Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director Rian Johnson Reveals His Interpretation of the Mirror Scene

Rian Johnson has revealed his interpretation of the mirror scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The director has taken a lot of flak about the entire movie. But, fans are quick to defend the filmmaker from some of that criticism. He spoke to Sariah Wilson about the polarizing scene. Something people continue to debate to this day is the true meaning of that mirror cave that Rey finds herself in midway through. It's a very subjective moment because the audience really gets an opaque version of what she sees. For some fans, that bit of mystery is something to be debated. But, there's a chunk of the fanbase that wants those answers definitively. Luckily for that group, Johnson seems down to oblige, but in this moment of fandom, a lot of folks won't even let the "word of god" dictate what certain scenes mean to them. Check out what the director had to say.

Basically, Johnson wanted to create a parallel between that moment and Luke in the cave from Empire Strikes Back. So, our hero has to look insider herself for answers about how she fits into the story. It's not going to come from Luke, or Kylo Ren, or even her parents. Basically, it can be viewed as a moment of self-determination. But, unfortunately, the director decided not to give people the bloody play-by-play.

Rian Johnson on the dark cave mirror after I asked if she saw Ben: Similar to Luke going into the cave in ESB, it is left open to your interpretation. He didn't want to be definitive about it so that it wouldn't take away from what you got out of it.

— Sariah Wilson (@sariahwilson) February 21, 2021

In some comments with WIRED during a panel for Knives Out, Johnson also made his feelings clear about the fans who objected to the diversity in his film.

"If someone's responding to diversity negatively, f— 'em," Johnson began. "If anyone didn't like the movie, I'm not saying that's why they didn't like it... It wasn't surprising at all to me, I grew up as a Star Wars fan. And I grew up- I was in my twenties when the prequels came out and this whole idea that it's all been sunshine and roses and suddenly everybody's yelling at each other is baffling to me."

He continued, "And I feel like people care deeply about Star Wars, and every single person has a slightly different version of what they think Star Wars is. And so much of the fun of it is arguing about it. Since we were kids, right? On the playground, you're yelling at your friends about who would win in a fight... It's part and parcel about the passion of being a Star Wars fan."

Do you love The Last Jedi? Do you hate it? Let us know down in the comments!