I think this movie goes into a lot of ideas that aren't exactly obvious on the surface. Did it subvert the existing force stuff? Yes and no. From what I've heard (and I know the EU is no longer canon), the things we see in this movie were discussed before, such as flying and a "force bubble" to protect Leia from the cold.
I do agree there were a lot of things thrown out after TFA and maybe it was done a bit haphazardly in some places, but people are discussing the CRAP out of this movie and what it means. Perhaps there is something about the force that is no longer "focused" within a few people but because some of the old jedi and sith masters are dying out, the force is able to spread to more people? I'm not an expert, I'm just wondering as a casual fan who hasn't read any extra novels or other non-movie stuff.
In a way I feel like Kylo Ren could be an extension of Rian Johnson's take on the current franchise.
We could have the same beats of the previous movies....where Rey is a Skywalker, Snoke is a sith-like enemy and there's the same pull to the dark side by Kylo Ren, but we've seen that play out before.
Anyone notice that Luke's behavior when he nearly killed Kylo Ren was similar to Mace Windu's reaction when he tried to kill Palpatine, and both weren't following the Jedi teachings? That's the one thing that mirrors really accurately.
It is clear after they discuss it that Jedi aren't always the "saviors" of the galaxy and do bad things as well.
My take after thinking about this is that there is no longer a big separation of "light" and "dark" side, and there's a spectrum of both in Rey and Kylo Ren....the difference isn't what their feelings are, but what their actions are...........and isn't that a metaphor for us? Luke was scared because he may not have been able to view and "visit" the dark side without fearing he'd get sucked in as his father. Rey seems to be able to.
So the balance of the force isn't just separate people, but internal balance as well. This is very ying-yang type of stuff.
Having said all of that, I DO wonder what JJ Abrahms is thinking right now.