Chat corner 37: The Book of Boba Fett

[annathecrow]

Welcome to the new year! Feels like the old year. Still, may 2022 be a better year for you than 2021 was.

Optional prompt

This week’s topic should be from the non-movie canon content category, so I’ll bite the bullet and make it The Book of Boba Fett. I’d say make it non-spoilery, since the first episode came out on 29th, but it is a first episode, so…??? (Wookieepedia article here.)

 

Comments

[kaasknot]

ohhh god my absolute least favorite thing the show does is put legitimate critique in the mouths of villains. Barriss and Slick, obvs, but also, like, Zygerrians and Trandoshans and, I'm really annoyed how they write the Separatists as these moustache-twirling villains? they could have discussed general grievous's backstory, and gone into how like. maybe. just maybe. the Separatists have a point. Sure they're sith puppets, but the actual people supporting the movement aren't blowing hot air!

i've heard it all a million times but i'm also always ready to kick it around some more :P

the really famous wwii movies tend to be extremely jingoistic, which is fitting for the tone TCW sets. GL might have applied them visually to the OT, but politically he was def going with the Viet Cong vs the US empire.

[annathecrow]

Separatists as a villain are... whow. Such a mess.

First, the Sith (and Sith-adjacent, i.e. Asajj). Okay, Zomg Evul, a valid narrative choice, moving on.

Second, the Evils of Capitalism (Trade Federation, TechnoUnion, etc). Which get mentioned in Ep II and then almost never brought up again. And like, TCW predates the Disney acquisition, but I still find it intensely hilarious that the Disney is EXACTLY the kind of sprawling organization the Prequels half-assedly claimed as The Bad Guys.

Third, the droids. Which would be so convenient as a villain in a war story! They're the "emotionless, mindless horde" that our heroes can mercilessly cut down without any pesky moral questions attached! ...only by playing the "rogers" for laughs as much as TCW does, they become neither emotionless nor mindless (dumb or not, they do think). Combine that with having actual droid protagonists and it's uhhhhhhhhhhh uncomfortable. Slightly.

The show did touch on "Separatists are people"! For half an episode. Then Mina Bonteri got killed off for plot reasons, and we never get back to that again.

For the WWII movies, I was thinking the more about modern ones, like Saving Private Ryan, which on one hand play the "War Is Hell" card, but on the other portray the war as a good and just cause. That would fit the TCW tone as well.

OT being like Vietcong vs US military -- oooh, that's a cool comparison and yeah, I can see it.

[kaasknot]

oh, i think i skipped over the mina bonteri episode—it dealt with characters/plots i didn't care about. i keep telling myself i'll go back and rewatch the whole thing through, but we're coming up on seven years now and i've still only watched the show once. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i've been in the "band of brothers"/"the pacific" fandom on the side for a while now, and it's *really interesting* watching The War Movie^TM evolve. like "saving private ryan" and "band of brothers" came out before 9/11: the cold war was a decade in the ground and full scale "hot" war hadn't been seen in thirty years, and the US war machine was at its lowest ebb. those films had their dose of rose-colored, heroic nostalgia, but there was also a sense that 1) war was not great, and 2) the enemy were not a monolith. whereas i watched "we were soldiers" recently, which came out after 9/11 (2003, i think), and was set in vietnam, and it was just... straight propaganda. little respect or attention given to enemy soldiers, US soldiers (and The US Cause) was implied to always be just regardless of actual historical circumstances, nuance in characterization was sacrificed in favor of shots that pump the blood and make (young white male) people enlist. i was rolling my eyes the whole way through. and then finally "the pacific" came out in 2010. the war in iraq was dragging on, and there was a strong sense of "nope, no more rose colored glasses, war is hell and we're gonna show you exactly how." ("generation kill" set the stage for that, i think. "okay the war in iraq is really not great, please enlist but also don't.")

i just find it super fascinating.

[annathecrow]

...thanks, you make me feel better about my spotty "TCW episodes watched" checklist XD (I have been avoiding a few of the Big Plot Drama arcs for months. I know what happens! I don't want to see it!)

the Mina Bonteri episode is good in the politics sense, and Mina has kickass tattoos, but if you're not watching for Padmé or Ahsoka you're gonna be bored.

the development of the war movie IS super fascinating! And so is the portrayal of war, armies and soldiers in SFF movies, because it reflects the same attitudes through different lenses. I mean I don't have any deep thoughts or unifying theories but it's just a very chewy topic.

Like for example, how the US army loans their equipment to Hollywood but in return has an input on how it is portrayed in the movies? MCU is a typical example. That's wild.