starwarsodyssy

[starwarsodyssy]

Thank You!

Well, this will be my final blog post! Then I can forever forget my tumblr password and tumble into comfortable obscurity! In all honesty, I had a lot of fun writing these posts. Star Wars is, clearly, something which I spend a great deal of time thinking about, and I am grateful that my Fandom Studies teacher (may she rest in peace) created this bonus assignment for me and was so supportive of my ideas. Originally, I was going to focus more on Jar Jar, and what he represents in the fandom (hate mail, intended audience, fan theories, ect.), but thanks to her that didn’t come to pass.

I know that no one reads these, except for that one bot which likes all of my posts, but I still feel like you, the internet, have been a great audience. Writing has been like an echo chamber of darkness, where you may never be heard but can say whatever you want. Not that I had much controversial or revolutionary to say. Still, thank you for existing as an online community. I really liked writing all of these. Seriously! It was easy to fill so much space when I love the topic so much. I was raised on Star Wars, and critical analysis was one of my favorite types of videos on youtube for a weird amount of time. Getting to examine my childhood through a new lens was exciting.

It was also interesting to write in this manner. I am used to the English essay style, which means no “I” or “you”, no passive voice, 6 sentence paragraphs, theses, and conclusions. Just sitting down and screaming at a paper (or word processor as it were) every week was refreshing, and I really got to show my personality in my work. My favorite bits were just the little asides that I wrote in parentheses. I grew up on humorous content, so breaks in the text are something with which I never really got to experiment.

If I could write more formal essays like this, I would. It fills more space and is just generally more fun. Unfortunately, it's not very reliable. I didn’t often do research for these posts, and I rarely cited sources. Just because I am a fan of something doesn’t mean that I am an expert on it. I also come from a very privileged background, so my point of view isn’t very nuanced. Regardless, I did hint at my own identity, and I think I even technically came out through these writings. It wasn’t very interesting, but that hardly matters.

All good things must come to an end, and as cool as it would be to continue writing about Star Wars, or another subject (possibly zombies, my other obsession), I am moving on. This semester is nearly over, and I need to focus on my big ass Star Wars Research Paper. It’s interesting, but tough. Besides, I have been struggling to find things to write about for the last few weeks. I spent a whole post gushing about Clone Wars, and another was just a summary of my research paper thesis. Maybe bringing in other aspects for comparison, like Star Trek or Marvel, could stretch the posts out a bit, but honestly, I think I’ve done all I need to do and all I want to do.

This has been a lot of fun. So, goodbye internet. Until next time! And of course…

May the Force be with You…

[starwarsodyssy]

Girl’s Galaxy

Welcome back! I was on spring break last week, but I got to visit Disneyland and (naturally) spent time in the Star Wars area. But now it's time for the penultimate entry, and this one is important since it's the subject of my research paper that makes up the lion’s share of my grade: Diversity and Star Wars.

Star Wars, despite being a very old franchise (relative to the lightspeed movements of pop culture, that is), is actually rather diverse. The original trilogy, being released back in the 70’s and 80’s, had both a capable and independent female character, as well as a main role for a man of color and an important voice role for another. And while that level of diversity today would get you canceled online (and probably win an academy award), Star Wars has continued to evolve with time.

A few weeks ago I talked about the fan backlash against the diversity in the sequel trilogy. The absolutely deplorable way in which fans treated Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and especially Kelly Marie Tran, was a reaction to the feeling of Star Wars being “taken away” from a certain audience, one from which we often distance ourselves. But the truth is, Science Fiction is not for one group of people. As a genre, it is a common misconception that the majority of fans are white males. However, Women make a large portion of fans as well, as do people of color. Star Trek is a famous example, with most of the fan fiction written by female authors and focusing on often overlooked female characters.

Star Wars is no exception to this. When my step-mother watched A New Hope as a child, she idolized Princess Leia. In fact, that is part of the reason why my family is so engrossed in the Star Wars Universe. It's something everyone in the family can enjoy. My little sister looks up to Rey, and believes her to be the best Star Wars character, which is actually something which is shared with many other young girls who have seen the recent films. Parents encourage their children to identify with fictional characters, like Rey, and treat them as role models. Heck I still idolize Ahsoka, and I am an 18 year old guy!

Diversity is incredibly important in fiction and pop culture. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke about The Danger of A Single Story in her TED talk, and while she speaks mostly about literature and news and the effects of the propagation of stereotypes, she doesn’t touch on Pop Culture as much as she could. Stories in the modern era are certainly much more inclusive, with a growing body of LGBTQ+ characters and historically under-represented minorities in the spotlight. I have gotten to bear witness personally to some of these evolutions, growing up watching Steven Universe (first animated lesbian wedding), Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts (first animated character in a children’s show to self-identify as gay), and Gravity Falls (not a first but the two cops literally admit their love for each other in the show).

In the realm of minorities, films like Black Panther and Chang-chi proved that a film can be successful while focusing on people of color, and even Disney films are trending away from white women being saved by white men in a castle. Later today, I’m even going to go watch a show about a Thai-American girl and her magical adventures. And while there is still much more to go (among others, not a lot of asexual/aromantic representation which makes me a little sad), the cultural strides of the last few decades are not to laughed at.

