Star Wars: Last Jedi defended by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Photo credit: Matt Crossick PA Wire/PA Images
Photo credit: Matt Crossick PA Wire/PA Images

From Digital Spy

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has defended Star Wars: The Last Jedi and its depiction of Luke Skywalker in a 2,000 word online essay.

The latest Star Wars adventure has been divisive among fans to say the least, one sexist creep even going so far as to cutting all the female characters out.

However, another major talking point has been the portrayal of Luke as a bitter and cynical old man – as opposed to the heroic, optimistic youngster we last saw him as.

Photo credit: Lucasfilm
Photo credit: Lucasfilm

Gordon-Levitt, who had a cameo in the movie, has now hit back at the haters – and insists it isn't because of his cameo or previous work with director Rian Johnson.

"Leaving Luke unchanged would have been a huge missed opportunity," he wrote in a Medium post, pointing out that events have moved forward decades for Luke.

"This gives the filmmaker and the actor an extraordinary opportunity to tell a story about one of the most universal truths in human experience - getting older."

"We all get older, and those of us who are lucky enough to survive our youth all face the joys, the terrors, the puzzles, the pitfalls, the surprises, and the inevitabilities that come along with doing so," he continued in his essay.

Photo credit: Disney
Photo credit: Disney

"Re-meeting our beloved protagonist decades after we last saw him, only to learn that the passing years have changed some of his most fundamental qualities, I'll admit, it's almost hard to see.

"But in that glaring contrast between the Luke of old and the new Old Luke, The Last Jedi offers a uniquely fascinating portrayal of a man's life marching inescapably forward."

The actor also praised the fact that Luke was a flawed character in the movie, adding: "A flawed main character is one of the main distinctions between a story with substance and a gratuitous spectacle."


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