#this is kind of a bold take but i just don’t think the ot engages deeply enough with the mechanics of family. i think it uses our powerful

[aldieb]

sorry but it’s wild that in almost 50 years of star wars doing Stories About Families, andor is the first one to actually say anything complex or compelling about how family relationships can prop up and reenact empire. more on this later definitely, but the hottie inspector javert getting bossed around by his mom and screaming at maarva (older mother figure from a subjugated population) to shut up while he’s raiding her house 🫢

[gotgifsandmusings]

Not a fan of Palpatine?

It’s less about the character himself. In the OT, he was just kind of generic, and something for Vader and Luke to react against. I’d say he served his function adequately. Then with the prequels, Ian McDiarmid’s performance was one of the most tolerable parts, even if everyone around him had to be holding the Orb of Confusion for the plot to make a modicum of sense. He’s...fine.

I just think Star Wars needs to stop clinging to the OT. It was really exciting to me that Snope was killed off, because the possibilities seemed fresher, and it felt like we were very purposely leaving behind a now-dated foundation. I never wrote The Last Jedi is The Legend of Korra, but it felt similar to the way Korra challenged Aang’s assumptions and created her own age as result. 97% of my excitement and engagement with TLJ was over its deconstruction of Star Wars as a franchise, and the pieces put in place to move to what felt like (at least to me) a newer and more relevant story. It wasn’t perfect in execution by any means, and it was clear that Johnson favored some characters. But it was, at least, a film with a story to be told, in a way I don’t think any other SW moves were. 

Everything in the teaser felt like the polar opposite. So of course what could be more safe and familiar than resurrecting the one bad dude from 6 of the movies? Who has absolutely no relationship with any of the main characters of this current story, by the way. 

I really wasn’t expecting to feel negatively at all--I’ve mostly loved this new trilogy. But while I think Abrams was the perfect person to write the soft-reboot of TFA and wash the taste of the prequels out of our mouths, I don’t think he’s a particularly inventive or bold storyteller. The title, the absence of Rose, Kylo reconstructing his helmet, Palpatine...it felt just so, so safe and like Disney’s apology to the one corner of the fandom that hated TLJ. Just an edge of “don’t worry, we’re going back to how it’s always been.” And frankly, I don’t trust Abrams to be able to tell something new and organic that deviated from his original ideas.

I’m hoping more footage (like a full trailer) will paint a different image. It could be that Disney just wanted the most uncontroversial trailer possible, and it’s not like TFA’s title ended up meaning anything in the movie either. I’m hesitant to have any hot takes surrounding this at all, really. But the way it hit me, it just made me instantly demoralized and disengaged. And that’s with Finn, Poe, and Rey looking absolutely amazing.