So what does this have to do with Star Wars? Well, Disney is nothing if not good at business. As soon as they realized that they could make bank by shifting away from stereotypes they started pumping out media that reflected the integrated world in which we live. And Star Wars was no different. The main cast of the sequel trilogy was no longer two white guys and a girl that one of them is in love with. It was now a powerful woman, her black friend, his platonic asian friend, and their mutual platonic hispanic friend. The final film in the trilogy featured the first gay kiss in Star Wars (literally blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, between two characters we don’t know, but progress is progress), and the characters are no longer defined by femininity or masculinity.

These changes are not just responses to the changing cultural perspectives, but are also proactive in and of themselves. Society is reactive, and pop culture is one of the strongest reactants there is. People respond to the diverse cast of characters in Star Wars, and not just in a negative way. There were plenty of awful humans who hurled slurs and stereotypes at the new actors, but there were far more who praised their work. Daisy Ridley is an icon, and Kelly Marie Tran got to star in Raya and The Last Dragon (she is amazing).

Young people everywhere get to identify with the characters on the screen, giving them role models and helping them feel comfortable in their own skin. Star Wars is not the only player in this game, but the very fact that it has changed over time is reflective of its versatility. Star Wars is for everyone, and the films show this. I know I don’t fall into many minorities, and the few that I do fall into aren’t depicted very much (at least not in a positive light), but Star Wars still has a special place in my heart. It makes me happy that it can mean so much to others. Next week, I will wrap this whole thing up.

[starwarsodyssy]

A Galaxy at War

Ahhhhh. Finally I am allowed to rant about my absolute favorite part of Star Wars, the Cartoon Network animated show, The Clone Wars. I may have started Star Wars with the original trilogy (as God and my father intended), but Clone Wars was what I idolized the most. Keep in mind, I was around 8 years old, and the fact that I am still a devotee of the show 10 years later should say alot about its quality. I have rewatched it dozens of times, and the impact it's had on my personality is likely impossible to truly reveal. It was a grown up show in more ways than one, and it taught me a lot of things that other media wouldn’t attempt for years to come.

The Clone Wars itself was originally mentioned in A New Hope, and though nothing much is said about it, it is later elaborated upon in the prequel trilogy. The first attempts to show the conflict was by the master of silent storytelling, Genndy Tartakovsky. His original 2D animated show was tonally consistent with the films and helped introduce many to the war itself. Unfortunately, the show didn’t last many seasons, and was survived only by a few of its concepts and art. A few years later however, a writer for the hit Nickelodeon show Avatar was contacted by a representative of Lucasfilm to be interviewed for a new 3D animated Clone Wars project.

Thinking of it as a joke, this humble writer and avid Star Wars fan accepted the proposal before realizing that not only was the job he was offered not simply a dream, it was also his dream job (this is the kind of wordplay that gets you into college). After a truly epic meeting with George Lucas himself, Dave Filoni took on the task of writing and directing my childho- I mean a new Star Wars animated show: The Clone Wars.

Starting out, the show stuck to relatively simple themes and familiar characters. There were episodes dedicated to Jar Jar Binks and C-3PO and R2-D2, who were fan favorites of younger viewers and the bane of older viewers. The Jedi were almost always Anakin and Obi-wan, and oftentimes the original character Ahsoka who was Anakin’s reckless young padawan would play a large role as well. The stories were typically self-contained, with arcs only lasting a few episodes at a time. This pattern followed for the first two and a half seasons or so, more or less unbroken. 

However, the show began to dip into other themes. The horrors of war were a common topic, with battles being bloody and characters dying constantly. The Separatists were your average Saturday Morning cartoon villains, laughably evil beyond all reason, but the things they did were more distinct and vicious. Acts of terrorism and kidnapping were common, innocents were killed, and torture was just another reality of living in the Star Wars universe. And the heroes more and more questioned the morality of their war and their actions.

This was a show that took the simple premise of Jedi Good, Everyone Else Bad and expanded it to talk about morality, love, trust, slavery, violence, and war. The very idea of the show earned this change as well, with the titular clones being living creatures bred only to die on the behalf of the Republic. And living creatures they most certainly are. Some of the best episodes of the show focus on their struggles between duty and death, with a thousand identical faces each being distinct. And that is thanks to the incredible voice talents of Dee Bradley Baker, who despite each character having the same voice, I could tell them apart blindfolded.

One of the greatest arcs of the show focuses on the Clones and in particular my favorite character Captain Rex. He and his battalion are sent to help take over an occupied planet (one which bears intentional thematic similarities to Vietnam), while under the leadership of the Jedi General Krell, a reckless and violent Jedi who cares little for the lives of the clones. As Rex is torn between following Krell’s orders, as he was programmed to do, and protecting the lives of the soldiers under his command, themes of duty and purpose clash with his understanding of right and wrong. 

