10 Movie Messages Everybody Misunderstood

6. Don't Kill The Past, Learn From It - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

What Everybody Thinks

With the recent release of the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there's been disdain from many fans over the implication that the upcoming film is going to serve as a more sentimental and nostalgic finale to the sequel trilogy.

Some complained that this would fly in the face of the message posited in The Last Jedi, where Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) endeavoured to "let the past die", while Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) similarly seemed content to bury his history.

This, in conjunction with the film's many subversive twists and anti-fan service moments, has widely been interpreted as writer-director Rian Johnson's mission statement - forget the past and focus on the present.

The Real Message

But conflating Kylo Ren's directive with that of Johnson is a major mistake, and not at all what he's really saying. You need to turn to Yoda (Frank Oz) to get to the real heart of the matter, who tells Luke (Mark Hamill), "The greatest teacher, failure is."

And given that Yoda is pretty much the wisest character in Star Wars, it's pretty safe to say his sentiment reflects Johnson's true feelings - that the past crucially can't be forgotten, and where possible, it must be learned from for a brighter future.

When you look at it like that, taking Kylo Ren as a strict avatar for Johnson's creative process seems, well, a bit daft.