I'll admit, the whole armor + cape is a pleasing look

[rose_griffes]

I’m halfway through my third watch of Hamilton on Disney Plus, which makes my subscription this month more than worth the price.

I’m halfway through my first watch of season one of The Mandalorian and have come to a realization. Well, multiple realizations:

• Baby Yoda is cute but my brain still doesn’t register it as “close enough to human” or “close enough to mammal” or whatever for me to feel very invested in The Child. 
• Related to that first bullet point--there are episodes where the number of human faces actually visible to the audience is extremely limited. Without that, it’s hard to feel connected to characters. Also, why would you hide Pedro Pascal’s face behind a mask for almost the entire season?! It’s a waste of acting and, uh, aesthetics. Same with the voice modulator, by the way.
• Finally, and I think this is the most relevant point for me: I’ve been slowly de-investing in stories that rely on peddlers of violence as a driving force. Cop shows are one example of that; so is a show where the lead is a bounty hunter. This predates the most recent protests about police brutality, by the way, although those have made me more aware of choosing fewer shows like that, rather than it being a subconsciously driven choice. 
• This isn’t to say “No more watching cop shows, ever! And let’s burn down Burn Notice while we’re at it!” It’s more of... hm, I don’t know if I can pinpoint a specific thing, other than The Mandalorian strikes at that nerve at times, and my (lack of) investment in the show for those other reasons means that it’s just not as enjoyable to me as I thought it would be.

So. I have three episodes left. I may skip episode 6, just based on what I read about it. Nothing against the idea other than it doesn’t sound as interesting as the two-part finale. Feel free to weigh in if you have an opinion about episode six.

As long as I’m talking about Star Wars, here’s a quote from a recent article. I can’t speak to the Clone Wars content, not having watched the show, but the analysis of the sequel trilogy film directors and their visions was spot-on, in my opinion.

... each Star Wars film reflects the religious mores of its time in a different way. Thus, you have J. J. Abrams’s films which slavishly mimic the original Star Wars as if it were a sacred text, a glossy fundamentalism that waters down what it seeks to elevate. Abrams recycles A New Hope in The Force Awakens, reducing the Force into a light-vs-dark magic trick. All sense of moral dimension or transcendent spirituality is missing — the Force is power you use to get what you want. It’s the Prosperity Gospel of movies. His characters behave the same way when they encounter iconic characters or objects from the original series — with worshipful awe. And his characters never really face true temptation or moral peril.

And then, Rian Johnson’s big idea was: “what if everything you knew about Star Wars was wrong?” Which is fine as a critique, but not as a motivating ethos. The Last Jedi immediately dismisses talismans or relics of the past, tossing Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber over a cliff, smashing the Darth Vader-esque helmet of Kylo Ren, setting ablaze an old Jedi shrine, and unceremoniously chopping in half the Empe — I mean, uh, Snoke (though it couldn’t quite kill the past, as evidenced by a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene of Rey saving the actual sacred texts). Johnson’s take faithfully reflects the corrupt Jedi of the prequels while disregarding the hope of the original series. The film goes on about the spiritual importance of doubt and lacking faith or something, as if that were a deep insight.

There you have them: the televangelist and the exvangelical, offering shallow interpretations of the original text which either coddle the emotions of the audience or insult them for loving the original in the first place.

Most of the article praises The Clone Wars, which led me to wondering if I should try to watch that in my remaining... uh, four days before I cancel my subscription to Disney Plus--which answers the question for me. That answer being No. Chances are good that I'll plonk down the money for a subscription again when D+ offers that Falcon and Winter Soldier show (dunno what the actual title is) and I can try The Clone Wars then.

---

I was looking back at my request for prompts to write a couple of last-minute fics before the due date for sign-ups for the multi-fandom remix and I'm very amused at myself for even thinking I could accomplish such a thing. Me writing fic is always an iffy proposition: the level of emotional investment required is usually pretty high, and I rarely have that kind of fannish intensity. Especially not about a decade-old show. (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles started airing in 2008; I didn't start watching until 2009, when it had already been cancelled.)

I've received my assignment for the big remix. My remixee and I have just one shared fandom from what I offered to write / they offered to have remixed. And it's a fandom that I threw onto the sign-up sheet as a whim--something I've never really written. Fortunately we seem to have similar tastes in a not-really-canon pairing for that media source. This does mean digging up the source material to reexamine it, and it is MORE than a decade old at this point; an early-ish (pre-livejournal) fannish favorite of mine. Here's to hoping it holds up okay.

As for needing a fannish investment to write fanfic, well, that's the fun in remixing. There's a foundation already laid and materials set out; I just have to determine how to make a building out of them.

Wow, it has been a decade--the magic number on this post--since the last time I wrote a remix fic?! Wait, not quite. It was 2011. By the way, the only remix challenges I've done previously were for one single media source, which provided a much larger safety net. Navigating the sign-up sheet for the multi-fandom remix prompted a list of mental queries, such as: What is the WORST pairing I can imagine for this fandom, and am I prepared to write it if we match for this fandom? (In the case of Star Wars sequel trilogy fandom, my answer was no, absolutely not. Heh.)

Comments

[goodbyebird]

Episode six was my least favorite, besides from some competency porn it added nothing. I'd say feel free to skip away.

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks for the SW link. While I disagree about politics being boring, I do agree with them that it really is about faith. That was what distinguished the original trilogy from simply being a series of space battles.

For example, although the approach to political and economic struggles and corruption is limited in Clone Wars it is definitely there, and relevant to understanding the collapse of the Republic and why there were people who wanted to separate from it (either as neutral independents or the Separatists.) I have my issues with the reductionist mysticism in CW as well, to me it's the weakest element of the series.

For instance, do you think it’s lame that Rey so easily — without physical or spiritual struggle — masters the use of the Force in The Force Awakens?

Yes, though this is typical of what Abrams does -- apparently working for a living or a goal is boring in his view. It's why I hated what he did with the Trek reboot films. His Jim Kirk was just a smirking slacker when the original had been dubbed "a stack of books with legs." (Why they were physical books is another story). Rey at least is a character one can root for, but the journey is just as simplistic.

The Prosperity Gospel of movies is a great line.

I have not yet seen the last 6 episodes of Clone Wars (so I skipped sections) but it's good to know I have something to look forward to. (Supposedly there are some 40 more episodes that were planned but never made or completed, I'd be very curious to know what they covered).

I saw Rebels first though and agree that it spends a big chunk of time on the Force and apprenticeship, probably because its "world" is smaller than CW which had the job of fleshing out the SW galaxy and the many worlds included.

[elperian]

I will withdraw my TSCC prompts if it makes your life easier! :D

I really enjoyed The Mandalorian but it's a fact that at least 60% of my enjoyment is tied to Cara. Facts are facts.

[grav_ity]

The lack of faces was DEFINITELY weird! Pedro Pascal isn't even PRESENT for my favourite episode (#4).

Episode 6 is good. (5 was the real bore, imo. 6 at least has amazing lighting and, um, emotional payoff.)

Clone Wars is...a lot. Parts of it are exceptionally boring. Parts are amazing. There's enough of it that literally no one likes the same things. You can definitely wait.

(REBELS IS GREAT.)

I think the Mandalorian worked because it was NEW and because it was week to week. We got to STEW on it. But, as I have said before, if I had to make LITERALLY ANY EFFORT (beyond going into my living room at any time on Fridays) to watch it, I wouldn't have.