#disney star wars critically

[blackwomeninstarwars]

Aside from its anti-blackness/racism, the general deterioration of Star Wars as a multi-faced story results from people failing to understand the messaging behind characters like the Jedi (and even the Sith). Failing to understand, and desperate to flatten it into something so binary and unfaceted, reactionary viewpoints are the guiding principle.

So, now we've got god-knows-how-many television shows and films (canceled or completed) that problematize the Jedi (and are far too sympathetic/lenient with Sith and Empire ideology) and their philosophy, and people who unironically believe "the Jedi bad, actually" telling those stories.

And, all of this, honestly, started with (non-miniseries) The Clone Wars show, and boiled over with the Sequel Trilogy.

[my-star-war-sblog]

Imma be for real for a moment here, the fandom's and newer Star Wars media's treatment of the Jedi genuinly killed of any interest I had in it. I mean, why should I keep being invested in a media that continuously keeps shitting on my favorite characters and tries to make them worse than they are? What reason do I have to continue interaction with a fandom that's not only toxic as hell but also irrationally hates my favorite characters? And ontop of that keeps harassing anyone who does like them about how "wrong" they are? I used to genuinly enjoy Star Wars, but now? Now it's like this one estranged uncle that used to be cool in your childhood until he fell into some weird politics. All I have left over for the media and his fandom is mild disgust and annoyance. And that sucks! Because I used to really like that stuff. And I'd have loved it if I was able to continue liking it. But with the way it's going right now I really can't.

[whereserpentswalk]

Someone used "ungood" to describe disney remakes and it's so perfect. "Bad" does not sum up the horrible soulless products created to only fulfil capitalist desires, using artists as tormented vessels, ungood captures it so well.

Artists with passion and vision create bad art. Bad art can have entertaining qualities, and value, and sparks of life inside of them. Teenage fanfic, and b movies, and a young musicians first attempt at smoke on the water are bad, and that's ok. Ungood art does not have the same saving graces as bad art. Ungood art is empty, not just failing at quality but devoid of it.

We need to start using the term ungood. Neither Star Wars episode one, nor Star Was episode nine are good movies, but they don't possess the same lack of quality. The "live action" Lion King movie, and Repo! The Genetic Opera might both be failures at putting musicals on film, but I know which one I'd rather watch, which one still has moments I love, and which one was made to make someone at Disney see a line go up.

[marvelstars]

Anakin´s humanity

I recently saw the first Robocop trilogy, after many years and it just got me thinking and impacted me and made me understood why Palpatine and especially Obi-Wan simply could not bring themselves to look at Vader the same way they did Anakin, just like Murphy just wasn´t the same for his wife and his friends even if they missed and loved him.

In Darth Vader´s case, he is Anakin after almost dying on Mustafar, a person who the Emperor had to keep alive long enough to get to Coruscant, acording to ROTS novel, using his own darkside energies and his sheer force of will. For Palpatine Anakin died on Mustafar and Vader is a newborn creature made by his technology and his darkside power.

Obi-Wan is disgusted by Anakin´s actions at the Jedi temple, actions that fundamentally killed Anakin´s spirit in his eyes even before Mustafar but seeing Vader for him was like seeing Palpatine´s creature(similar to Frankestein´s) a thing of the darkside brought to life by the will of it´s master who needs to be mercy killed as a favor for the person Anakin used to be.

On all this Anakin/Vader alone is left with the pieces of himself, trying to put himself back together, something I always loved in the first trilogy is the fact Vader never rejects the fact he is/was Anakin, Palpatine and Obi-Wan do it but Vader doesn´t, he always talk about Luke as HIS Son, not "Skywalker´s" and he recognized Obi-Wan as HIS old master, he didn´t even rejected the idea of him being part of the Jedi Order or refered as the last one of them by Tarkin and other high level imperials.

Vader just believes he is beyond saving, he has found counsel in his imperial duties and self appointed mission of "keep order in the galaxy" but when Luke comes into the picture his main strategy is to look towards a way of keeping Luke safe and alive from the Emperor, not abandon his imperial duties or even his place as the Emperor´s Second in command, even if he is quite aware he´s also his slave, the Emperor literally brought him back to life he "owns him" in a way no one has ever done.

