Star Wars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote a 2,000 word essay defending The Last Jedi

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One of the biggest debates over Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the development of Luke Skywalker.

Did he really need to act like such a grump? Are his actions in the film justified - or way out of line for a Jedi? It's been the subject of many a polite (and, disappointingly, not so polite) disagreement amongst fans, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was keen to share his own thoughts on the matter.

In a Medium post, the actor first wanted to clarify he's not writing out of a need to defend his good friend, and frequent collaborator, director Rian Johnson. Neither, he reassures, is it connected to the fact he actually has a cameo in the film.

This is merely Gordon-Levitt, film fan, writing here; one fascinated by Luke's shift from the "epitome of a hero", one who refused to kill Darth Vader, to someone who is "personally weird", "physically weak", and "morally questionable".

In his eyes, it's through Luke that The Last Jedi tells the story of "one of the most universal truths of human experience - getting older". And although it may be hard for fans with such a deep attachment to the character, it acknowledges that time does change who we are, sometimes fundamentally.

Furthermore, Luke is only enriched as a character with these flaws, since: "no one is a perfect hero or villain, we're more complicated than that, every one of us."

"A flawed main character is one of the main distinctions between a story with substance and a gratuitous spectacle," Gordon-Levitt continues. "It’s often through a character overcoming their flaws that a movie can really say something."

To him, this is a story about the importance of "not losing faith: faith in the outside world, faith in your allies as well as your enemies, in the future as well as the past, in the next generation that will take your place, and, yes, faith in your own damn self." This is the lesson that Luke himself learns.

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