by Sonia Saraiya
December 15, 2022
Introduction:
(Vox) The Empire is evil. This is the basic premise of Star Wars, which by now sprawls over dozens of stories in feature films, television shows, and video games. The moment we meet the Empire in A New Hope, the 1977 film that spawned one of the biggest and most profitable content franchises of all time, its members imprison and torture a young woman — and then blow up her entire home planet, sending untold millions to their death.
But it’s notable that we don’t see the gory details as a whole civilization is obliterated by the Death Star, or even hear the extent of Leia’s screams as the interrogator droid tries to force the location of the rebel base out of her. The Empire’s atrocities are spoken about more than witnessed. In a way, that is itself haunting — paranoia is its own form of hell. But as the Star Wars mythos has mushroomed into a lifestyle and a theme park, the evil qualities of the Empire sometimes are less literal than merely aesthetic: Their helmets are scary. Their light swords are red. Their music is spooky. By this point, though, stormtroopers, which are modeled after literal Nazis, are so inept that their presence is more comical than chilling.
Andor, the 12-episode Disney+ drama set in the Star Wars universe, has for me single-handedly restored bone-chilling terror to the Empire. Starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, who will go on to die spectacularly in the prequel film Rogue One, the show takes place years before the Empire falls in Return of the Jedi. From the first moment, when Cassian gets into a fight with two cops and then has to flee investigation, Andor is about policing — corporate cops, local cops, intelligence agents, occupying squadrons — and the dilemma of trying to live alongside a law enforcement presence that favors profit over life, and order over freedom.
Conclusion:
Read more here: https://www.vox.com/culture/23509857/a ... il-empireBy the time Andor concludes its first season (the show has been greenlit for a second), we know exactly how the Empire is evil. Resistance is less a choice than it is the only available affirmation of survival. As Kino shouts to his fellow inmates, there is only “one way out” of this struggle. Rather than relegate Star Wars’ universe to mythos about prophecy and ancestry, Andor offers a Star Wars chronicle of incremental resistance and gritty compromise, against the familiar foe of repressive rule.
caltrek’s comment: I worry about this approach to entertainment, at least as described in the review. I think that there is an assumption by those who openly enjoy such entertainment that their viewers are good. Getting into the gritty details of what makes the villains evil may only encourage those who are less than good to become more evil. I guess there is an old not entirely resolved debate about all of this. Does the portrayal of violence make people more prone to violence? Or does it have cathartic and therefore therapeutic effects?
Unfortunately, I think it is all too often the former and not the latter. Making the violence and suffering more graphic can in fact worsen the problem. Mixing in a true discussion of philosophy and character motives may help, but does it help enough?