Coming from someone who genuinely liked the movie and recently re-watched all the films:
>What's with the post-empire Republic? Did it literally get destroyed without ever getting any screen time?
>Why are the Resistance and the Republic two different entities? Wouldn't they just be the army of the Republic?
The lack of explanation between these two groups is my major gripe against The Force Awakens. They are major players throughout the entire film, yet they never get any explanation beyond "we're the good guys".
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't recall these two entities ever being properly explained.
>>63892093
The Resistance is the Republic's proxy force, unofficially fighting the First Order while keeping them formally at peace.
>>63892250
Well that's pretty cool; why didn't that get explained in the movie?
>>63892488
This film was all about moving from the old to the new. The focus was really on the characters and their introduction.
I think 8/9 will be heavier content wise since we've got that and nostalgia out of the way now.
Think of the Galaxy now being broken into two like East and West Germany. The Republic on one side and the Order on the other. The two are at a cold war, neither of them being openly aggressive OFFICIALLY.
But the Republic finances the Resistance to carry out off-the-record attacks
>>63892488
It did. In a single speech the bad guy general explained everything and any non-retard could make sense of it
The Republic wouldn't destroy any entire planet
Stop being edgy
The galaxy was left in a massive power vacuum after the defeat of the Empire.
A big chunk became the reinstated Republic, with levels of prosperity and affluence on par with the old pre-Clone Wars Republic, but much smaller in scale and with a less centralized executive branch (as to prevent another Sheev from rising).
Another big chunk is the First Order, which is just the old EU Imperial Remnant with a new name. The FO territories of the galaxy still operate under old Imperial law, with Snoke taking Sheev's place.
Most of the galaxy is now relatively lawless chaos in the wake of the loss of Imperial control and a weaker Republic; individual, almost feudal planetary governments. Think Tatooine, but on a much larger scale of the galaxy.
The Resistance is a private military run by old rebels like Leia and Ackbar which patrols the neutral zone between the Republic and First Order, and seeks to fight off the FO within said neutral zone. The Republic itself doesn't fight the FO in no man's land because to do so would be to ignite another galactic war... but they have no qualms donating arms and ships and supplies to the Resistance to do it for them.
The FO just fucks everyone's shit up family by blowing up the planet that's currently hosting the senate during the course of the film (unlike the old days the capital planet switches around to discourage the growth of an entrenched corrupt senate culture like on Coruscant). This will no doubt have massive repercussions in Episode VIII.
>>63892093
I I imagine it's like the US during the civil war. Republic = north
First order = south
And the resistance is operating in the south essentially. So they are allied with the republic but not directly inside of it
>>63892987
I don't disbelieve you, but where is this info coming from? Almost none of it was stated in the film. It really fills in a lot of what was missing.
Republic is a legal state, Resistance is a guerilla army. The Resistance is secretly supported by the Republic but Republic denies all connections with the Resistance even though everyone is aware of it.
It's basically like USA and ISIS.
>>63893112
So basically they're space nazi confederate southern german rednecks now? Damn that's a lot of zionist bogeymen condensed into one antagonist faction, bravo JJ
It's like the Republic is US and the resistance is the mercenaries that US funds to fight Assad in Syria
>>63893128
The visual dictionaries and novelization
There's a surprisingly large amount of political crap in this movie but it's all where it should be; behind the scenes in Wiki-able lore dumps instead of taking up an hour of screentime
>>63892093
>>63892093
You don't get it because they makers of the movie simply don't care.
They shitcanned the extended universe. The distanced themselves from 1,2,3 which was basically just lore galore.
They just wanted that "feeling". The more I think of this movie, the more I'm willing to forgive the prequels.
>>63892488
I think JJ gave audience goers like you a little too much credit. While normal people like me and the anon that explained the situation were easily able to see the situation using context and reasoning, special movie goers like you just quite aren't up to the task yet. Don't worry, it's a little intimidating some times but never be afraid to ask someone else a question if you get confused or don't understand something. I'm proud of you.
The destruction of the new republic was my biggest problem with the plot simply because it resets the political climate of the universe to the way it was in the OT. It's like nothing progressed in 30 years.
