my heart belongs to Daddy
Dec. 19th, 2021 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestOddly enough, it turns out that my main fandom this year has been Star Wars. Not something I would ever have expected. (Note to self: acquire Mandalorian icons.)
The Mandalorian with great pleasure, and then discovered the 3D Clone Wars series, which became jolly good, and then The Bad Batch, and now are part way into Rebels, and I am very much enjoying these extensions of the world of the films. They maintain the same level of scientific exactitude as the films (ie none) but often have more coherent plotlines. And many fun characters. And they build a very cool universe, of which the films form only a part.
I'm years too late in observing it for anyone to be much interested, but OMG, having watched these series (and the films) in one rather sizeable lump, what I have to say is—Daddy issues, much?
It is *all* about fathers and sons. Good relationships, bad relationships, it's all father figures and their kids.
Anakin+Luke, well, there are all kinds of Issues there, but that father-son thing is overwhelmingly present.
Anakin's own father-son relationship should have been with Qui-Gon, who was up for it but unfortunately (for Anakin) taken out of the picture, leaving him to the mercies of a highly manipulative Palpatine who usurped the position without deserving it. Oh dear. The Clone Wars series really maps the development of the Anakin/Palpatine relationship very well. It also shows the Anakin/Obi Wan relationship, but that is definitely not a father-son thing. Obi Wan is more of a big brother to Anakin than a father figure.
Still within the Clone Wars: Ahsoka is not looking for a dad. I think she treats Anakin from the outset more as an annoying big brother whom she aims to outdo, one day. I can't remember if she has parents, but she doesn't appear to need a daddy.
The Mandalorian - well, it's the heart of the show, isn't it! (And adorable) And I love the symmetry of a son asking for his father's helmet to be taken off at the end of Mandalorian S2, and Return of the Jedi. Quite different reasons, and the Mandalorian one was *so* emotional. *sniff* I love the Child/Mandalorian relationship.
Rebels - Ezra is clearly looking for more than a Jedi mentor in Kanan, and finding it. I love the Ezra/Kanan relationship.
The Bad Batch - the unlikely Omega has found a big brother (Wrecker), two mostly benevolent uncles (Echo and Tech), and a Dad (Hunter). I love the Omega/Hunter relationship.
And of course, Ben Solo/Kylo Wren, firmly rejecting his actual father in favour of his very much extinct (and, had he but known it, unpaternal) grandfather, and going so far as to commit murder to make sure he doesn't back-track. Father-son issues, indeed. But I would like to have *some* idea of how he got there. He apparently had a considerable beef with Luke, which is fair, in the circumstances, but otherwise, ??? (I mean, I can imagine that Han and Leia would drive one another mad, she'd be steadily working for the Cause, he would erratically go off doing whatever, and come back for a passionate reunion and a bit of rebelling, repeat for years. He'd probably show up in Ben's life, be a Cool Dad, then disappear off again in the Falcon. But he'd show up when he was really needed, and being erratic isn't really an excuse for having his son idolise a mass murderer. So, wtf?)
Anyway. Lots of father-son stuff going on, and I am mostly here for it.
Mothers, on the other hand, are basically killed off and good riddance. Anakin's mother is killed. Padme dies because... what, she doesn't have the temperament to carry on? Luke's mother-substitute is killed off. Leia doesn't seem to have a mom, although her father shows up in Rebels. Rey's parents are killed. Ezra's parents are killed. Omega... doesn't actually have a mother.
The only mother who seems to be allowed to hang around is Leia, although if Ben Solo is anything to go by—and it's a shame we have to judge on a sample of one—she turned out not to be very good at the job. (Why? What happened? Why would he idolise Vader? I really do not see how Leia could have been *that* bad at motherhood, even if she was spending a lot of time at work being a General. Lots of mothers work! I know they couldn't do the third movie as planned, but they got from Leia=Awesome Galactic Princess to Leia=helpless in the face of her son's left turn towards evil, without showing us any of the inbetween. Hmph.)
And also, a bit, Hera (from Rebels). She and Kanan do occasionally acknowledge their roles as 'parents' of the rest of the crew.
Plainly, I like a good father-child relationship. (Omega the unlikely female clone definitely fits the dynamic, if not the gender.) I also like the independent kid—Ahsoka—who isn't looking for that kind of parental bond with her mentor, but finds instead comrades along the way, like Rex.
But do we have to have dead mothers and important father substitutes *every* time?
The Mandalorian with great pleasure, and then discovered the 3D Clone Wars series, which became jolly good, and then The Bad Batch, and now are part way into Rebels, and I am very much enjoying these extensions of the world of the films. They maintain the same level of scientific exactitude as the films (ie none) but often have more coherent plotlines. And many fun characters. And they build a very cool universe, of which the films form only a part.
