If you haven't gotten a chance to see the latest installment of the "Star Wars" franchise, here is your chance to turn back! There are tons of spoilers ahead.

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has been a polarizing film for longtime fans and casual viewers alike. While the overall ratings are overwhelmingly positive, there are those who are crying foul at the portrayal of fan-favorite characters, the long runtime, and the overwhelming feeling of failure as the Resistance fades into only a handful of survivors. There are so many questions left for the next movie to answer and so many moments still to dissect, but in the meantime, there are some great lessons every college student (and, really, everyone!) needs to take away from the film.

The concept of failure, while heavily debated as to narrative worth, does have an optimistic lesson in store for the viewer. We watch as Poe Dameron leads a crusade to bomb and destroy a First Order ship, resulting in dozens of casualties, as the Rebel ships are picked off one by one on their retreat to Crait, and as more of our favorites get held up by their own plans and missteps. Even more to the point, we see Luke Skywalker, the hero of the original franchise, held back by his past failures and mistakes, especially with the creation of Kylo Ren. However, in the end, hope always reigns supreme, through a sacrifice of self and holding on to the anchor of hope, even when it cannot be seen.

So it's a little dramatic, to say the least. But for me, seeing this film at the end of the fall semester helped me reflect and accept some of the failures of the past semester. It's a little cheesy, yes, but the idea of holding on to hope after things just keep going wrong is never easy. For me, it was continuing to chase after "more", and never feeling like I was doing enough. For others, it might be a string of poor grades, a lost job, an opportunity missed, or plans going awry because of outside influence. We can all relate to the beloved characters in the film as one thing after another hits them because we've all been in their place.

Maybe that's why the die-hard fanboys have been so angry at the movie; seeing characters that we've grown to know and love and even identify with suffering is not why we go to see movies. We go to escape from our own world, to watch the underdog win, and to inspire ourselves to be more like the fictional people who can beat the odds and create a happy ending. "TLJ" was not that. It was honest and real, and for the first time, it combatted the big human questions skimmed over in the others. It showed normal people, most without any mythical power, with some ability and a lot of guts going out and failing, like people do. No real happy ending, no resolution with a shiny bow, just pain and the aftermath of failure. Failure, as ghost Yoda explains to Luke, is sometimes the best teacher. We fail so that we can learn and grow.

Hope is the lesson to get out of "TLJ". We have so much to hope for now of all times, hope that the world keeps spinning and that things will go better, that people and time will be kinder. We have learned our lessons from this semster and 2017 as a whole, and as we prepare to move into 2018, we should all cling to hope, knowing that nothing is gained until it is lost.