Originally Posted by
ZeroBG82
Actually, I would argue that (one of) the point(s) of The Last Jedi was about NOT running from the past. But also not being beholden to it unnecessarily.
It's all in the dichotomy between Kylo and Luke's stories. Luke is running from the past. Hiding from it. He feels shame because he failed, and because of why he failed. But rather than confront his failure he has abandoned everything he is and gone to hide out and punish himself being miserable and alone. For Luke Skywalker, the past is shame.
Kylo loathes his past. It's a sign of everything he doesn't want to be. Parents, expectations. It's all weakness to him. He WANTS to hate Luke for what he perceives as Luke's betrayal. He WANTS to hate his parents, for leaving him with Luke and making him alone and afraid. But he can't break from his old feelings, his old attachments. Especially where his parents are concerned, he still loves them. Luke he seems to genuinely hate, but it's an irrational, overcompensating hate that reeks of projection and insecurity. For Ben Solo, the past is weakness.
Kylo wants to cut himself off from his past. "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to," he tells Rey. Leave behind who your were. Cut all connections, run from all feelings. He is so desperate to be an edgelord that he will rebuild himself into the person he believes he should have always been only by refusing to accept who he actually has been. He kills his own father (more reluctantly than he expected, more shame and loathing). He nearly kills his own mother, but then can't even actually take the shot. And when the moment comes, he is so blinded by his emotions that he abandons the entire purpose of being on Crait for his shot to murder Luke. It isn't Kylo's past that makes him weak, it's the fact that he can't accept it, which means he can't accept who he truly is. He invents a monster to hide behind, but he's no Vader.
Luke also wants to cut himself off from his past. To let the Jedi Order die. To be forgotten. But he eventually sees his way past his shame, past his fear. He reaches out and confronts his past, in the most literal of ways. When Luke "arrives" on Crait, he has accepted his past and realized that it is time to move forward. He doesn't need the past to die. He doesn't need to kill it. He just needs to see that what came before is not all that is, or ever will be. Luke stops wallowing in the past, and decides to do what he probably should have been doing all along. Fight for the future. It's his reaching for hope, accepting the past but acknowledging that a new road lies ahead, that reignites the spark of hope across the universe.
Honestly, for a movie where the bad guys pretty much win across the board until Luke gets involved at the very end, all of it's themes and messages are almost distressingly upbeat and hopeful.