdo (played by Laura Dern, who is probably best known for Jurassic Park and her Oscar-nominated supporting role in Wild) remains calm. It’s very easy to think of Poe as a hero, and Vice Admiral Holdo as a villain — she’s too conservative, sticks to the book and refuses to entertain Poe’s more radical plan that, in the heat of things, seems like the only way to take down the bad guys. But, in the end it is clear that Holdo had the Resistance’s best interests at heart, and gave her life to that cause.
In my view, there are many similarities between Vice Admiral Holdo and Hillary Clinton. Clinton, like Holdo, was not well-liked, to put it lightly, and was often accused of sticking too closely to the status quo and refusing to look outside the restrictions of party and politics. Perhaps, as Princess Leia says about Holdo, Clinton was simply more interested in preserving the light than in looking like a hero — more invested in her beliefs rather than her image. That doesn’t mean, of course, that she couldn’t have been a hero, if only we had given her the chance to be one. And, while this point is well taken, the difference of course, between Vice Admiral Holdo and Hillary Clinton is that Holdo was already in power, and didn’t need to win anyone over. Clinton, on the other hand, was trying to win an election to get to power — perhaps, if she had been a bit more like Poe, and a bit less like Holdo, things in our country would be rather different.
The Resistance’s loss of leadership only contributes to their struggle with a lack of identity. But, it soon becomes clear that the purpose of the Resistance is to fight for those that are the most vulnerable to the dark forces of the First Order; and, this obviously includes people of color and women, but goes beyond that as well.
There is a scene in The Last Jedi where Rose and Finn visit Canto Bright, a casino planet full of one-percenters and arms dealers that looks (presumably intentionally) quite a bit like the Bellagio in Las Vegas. These people are constantly entertaining themselves; one way that they do this is by betting on the races of giant, gentle animals that are tended by children and frequently whipped into submission. Finn and Rose free these animals, and Rose gives one of the child-caretakers her Resistance ring while on Canto Bright, showing themselves and every other member of the Resistance that they must stand up for the most downtrodden in the entire galaxy. And, while some fans may feel that the scenes in Canto Bright do not fit into the film, I believe that these scenes are some of the best — and most important — in The Last Jedi, because they help to solidify the motivations and purposes of the Resistance, as a movement and as individuals.
To this point, the most important scene regarding the Resistance’s identity comes in the form of the revelation about who Rey’s parents are. After The Force Awakens, there were many mumblings among fans that Rey could be related to Princess Leia and Kylo Ren, potentially by being Luke Skywalker’s daughter. The Last Jedi makes it clear, however, that The Force is not a family heirloom passed down only to those who share a bloodline — and, the fact that Rey has come from nothing and no one, and yet still has the potential to become an incredibly powerful Jedi, makes it clear that she is exactly the type of leader that the Resistance needs.
In real life, the actress who plays Rose — Kelly Marie Tran — embodies this rags-to-riches, American-dream story. As a Vietnamese refugee migrant, Tran’s father worked at Burger King to support the family. While in high school, Tran worked at a yogurt shop to save the money for her head shots, and is now the first Asian-American actress to star in a Star Wars film. In a nation that is increasingly unfriendly to immigrants, and to anyone who was not born with a silver spoon in their mouths, having these stories represented — both on and off of the screen — is incredibly important.
These stories show that the Resistance is so much more than a group of people who are against the First Order — they are a group who are fighting for a new world, a better world. When Finn and Rose are double-crossed by a code breaker, it is expressed to them multiple times that there is truly no difference between the Resistance and the First Order, between darkness and light. According to the code breaker, both are sides of the same coin, who use violence to further their goals and their selfish interests. This sentiment seemed to echo the voices of many Americans during the 2016 election, who expressed that Clinton and Trump appeared to be equally terrible candidates. But, as I hope these citizens have learned by now — and, as the Resistance learned throughout The Last Jedi — morality does, indeed, exist, and there is still a difference between light and darkness, despite what anyone may say to the contrary. Commitment to the light, to what is right, is what will allow for the survival of minority groups throughout Trump’s presidency.
At the end of The Last Jedi, the Resistance has been decimated to a mere handful of fighters, and things seem a bit bleak. But, their purpose and their identity has been clarified, which is seen most notably in one of the final scenes, wherein Rose tells Finn that the way that they will save the world is by saving the things that they love, and not by destroying the things that they hate. With this in mind, The Last Jedi ends on a barely hopeful note; almost in the same way that Doug Jones’s election to the Alabama Senate has instilled a mild, “new hope” (sorry, Star Wars joke) into Democrats and minorities throughout the nation.
Through small victories, and survival, and recognition of who we are now and who we are supposed to be, the Resistance — both in Star Wars, and in the United States — will somehow find a way to persevere through the oppressive crush of darkness.
I still have hope, and I still have faith in the Light.
May the Force be with us, all of us, now and always.
