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Quick Question About Midi-Chlorians


Zerimar Nyliram
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The fandom's response is disproportionate to the actual time allotted to midi-chlorians in the story. Personally, I don't see how the concept of a biological connection to the force undermines the ethos of the entire series.

Those are two distinct statements. Again, the length of time is irrelevant - Fandom response to anything is going to be disproportionate when measured in tIme. We spend years here breaking down two-hour movies. There's no time-equivalency formula for these things.

But I get you were being a bit extreme to make a point. That's why I responded with the possibly-extreme "ethos of the entire series" thing (although I think I was being less extreme there).

 

As a concept, midi-chlorians doesn't exactly contradict every other movie in the series, but it adds nothing to them, and as Odine points out, it does seem counter to the original idea. It tries to quantify something that was previously only qualifiable. It brings science in to explain mysticism. And that's what made Star Wars unique in the sci-fi genre, that blending of advanced technology and fairy-tale magic.

It's pretty clear that everyone involved in the films today is regards it as a mistake and is staying far away from it.

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Because the force transcends not just biology but science itself.

 

"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."

And the midi-chlorians connect the "luminous beings" to the "crude matter". :devil::)

 

I'm not convinced the new crop of filmmakers consider it to be a mistake as much as it just isn't a relevant concept lately.

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To be fair, Yoda echoed a rather Gnostic sentiment with that line in Empire, presenting the spirit as pure and corporeal matter as somehow corrupt, or at least unimportant. The midi-chlorians presented a more balanced view that body and spirit act together as two equally important halves of a whole, as Orthodox Christianity and several other religions teach.

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I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. OB1 being a lying liar with his pants (robe?) on fire. This has bothered a lot of people over the years, and probably amounts to about the same amount of screen time as midi-chlorians. And yet everybody here has referenced it maybe once. Maybe.

 

The "rule of two" is another example.

 

I've just always been curious why ... THIS ... is a hot-button issue people just can't let go. (Ditto for Ani and the sand comment. I didn't even catch the line in the theater, or didn't remember it. It wasn't until the internet wouldn't let it go that I looked for it on the DVD)

 

Why is it that mofos can let go of the Ewoks, Han having the romantic maturity of a toddler, so many random annoying things about the prequels ... But this ... This right here, this barely mentioned midi-chlorians thing ...THIS is the last straw.

 

I'm not mad I'm curious.

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For me it's what I said before. One of the key elements of Star Wars that always attracted me was the blending of futuristic technology with mysticism. I was not attracted to any other sci-fi as a kid... actually still not too much.

So that one line undermines the mystical element and makes it sound like it can all be measured and perhaps even explained by science. So this isn't about science and magic anymore? It's just science?

 

It doesn't matter that it was ninety seconds. It would take me two seconds to tell someone to go fuck their mother, I think that two seconds is all it takes to do it.

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I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. OB1 being a lying liar with his pants (robe?) on fire. This has bothered a lot of people over the years, and probably amounts to about the same amount of screen time as midi-chlorians. And yet everybody here has referenced it maybe once. Maybe.

 

The "rule of two" is another example.

 

I've just always been curious why ... THIS ... is a hot-button issue people just can't let go. (Ditto for Ani and the sand comment. I didn't even catch the line in the theater, or didn't remember it. It wasn't until the internet wouldn't let it go that I looked for it on the DVD)

 

Why is it that mofos can let go of the Ewoks, Han having the romantic maturity of a toddler, so many random annoying things about the prequels ... But this ... This right here, this barely mentioned midi-chlorians thing ...THIS is the last straw.

 

I'm not mad I'm curious.

Probably because regardless of screen time, everything you mentioned is really dumb, and boxed the narrative into an idea that people hated.

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I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. OB1 being a lying liar with his pants (robe?) on fire. This has bothered a lot of people over the years, and probably amounts to about the same amount of screen time as midi-chlorians. And yet everybody here has referenced it maybe once. Maybe.

 

The "rule of two" is another example.