Vader still loves Palpatine because Anakin loved Palpatine, Vader loves Luke because Anakin loved his children even before they were born and Vader remembers and respects Obi-Wan because he was Anakin´s master/father figure/brother. At no point does Vader disrespect Yoda even if he knows he is alive somewhere, Palpatine does in the novel version of ROTJ but Vader never does this, because he respects him as the Jedi Order´s grandmaster which Anakin belonged and hero worshipped when he was a kid.

But Vader is also aware no one will ever see him as human again, as just Anakin and even if they did he can´t let go of his past actions and deserves his suffering so when Luke recognizes his humanity and forces him to remember who he was and tries to get him somewhere safe away from the Empire and the Rebellion, just like Padme did in ROTS, Vader only answers:

"It´s too late for ME my SON"

Star Wars OT is Luke´s (and Leia) coming of age story but it´s also the story of how Vader/Anakin got his humanity back and how the love between father and Son saved a whole galaxy.

I wish current disney SW stories remembered those simple narrative parts of star wars because without them the story is just not the same.

"I like the idea that the person you thought was the villain is actually the victim, and that the story is really about the villain trying to regain his humanity".

- George Lucas

[rogue205]

Found this on Facebook.

Kenobists will forever live in denial though. The woobie has to be the best at everything after all. Let’s not forget though that Obi-Wan used anger to get the upper hand and take out Maul (*cough*hypocrite*cough*).

Anakin killed TWO Sith Lords. Three if you count himself. He killed Dooku, Sidious(MaRey Sue’s “fight” was a joke and bad writing all around), and Vader(who was killed when Anakin resurfaced).

[flilisskywalker]

Tony Gilroy: Well, Cinta and Val girlfriends lesbians I think that's the term. I don't know, I was just like, yeah, they are a couple. People fuck in space.

Leslye Headland: Osha and Mae mothers are lesbians, they are very lesbian, you can see the LGBTQIA+ all over that coven. Woman can impregnate other woman with cosmic powers because it's cool as hell.

Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau: I mean... you guys like deepfake Luke Skywalker, right?????? And Grogu? You guys definitely dig Grogu, hmm? Maybe another Order 66 flashback?

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

BASIC INFO

I use mostly she/her, but I'm alright with any pronouns.

This is a fandom space only. I'm here to have fun, not to discuss current issues or politics (I do that enough in real life already).

Bigotry is not tolerated. It doesn't have a place in my blog. Being a bigot can and will get you blocked.

No reblogging posts to throw negativity. I'm not here for debate, I'm here to have fun with my silly posts and whoever interacts without being a dick.

I reserve the right to block you and kick you out of my space if you're behaving like an asshole.

I love asks. You can ask me whatever you want. The only thing I request is that you do this off-anon. This is only to prevent more assholes sneaking into my space.

I don't start arguments, fights and debates. I've always found it counterproductive, needlessly-infuriating and a waste of my time. However, I finish them. The block button is my friend and I'm not afraid to use it.

STAR WARS FANDOM

Pro Jedi, if the name of my blog didn't clue you in. Jedi hate will get you blocked faster than you can say "Star Wars".

Anti Sith, like any reasonable person with media literacy. They're space nazis, social darwinists, genocidal maniacs who in all their thousands of years of existance have done nothing but try to run tyrannical empires and fail miserably and obsess over the Jedi. The nicest thing I can say about them is that some of them are really fun to watch and have a decent fashion sense. Therefore I am also anti Galactic Empire and anti First Order, the governments they (try to) run.

I may as well say this, although I'm sure most of the fandom will have me crucified: Mandalorian/Mando critical. Unlike the Sith, I don't think all of them (or even most of them) are evil and I'm willing to be charitatable to them. I want to LIKE them, but the fandom glorifying them has soured them a lot to me.

Adding to the above point: Anti Mandoclone. The Clones aren't Mandalorian, they are their own people with their own history and experiences. They might have Mandalorian influence (and it's an idea that has merit and potential if executed well), but they are not Mandalorian and I doubt they'd want to be.

Anakin Skywalker critical. I don't hate him, I like him, he's fun to watch/read about and his character is very dear to me. But he's a villain and an asshole and I'm not ashamed to point out that part of his character.

