What makes a Form a Form?

[Maestro]

I put this question to us all as a community; What makes a Form a Form?
What makes one guys action shii cho and anothers ataru? what makes your dulon or kata
more makashi than djem so? What is it that really makes a Form a Form to you?
(I will withhold my own opinion for now)

[Master Medwyn]

I'm not sure if we can avoid going back to Aristoteles here
And forget the "martial"-part for a moment.
Aristoteles said art was based on imitation: depending on what kind of person we imitate we'll get tragedy (imitating a "majestic" character) or comedy (imitating a "low fellow" character) as a result.
The whole history of art of course coloured and detailed this much further but I still find this essential.

Martial art looks no different to me when it comes to forms - there's always something to imitate: depending on the level of abstraction it can be something concrete (like an animal, just think about the shaolin forms), it can be something semi-conceptual thing based on the material world (like the element-forms in Japanese martial arts) and it can be something fully conceptional (like the Wing Chun forms and a lot of dance styles. Yes, a dance is a form for me ).
Although they look really different, they all have one thing in common: the imitation. The slider between the far ends of the line between "material" and "conceptual" can be anywhere really, as long as it serves its purpose, it's complete in its own terms and delivers a certain experience I consider it a form.

From here it can be a very interesting discussion on the symbols and rituals of the forms: how the human mind connects to a certain "sacred" semantic field when the moves are carried out, how the whole form transforms the person who does it, how many times an orchestra has to practice the musical concept together until it really sings one time and only for a few minutes in which experience all the musicians' personalities melt into a symbiotic wholeness, how in an unexpected moment the tango dancers give up their lead and let the dance dance them rather than they dance the tango...

When I grab a lightsaber from the rack I do it because I pursue something like this. Something sacred. And if I can let go of everything else but me and the saber then I have the chance to access something really delicate and wonderful. If the form is suitable for me it can lead me deep down to the rabbit hole.
Funny thing but my first experience like this in martial arts was about 15 years ago and it wasn't a whole form but only a single stance. Typical story, we trained the basic horse stance in shaolin kung fu (ma pu) and there was a moment when I just "clicked" and felt that enormous depth and rooted myself into it. It was a few moments only but it was enough to open this door so I could try to evoke it again and again. The Earth lightsaber form I created for example is based on this experience: I chose moves based on this semi-concept of a tree rooted deeply and safely into the ground and while all the moves up at the "branches" are to tear the structure apart, the roots are much stronger and solid enough to define the strength and keep the form together.
It "sings" to me because it's a complete revival of that very first experience of rootedness and maybe sings for a few others who had a same sort of experience or at least they are seeking for something like it. And it's surely an empty shell for others.

So in other words a form is an offer. A possibility, a door wide open, a structure in which one can experience something wonderful.
I know a lot of martial artists compare the forms based on their "effectiveness" over the other or over a situation based on assumptions. For me a form is much more than just effective techniques listed one after the other, it's rather an invitation to try myself in a certain shape, in a certain way, in a certain context. Just like music or dance

[Maestro]

medwyn its so interesting that your eye opening experience was a rooting one, I too had such an experience, but it was not with a rooting experience. I was studying the aikido at the time and I was explaining some of the principles to a group of work friends. one of them, (I don't recall his name lets call him bob) made a sudden attacking motion at me but stopped short. I reflexively began to react, but halted my motion just as bob did his. oddly my arms were both raised up weirdly. I hadn't had any intention in the motion, just sort of felt this flow and went with it. we both relaxed again and he chided me, "what would you have done if I had finished that?" I was genuinely at a loss. I said the first thing that came to me. "I honestly don't know, try it and lets see." He immediately committed to a similar motion that would have put his elbow firmly into my chest, but as he came in I felt this flow around me and through me and his attack had him prostrate on the ground so fast nobody around us saw him drop. to this day when im fighting I still try to feel a "flow" and follow it. the experience isn't always as dramatic, and ive heard stories from others about similar experiences, but they are usually more flow, air or water oriented, not earth like yours. that's really cool.

