If you have any love for the Star Wars franchise, you have to watch Andor. It’s just that good. And each week it gets better! Anyone who’s ever complained about the many, many horrible movies and shows that have been born of Star Wars owes it to themselves to give Andor a watch. The show just keeps getting better. We’re 11 episodes in and it’ll be a true bummer when season 1 is over. The show is a ‘how to’ manual on quality storytelling. It’s not just good Star Wars. It’s great entertainment. Finely crafted goodness week after week. Andor is what happens when talented people who care about the subject matter get together and are allowed to create. Giant hat tip to series showrunner Tony Gilroy who has given people a show where you legitimately care more about the droid than all the characters in the recent Disney Star Wars trilogy combined. That isn’t a joke either. I care about the droid in Andor more than Rey, or anyone in the trilogy.
Thankfully, word about the quality of Andor is getting out. The old adage of ‘you can’t keep something good a secret’ appears to be in full effect. Andor’s audience keeps growing. Good! I am ready for season 2 right now. Also? Am ready for Disney to make a smart move and hand Tony Gilroy another Star Wars movie. Or 3.
The fact that you loved this show after posting this (https://theloftusparty.com/2022/08/04/disney-star-wars-andor-is-about-trump-the-franchise-trainwreck-continues/) pretty much confirms the fact that you can get a conservative to agree with you if you don’t use any buzzwords like “fascism” because they’re too caught up in culture war bullshit to really understand how they’re being exploited under capitalism.
Worth a read:
-https://www.salon.com/2022/09/23/theres-no-hiding-from-it-the-of-andor-look-a-lot-like-the-type-troubling-our-world/
-https://theconversation.com/star-wars-andor-captures-the-essence-of-resistance-that-is-happening-in-the-real-world-194566
I loved Andor because it was wonderfully written and produced. My beef was with Empire and their take the show was about a Trumpian world. HA! What an absolute load of garbage.
Here’s the headline from the website Empire – “Andor Is Star Wars’ ‘Scurrilous Take On The Trumpian World,’ Says Fiona Shaw.” WTF? Why do they feel so compelled to make the Star Wars trainwreck continue. It’s beyond tragic for the franchise at this point and it also defies logic. The actress in the interview who’s gushing about the script that portrays a Trumpian world goes on to say “people’s rights are disappearing” … okay. So how is that a reflection of a Trumpian world? That seems like a reflection of a Bidenian world. Why people’s rights ARE disappearing. Mask mandate, ring a bell? How about ‘Get this injection or you can’t work’ sound familiar? Trump didn’t do that, sweetie. Biden did.
If anything, people should be concerned about the ‘Biden’ world.
I wish everyone could be so comfortable as to consider something like masks (a constitutional public health mandate) a detriment to their livelihoods. Yes, Trump was an authoritarian who led a party whose public platform is “If we win we will steal your money and fuck you over, but at least the people we’ve convinced you to hate will also lose!” Biden is also right-wing imperialist who has proven he doesn’t give a damn about the working class. He is just as bad as the republicans but if you’re going to hate him, hate him for a reason that isn’t so god damned embarrassingly stupid. Again, completely caught up in stupid tabloid horseshit as The Great Issue other than how right-wing politicians exploit the working class while using culture war bullshit to gain their vote. Great job not engaging with those articles, you lazy, one-note, ignorant, low-effort, bargain-bin mediocrity. Go stroll through r/latestageimperialism and then rewatch Andor. Or at least watch some other stuff Tony Gilroy, Dan Gilroy, and Beau Willimon. They absolutely know what they’re writing about.
You are a silly person.
… You do know that the original Star Wars was envisioned as a Vietnam War protest film, right? The Empire was always meant to represent the US . George Lucas has explicitly stated that. You do know *why* the Empire in Andor lives in the Corporate Zone? Why at one point someone says “At least Palpatine says what he means.” Why there’s a whole strike/uprising when the workers were mistreated? I guarantee you you were shouting with joy when those workers/prisoners/slaves revolted against the empire shouting “One Way Out.” Please tell me you understand the parallels. C’mon, you can’t possibly be that blind. Which party is always gunning for corporate hegemony, making sure it’s easier for companies to screw over their workers, giving the CEO’s giant tax cuts and whatnot? Which party is always letting “the old ways” guide their strategy. Which side of the political spectrum is union-busting and anti-strike propaganda on, and who’s been spearheading that since Reagan? Biden just made that railroad strike illegal, so he’s not much better than the Republicans.
Even Cassian’s childhood: environmental exploitation. The whole show is a critique of the military industrial complex. This is all EXTREMELY, 1000% DELIBERATE. Like, you do not have to be the slightest interested in politics to see that. “I loved Andor because it was wonderfully written and produced” fantastic, it was, but if you’re gonna be a culture/entertainment/media writer, try not to have such a stupidly myopic view of storytelling that even the most blatant of subtext, metaphors, and real-world parallels elude you. Take *one* cinema studies course, even an intro to storytelling course, it will benefit you.
You make me laugh. Thank you for being here. Just one question for ya: Who do you think is the military/industrial complex today? Thanks again for the laughs. You’re a hoot!
I don’t know why you phrased that like some sort of gotcha (again, thanks for not engaging with any of my points) because there’s like 750 US military bases around the world and we bomb/exploit other countries for resources and profit. This is extremely well-documented, not remotely new, and it happens regardless of which party is in power here. We aren’t the only nation that does it, so if that whataboutism was gonna be your retort, just because others do it doesn’t make it okay. From its inception Star Wars has been about anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, you can find interviews with George Lucas stating that. Explicitly. And every single scene of Andor tackles that. It is the first Star Wars property post-Disney-acquisition that actually understands Star Wars.
Also a metrick fuck-ton of our taxes go to sustaining that rather than actual infrastructure that would make daily life better people in the US and every single measure to fix that imbalance has failed.
dig it. And we keep passing infrastructure bill after infrastructure bill. Madness!
It IS a ‘Gotcha’. You seem clueless as to whom the military industrial complex is. Think about that. Who built it up. Who controls it now? Ponder that for a bit and get back to me.