My canon is the PT, the OT, TCW, Rebels and Rogue One. Any other source material is up in the air, and I pick and choose what I like and leave the rest. So if you see me ignoring a part of a book/comic but posting about another, you know why.

Masterposts

My Rambles' Masterpost (pro Jedi, anti Sith, Mandalorian critical…)

The Many Names of Peace Masterpost

Fic recommendation list

[book-stacks]

the acolyte is arguably the coolest star wars show to be released since the mandalorian and y'all had to go fuck it up

[lunarspiral1127]

As someone who did not like the show at all, I'm glad this is canceled.

The Acolyte was badly written, screwing over many likable characters by either killing them off or framing them for all the bad that happened, many plotholes and retcons, and just poorly executed. Plus, the disrespect of the Jedi and how they've been treated compared to the Sith.

[tangents-within-tangents]

The thing about the "Clone Rebellion" show

I've become a lot more critical of The Bad Batch lately and I think I realized that’s because it’s over. 

That means that 1. I can look back on the whole show retrospectively, and 2. any issues or hopes I had no longer have a chance to be addressed or resolved.

I realized I’ve been very caught up in thinking about the missed potential of the show, and a lot of my disappointment/frustration with the direction TBB took (esp in regards to the "reg" clones) is coming from the fact that a Clone Rebellion show does not exist to make up for it. For now this is all we have, and it’s hard for me to just accept TBB for what it is, because I at least have been operating under the assumption that this is all we're going to get, that this fabled spin-off show is just not going to happen. 

Because here’s the thing: We all kinda talk about it as if it's a given, a not if but when, but as far as I can tell the concept came entirely from the fans. Just speculation and wish-fulfillment. I don’t really keep up with news/interviews/behind the scenes stuff, but I’m pretty sure there have never been any mentions from official sources (y'all freaked out about one animation job listing that could be for literally anything). If there's something I’ve missed let me know, but for now at least there have been no announcements or plans or anything.

The only thing really is that the gaps left in TBB feel like intentional setup (we never got an Echo and Rex solo episode like we did with Crosshair and Cody which feels like they are saving it for something else, Echo’s fate was specifically left open-ended by not mentioning him (for better or for worse) in the epilogue, Emerie joins them at the end setting up for a female character to be in the main cast, etc) but that still doesn’t guarantee that we will ever actually get a show. That feels more like leaving the possibility open, not necessarily making plans. Especially since TBB actually puts any potential Clone Rebellion show in a really weird position:

There's a lot of important clone-relevant stuff going on during TBB (like Order 66, Kamino, the stormtrooper bill, Tantiss) but I doubt they would go back and show that again since it would either be repetitive by rehashing TBB’s timeline, or confusing by relying too much on people having watched another show. Yeah most people probably would have, but that still doesn’t work very well narratively if your important beats are just implied and happening offscreen. Like I would kill to see more of Nemec and Fireball but then they would just disappear after being killed off (for pretty much no reason) in another show! Hemlock and Tantiss base were designed specifically to be clone-centered threats, and the underground network were the ones who actually spent time searching for it, but then they weren’t there for the rescue so there would be no resolution. But if we instead pick up at the end of TBB it seems like most clones have already been phased out of the Empire by then anyway. Yes you could still make things work either way and come up with new plots and stuff but it’s still a tight spot to be in and it doesn’t really feel like the writers took that into account.

Whether we do get another show or not, I think it still had a negative impact on TBB though. Like that show already had a cameo problem, but 'setting up potential future show at the expense of the current one' is such an issue in any media (esp Star Wars and Marvel these days). Since we got pieces of both 'important stuff happening to the clones' and 'fun mercenary adventures with the Batch' rather than just committing to one or the other, or equally to both, it just causes issues for both shows. I’ve been working on a full post about the lost potential, but for now I’ll summarize as:

It hurts TBB bc we get these glimpses of a more meaningful story that our main characters, the ones the show decides to dedicate screen time to, choose not to participate in. It’s like that trope/bad writing thing where the story they mention (Budapest, or like the Cullens' backstories) sounds more interesting than the one they are actually showing us. Like it’s okay that the Batch didn’t take the same route as Echo and Rex, but the route they did take should be of equal or greater importance/intrigue, and it just really wasn’t. It was mostly directionless side quests and that made the characters seem selfish and a lot of the plots feel filler-y because there are so many important things going on elsewhere. 

