I’m writing this because I’m bored and on a trans-Atlantic flight right now. I hope that this makes some level of sense, and I would be happy to turn it into something more at a later date.
——
The continued flaccid performance of Disney’s stewardship of the Star Wars IP has provoked the usual round of angsting from both the woke left and the antiwoke shock jocks. I understand that the easiest way to get clicks is to provide information that confirms biases, and given the medium which I am posting on it is certainly easy for me to go one way on this issue. However, I believe Disney is also capable of delivering well written and masterfully crafted stories that are able to appropriately tackle some of the most delicate topics of our present day.
Star Wars: Andor is proof enough of this proposition: that politics can be in Star Wars or mass media indeed and can do so without resorting to anvil-style ham-handed storytelling that slants one way. This delicate yet hard-hitting treatment probably explains the surprisingly decent reception of this show from some of the most persistent critics of the right.
Taken at face value, Andor lends itself most uncritically to a reading that fascism is bad and that a liberal viewpoint of the world should triumph, right? The Galactic Empire at the apogee of its power staffed by a terrifying surveillance state yet marred by infighting can be read as a slap at the surveillance state and military power. The callous disregard for human life and suffering in the service of its ultimate endgoals is perhaps a “take that” towards overincarceration. And who could forget Episode 7 where Cassian is arrested for simply looking funny, or in conversations held at Galactic Senator Mon Mothma’s apartment in Coruscant that Palpatine “says what he means”. Colonization also reared its ugly head in Episode 6, as Commandant Behaz slyly describes the obliteration of the local traditions of the Aldhani people.
However, I believe that what is so important about Andor is its ability to not only accurately reflect the critiques of an authoritarian government from a liberal perspective, but also from a conservative one as well. The Galactic Empire’s claim to fame can perhaps be best put towards the giant public works projects that were constructed with prison labor. It is not meant to be a n analogue towards any neatly fitting conservative ideology. Rather, it is the living embodiment of fascism – whereupon the rights of all are subordinated towards the interests of the state and the state itself. No serious candidate for President from the Republican Party has openly advocated for a fascistic point of view, as doing so would go against conservative values itself.
A perfect example of this is the level of control that the Empire requires of its subjects. Nemek, who wrote a manifesto that Cassian reads in Episode 12, states that the “Empire’s control must be vigilant and persistent because it is so unnatural.”. On Ferrix, the Empire immediately garrisons its troops there in Episode 4 and only begins tightening its fist over the course of the series until it explodes in the Episode 12. The Empire seeks the destruction f all of the traditions and unique identity of the Ferrixians. The community organizations that they run roughshod over and have no respect for. The insular isolation that the top of the galaxy’s upper crust live on Coruscant are insulated if they just go along with Palpatine’s plans, while those who deviate from orthodoxy are quickly surveilled and crushed by the Imperial bureaucracy despite the fact that it ostensibly being a democracy. The show also demonstrates the importance of community ad what happens when people betray that community. Central planning reigns, and and there is no initiative from those on the ground.
Though the show is about rebellion, I understand that there is a lot for both political sides to oppose in a story about fighting against a monolithic and totalitarian regime. The Empire as it is depicted in Andor is not supposed to neatly code towards left or right – it is meant to be a force of nature that is in it for itself and only for itself. Andor shows what happens when nuanced and carefully balanced writing meets with great actors and people who care deeply about the story they are writing. Good stories are what we need from Disney, and Andor proves they can hire the right people to do it.
——
The continued flaccid performance of Disney’s stewardship of the Star Wars IP has provoked the usual round of angsting from both the woke left and the antiwoke shock jocks. I understand that the easiest way to get clicks is to provide information that confirms biases, and given the medium which I am posting on it is certainly easy for me to go one way on this issue. However, I believe Disney is also capable of delivering well written and masterfully crafted stories that are able to appropriately tackle some of the most delicate topics of our present day.
Star Wars: Andor is proof enough of this proposition: that politics can be in Star Wars or mass media indeed and can do so without resorting to anvil-style ham-handed storytelling that slants one way. This delicate yet hard-hitting treatment probably explains the surprisingly decent reception of this show from some of the most persistent critics of the right.
Taken at face value, Andor lends itself most uncritically to a reading that fascism is bad and that a liberal viewpoint of the world should triumph, right? The Galactic Empire at the apogee of its power staffed by a terrifying surveillance state yet marred by infighting can be read as a slap at the surveillance state and military power. The callous disregard for human life and suffering in the service of its ultimate endgoals is perhaps a “take that” towards overincarceration. And who could forget Episode 7 where Cassian is arrested for simply looking funny, or in conversations held at Galactic Senator Mon Mothma’s apartment in Coruscant that Palpatine “says what he means”. Colonization also reared its ugly head in Episode 6, as Commandant Behaz slyly describes the obliteration of the local traditions of the Aldhani people.
However, I believe that what is so important about Andor is its ability to not only accurately reflect the critiques of an authoritarian government from a liberal perspective, but also from a conservative one as well. The Galactic Empire’s claim to fame can perhaps be best put towards the giant public works projects that were constructed with prison labor. It is not meant to be a n analogue towards any neatly fitting conservative ideology. Rather, it is the living embodiment of fascism – whereupon the rights of all are subordinated towards the interests of the state and the state itself. No serious candidate for President from the Republican Party has openly advocated for a fascistic point of view, as doing so would go against conservative values itself.
A perfect example of this is the level of control that the Empire requires of its subjects. Nemek, who wrote a manifesto that Cassian reads in Episode 12, states that the “Empire’s control must be vigilant and persistent because it is so unnatural.”. On Ferrix, the Empire immediately garrisons its troops there in Episode 4 and only begins tightening its fist over the course of the series until it explodes in the Episode 12. The Empire seeks the destruction f all of the traditions and unique identity of the Ferrixians. The community organizations that they run roughshod over and have no respect for. The insular isolation that the top of the galaxy’s upper crust live on Coruscant are insulated if they just go along with Palpatine’s plans, while those who deviate from orthodoxy are quickly surveilled and crushed by the Imperial bureaucracy despite the fact that it ostensibly being a democracy. The show also demonstrates the importance of community ad what happens when people betray that community. Central planning reigns, and and there is no initiative from those on the ground.
Though the show is about rebellion, I understand that there is a lot for both political sides to oppose in a story about fighting against a monolithic and totalitarian regime. The Empire as it is depicted in Andor is not supposed to neatly code towards left or right – it is meant to be a force of nature that is in it for itself and only for itself. Andor shows what happens when nuanced and carefully balanced writing meets with great actors and people who care deeply about the story they are writing. Good stories are what we need from Disney, and Andor proves they can hire the right people to do it.
