History Film / TheForceAwakens

* DowntimeDowngrade: For Han and Leia are quite obviously as much in love as ever, if not even more so, but grief over their son's turn to the Dark Side has separated them, as they both return to "the only thing[s they were] ever any good at."

** Rey quickly demonstrates this herself (naturally for a Force Adept) when she takes the helm of the Millenium Falcon.

-->'''Snoke:''' The droid you seek is aboard the Millennium Falcon in the hands of your father... Han Solo.

* BootstrappedLeitmotif: The Rebellion fanfare from the original trilogy is tied to scenes involving the Millennium Falcon.

** Much of the movie takes place in and around the scrapyards of Jakku, where characters are constantly surrounded by the massive, rusted-out wreckage of the iconic spaceships from the Original Trilogy, which stand as lasting relics of a massive battle that took place decades ago. This is pretty obviously symbolic of the massive legacy of the Original Trilogy itself, which ''still'' casts a massive shadow over the entire film industry, despite ending three decades ago; even the scavengers, who eke out a living combing the wreckage for fresh parts, are clearly representative of the fans who kept coming back to the movies, and [[ExpandedUniverse could always spin new stories from their tiniest background details]]. When one of those rusted-out relics--the ''Millennium Falcon''--finally takes off for a new destination, it's symbolic of the saga's resurrection.

* ParentalSubstitute: Han immediately accepts Rey and Finn as his baby ducks. He clocks Finn as an imposter Resistance Fighter and tells him "Women always know" while handing him a weapon. Then he steps out of the Falcon and hands Rey a weapon while telling her "I know [you can handle yourself], that's why I'm giving you the blaster... [Want a job? Chewie likes you.]".

* {{Wuxia}}: The swordplay of the sequel trilogy (so far) is a middle ground between the Prequel and the Original Trilogies; while nowhere near as superhuman, elaborate, and fast as the former, it is certainly more ferocious, energetic, and elegant than the latter, hence resembling the balletic yet still grounded operatic swordplay of 1960's Shaw Brother Wuxia films.

* AcePilot: While he doesn't get to show it in his intro, thanks to being on the ground and Stormtroopers destroying his fighter, Poe demonstrates his skill as a pilot as soon as he's piloting a fighter, dodging missiles and lasers and maneuvering deftly while Finn destroys the TIE fighters sent to take them down.

* LivingLegend: Both Finn and Rey have heard of Han, for different reasons. Finn has heard of the Republic General who helped destroy the Empire. Rey has heard of the famous smuggler who did the Kessel Run in less than fourteen parsecs.[[note]]TWELVE![[/note]]

* LegendaryInTheSequel: The ''Millennium Falcon'' ''still'' has a legendary reputation for the Kessel Run and now with her storied involvement in the Rebellion on top of that; however, she still looks like an [[WhatAPieceOFJunk old Corellian jalopy]] so neither Finn nor Rey know what she really is until Han spells it out.

* DamselInDistress: Parodied. Finn first sees Rey when some thugs accost her to steal BB-8 and rushes over to help her, only for her to successfully fight them off before he's halfway there. When the First Order attacks Niima Outpost, he still treats her like a helpless damsel, no matter how clear it is or how much she protests that she's perfectly capable on her own. This culminates in a scene where they both get thrown off their feet by an explosion. Rey is up and alert almost immediately, while Finn is knocked out... and when she wakes him up, he asks her if she's okay. Rey is left dumbstruck.

[[header:[[center:[-'''''Franchise/StarWars'' Films'''\\
'''''Skywalker Saga:''''' '''[[Film/ThePhantomMenace I]]''' | ''[[Film/AttackOfTheClones II]]'' | ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith III]]'' | ''[[Film/ANewHope IV]]'' | ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack V]]'' | ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi VI]]'' | ''VII'' | ''[[Film/TheLastJedi VIII]]'' | ''[[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker IX]]''\\
'''''A Star Wars Story:''''' '''''Film/RogueOne''''' | '''''Film/{{Solo}}'''''-]]]]]

[[header:[[center:[-'''''Franchise/StarWars'' -- Skywalker Saga'''\\
''[[Film/ThePhantomMenace I]]'' | ''[[Film/AttackOfTheClones II]]'' | ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith III]]'' | ''[[Film/ANewHope IV]]'' | ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack V]]'' | ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi VI]]'' | '''VII''' | ''[[Film/TheLastJedi VIII]]'' | ''[[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker IX]]''-]]]]]

''Star Wars: The Force Awakens''[[note]]marketed as ''Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens'' or simply ''The Force Awakens''[[/note]] is the first film in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel trilogy. It is directed and produced by Creator/JJAbrams, and written by Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt, with a score by Music/JohnWilliams. It is the first film to be produced under the ownership of Creator/{{Disney}} after the Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} studio was sold by to them by Creator/GeorgeLucas. It released on December 18, 2015.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-'''Han Solo:''' The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true.-][[note]]Clockwise from top left: Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn, Chewbacca, Leia Organa, Han Solo, C-3PO and R2-D2, Poe Dameron and BB-8.[[/note]]]]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:'''Han Solo:''' The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true.]]-]

! This page contains unmarked spoilers. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

!!''The Force Awakens'' provides examples of:

** While fleeing the castle, Han asks Maz the justified question of where the hell she got Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber from, as Luke lost it into the depths of Bespin. She replies that it's a good question for another time. Sadly, there won't be another time.

** When Rey touches Luke Skywalker's lightsaber at Maz Kanata's hideout, she is thrust into a crazy vision kick-started by [[VaderBreath Vader's mechanical breathing.]]

** The movie places a big focus on Rey inheriting Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. She is called to it and receives a Force vision when she touches it, and she is able to [[SummonToHand summon it to her hand]] when the person confirmed to be Anakin Skywalker's grandson is unable to do so. Whether this is foreshadowing of her future as Luke's apprentice or a sign that Rey is Anakin Skywalker's granddaughter remains up in the air.

* SummonToHand: Rey does it to Skywalker's lightsaber, overpowering Kylo Ren's attempt to do so in the process. Kylo Ren also does it to Lieutenant Mitaka’s neck.

* SummonToHand: Rey does it to Skywalker's lightsaber, overpowering Kylo Ren's attempt to do so in the process.

* MoreDakka: The ''Resurgent''-class battlecruiser isn't just twice as big as the old ''Imperial''-class Star Destroyers, it's also massively better armed: while the ''Imperial'''s mounted some 150 weapon systems, the ''Resurgent'' has over ''1500.'' This seems to be in keeping with the First Order's overall design philosophy, which is "The Galactic Empire, [[UpToEleven squared]]."

* UpToEleven: The original Death Star was the size of a small moon. The second was half again as large as that. Starkiller Base is absolutely enormous by comparison as it is technically ''built out of a planet'' (and uses a sun as its energy source, technically making the weapon the size of a star system).