The arc itself is my personal favorite, but this is a show that produced more than 100 episodes. Unfortunately, the Disney acquisition ended the show before its time. This was, as I detailed before, my first experience with corporate bullshit, as Disney was upset with Warner Brothers making any money off of their new purchase and shut it down. Thankfully, in an event which still stands to give me hope for all of my favorite shows which were left without a proper ending, Disney renewed The Clone Wars for an epic final season that legitimately made me cry, and ensured that there would be spin offs of my favorite media forever.

In the end, Star Wars The Clone Wars was an amazing show. It was one which explored deep themes and introduced new aspects to the Star Wars universe. It was expertly written, wonderfully produced, and lovingly gifted to fans of the franchise. It stands as one of the greatest pieces of Star Wars media ever. Next time, I will write about gender in Star Wars, since I am gearing up for a research paper on that very topic.

[starwarsodyssy]

Force of Nature

One of the core realities of the Star Wars universe is The Force, which (reciting from my memory) is an energy field which surrounds everything and binds it all together. It connects all things, both living and dead, and for those who can tap into it, it can provide guidance and strength, as well as some other cool abilities. A good analogue would be like if after meditating for 49 days, Siddhartha achieved peace of mind and the ability to shoot fire from his hands. Which is as good a segue as any to discuss the real world connections to the force.

See, the force is hardly an original concept. The idea of an all encompassing energy field connecting all living things should only be a new idea to you if you are only aware of the top 3 monotheistic religions and the top 3 polythestic ones. Most schools in the United States often don’t teach about eastern religions like Buddhism or Taoism, focussing more on Christianity as a practice and Greek Mythology as a form of mythology. My only awareness of eastern practices stems from a boredom with my middle school curriculum, an ancient fascination with the video game Smite, and the aforementioned reading of Siddhartha. Yeah, say what you will about my generation being addicted to the internet, but never doubt that we know more than you think we do.

Regardless, meditation, symbols of harmony, and lack of distinction between good and evil in a deity are all things which The Force and Taoism/Buddhism share. And this isn’t by accident either. George Lucas himself spoke about how he based the force off of eastern religions because of their practices and their non-denominational nature. He decided, in a reckless and somehow successful endeavor, to create a fictional religion which had the essence of commonalities throughout real world religions. And in doing so George Lucas not only played with fire and didn’t get burned, he created a new light. The Force.

The Force is, as he had intended, non-denominational, inoffensive, and peaceful. It lacks an inherent morality system, with “The Force” encompassing both the light and dark sides of nature. The Force isn’t good or evil, it simply “is”. This isn’t the wrathful God of the Torah nor the all loving (and perhaps numerous?) God of the New Testament. There is no “force devil”, no Satan, and no tempress. There is only “The Force”. And the force is non-exclusive as well. We see in the Star Wars universe that there is no Force Crusade, no conversions, and no sermons. Admittedly, if you told me converting to Islam would let me move things with my mind, you wouldn’t really need to convince me to join.

Again and again, The Force is the main religious analog in Star Wars. It has its own pantheon, representations of its extremes, such as the inhabitants of the force-planet Mortis, and practitioners both inside and outside of the Jedi religion. Much like a real religion, there are different sects. There are the Jedi who, like Buddists, preach non-attachment, and the Sith, who value emotion as a gateway to strength. There are also those who explore both sides, such as the Dagoyan Order and the Night Sisters, both of which experienced different aspects of the force. Even isolated species who remained outside of the traditional reaches of religion, such as the Chiss and the Lasants, recognized a higher power which connected all things.

And while Star Wars often attempts to show a plainly black and white moral code of Jedi Rule, Sith Drool, neither are inherently good or bad. The Jedi are frequently exposed as hypocrites, as they are taught to protect life and yet are supposed to isolate themselves from connection, while the Sith harness emotions and yield a more raw power. This frees them from moral obligations, and while it is often a slippery slope, there are instances wherein remaining grounded in positive emotions have allowed individuals to wield the “Dark Side”. Quinlan Voss fell to the dark side out of love, and despite sinking deep into what can be called evil, he eventually regained his self control. Asajj Ventress balanced her morality on a knife’s edge, but learned to leave behind her rage and still utilize the force for her own purposes.

The Force is, as all different groups have identified, a connecting presence which guides others. It is a source of life, wisdom, and strength. What people do with that strength is up to them. It's no wonder that with its roots in real life religions and its open and accepting message that Jedi has become an officially recognized religion. After all, faith is one of the human constants, and The Force is a simplified realization of this. Everyone is driven to believe in it, and it's honestly not so farfetched to be unbelievable. Next Week, we are talking about Star Wars The Clone Wars. I realized that I don’t need to be deep or meaningful here, which means I can spend a few pages ranting about the Umbaran arc. 

[starwarsodyssy]

The Way of The Jedi

After 40 years, Star Wars has produced more than 150 hours worth of content (not including a few shows, specials, and video games). It has left a substantial mark on the generations it has raised. So, what did we learn from it? Star Wars has had an impact on vast swaths of the population, and you can’t have an impact without leaving a mark. The values of Star Wars have varied over the years, but they have had a few constants: Legacy, Heroism, and Redemption. 

