Not A Liability
This is such a strong scene in The Clone Wars.
Many disabled people fear to be a liability for the people around them and some of them start to overcompensate to prove to themselves and others that this is not the case. This is especially true for those who acquired their disability like Echo and have to learn to live with the new situation.
I love that Star Wars gave them representation with someone as strong as Echo ♥️
“Eh, excuse me, Generals.“
Rex isn’t happy about Echo crashing the briefing, look at his face and body language (dropping his shoulders, shrugging slightly to apologize to General Skywalker when he leaves to approach Echo). He knows / thinks that Echo needs more healing, physically and emotionally, but Echo has different plans.
Notice how Echo doesn’t look at Rex and tries to march past him - he knows exactly that his Captain doesn’t approve. But Rex doesn’t let him get away with it. Echo‘s eyes widen in a short moment of surprise when Rex physically stops him but then he looks down, disappointed, afraid that his chance to prove himself is taken away from him. Finally he looks Rex in the eyes. Notice how his eyes move first before he tilts his head back up which gives him a rather submissive and pleading look before he finally decides to face his Captain and stand up for himself.
“Echo, I‘m sorry, but I just don’t think you’re ready for battle yet.“
“I am not a liability, Rex. I‘m the best chance we have to take back Anaxes.“
Look at Echo‘s face when Rex tells him he’s not ready yet 💔. Look at his disappointment when he breaks eye contact for a fraction of a second before he looks back into Rex‘s eyes and tells him that he’s not a liability.
A liability… Who put that in his head? Maybe it was himself. Maybe when Echo says out loud that he is not a liability he does it to hear his own words and to stop feeling this way. 💔 As a clone his worth was always strongly defined by his physical strength. The other aspect of his performance was his tactical and strategic knowledge. Now he has physically changed and his tactical and strategic knowledge is of no use anymore since the enemy had access to his brain. He needs to redefine his worth. And he wants to start now.
Rex probably knows that Echo is also running away from the images in his head that keep on popping up in the loneliness and boredom of his bed in the medbay and while it would technically be better for Echo to take his time and process everything, trauma therapy isn’t a luxury you can afford when you’re at war. And Rex also knows that he’s biased, worried for his brother whom he just got back. Rex‘s eyes show us that there are a lot of things going on in his head until he finally decides to look over to the Generals who have less personal involvement.
When Master Windu finally approves, Rex should let go of Echo, but something’s stopping him. It’s hard for him to let go of his friend and it takes Echo to firmly look into his eyes and ask “May I?“ for Rex to finally let him pass.
Echo immediately uses his scomp arm to show the Generals and Rex his plan. And while I think it was appropriate in that very scene to show that Echo doesn’t mind using his new body, I am also glad that they didn’t overstress the whole scomp thing in The Bad Batch and didn’t fall for the supercrip trope.
Still the scomp arm remained as a constant reminder of Echo‘s disability, one of the few examples in Star Wars where they resisted temptation to sugarcoat a limb difference with a prosthesis that makes him look “normal“.
Kudos to the top tier animation in this key scene in Echo‘s life and the representation they gave to people who have to find their place after a life changing injury.
Star Wars isn’t always perfect but sometimes it is.
This is GOLD☝️
How is it possible that I missed this!? 😱
I didn‘t notice all of the details in that scene – another proof how much it depends on our own trained or not trained focus and aware or unaware filters!
I'd like to share my own experience and thoughts additionally, because I feel this so much ❤️🩹
I will alway remember when the doc told me, that my disorder is comparable to someone who was born with only one arm, trying to do the actions of people with two arms because no one around notices. It's most of the time exhausting beyond borders and some actions are simply not possible. And no one understands why, because there‘s nothing visible.
I broke hearing my life in this dryly and clinical explained nutshell and I don't break that easy.
Genuinely considering to be a liability and feeling like one is pure poison. That is something I've been used to since I can remember. And I also sadly had to learn long ago that I either don't have much time if I want to keep up pace or get descried and then have to deal with pity behavior, that fuels the feeling of being a liability.
The natural and very human reaction to meeting people without disorders – especially if you're a child – is trying to keep up and hiding the disease. This behavior is not healthy, but a reflex that often becomes more complex and precise, even if the energy amount to keep it undetected is dreadful. You can control it better the more you train. And get used to. A mask.
So when I heard this sentence I froze, nodded, collected the required information, got myself a coffee later and broke then in the middle of Regensburg main station. People tried to help and there was the pity. They were really kind but how to help if there is nothing to help?
I cried and then there was the anger, the frustration and after some processing I roasted this toxic feeling of being a liability to ashes, because
It's. Not. True.
To heal this wound it may be urgent to get the chance to prove yourself even if that lucky having some voices shouting instantly "You don't have to prove anything!" – what is actually the aimed mindset.
But the healing way may require those kinds of actions, to regain (or even gain for the first time) the feeling of being... whole.
Like Echo becoming the hero of Anaxes, doing actions no one can.
To eventually recognize that you've always been whole.
Thank you for showing this @isthereanechoinhere96 😘
And sorry for bad English, I hope I got my message pleasant to read, reach out if you need clearing ☺️
Thank you for sharing this personal part of your story with us ♥️ It’s great to see how much comfort and representation we can all find when we take a closer look at the show.
LOVE THIS! @isthereanechoinhere96 the best thing I've yet read of my day, thank you :)
@the-bi-space-ace thought you want to read it