Ok so this site isn't happy with my quote carving, and I'm not going to redo all of it. So I'm going to just copy your posts without the official quotemark system. Anything with ----- words ----- is meant to be what you have said that I am replying to.
Anyway, the way Owen talks to Luke, it's explained that it's apart of his chores to maintain and fix the droids. Anyone that worked on any type of farm has some passing knowledge on how to maintain said equipment.
I'm glad you mentioned this, because it actually supports my point. There are lots of things that viewers are just expected to fill in the blanks on. So if it's ok to just assume that Luke is good with fixing droids because they are common devices, and thus it's as common knowledge as operating a car (also as common as a spaceship), then it should be ok to assume the same of Rey. Now, don't get me wrong, I AGREE that it's perfectly fine to assume Luke knows how to fix/maintain droids despite them not explicitly saying so in the film. The OT clearly established them as commonplace items in their universe, so much so that a junk/scrap truck drives around and regularly sells second/third hand droids to the locals for money, and it's an established form of economy for them.
My issue is that this same level of suspension of disbelief isn't awarded to Rey. People carve down so finely on her credentials, that it's like they want the director to have a character hold up her certification to the camera showing her passing flight school. Which is just stupid. I just personally don't see why it's such a huge logical leap to say "ok she works on ships all her life, and ships are as common as CARS in the Star Wars universe. So I don't have a problem with the idea that she knows how to fly a freaking cargo ship that is a massively produced vehicle used across the galaxy." It's like seeing her pull up in an SUV made by Ford or something, where there are millions of them out there on the roads, and calling bullshit on the idea that she knows how to drive it. Despite the mythic level of fan worship for the Falcon, the reality is that it's a stock built craft, that was on an assembly line, it's not special, it's controls are about as standard issue as a steering wheel and brakes/gas pedals.
Nobody had an issue with both Luke and Finn being clueless about how to shoot turret guns in a combat situation, yet they both adapted within seconds and were picking targets out of the sky, in both New Hope and Force Awakens. And nobody had an issue with people just TELLING us that Luke is a good pilot, despite no actual on-screen examples of it, until the climax where he's tossed into a starfighter and sent into the front lines of a massive air battle with gun emplacements.
And I don't have an issue with that either. I'm just pointing out that a lot of the things people seem to call BS on when it comes to Rey, are just as often things that happened in the OT, sometimes the same topic, other times a similar bit of handwaving, and nobody cares.
Nobody cared that a CHILD of 6 years old, is able to fly a pod racer at lethal speeds in a regular tournament, despite not being old enough to possibly even have had his balls drop yet. But hey, he's got the Force in him, so it's ok, we'll just handwave it away. But a young woman, with YEARS of life spent doing the same stuff as Anakin (fixing and maintaining the vehicles she is skilled at piloting), who equally is strong in the Force, is somehow a bridge too far for people.
It just seems like an incredibly petty thing to waste time complaining about, when it's a regular feature of fantastical storytelling, when you are trying to get a big story fit into a specific run time, and have to edit stuff left and right.
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And the only abilities I question Rey on having is being able to push into the mind of a massively strong force user who's had training by virtual Gods of the Force.
Luke was always streaming with Midichlorians, but he needed training to not get his by a zapper. And then the Force Ghost of Ben to tell him to let go and how to trust in the force. That was it for a New Hope.
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Ah but you see, I think you are missing what the actual "training" was that Ben gave Luke in that film. He didn't teach him any specific stance or posture to allow him to block those blaster bolts, he told him a very specific trick, one that actually supports the idea of "Force users can just pick up shit on the fly." It's in their discussion of how the Force works. Ben tells him that a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him, and Luke specifically asks "You mean it controls your actions?" To which Ben answers "Partially. But it also obeys your commands." That's a very telling set of answers. Saying that the Force partially controls your actions, but also obeys your commands, pretty much says "You can basically toss an idea to the Force on what you want to accomplish, and the Force will help you out in doing it. You don't need training in that thing, whatever it is, in fact, your conscious self, and act on instinct." Ben says that exact line. "This time, let go of your conscious self, and act on instinct." And it's at THAT point that Luke is able to actually deflect the bolts. Not because of rigorous saber training, by letting go and letting the Force flow through him. And they had a similar point stated by Maz Canada about Rey letting the Force in. Which she does and is thus able to fight of Kylo Ren.
And the idea that a Force user makes up new powers on the fly is also equally established by Luke. We never saw any evidence that a Jedi could use the Force to pull objects around, and we certainly didn't see any examples of Luke being taught that. But he just pulls it out of his ass in Empire, upside down, in a moment of stress and panic, and the audience was fine with it. They also didn't establish that you could send a Force Tweet to a friend in a starship, but look pulls it out of his ass, again, in a moment of stress and panic...and...actually he was also upside down in that moment too! So apparently being upside is conducive to improvising Force abilities! So the idea that Rey is able to push back against Kylo doesn't bother me. I always sort of pictured it like a pushing match between them. Rey is at first, off guard, and overwhelmed, but eventually is able to set her "feet", get some leverage, and start pushing back. She can feel how he's doing it, and thus knows how to counter it. Just like you could immediately know, if you had your hands locked with someone and you were both pushing against each other's grip, the direction you need to apply your muscle strength to keep him from pushing you back.
And if the response to all of that that I just posted (not necessarily you specifically, just a general counterpoint) is "yeah but we never saw her get any training in that stuff" I against point to the fact that we never saw Luke get any training in how to do anything like what he actually does in the films. Yoda doesn't teach him saber techniques. He doesn't teach him Force Tweeting. He teaches him Backpack Parkour, Handstand Force Juggling (something he technically already figured out for himself at that point) and how to have crazy Force visions of his friends in pain....actually AGAIN he was upside down when that happened! Holy shit I'm just not realizing that! And NONE of the things we see him being trained in, the specific actions we see, were later reflected in his actions in Empire. But it's ok, because we just understand he's coming up with stuff, because he's in tune with the Force, and it's a massive Handwavey power that lets you come up with all kinds of tricks when you need them. So if it's ok for Luke to do that, it should be ok for Rey to do it too, without having to show her work to appease the overly critical opinions of the audience.
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Luke did almost nothing overly Jedi the whole of the first movie. I literally don't care of Rey is more powerful than Luke. But knowing what I do of the force, there are people who are bursting with Midichlorians who do nothing but have maybe above average luck due to it. She harnessed it. And it might have been explained in the last movie how she could do it (haven't seen it), but I can see how it would rub people the wrong way.
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They explained it in Force Awakens, like I said above. It's the "Let it in" line from Maz Canada. About letting go of her conscious self, and acting on instinct. The same starting lesson Ben gave Luke. And it's got the added benefit of being something that someone could be doing all their life and not know it. You know, like Kid Anakin. Who Qui-Gon specifically says the reason he is so good at pod racing is he's channeling the Force instinctively. He's not just lucky because of it (though that's probably one manifestation of it.) He says the Force is basically giving him heightened reflexes and senses, allowing him to make up for his shortcomings of things like being SIX years old xD . He even tells Anakin to trust in the Force and his instincts right before he starts the pod race. He doesn't give him a crash course in reflex training from the Jedi temple, he doesn't have to. He just has to remind Anakin to use the Force.
Which is my issue with all this Rey criticism about her being justified in knowing how to do what she does, when there are tons of examples from the other films, from the books and comics, and from the tv shows, of people without any training, being able to use the Force, and it's fine.