Last week I recapped all of the trilogies and a few of their themes. I talked about how they reflected struggles which people could relate to. However, I wanted to turn that around. Rather than being a reflection of reality, I wanted to talk about Life Imitating Art.

One main thing which was consistent in all of the film trilogies was one of legacy. While this was clear in the post cold war era dominated by the baby boomers, it also taught younger generations an important lesson. Each protagonist struggles with familial expectations, even Anakin (his is a bit of a stretch though). However, these protagonists find it within themselves to defy their destinies and forge their own path. Children are often taught from a young age that they can be or do anything, a notion against which 18 years of being alive has left me with a personal vendetta. Yet in Star Wars, this is almost always the case.

The ‘Nobody’ from the desert planet can become the savior (or destroyer) of the galaxy. Even outside of main characters, side characters also frequently step outside of their expectations and become legends for it. R2-D2 began as a dime-a-dozen astromech and survived his first encounter by pure luck. Ahsoka was a padawan, then left the Jedi, became a general, an informant, and eventually helped to defeat her own master and train his son. Finn was a stormtrooper (fine “First Order Trooper”) who decided that he wouldn’t be a servant to evil. Each of them took a unique and unpredictable path, and almost universally they accepted that they chose their destiny. 

Heroism was also a major constant, and one which is hammered into the consciousness of every viewer. In every piece of media, the characters are driven by a desire or belief to do good. It isn’t just that good triumphs over evil, but that good is inherently stronger than evil. The Jedi, the Rebellion, the Resistance, each of them is motivated to risk everything in the service of life. These films villainize a lack of compassion, with the “bad guys” disposing of human life without a second thought. To be good is to care about others, to put themselves on the line if it means protecting someone or something.

There is an interesting meme that I came across in my camera roll which was the basis for why I chose this subject to talk about. It described a news article wherein a child who is being bullied refuses to fight back because he states it’s “Not the Jedi Way”. Setting aside the hilarious comments which ensued (What jedi are you watching? Anakin woulda killed all those kids.), this child held close morals which were not those taught by a parent or teacher or even society. He held back because of a piece of fiction which taught that all life is valuable and that it is not okay to hurt others for selfish reasons. 

My own opinions on self-defense are muddled due to my experience being bullied in middle school, but there is still the idea that he internalized the Jedi Code and let that form the basis for how he treated others. And while his decision to not fight back is a hotly debated one, in other situations it likely led to him becoming a caring and compassionate individual. And it should go without saying that he is not the only child to have taken that message to heart. He learned from Star Wars to be a hero and to do the right thing.

And what happens when you don’t do the right thing? Life isn’t full of those who are plain good or evil. Every trilogy has some form of redemption involved, be it Darth Vader or Ben Solo, Bo Katan or Agent Kallus. Star Wars is full of characters who walk a selfish path but in the end turn towards the side of good. They chose to do the right thing and while oftentimes they don’t receive full forgiveness, they are still allowed a final chance to die a hero. Granted, many of them have killed countless innocents and their redemption is almost immediately followed by death, but that is not the exact point.

The point is that Star Wars doesn’t show a world where right and wrong are baked into one’s destiny. A world in which what is important is protecting life. And one in which even making mistakes is forgivable. And you know what? That is a pretty good set of lessons. Next week, maybe I’ll talk about The Force. After all, I have no real plan.

[starwarsodyssy]

Walking Their Own Path

[DISCLAIMER] Okay, I was going to write this on the impact the Star Wars had on the 4 generations that it raised. And yes, after careful consideration, I realized that it is in fact 4 generations and not 3. However, halfway through the post I realized that my current ramblings were better suited to speaking on the parallels between the Star Wars universe and our contemporary societal issues. Primarily, relationships between the aforementioned 4 generations. So I guess “Moral Lessons” gets pushed back another week. Oh well.

Star Wars is more than 40 years old at this point, meaning that around 4 generations have grown under its influence. Both of my parents belong to the first generation, who saw the Original Trilogy in theaters. I am a part of the 3rd generation, growing up watching the Prequel Trilogy and its assorted media. And my youngest sister belongs to the newly emerging 4th generation, who watched and identified most with the sequel trilogy. In fact, at the age of 5, she saw The Last Skywalker in theaters on opening night, and again 3 more times before it left theaters.

So, why does Star Wars still resonate with people? Setting aside “pretty colors, ape-brain like fighting, cool aliens,” Star Wars also reflects many of these generations’ struggles with their places in modern America. Each protagonist has similar challenges, and these challenges are perfect substitutes for anxieties which our own parents and peers experienced and still experience. So let's recap the arcs and look for patterns!

The original trilogy starred Luke Skywalker, an ostensible nobody from a crummy desert planet with no future. Through the course of the films, his dedication to helping others, risking his life to save Leia Organa and joining in the fight against the Empire, gradually teaches him the ways of the Force, through which he grows into a capable leader. By the finale, it is revealed that Luke’s father is in fact the Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. However, in a final act of sacrifice, Vader slays his master, the evil emperor, and reveals his humanity to his son.

