Star Wars Ramblings

 

 

               Four episodes in and I’m still not sure how I feel about the new Star Wars cartoon, the Bad Batch.

On one head, at least some parts of the episodes are good action, and it does examine a interesting area of Star Wars timeline.  Yes, there are some retcons, but considering the amount of Retcons that the universe has endured even before the Disney purchase  and even more after (Poe Dameron and Finn anyone) this is hardly surprising.

               And yet, there are things about the Bad Batch that just don’t gel.  Quite frankly, things about Star Wars that just don't gel.

               Part of the reason for the and yet is the character of Omega who is a younger clone from the same batch as the lead group, so enhanced clones.  She is also a female clone and possibly trans.  Her gender isn’t the problem.  Star Wars needs more women that do things.   Star Wars needs more trans people as well considering it is filled with Alien races.  

    (Look at the ratios between short stories featuring women in the collections and the ratios in the character guides.  Mostly men.  Bad Batch and Mando and Cub are heavily male populated.  Clone Wars and Rebels did better, I will admit).

               But Omega highlights a couple things about a child character in a cartoon that is too dark for younger children.   The first is true of more Star Wars product than the Bad Batch, and that is that very few children in Star Wars are allowed to be children.  Grogu really is the one child to be allowed to do.  Omega is young; she doesn’t seem to have hit puberty yet, but the writers are determined to have her as a member of a team.  The best parts of Omega are when she acts like a child – she sees dirt for the first time, plays catch. 

               The second thing is that she is another special child/all knowing super kiddo.  It’s true Grogu is one, but he didn’t use his abilities to save Mando as often as Omega either tells the clones something that they don’t know or to bail the team out at a crucial moment but showcasing a skill that one of the team has (such as Crosshair’s sharp shooting) even though she has never, ever done it before.  And this a shame because when she is truly allowed to be a child, she is a wonderful character.  Her wonder at the world she hasn’t seen works.  Her abilities and saving everyone doesn’t.  If Omega is the clone version of a Padawan, then it also raises the question of why the good guys use children as warriors.

               To be fair, Omega’s knowledge about the clones (who she doesn’t seem to identify as) is  explained in a way that actually, truly makes sense.  She was an assistant to one of the doctors Nala Se, so Omega is in a position to know.  Yet the relationship with Nala Se also highlights other issues in the Star Wars universe.

               Star Wars is a Dad universe.  Mando and Cub.   Vader’s obsession with Luke (whose presence he is less in than Leia).  It started with Lucas, so this is hardy surprising considering the influence of Joseph Campbell.   (And if you haven’t seen David Filoni;s brilliant analysis of the father/son thread with the prequels and OT, you should).   It wasn’t just the Vader/Luke relationship, but also the Luke/Kenobi one.  His mourning his one off substitute teacher is centered far more than Leia losing her whole entire home (and as Carrie Fisher put it, her record collection   Even in the one Star Wars movie where we truly had a female centered story (Rogue One), at the heart of it is her relationship to her two dads. (Yes, I am counting Saw).    Even when we finally get, in live action, a team of women kicking ass, it is to reunite a son with dad.   Time to branch out a bit more.

Additionally, why do the mothers in general get such shitty endings?   Once Padme gives birth, she dies because the robots, in a society that can put back together a multiple amputee who was burned can’t figure out why.  How long does Luke mourn Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen?  He seems to mourn Kenobi longer.   Leia dies for some reason that is not fully explained,  other than the fact that Carrie Fisher had died.  Jyn’s mother is shot, quickly.  If this is the Force at work, the Force does have a very dim view of moms.

  It’s true that there are exceptions.  For instance, in the Mandalorian there are two kick ass mothers (and I am not including Babysitter Auntie Paula).  In the cartons, there is Hera, but even those the relationship between mother and child isn’t as important as between the father/child pairing or the mother appears in a few episodes. In the Bad Batch,  Nala Se, it is implied, feels something for Omega – she is the one who insures that Omega and the others get away, her collecting Omega exhibits a degree of fondness. Whether or not that is simply property has yet to be shown and invalidates the motherhood too (enter the four Dads).  But Omega doesn’t feel the same way, and, quite frankly, how many people will forgive Nala Se for what happened to Fives?  Star Wars has a habit of forgiving men who behave badly as long as they save sons (Vader tortures Leia and abuses Padme, but saves Luke, so he is redeemed in the plot.  In fact, after abusing his wife, Anakin is given his own tv series in Clone Wars.  Leia appeared in other series, but why don’t we have a series about Leia kicking ass in between the movies?).

               Mothers function as plot devices.  Keylo not killing Leia is never examined, though his relationship with absentee dad Han is. (I will admit, the mother/son relationship with Poe gets some play, though his mother gets the shaft when his backstory changes)  Anakain focuses on his mother only when his dreams start.  She is then conveniently killed off to emotionally harm him.  (In fact, Shmi’s whole death makes no sense. I am suppose to believe that Padme didn’t return to free her?  The fact that the Jedi didn’t, tells you a great degree amount them too, btw).   

               Mothers aren’t even necessary, either.  The clones for example.  (And really, aren’t the clones slave labor? And don't get me started on the Jedi).

               At least we were getting kick ass women who are not romantic leads – Fennec, the Mandolorians.  Now, can we have some kick ass mothers in addition to Hera?  Who relationship with their offspring – adopted or blood  -  is the center of the plot, instead of the Dad universe?

               The thing is that I am one school Star Wars.  I was there when what is now called Legends came out.  And those, Legends books, they weren’t always perfect, but they felt more welcoming than the Disney Star Wars Dad Universe.  (And considering how much those books are being mined and are still being sold, Disney should pay those authors).

 

               (BTW – if you forgive or love Grogu for all his child behavior but call Omega a cunt for hers, your sexism is showing.  Also Space Dads really need to talk to children about strangers and eating off the floor).