this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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It's only fast and loose to people that haven't ever ventured into the extended universe.
Force sensitive doesn't mean being overly powerful and able to weld the force like magic. That's just all they show in the films, so that's all that most people see.
There are a lot of examples of force sensitive individuals in extended universe materials that cannot wield the force in a "traditional" manner like the trained Jedi in the films.
As for dumb characters, that's also debatable, and I think it's more dumb viewers not understanding context. For instance, a lot of people think stormtroopers have terrible aim. Despite being directly told by Obi Wan Kenobi that they are great shots. They cite their poor aim on the Death Star, where they are actually driving the heroes back to their ship to escape. A ship that has a tracking device on it so the Empire can follow it back to the rebel base. Which we are also told directly by Vader and Tarkin. And those are overt situations where the viewer is told what is happening yet people miss it entirely somehow.
It's a nice point you make there with the storm troopers. It's just that the meme of their bad aim has already been canonized: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hd5nC_okac&t=81
Everyone always points to the one clearly fan service line tossed into a spinoff TV series clearly meant as a joke, while ignoring all other evidence from the movies and dialogue from primary characters where there clearly isn't a joke being made.
Obi Wan Kenobi says, "These blast points are too accurate for sand people. Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise."
As the rebels escape the Death Star, Governor Tarkin and Darth Vader have the conversation:
Governor Tarkin: "Are they away?"
Darth Vader: "They just made the jump into hyperspace."
Governor Tarkin: "And you're sure the homing beacon is secure onboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work."
Leia even calls it out after they escape, even with all of the fighting we see on screen:
Princess Leia: "They let us go. It was the only reason for the ease of our escape."
Han Solo: "Easy? You call that easy?"
Leia: "They're tracking us."
Clearly, she also thought the stormtroopers' sudden ineptitude was suspicious.
Let's give them even more credit. It takes very good skills to act like you're shooting at someone but not hit them at some point. Add shooting at the Falcon but knowing where to aim to not disable it, both in the hanger and the TIEs. Hell, those TIE pilots might have known that it was a suicide run, being told by maybe Vader himself to give them a chase, but you better not win.