Category: Opinion

Luke looking out on the two suns before he dies on Ahch-To

Eye of the Beholder – In Celebration of Star Wars Fans

Posted on February 6, 2019by

There was one element of Star Wars Rebels‘ “Twin Suns” that eluded interpretation. Over the course of my multi-part close read, with every ridiculous theory I crafted for the episode’s name, I could not place it. Why were there so many shots of eyes that looked like the suns?

Maul’s eyes were the right color. Obi-Wan’s were similar to the blue of the twin moons, which served as a stand-in for the suns at night. There was a close-up of Ezra’s eye that made the pupil and the dot reflection look like the suns across the blue “sky” of his iris. Even Chopper had a moment where he was cropped by the frame so that only two of his optics were visible. “Twin Suns” did use eye close-ups and point-of-view shots to establish whose perspective the audience was to engage with, so these decisions were not wholly without reason. And yet I still could not make the connection to why these eyes resemble the suns, almost deliberately so.

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What The Clone Wars Can Teach Us About Racial, Social, and Economic Justice

Posted on February 4, 2019by Guest Editorials

tcw-talz

Throughout discussions of The Clone Wars, little has been explored surrounding the intersections of race and class. In this piece, I will show how The Clone Wars includes the narratives of those affected by social injustice, and why it’s important to tell the stories of those who are the least visible. While the show delves into the disastrous repercussions of escalating militarization and war, and the political machinations constantly at play, it also centers many of the underrepresented communities that are most directly impacted.

We see that in the season one episode “Trespass” surrounding the Talz, an alien indigenous community who are caught in the middle of the imperialism and hyper-nationalism of Pantoran leader Chairman Cho. The Chairman presents a “clash of civilizations” between Pantora, the Republic, and the Talz, calling for genocide and an “extermination” of the indigenous race, leading to needless violence and death. Cho declares that the Pantorans have a sovereign right to Orto Plutonia, and the Talz must either submit to their rule or be entirely erased as a population.

In “Trespass”, it’s clear how this is part of a larger process of alien groups being cast and constructed as the racialized Other. Not only does Cho describe the Talz as inherently barbaric “savages” who are “little more than animals”, Anakin also echoes these sentiments, referring to the highly intelligent species as “things”. Indeed, the episode shows that the real costs that come with war are not just lives lost in senseless violence, but also barriers standing in the way of agency and social justice for the universe’s most marginalized communities. Read More

On Age of Republic and Fatherhood

Posted on January 28, 2019by DilDev’s Diner

Obi-Wan attempts to arrest Jango Fett on Kamino

Writer Jody Houser continues her incredible work in making these dual-and-dueling Age of Republic issues rhyme with each other. The December releases focused on the public misconceptions of Jedi as warriors, using Qui-Gon and Maul to provide counterpoints on the topic. When the Obi-Wan issue was released, January’s focus was clear. Like Ryan at Mynock Manor I had anticipated the common theme between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett’s Age of Republic issues to be fatherhood. As someone who delights in familial themes in fiction, I was ready to tackle this head-on!

Unfortunately, despite my enthusiasm and the excellent work by Houser and her teams, I was hamstrung in my analysis. I found myself unable to go as deep into the characters as I had with Qui-Gon and Maul. Understand, I am about the farthest thing from a father as one can get: a childless woman.

Now that doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion about fathers and fatherhood, but Obi-Wan’s (“Mission”) and Jango’s (“Training”) comics were focused very much on these men’s internal lives as fathers. That’s an area I am unfamiliar with, and I could not do these issues justice on my own. Fortunately, I happen to know some fathers. My own dad and one of my brothers were able to take the time to chime in with their own experiences.
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An Anthology Story – Celebrating Rogue One and Solo, and Looking to the Future

Posted on January 18, 2019by The Works

anthology1

2019 looks like it will be a year of transition for Star Wars. We will see the release of Episode IX, the end of the Skywalker Saga and the only Star Wars film currently known to be in production. The release schedule for future film series remains a mystery, and with Rian Johnson currently working on Knives Out with Daniel Craig, another Star Wars film before late 2021 seems out of the question.

The A Star Wars Story anthology movies appear to have been shelved for the moment, with Bob Iger suggesting a general “slowdown” of releases following Solo’s box office under-performance, which he attributed to poor scheduling and marketing, and trying to do too much too soon. The future of Star Wars at the cinema may be closer to the Lucas model – big events, trilogies and occasional breaks between them. Instead, this year will see a shift toward television. The Mandalorian will debut on the Disney+ platform, and by then the Cassian Andor show will be well into production.

As Lucasfilm’s strategy changes, now seems as good a time as any to celebrate the two anthology films we did get, look at what they achieved, and hope that similar stories can still be told on Disney+. Because to my mind (Star Wars Rebels being in a class of its own), Rogue One and Solo are the best live-action works of the Disney era.

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On Age of Republic and Public Misconceptions of the Jedi

Posted on January 2, 2019by DilDev’s Diner

Qui Gon vs Maul

Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul are two characters who were introduced in The Phantom Menace, wherein they both were killed in an epic duel. Supposedly killed, that is, as both lived on all the way up to the doorstep of A New Hope, each of them drastically affecting the growth of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Therefore, it makes sense on a surface level for Qui-Gon and Maul to having dueling comic releases. But this isn’t just a nice nod and a wink to their shared screentime. There’s much more to be found in their texts’ comparison.

Age of Republic is a limited comic series that will run through March 2019, with a hero and a villain each getting their own issue every month along with an additional special issue combining the stories of other characters. The series kicked off in December 2018 with Qui-Gon’s and Maul’s comics, entitled “Balance” and “Ash” respectively, both comics written by Jody Houser.

Not only did Houser create two solid tales that give us better looks into these characters, but she also made them rhyme. George Lucas would be proud. “Balance” and “Ash” are a dance of contrasts, following the same beats of story while united by a particular theme: the galaxy’s perception of the Jedi.

Spoilers Ahoy…

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