[Master Nero Attoru]

I personally divide the Forms as a conceptual idea into two schools of thought - one being the idea that each Form is an individual method, and one being the TPLA philosophy.  The former is a more traditional view of the Forms as they exist in the SW universe, where a person tends to gravitate towards one Form over another and commits him or herself to it.  It fits well with the characters - Anakin uses Djem So, Obi-Wan uses Soresu, etc.  Each Form is a philosophy on combat, with its own tactics and methods.  When I talk about this point of view, I usually say that a Form is determined by your gameplan, your strategy.  How do you intend to kill your opponent?  Are you going to wait for him to open himself up?  Are you going to create the opening yourself, and if so... how?  Makashi is an active defense, using distance and setting the field.  Soresu is patient and lets the other person attack first, then exploits openings.  Ataru continually throws out different attacks to detect openings, and always tries to vary angles of attack.  Djem So controls the opponent's blade, and is a counteroffensive approach... and so on.

The second view is more of an extrapolation.  The downside is that it moves farther away from the "established" ideas of the Forms in fiction, and imposes our own training method onto them.  I find it to be a very practical and fun way to train in lightsaber combat, and it eliminates one aspect of the traditional Forms that I find quite unrealistic - the extreme categorization of sword methods.  Instead, it uses these extreme examples (the highly defensive Soresu, the incredibly aggressive Ataru, etc) as ways to train individual concepts and techniques.  Each of the initial four Forms has specific ideas that can be trained, one at a time, until the learner has reached a level of basic proficiency in all of them.  At that point, he or she is able to move onto the more complex elements of combat.  From there on out, it becomes more conceptual in nature, and really polishes off the combat skills that have been gained through the first four Forms (or Pillars as we call them).

Ultimately, the way the Forms are written leaves a LOT of open territory for different people to adapt them.  They're fictional, first and foremost, which is what makes them so interesting.

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

I asked this question as an amateur coming in (still am). As best I can tell, the forms started in Star Wars books, and people who know real martial arts have made their own opinions on moves that feel like that form to them.

I'm learning moves in videos from groups like TPLA. I focus on the move as I watch many times, practice, watch again and quickly forget what it's called or what form it is considered. They're just words to me. I can't get them to stick. I've always been that way. In a real duel, my attempt to perform the maneuver correctly leads me to lose to the unpracticed opponent's naturally faster reflexes until I suddenly do it right, penetrate his unskilled defense, and he's asking how I did that. That's my undeveloped amateur-ity.

I can do spins while holding off two children at once, but their father just keeps cutting my hands off with ease and no training.

[Guardianofwinds]

I asked this question as an amateur coming in (still am). As best I can tell, the forms started in Star Wars books, and people who know real martial arts have made their own opinions on moves that feel like that form to them.

I'm learning moves in videos from groups like TPLA. I focus on the move as I watch many times, practice, watch again and quickly forget what it's called or what form it is considered. They're just words to me. I can't get them to stick. I've always been that way. In a real duel, my attempt to perform the maneuver correctly leads me to lose to the unpracticed opponent's naturally faster reflexes until I suddenly do it right, penetrate his unskilled defense, and he's asking how I did that. That's my undeveloped amateur-ity.

I can do spins while holding off two children at once, but their father just keeps cutting my hands off with ease and no training.

You'll get there, I was once in the same position. most amateurs like me have issues with newbs swinging wildly or attacking the blade. Once you duel, learn, duel, learn from others, duel, learn from videos, duel and practice everything you see, it'll become more like water to you. When I first had this issue, I reflected on my duels and found that my footwork was always clumsy. I fell over, I wasn't very fast, and to top it all off, it made it hard to defend. So I first started working on my footwork. (still am) and began watching TPLA videos and their stances, I started watching duels from others and noticed things that seemed off, and eventually was the downfall of one opponent. I began to practice and practice and practice until it became (mostly) second nature. Im currently working on blocks and parry's since I have a habit of blocking incorrectly or inefficiently. It's gonna be a while. Keep it up. you'll get there.
Use the forms as a guideline. don't get too lost or entangled in the "names" , focus on you. Focus on what you can and learn step by step. You will find what works for you.