Since the Maker penned the first lines of Star Wars, poetic structure and rhythm have been integral. The ring theory truly brings this idea to the forefront, but whether or not he had this concept in mind or not, it is inarguable that George Lucas is a storyteller much in the vein of Dante and Shakespeare before him.

Now, generations on, we are discovering more and more rhythm in the deepest bowels of the galaxy created by Mr. Lucas. Yet it remains that he is no longer at the helm, and it begs one to ask if the poetic structure will continue in the same vein.

The Force Awakens, as the be all end of of current Disney-era canon, is the must look avenue for this discussion. In it, we see one very glaring connotation of rhythmic structure, that is either an introductory allusion or a final stanza: the landscape.

One oft stated criticism is that The Force Awakens is nothing more than A New Hope part deux, a remake in the simplest of definitions. However, this misses one of the grandest points of all of Star Wars, which is how history repeats unless we continually work to change it. In that vein, TFA is not a remake, but a re-establishment, a reminder, and a restitution of the importance of Star Wars as a mythology.

Quite plainly, this can be seen (literally seen) in the scenes. While many complain that Jakku should have just been Tatooine, it is important, albeit essential, that it is not. Else it would be nothing more than another form of the bad rap music we see today, where they rhyme the word only with itself. No, no, no, Star Wars is more than that. Star Wars is the Eminem in a world of Vanilla Ices, and in being so it has to sustain itself at another level. In the prequels, we needed to back to Tatooine because Anakin was the simple rhyme to Luke, the “say” to his “way.” But, regardless of who Rey is related to, she rhymes to Luke in the same way “orange” rhymes with “door-hinge.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kQBVneC30o

Further, her adventure mimics the twisting and manipulation of words that Eminem is famous for in how it encapsulates Luke’s journey. She goes to Takodana, a planet that looks erely like Alderaan with a twist of Dagobah, right after leaving the desert planet she’d known as home since her youth. Luke had meant to see the green of Alderaan, and in it find his own hope. But that was crushed, in the same way that Maz’s castle was destroyed.

From there, Rey goes to a snowy planet, where she starts to show the audience her first signs of her Force powers. Then, in one of the most direct allusions in the film, she pulls the lightsaber out of the snow, calls on the Force to survive certain death, and leaves to seek a mentor.

Finally, we arrive on Ahch-To, a planet covered in water, rocks, and greenery. Dagobah, although darker in nature, has the same three features. Yet Ahch-To must be brighter, because Rey is more in the light then Luke was when he went to Dagobah. So it therefore rhymes in its opposition.

At the same time, the end of the film rhymes with the end of the original trilogy in seeing Luke on a planet where he went to seek redemption (this time for himself instead of his father), and finding it in a place he could not have imagined.

Time will be the teller of whether this was the last sonnet written in the saga. It very well may transition to a more traditional story-telling format, a novel if you will. Yet, undeniably, whether The Force Awakens is the last rhyme or the beginning of the next great album, it is a metaphor well beyond the realm of what we have unto now comprehended. Such is what makes Star Wars such a great, and infinite, sandbox.

Comment below to let us know if you agree or disagree with our take… and of course the why!