The prequel trilogy was substantially darker, focussing on Anakin Skywalker and his eventual turn to the Dark Side and transformation into Darth Vader. He begins his journey on the same ball of sand that began the originals, before leaving behind his mother and training with the Jedi for many years to hone his considerable force powers and help protect the citizens of the galaxy. However, he betrays the Jedi code when he falls in love and later marries his childhood sweetheart, Padmé Amidala. The Jedi forbid attachments because they lead to overwhelming emotions and eventually to the dark side of the force.

As they feared, in a desperate attempt to protect his wife and his unborn children, Anakin is tempted to the dark side and plays a hand in causing the downfall of the Jedi, the Galactic Republic, and his own family’s deaths. Overcome with grief, he buries his emotions to stop the pain, while his own children, Luke and Leia, are hidden from him.

Finally, the Sequel trilogy is centered around Rey (no last name given), who begins her tale on a different but functionally identical desert planet with no family or past. She joins the Resistance against a different but functionally identical evil Empire lead by Kylo Ren, the grandson of Darth Vader, learns the ways of the force, and dedicates herself to protecting people. She later learns of her family’s past as the granddaughter of the Master of the Sith, Darth Sidious, who had been not-so-subtly pulling the strings behind the entire franchise. Defying his will, Rey defeats Sidious with the help of a redeemed Ren, and claims the surname Skywalker in honor of her former master.

Great, so now that we have our pattern, we can write our formula. All of these main characters come from nothing, are dedicated to protecting others, and defy their legacies in order to forge their own destinies. Shaking off the sins of the father, our heroes are willing to sacrifice everything for those that they love, often through a natural talent (specifically the force) that legacy generations either fear, fail to understand, or seek to control. 

If the parallels to our own American history aren't already clear yet, allow me to be as overt as possible. An older generation who struggles with or outright rejects empathy and compassion (Baby Boomers) and who is intrinsically tied to a younger generation (all of the ones following Baby Boomers) attempts to control a growing population who chose to embrace creativity and emotion and even outright REBEL against the established ORDER (pick any major movement for equal rights in the past few decades). These new generations are destined to replace the older ones, and thus inherit the problems of their parents.

This is a pattern that surprisingly has continued to play out over the previous 40 years, and interestingly enough the same villain has popped up each time. More and more, younger generations are directing their blame towards the Baby Boomer generation for their shortsighted policies and emphasis on personal gain over justice. The Emperor, a simultaneously ageless and yet incredibly wrinkly pale human obsessed with growing his own power and strength at the expense of others, is the living embodiment of the Boomer conundrum. 

He spreads lies and attempts to manipulate younger generations into continuing his own legacy, even as he espouses the belief that power must be passed down. The only rule of The Sith is the Rule of Two. There can only be two Sith at any time, A Master and An Apprentice. The master is responsible for teaching the apprentice everything they know, until the ambition of the apprentice outgrows the strength of the Master. The Apprentice then becomes the new Master and trains a new apprentice, and the cycle repeats. 

Darth Sideous, for all his preaching about maintaining the rule of two, constantly remains the Master, having taken around 4 different apprentices and failing to secure a true legacy. This works as an analogy for the head of a major corporation, who despite espousing a belief in passing the baton and growing through hard work, is content to forever sit on top.

(Sure, picking on Boomers and oil tycoons is low hanging fruit, but it’s an easy comparison to make. And while of course not every Baby Boomer is bad, this pattern holds true enough to examine in this setting. When you’re hungry, you’ll take any fruit you can reach. Back to the post.)

But the Sith aren’t the only villains of the franchise. The Jedi’s decision to reject emotion, and more specifically love, is what drives Anakin to the dark side. It is also what corrupts his own ability to feel love for his own children, something which he breaks out of in time to save his son and perhaps the entire galaxy. The Jedi believe in goodness and acting as peacekeepers, but they constantly interfere with military matters, and in times in which their assistance is needed they are frequently bound from saving the very lives they claim to protect. 

A core example of this is Mandalore. Near the end of the Clone Wars, Mandalore fell under the control of Lord Maul, a tyrant and former sith. The Republic was prevented from interfering and saving an untold number of lives by an existing peace treaty, and with the Jedi operating under the Republic, they too were unable to help. It took a serious act of both independence and compassion initiated by Anakin’s former padawan to act, one which led to the liberation of an entire planet. 

The Star Wars story is one of independence. Each hero chooses to walk their own path, to reject what society and their forebears have prepared for them. They value emotions, ignore legacies, and work towards helping people no matter what. Anakin is motivated by love that has been twisted, Darth Vader is driven by his attempts to hide his self-hatred, and Kylo Ren by his inability to live up to his own expectations of his lineage. Each of these characters learns to let go of their negative emotions and embrace their positive emotions.

The Jedi teach to bury emotions, the Sith teach to let emotions rule us, but the truth is what every generation since the Baby Boomers has had to learn on their own. We must learn to trust our emotions, and focus on the good rather than the bad. Whether or not people have learned this is a topic for next time.

