Download a PDF of the Leader’s Guide for the Movie Guide: The Last Jedi.
Download a PDF of the Participant’s Guide for the Movie Guide: The Last Jedi.
Movie Themes:
Good vs. Evil; Identity; Removing Ties to the Past; Self-Sacrifice; Universalism; Wealth
Introduction:
The Last Jedi is the 8th installment in the main Star Wars series. It was released on December 9, 2017, to critical acclaim and a fair-share of backlash to how this entry expanded the Star Wars mythos. For church leaders seeking to use this film in a youth setting there are a few things to note.
The first is the underlying principal that undergirds this study guide. Namely, that the gospel-event, Christ’s life, death and resurrection, was such a momentous event in history that it has spilled over into every aspect of existence. We can find shards of the gospel in literature, movies, pagan belief systems, science, nearly anything that you can imagine has been affected in some way by Christ.
The gospel that is found in non-Christian sources is only a shard of the gospel, an echo, if you will. If existence was a calm pool, then Christ’s entrance was a large stone striking the center, causing waves and ripples. This guide is aimed at looking at some of the ripples that can be seen in The Last Jedi.
It is my hope that you can use this movie to showcase Christ both in the ways that this movie affirms the Christian story and the ways that this movie contradicts it. Ultimately, we are called to be in this world but not of it. If our youth are to live in this world, then they need to be able to discern many messages that are being thrown at them, and to be able to separate what is negative from what is positive.
A few things to note about the Star Wars universe. Star Wars is premised on eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. The Force is an impersonal, universal, mystical and supernatural phenomenon. In The Last Jedi, like much of Star Wars, good and evil are in an eternal struggle where neither will triumph over the other, they can only hope to be equal.
This message is antithetical to the Christian religion. We firmly believe that Christ has conquered sin, death and the devil. At the end of time, evil will not be in balance with good, but will be resigned to the lake of fire. Our hope is in good triumphing over evil for all time.
With this in mind, help guide your group to ground their hope in Christ. The Last Jedi is a popular movie and can be, with discernment, an edifying experience for you and your group.
Watching the Movie:
This guide can be used in multiple ways. The first is to watch the movie in its entirety and then host a discussion afterward. The benefit of this approach is that it will be the most entertaining and the simplest to execute. The down side is that the movie itself takes 2.5 hours and any discussion on top of that will make for a very long event.
The second suggested way is to have everyone watch the film beforehand and then go through the discussion questions. This guide will provide both a chronological and thematic approach to the questions and you can choose the method that most appeals to your context.
Before you sit down to watch the movie, take out something to take notes with and write these two questions on it:
- What do I like most about this film?
- What do I like least about this film?
By taking notes throughout the film, even sparse notes, it will enrich and enliven the group discussion afterward. If you’d like, you can even go over the Group Discussion questions in brief beforehand so as to know what to look for while watching the film.
Download a PDF of the Leader’s Guide for the Movie Guide: The Last Jedi.
Download a PDF of the Participant’s Guide for the Movie Guide: The Last Jedi.
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