Your last Andor ask was great, your reply is right on the money. My partner said that andor is good, but it doesn't feel like star wars because it's not campy enough. His theory is that while it's really good, it doesn't match the goofy aspects of the rest of star wars. If course andor is good tv, but do you think it's good star wars? (I disagreed with him but I'm curious of your thoughts)
thank you! I’ve joked with some friends that andor is “hbo star wars” because it does feel qualitatively different in a lot of ways. Idk if I would say it doesn’t “feel” like star wars, although I’ve seen a number of people say something along those lines. I know I keep saying this but it just feels like andor is taking the universe seriously and wants to tell a story with it, it’s using star wars as a stage to tell a story, not a story about star wars necessarily. Star Wars is very much present in andor but even if it wasn’t, you would still have a great show to watch. So I think to the extent it doesn’t “feel” like Star Wars is because SW lore feels sort of like a house guest in the show. It’s there to be useful and to give shape and form to the story, but it’s not about Star Wars itself.
In contrast, recent sw content feels intensely self-referential and meta. I know I keep using mando as a counter example and I don’t mean to dunk on it, but in chapter 5 in the opening scene some bounty hunter is chasing din and is like “I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold” and dins like “that’s my line” and kills him. and like whatever that’s a dorky line but it’s specifically doing the “haha you’re watching a star wars show!” thing where it draws attention to itself. and meta stuff is fine every now and then but at a certain point it starts to feel like insecurity, like the writers can’t be too earnest and have to couch everything in genre-awareness and fourth-wall jokes. Again, that’s fine in moderation but like, just tell the story! I clicked on the show to watch it I’m obviously invested.
So yeah idk I’m fine with cheese and camp in Star Wars that’s it’s bread and butter, but it’s nice to watch a show that doesn’t treat the audience like a stupid little baby and seems secure enough in its own ability to deliver a story that you don’t need to be reminded that Luke Skywalker exists to enjoy it
