A World New and Familiar

[setsuled]

I'm relieved to say last night's new episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch was another good one, this one written by Christian Taylor. Taylor wrote no less than fifteen episodes of The Clone Wars, including the famous arc involving Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka on a strange world inhabited by three Force deities. And yet, Taylor hadn't worked on a single Star Wars project since Disney acquired the property. I hope we get to see the return of more Clone Wars writers and I find myself wondering if this reflects a policy change at Disney.

A lot of the arguments people have about the quality of writing on Disney Star Wars tend to hinge on politics, specifically wokeness, but I don't think that's really the issue. Although I think wokeness, as a priority, can lead to the hiring of creators who are vetted on improper criteria (they're not necessarily hired for being good writers, in other words), there's no reason good stories can't be written for characters belonging to racial or sexual identity groups historically scarce in leading roles. The two real problems that have plagued Disney Star Wars are the absence of George Lucas as a guiding influence and the insertion of ideas reflective of Disney corporate policies. These policies are much older than wokeness and although I've never seen them explicitly stated anywhere one can deduce them from mostly consistent patterns in Disney's creative output--stories must always, in some way, be about family, there must always be a clear demarcation between good and evil, and good must always be superior to evil in ways so clear that even a three year old can grasp it. At first glance, it would seem Star Wars easily fits with these qualities--the Star Wars movies are about family, many people believe they're about the fundamental battle between good and evil, and the difference between the Rebellion and the Empire couldn't be clearer. At first glance, it's a perfect fit, but in practice, things fall apart--the portrayal of comically inept stormtroopers in the first season of Rebels and the generally, absurdly nerfed villains on Resistance and Forces of Destiny are examples of how this completely undermines storytelling in the Star Wars universe. Notably, the Star Wars movies released under Disney have largely been free of this problem, particularly the strongest, Rogue One. I suspect this is because Disney has been more cautious with the films. Beginning with season two of The Mandalorian, I believe Disney has finally learned this lesson for Star Wars television, too, and we're finally seeing stories that reflected the nuance that always underscored Star Wars under Lucas--particularly in The Empire Strikes Back and the prequels.

( Spoilery review behind the cut )

The Bad Batch is available on Disney+.

ICONS | 50 AYO (THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER)

[peaked]

50 icons of ayo in the falcon and the winter soldier
03 | plurk icons


HERE @ shithouse.