It's just starting to feel unlikely that we'll get TWO post-RotS "clone-centered" shows, so why waste the one we did get avoiding the more important clone-centered storyline? Why not at the least equally divide the time you did have between the Batch and Echo and Rex? Why make an ensemble show if you're not going to try to actually balance all the characters? Why bring back a fan favorite clone just to push him to the sidelines and ignore all his potential? Why focus on the "clones" who aren't affected by/don't care about clone issues?

Believe me, I still want a show focusing on Rex and Echo's efforts to save the clones (I just wish it was the show we got in the first place)! I genuinely hope that we will get this show someday, not just because I love clones and this concept, but because I really see a need for it, there's a lot of gaps and potential to be filled there (which is also why I'm okay waiting bc frankly I don't trust the current state of Star Wars writers to properly handle that potential). But I’m treating it with a more “not until proven otherwise” approach (because we all know what happens when we get our hopes up lolll). So for now this is what we have, and unless that changes, I think we should treat it as such.

A lot of times when I see people mention the idea of a new show it's as a way to fix any issues within TBB. Like ‘this wasn’t resolved that well, maybe in the clone rebellion show…’ ‘Maybe Tech could still come back in the clone rebellion show’ ‘Maybe Crosshair’s character arc could be more complete…’ etc. But again we don’t know for sure if there ever will be another show, and even if there is, TBB should be able to stand on its own. There are some things I think another show could do (like address the plot hole of why the Empire never came back to Pabu, or actually doing something with the CX troopers) but narratively it does not work for major plot arcs or character development like that to be resolved elsewhere (like how a major Mandalorian plot point happened in the middle of TBOBF???). If we do get a Clone Rebellion show I don't think it would make much sense for the Batch to play much of a role in it. TBB ended with a clear send off for those characters, whether that was fully satisfying to you or not, that was the narrative intention. The Batch could show up as cameos, but this wouldn’t be their story anymore, and we know it couldn’t be because they were very intent on retiring and clearly never cared much about the regs or Empire so why would they suddenly change their minds?

A Tech lives plotline would have to be centered on the Batch, that’s his family, but that would just be really out of place in a separate show, especially post-finale (which confirmed that Tech did not come back in canon (at least until Omega joins the rebellion, if you want to be nitpicky ig)). There always could be ways to make it work anyway if you really wanted to, but we saw what retcon battles did to the Sequel Trilogy, and it still wouldn’t really fix any problems in TBB as a show. I’ve said it before, but if the writers were going to bring Tech back then they simply would/should have (they knew season 3 was the final season and they had plenty of time which they spent fighting space gators and whatnot instead).

I'm not saying this to spoil the fun or like dash anyone's hopes or anything. I don't actually know any more than anyone else, I have no impact on what Disney and Lucasfilm do (and clearly they don't really care about making narratively functional choices anyway, get roasted). For all I know this post could age horribly. I just had some thoughts to get off my chest, because I think it’s unproductive to judge TBB based on the idea of an unconfirmed potential other show--that does not (yet?) exist and wouldn't be about them--instead of looking at it for what it is. 

TBB is over. Canon happened, what we have is what we got. We can love it and hate it and critique it and write our au’s and fix-its, but I really think that it’s done. We have to make space for endings, that's an important part of storytelling (which is also why they need to be well-written but whatever). And we also have to make space for other stories to be told. The Batch had their show, they spent the screen time they had on what they did. Those characters got their time and they got a happy ending wrap up, and now it's (hopefully) time to let some other clones take the spotlight.

[jellybellyblimp]

The Acolyte finally got cancelled and I hope all you bitches who whined and whined about how it destroyed canon or ruined Anakin all step on thumbtacks and never have a warm shower again in your life

First good live action since Andor and you all just said “Fuck anything new. If it’s not stacked with same half dozen characters I’m going to call it boring. If it executes on any CANONICAL concepts I’m just unfamiliar with I’m going to say it breaks the lore. And if it’s got any female or POC or queer characters I’m going to call it woke pandering.”

I hope your alarms all fail to go off and none of your damn cars start you deeply boring fucking losers.

