A theory.

So, I actually saw Star Wars last week. And it was awesome. Seriously. I loathed the first two prequels and skipped the third because I figured that I'd wasted enough time on Star Wars shite.  Fast forward 15ish years and I would have skipped the Force Awakens, too, if it weren't for the fact that J.J. Abrams was directing and the book club reviews were pretty positive. One thing that bothered me (and this is kind of sort of a spoiler) was that Force seemed more powerful in this movie, and it wasn't clear to me why. I think this article has a fairly compelling explanation. And it does so by way of referencing Tolkien. What's not to like?