[starwarsodyssy]

A Corporate Affair

After 30 years of direct creative control, George Lucas gave up the reigns to Star Wars to the Walt Disney Corporation in 2012. This was seen as a particularly controversial move, especially since many disliked Disney for various nuanced and well expressed reasons (people were mad that they made movies about princesses and fairy tales).

As part of their ever growing efforts to own your childhood, Walt Disney spent $4 Billion purchasing Lucasfilm, and wasted very little time announcing new projects. At the time, many fans were upset at the idea of Disney owning the creative license to their beloved Star Wars. They were afraid it would become over monetized, hyper controlled, and generally ruined. 

Well, depending on who you ask 10 years down the line, that may or may not be true.

In my personal experience, I was busy surviving elementary school at the time and the only effect the purchase had on me was that my beloved Clone Wars was abruptly canceled and taken off the air of Cartoon Network, owned by Warner Brothers, a competitor of Disney. As a brief aside, ‘competitor’ should be taken lightly, as WB poses about as much of a threat to Disney’s bottom line as I do. Interestingly enough, I trace my cynicism back to this point, in which a perfectly good series was canceled ahead of it’s time due to corporate nonsense.

With the benefit of the last 10 years worth of hindsight, I’m sure we can all agree that the Disney Acquisition was ultimately good for Star Wars fans. While some of the most recent Disney films have been of questionable quality, and some (despicable) fans have bemoaned the more socially conscious format of the material, the content has been all around positive.

While I support the acquisition in part because they employed God’s Gift to Humankind Dave Filoni and eventually gave me a 7th season of Clone Wars that brought me, an emotionally hardened American Male, to tears, there was more to it than that. Disney breathed life into the franchise by giving it a fresh perspective. 

For those of us who may have forgotten, Star Wars had begun to stagnate. What was once a finely trimmed bush had been left unattended for far too long. The “Legends” continuity branched out at an exponential growth, blurring the line between canon and fanon, while George Lucas himself began to express plans to double down on what many had believed to be the worst aspects of the series. The Star Wars that my parents grew up on was becoming increasingly dense and unfriendly, and the only way my brother and I were able to remain fans at the ages of 9 and 7 were by focusing on only solitary aspects of the story. 

The very first thing that Disney did after spending enough money to feed every 3rd World country for a year on a Science Fiction franchise set the tone for the remainder of their time as its divine arbiters. Disney declared much of the Star Wars fiction as non-canon, sparing only the 6 movies, a handful of extra’s, and the Clone Wars tv show. This was like taking a chainsaw to a hedge, but it was extremely effective.

Overnight it became clear what was true and what wasn’t among Star Wars canon. Fan-Favorite characters like Mara Jade and Thrawn were declared to be fan creations, while Anakin and Darth Vader’s tale was kept stable. Even better was Disney’s decision to allow fans to keep the newly declared “Legends” material in circulation, rather than claiming copyright infringement and making gobbs of cash.

Thus, after deciding what they wanted to keep as history and what would be binned, Disney set about writing their own stories. Almost immediately they announced work on a new trilogy of films, and Dave Filoni took over on a new Show to replace Clone Wars called Rebels. Other projects were soon to come, just as soon as Disney could prove that $4 billion wasn’t a poor investment. 

So was it worth it? Even now, many fans laud the House of Mouse for it’s control over the franchise, even as they praise some of its products. I personally consider the Mandalorian to be one of the best pieces of Star Wars entertainment, and for how sloppy the movies have been there is still much to be said about their success. Star Wars needed a jumpstart, and Disney provided that. It put new people in charge of its future, and for better or for worse Disney’s ownership has proven to be the face of Star Wars.

Again, I have to acknowledge my own bias in this. I love a lot of the Walt Disney Corporation's works, and Star Wars chief among them. I know that makes me something of a nostalgia fan, but there is no fair metric to weigh the effects of purchasing one’s childhood. I can talk about what Star Wars means as a role model next time. After all, it spans 40 years, raising 3 generations with no signs of stopping. It must have had some impact, right? 

[starwarsodyssy]

Fans Make the Fandom

A semi-credible comedian once poked fun at the popular video game Portal by saying “I eventually did come up with a criticism for Portal 1. It’s got the worst ****ing FANS in the world”. Now, while he is clearly exaggerating, he brings up an important point. A property is represented by it’s fans, and if it’s fans are bad, then it reflects on the property. So what about Star Wars fans?

Lazily written hook? Check. Begins with a quote? Check. Rhetorical question? Check! But seriously, Star Wars as a property has been around for around 44 years now, and in that time has attracted a literal Legion of fans and followers. While some of them are excellent representations of amazing and wonderful humans, others cyberbully actors and ruin people’s careers. I will try to talk about a few of them, just giving a good (or at least passable) overview of different sects of Star Wars fans out there. 

