The fact that the empire isnt really anything is Andors strength. It can, for instance, demonstrate that colonialism and fascism are two facets of the same thing by having them occur simultaneously in different places. It can have characters speak about fascism writ large without getting bogged down on the specific cultural circumstances in which one instance of it arose because the empire is a vague stand-in for all fascism. It functions like all fantasy-as-allegory, by stripping things away.
Yes, we all enjoy a good science fiction allegory story. Requiring that it must be a part of a recognisable brand family in a corporate portfolio is the shitty part. Andor had no business being a Star Wars story, but if it weren’t then Disney would have never funded its production. That fucking sucks.
I have no disagreement with that position and see where you’re coming from, but i would argue that it wasn’t at any point made worse by being a Star Wars spinoff, that it in fact avoided all potential ways being a Star Wars spinoff could have sloppified it and that it actively made the franchise less shit by countering the great man heroism of the orginal trilogy and showing that the rebellion wouldn’t have achieved anything without collective action.
Sure, it would have worked just as well as a standalone story about space fascism. But it was nice to see a Star Wars spinoff without a single lightsaber in it. It demonstrates perfectly what franchised media normally does wrong by just not making these mistakes, and there’s a certain merit in offering that kind of contrast.
I haven’t watched andor yet but tbh Star Wars is my favourite slop. I love the old legends stuff especially. It’s a definite guilty pleasure, but it’s both nostalgic and extremely fun.
The fact that the empire isnt really anything is Andors strength. It can, for instance, demonstrate that colonialism and fascism are two facets of the same thing by having them occur simultaneously in different places. It can have characters speak about fascism writ large without getting bogged down on the specific cultural circumstances in which one instance of it arose because the empire is a vague stand-in for all fascism. It functions like all fantasy-as-allegory, by stripping things away.
Yes, we all enjoy a good science fiction allegory story. Requiring that it must be a part of a recognisable brand family in a corporate portfolio is the shitty part. Andor had no business being a Star Wars story, but if it weren’t then Disney would have never funded its production. That fucking sucks.
I have no disagreement with that position and see where you’re coming from, but i would argue that it wasn’t at any point made worse by being a Star Wars spinoff, that it in fact avoided all potential ways being a Star Wars spinoff could have sloppified it and that it actively made the franchise less shit by countering the great man heroism of the orginal trilogy and showing that the rebellion wouldn’t have achieved anything without collective action.
Sure, it would have worked just as well as a standalone story about space fascism. But it was nice to see a Star Wars spinoff without a single lightsaber in it. It demonstrates perfectly what franchised media normally does wrong by just not making these mistakes, and there’s a certain merit in offering that kind of contrast.
I haven’t watched andor yet but tbh Star Wars is my favourite slop. I love the old legends stuff especially. It’s a definite guilty pleasure, but it’s both nostalgic and extremely fun.
I agree but also I get to point out Andor is based on Stalin and libs hate that
As RLM says, “I don’t even know what a Star Wars is anymore.”