 

I've just always been curious why ... THIS ... is a hot-button issue people just can't let go. (Ditto for Ani and the sand comment. I didn't even catch the line in the theater, or didn't remember it. It wasn't until the internet wouldn't let it go that I looked for it on the DVD)

 

Why is it that mofos can let go of the Ewoks, Han having the romantic maturity of a toddler, so many random annoying things about the prequels ... But this ... This right here, this barely mentioned midi-chlorians thing ...THIS is the last straw.

 

I'm not mad I'm curious.

The one that I've always thought people made WAY too much about was Jar Jar stepping in poop. When you watch the scene, he just steps in it, makes a short comment and then keeps walking. It's not even the focus of the shot and he's practically in the corner of the screen with the camera panning to establish Mos Espa for the first time as it happens, the shot going continuing for a solid five seconds beyond when Jar Jar starts walking normally again. As Jar Jar antics go, it was one of the more mild scenes.

 

For bodily function sins, I thought the farting scene just before the pod race was much, much worse. That one took three independent cuts to put together, had much less restraint, and wasn't a part of any greater purpose.

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I'm not convinced the new crop of filmmakers consider it to be a mistake as much as it just isn't a relevant concept lately.

This just occurred to me (because I think about Star Wars every day on my morning commute. What?), but I'm pretty sure when I watched The Clone Wars animated series last year (for the first time) there was no mention of midi-chlorians there either. I could be wrong, but I don't remember it (and we've established it is a thing that even a momentary mention of gets my blood boiling). So even Filoni was shying away from it. Just saying.

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I'm involved in fandom. People complain about all those things SD mentioned. :p

Your point is I'm wrong and everybody complains about everything equally. I just find that really hard to believe. From pop culture references in other movies, to YouTube and podcast rants, to fan convention panel guest snark, to individual convos, the one thing people bitch about way more than anything else is midi-chlorians. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't be so mystified about this is. If the amount of bitching was equal across the board there wouldn't be a mystery here.

 

Although I think some of the comments here are probably on the right track about why.

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What I said almost a year ago - LINK

 

I haven't complained about Midichlorians that much (and didn't mean to imply that I did). I don't have a big list of specific gripes about TPM or the PT; I think there's a big long list of things that add up the overall tone / execution / whatever feeling wrong (for me), but I'd rather discuss the cumulative effect (and causes) of those things instead of the things themselves. If that makes any sense.

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I'm involved in fandom. People complain about all those things SD mentioned. :p

Your point is I'm wrong and everybody complains about everything equally. I just find that really hard to believe. From pop culture references in other movies, to YouTube and podcast rants, to fan convention panel guest snark, to individual convos, the one thing people bitch about way more than anything else is midi-chlorians. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't be so mystified about this is. If the amount of bitching was equal across the board there wouldn't be a mystery here.

 

Although I think some of the comments here are probably on the right track about why.

 

Perhaps because of your own strong antipathy to the midi-chlorian concept, you regularly see/read/hear and preferentially recall all instances of midi-chlorian hate? I'm not saying you're wrong about midi-chlorians being near the top of the pile (if hated concepts were ranked), but I think a comprehensive survey of all Star Wars fandom would reveal that the entire saga is hated, inasmuch as someone somewhere hates some part of the entire thing (lightsabers excluded, perhaps).

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The midi-chlorians thing never bothered me, actually. It reminded me of something Jack L Chalker did in his well World Series but other than that I didn't think much about it either way. The constant bitching about it though, that's gotten annoying over the years.

 

It is true that Jar Jar got it worse, but is it just me or has that died down over the years? Maybe because his role got so diminished over 2 and 3.

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I think it's just as bad, there are still always little jokes and references to him in interviews and events. Everyone knows who he is, whereas things like midi-chlorians only really bother SW fans. He isn't just considered the worst Star Wars character by a lot people but the worst of all time, so I don't think it'll ever really die down.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

 

This is why the whole idea that Rey got her powers too quickly or easily in TFA is silly. Rey actually did things to show she is powerful, whereas with Anakin we are essentially just told he is powerful and asked to accept it.

1. Only human capable of even handling a pod racer, and won a race.

2. Built his own pod racer and C-3P0

3. Passed the Jedi Council's test for reading their mind easily.

4. Did all the above at age nine with no training.

 

Not to mention he blew up the Trade Federation Command Ship by himself. Had he not done that, the Naboo battle would have been lost.

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