The aforementioned legion is the 501st Legion, an absolutely massive group of cosplayers who use their passion for Star Wars costumes to support events and raise money for charity. They are dedicated to inclusion, and are inspired by the universe and design of Lucas’ work rather than it’s particular story elements. 

Another positive force for good (eh? eh? *nudge*) is the Jedi Religion. While it initially started out as a joke, it has grown to include an untold number of members worldwide. They use the Jedi from Star Wars as a blueprint for a whole religion, which makes sense as the Jedi themselves are inspired by religions from around the world. They are all inclusive as well, and are even allowed in some countries to officiate marriages.

Unfortunately, not all fans are as peaceful as them. Even since the prequel films were released in the early 2000’s, Star Wars fans have been known to overreact to elements of the fandom. I mentioned how this saga spans more than 4 decades, which means that it has 40 years of differing ideologies. The original films had very few female characters, and almost no people of color. While efforts to change that paradigm have persisted, so has pushback against it. 

The first major incident that I don’t want to talk about is the controversy with Jar-Jar Binks, an incredibly annoying character introduced in Phantom Menace. Despite the fault clearly falling on the creative team behind the character, many fans fanned their anger towards the black actor who played him. The actor himself received death threats, and almost took his own life because of the experience. And this despicable behavior only got worse in the information age.

I’ve avoided talking about the sequel films as best I could, because they are a tumultuous topic no matter how you look at them. Regardless, there are some good aspects of them. In an effort to improve on the utter lack of diversity up to that point, the cast of Disney’s trilogy was far more varied. The main character (while horribly written) was a strong female character, and John Boyega played a leading role as well. However, from the very start, there was fan outcry at the existence of Boyega as a black stormtrooper. Even before the first film came out, he was harassed and subjected to racial slurs. 

Unfortunately, this only got worse with the second film in the sequel trilogy. Personally, I didn’t enjoy the film much, and it has more holes that I have pores. But for many fans, their dissatisfaction was pointed not at the director (well deserved) but at the actors. Kelly Marie Tran particularly received vicious threats, racism, and trolling. She eventually quit social media as a result of the toxicity. I am not here to offer judgement (at least I think I’m not), but that treatment is absolutely awful.

Some fans went as far as to create versions of the film where every female character was cut out. Hilariously, this clocked in at well under half the original length, but was created unironically. People lambasted the Star Wars Fandom for their reactions, and while it wasn’t the only problem people had with the film, it received the most attention.

And that is the actually important point. The Star Wars fandom was represented not by the legions of interested and passionate fans, but by the out of touch and fearful trolls upset that Star Wars doesn’t look like them. It doesn’t matter if the director or other fans deny any connection, since the damage has already been done. I had forgotten that people were even upset at the plot of the film until I was recently reminded, since all I remembered was the gross racism and xenophobia. 

Were I feeling more cynical, I would say that humans ruin everything. However, this comes with the qualifier that I only dedicated the latter half of my post to the horrible fans who took it too far. Plenty of people reacted well to the changes in the newer films (terrible writing aside). Hell, I’m a white male from Georgia, and I was happy to see it be more inclusive. It represents a shift towards telling stories that are more like the world in which we live.

Fans aren’t the worst thing about a fandom, any more than anything else. How people interact with their passions reflects how others view those passions. And while Star Wars doesn’t exactly have a clear rap sheet, the Fandom isn’t a bunch of alt-right trolls. We are united by our love for what we think of Star Wars, but some people just can’t accept that it isn’t what they think it is. It isn’t some male power fantasy, nor some exclusive club of old white people saving the universe. 

Personally, I love Star Wars because I love it’s story. I love the characters, and I love it’s universe. I don’t need the tv to be a mirror of myself, I just want to get invested in the fantasy. And since the Disney acquisition, that fantasy has only grown larger.

[starwarsodyssy]

THX For Everything

While I initially planned this blog post to be about the writing of Star Wars, a friend of mine pointed me towards a series of behind the scenes videos of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I’ll link the channel for anyone interested, but it brought up something that I hadn’t thought to delve into yet: Technology and Star Wars.

Last week I mentioned that a great deal of the appeal around the original Star Wars was in the Special Effects. It was an offhand comment, but one that I thought back to as I remembered more about the franchise. Say what you will about George Lucas, but he has made an effort to push the envelope with each of his Star Wars projects.

The original trilogy helped launch Lucas’s own Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), but even before that he was a trend setter. I am certain that anyone who has been to a theater at some point in their lives has seen the logo for THX, accompanied by an almost earth-shattering boom to show off how “advanced” the sound system is. However, and this is something I was unaware of until a teacher of mine told me, THX is named for Lucas’s first student film, THX-1138.

His technological advancements are clear in nearly all of his work. As poor as many people believe the prequel films to be, Lucas designed them to be primarily CGI, which for it’s time was incredible. This carried on into his work on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in which he specifically prevented the crew from using Storyboards, which for an animated series was almost unheard of at the time. This forced the team to digitally construct each sequence rather than animate individual frames.

While initially challenging, after a few seasons the crew became more advanced and started using the digital environments to shoot continuous shots and animate far faster than most other studios at the time. And in the Mandalorian show, the bounds of technology were pushed even further with entirely new techniques, with the introduction of The Volume.