Can’t have any fun in this fuckin fandom. I’m going back to my high republic books. Kick rocks.

[garden-bug]

Not to be a hater BUUUT-

Every time I hear anything abt the Ahsoka series doing ‘well’ I am baffled.

At most it was a little entertaining and some of the designs looked good. The plot and character work and just everything else was abysmal.

Oh yeah and it reminded us that The Clone Wars and Rebels was a show. That was new and really enriched the world of Star Wars.

[silver-stargarden]

why give disney any sort of direct attention and support when you can watch jenny nicholson's star wars hotel video, defunctland, and every other youtube video dissecting all the reasons why you should never touch their evil shit with a 39 and a half foot pole

[weaselbeaselpants]

Welp, all that being said abt Jenny herself notwithstanding, even without her input that god awful Star Wars hotel looks like hell to me.

Like, I could not imagine a person (or worse a child) with my kind of autistic overstimulation problem, and I'm talking one who likes or even LOVES Star Wars, having actual fun in that place.

To give you an idea, I LOVE Disney and Nightmare Before Christmas a lot especially, but I hate [being at] Disney parks. I hate social events and am asocial (working on it). Being surrounded by my hyperfixation is not comforting for me when I'm in a high-energy place where people are making me be social about said hyperfixation and practically shoving it in my face to get me to interact. I got to prepare myself for things like that and things like that I only do for other people. I can't keep up. I get stressed out. I literally have nightmares about this stuff. If there was a hotel of some kind of immersive TNBC thing I would hate it. I already hated going on Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Watching any promo of the hotel and video taken on the Galactic Starcruiser makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me think of this video I saw on a "so cute" compiliation that made me sad, where parents got their kids in the car happily said "we're going to Disneyworld =D!!" expecting a fun reaction and then suddenly the boy being filmed goes "we need to talk about this- WE WERE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS" unbuckles and runs back into the house terrified. Unless it was one of those ab*sive family channels, I feel so bad for that kid and I really hope that served a lesson for those parents that some kids don't like ANY surprises and not to do that to him ever again. When I was a kid I couldn't actually communicate just how much I hated being at Disneyland and that just made it even worse. It made me feel like I was the problem; like I didn't fit.

Kevin, Jenny and other themepark bloggrs like Yesterworld ARE the disney adults this shit is made for and the fact that their reviews are so scathing and they have trouble keeping up or making any light out of this, that's what's telling to me. I look at my mom and other adults trying to figure out how these awful broken apps work and feeling the need to give all their money to Disney because they didn't have to do that before-- it makes me genuinely very mad. I think especially about the grandparents and non-tech savy folks who are struggling with it- like a non-english speaking grandparent trying to use the apps and magic bands for the sake of their kid, being texted "just use the app gran!" when the tech is clearly broken, and said grandparent crying cuz they can't even sit down to collect themselves at this god-awful immersive theme park. I feel for that person who I'm pretty sure is real somewhere. They're like me and they're like that kid in that aformentioned video: they can't keep up. They feel like a burden. So much for you happiest place on earth.

--AND THEN, you wind up paying 6,000 dollars +all the extras that come with it. My adult brain is frying. Disney should reimburse EVERYONE for what they made non-tiktok influencers go through. What they're still making guests go through.

[cienie-isengardu]

Mini rant about SW Acolyte

I wanted to avoid being negative about Disney Star Wars but oh well... Eventual spoilers ahead.

Despite my discouragement with Disney Star Wars I decided to give the Acolyte TV series a try. I ended on the second episode and have a hard time continuing - all because of the weird logic of the show. First there is a whole argument that the main character was a Jedi once and though she was not fully trained, she still could be dangerous. Especially since she is accused of murdering a Jedi Master(?). Which makes sense, all right. So the Jedi sent a Knight and Padawan to arrest the main character. Fine, right? But then Jedi put the arrested maybe-murderer-maybe-not-but-no-less-Force-sensitive prisoner on a police ship with just droids guarding the arrested criminals? If Jedi bothered to send their own people to deal with the situation, why did the Knight and Padawan not escort the arrested person to Coruscant themselves? Like any responsible person would do? 

This is a small thing, but this logic just killed my will to watch.