I'm years too late in observing it for anyone to be much interested, but OMG, having watched these series (and the films) in one rather sizeable lump, what I have to say is—Daddy issues, much?
It is *all* about fathers and sons. Good relationships, bad relationships, it's all father figures and their kids.
Anakin+Luke, well, there are all kinds of Issues there, but that father-son thing is overwhelmingly present.
Anakin's own father-son relationship should have been with Qui-Gon, who was up for it but unfortunately (for Anakin) taken out of the picture, leaving him to the mercies of a highly manipulative Palpatine who usurped the position without deserving it. Oh dear. The Clone Wars series really maps the development of the Anakin/Palpatine relationship very well. It also shows the Anakin/Obi Wan relationship, but that is definitely not a father-son thing. Obi Wan is more of a big brother to Anakin than a father figure.
Still within the Clone Wars: Ahsoka is not looking for a dad. I think she treats Anakin from the outset more as an annoying big brother whom she aims to outdo, one day. I can't remember if she has parents, but she doesn't appear to need a daddy.
The Mandalorian - well, it's the heart of the show, isn't it! (And adorable) And I love the symmetry of a son asking for his father's helmet to be taken off at the end of Mandalorian S2, and Return of the Jedi. Quite different reasons, and the Mandalorian one was *so* emotional. *sniff* I love the Child/Mandalorian relationship.
Rebels - Ezra is clearly looking for more than a Jedi mentor in Kanan, and finding it. I love the Ezra/Kanan relationship.
The Bad Batch - the unlikely Omega has found a big brother (Wrecker), two mostly benevolent uncles (Echo and Tech), and a Dad (Hunter). I love the Omega/Hunter relationship.
And of course, Ben Solo/Kylo Wren, firmly rejecting his actual father in favour of his very much extinct (and, had he but known it, unpaternal) grandfather, and going so far as to commit murder to make sure he doesn't back-track. Father-son issues, indeed. But I would like to have *some* idea of how he got there. He apparently had a considerable beef with Luke, which is fair, in the circumstances, but otherwise, ??? (I mean, I can imagine that Han and Leia would drive one another mad, she'd be steadily working for the Cause, he would erratically go off doing whatever, and come back for a passionate reunion and a bit of rebelling, repeat for years. He'd probably show up in Ben's life, be a Cool Dad, then disappear off again in the Falcon. But he'd show up when he was really needed, and being erratic isn't really an excuse for having his son idolise a mass murderer. So, wtf?)
Anyway. Lots of father-son stuff going on, and I am mostly here for it.
Mothers, on the other hand, are basically killed off and good riddance. Anakin's mother is killed. Padme dies because... what, she doesn't have the temperament to carry on? Luke's mother-substitute is killed off. Leia doesn't seem to have a mom, although her father shows up in Rebels. Rey's parents are killed. Ezra's parents are killed. Omega... doesn't actually have a mother.
The only mother who seems to be allowed to hang around is Leia, although if Ben Solo is anything to go by—and it's a shame we have to judge on a sample of one—she turned out not to be very good at the job. (Why? What happened? Why would he idolise Vader? I really do not see how Leia could have been *that* bad at motherhood, even if she was spending a lot of time at work being a General. Lots of mothers work! I know they couldn't do the third movie as planned, but they got from Leia=Awesome Galactic Princess to Leia=helpless in the face of her son's left turn towards evil, without showing us any of the inbetween. Hmph.)
And also, a bit, Hera (from Rebels). She and Kanan do occasionally acknowledge their roles as 'parents' of the rest of the crew.
Plainly, I like a good father-child relationship. (Omega the unlikely female clone definitely fits the dynamic, if not the gender.) I also like the independent kid—Ahsoka—who isn't looking for that kind of parental bond with her mentor, but finds instead comrades along the way, like Rex.
But do we have to have dead mothers and important father substitutes *every* time?
no subject
Date: 2021-12-19 08:03 pm (UTC)Also, I subscribe to the fan theory that Palpatine somehow manipulated the connection between Anakin and Padme so that he drew on her life energy to heal after Obi Wan left him for dead on Mustafar, which is what ultimately killed her. It fits with the droids not knowing why she was dying b/c they can't sense or monitor the Force. I mean, it's a bit of a stretch, but so is the thought that she (of all people) just gave up.
If you're looking for more SW, Claudia Gray has several Leia-focused novels (especially Bloodline, which provides excellent backstory to the situation in The Force Awakens) and E.K. Johnston has two (almost three, the last one is coming soon) that fill in around Padme and her handmaidens that I've really enjoyed.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-20 09:22 am (UTC)I like that theory. At least it is *something* - other than, 'didn't have any further use for Padme so killed her off'.
Thanks for the book recs.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-20 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-20 05:15 pm (UTC)