The Volume is perhaps one of the most advanced pieces of technology to be used in media today. It is composed of several massive screens in a large semi-dome shape, each digitally projected with an image which responds to the position of the camera. This gives the illusion of depth, allowing convincing outdoor scenes to be filmed within a warehouse (likely in Atlanta, Georgia, for tax reasons). The Mandalorian was the first program to feature this, but it has since been used in other Disney projects, such as the recent Spiderman film.

So what is the point of all of this? Star Wars is more than a story. It’s more than a battle of Good vs Evil. It isn’t just a collection of the greatest animated shows ever made (I will die on this hill for Clone Wars!), nor a series of 11 movies of questionable quality. Star Wars is about the future of technology. It is a vehicle of pushing the limits of our abilities as filmmakers. You can’t just look at Star Wars for what it has done for culture because it isn’t relegated to just one area of effect.

Regardless of the merits, Star Wars’ effect on films will likely outlive its effects on culture. Maybe next time I will rant about the people within its culture. That could be fun.

[starwarsodyssy]

Art and Artist

Once again I have no idea what I am doing, but I am still doing it. I suppose that is a perfect segue into my biggest problem with Star Wars: It’s Creator. George Lucas.

Even though he wrote the entire original and prequel trilogies, the only reputable films in the series that George Lucas has directed was the very first Star Wars. Like many creators, and quite honestly most humans, Lucas capitalized on his success to propel his career and form the basis for most of his decisions since then. The problem is that although he created what many fans believe to be the best of Star Wars (Original Trilogy), he also created what many believe to be the absolute worst (Prequel Trilogy).

This presents an interesting dynamic between the creator and the fans, as while some acknowledge Lucas as a genius, others chose to outright omit him from the story altogether. While those of us who were raised on Star Wars: The Clone Wars don’t suffer from this conundrum as much (Absolutely everything Dave Filoni works on is of consistently good quality), we can still emphasize. After all, is the creator truly a god if he isn’t always good?

Lucas himself has been treated as an expert and held himself high among Star Wars fandom. He famously owns a piece of property in California named Skywalker Ranch, and often is treated as the expert. In my last post I mentioned how Dave Filoni was hired on to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His Interview consisted of George Lucas sitting down with him and explaining how a Jedi would resolve a conflict peacefully. As cool of an interview as that is, Lucas cares more about how his work will be interpreted than the quality of the person producing it.

If you, unlike me, favor Lucas’ direct works, i.e. the Original and Prequel Trilogies, then you have mixed feelings on praising him. The Jedi Church religion itself denies direct involvement with Lucas as a member or founder, separating the art from the artist in a very direct manner. 

So Lucas treats himself as the great creator, and Star Wars fans treat him generally as the vehicle of the creation of their love. He is neither a god nor a fool though. He is just a guy. The original Star Wars was hardly truly original, and it’s writing isn’t as indelible as many hold it up to be. It’s setting and effects are what stand out, which is something even I recognized as a child. Now with more years under my belt, Luke Skywalker’s journey is the same as the “Hero’s Journey”.

But I guess I can touch on the writing itself next time.

[starwarsodyssy]

A Long Time Ago...

With those words, Star Wars changed the face of fandoms forever. (Alright, I’m being dramatic, but still).

My love for Star Wars also began A Long Time Ago, before I can even remember. Star Wars has become a generational icon, and I am proof of that. My dad saw Empire Strikes Back in theaters when it came out, and I think I could say “Darth Vader” before I could say my own name.

I am starting this first post as a blog for a class assignment. Not exactly glamorous, but I think it will get the point across. I have never done anything like this, but practice makes perfect.

Whatever. Back to Star Wars.

At this point in time, like other fandoms, Star Wars is now run mostly by fans. If you, like me, absorbed every second of The making of The Mandalorian, then you also know how each of the creators came to discover Star Wars. Dave Filoni (whom I particularly fawn over due to his work on Clone Wars), recounted that when he was originally recruited to work with Lucasfilm, he was in such shock that he believed that he was being tricked.

This control is in essence what gives me the impression that Star Wars is one of the most important fandoms out there. It is no longer contingent on the whims of one creator (looking at you J.K. Rowling), nor is restricted to one form of media (Hi Whovians, with a 14 season show with lore as dense as a diamond). 

No, unlike these fandoms, Star Wars is truly self-reproducing. The fans are in control of the story, and if I had any confidence in my writing ability, I would have even sought to one day create my own official Star Wars media. Fan-fiction gets incorporated into the lore, provided it does not directly conflict with established canon or future plans. 

I grew up on stories, and I have a love of a good narrative. It’s why I watch TV or read books. I want to escape this reality into a different one, one which inspires me and makes me feel special. And Star Wars has always done that for me. I figured that after 18-ish years of addiction love, I couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity to talk about it.

I’ll probably post again next week. I have no idea if this is good (I have nothing to compare it to), but if it satisfies the requirements for my grade then I will keep at it.