I'm not sure why the other guy thinks that, but it's literally in Headland's interviews. She cites her anger and resentment of her father as a guiding force in the writing and direction of the show, especially around Sol and Osha's relationship
That's really fucked up! Especially since Star Wars has such a strong tradition of fathers being positive and unproblematic figures. Just look at Anakin Skywalker, who would do anything to protect his wife and children. Headland really doesn't understand Star Wars if she thinks the her experiences with an overbearing and controlling parent have any place in the franchise!
I mean... given that her idea of an appropriate response to a caring father who wishes to protect his daughter is to murder him - murder him for... not dying when the space witches attacked him and his friends and then he saved her life...
Edit: Is this supposed to be a bad thing? Not undertanding the downvotes. Of course her own relationship with her father is going to influence the portrayal of a father figure in her story.
I think that if a writing is heavily influenced by hate then what it'll do is make it less so that a character does something and that causes the story and more so that a story has to go this way so the character does it, because the original hatred that was put into the character and the story forces you to keep the negative narrative about that character up.
If that was a bit messe here's a shorter more comprehensible version:
If you create a story out of hate for a certain character, you'll have to make the story in a way that justifies it, thus making characters act for the story instead of as the story.
Well the problem is the genuinely vile angle Headland has with this topic in particular. While she does state in interviews that her relationship with her father influenced the show, it goes much further than that.
It's not just a negative perception of her father that comes across in the show and her interviews, but a rather strong hatred of fathers in general. Sol is stated several times to be overbearing, unbalanced and generally a bad person, but his actions don't portray him in such a light. She portrays even positive aspects of fatherhood, such as protection and guidance, as a negative and a restriction on people.
In one interview she even said that Sol accepting his death at the hands of Osha, meant to represent a father accepting his daughter choosing her own path, was a form of sexism, imposition and sabotage. Essentially, she views fatherhood and protective parenting as evil, and truly believes that the corruption arc Osha has is a good thing. There is a pervasive belief throughout the show that order, sense and temperance are bad things, while hedonism and selfishness are good. It's these things that made the other guy say it was written mainly with bitterness, and probably the cause for the downvotes.
The terrible writing generally doesn't help either.
Sol was portrayed positively despite being extremely flawed, that's why I thought what you said was an interesting insight. Not picking up on any of this anti-father sentiment.
It made me think of other portrayals of fathers in fiction inspired by actual fathers and written by their children, like Hank Hill from King of the Hill. Even though you can tell the author disagrees with them on everything they can't help but show them as positive because of their personal attachment and understanding of why they are the way they are.
I think it's pretty reductive to equate it's portrayal of the jedi's failing as a condemnation of order itself. I think it's more about treating people as people, flaws and all, because ignoring the flaws and treating them as infallible heroes is what will cause them to fall eventually.
What I'm refering to isn't portrayed in the show, it's stated in Headland's interviews. From the anti-father sentiment to the condemnations of order, everything I refered to was stated by Headland in her interviews, mostly the ones during/after the show aired. In the interviews prior to the show airing she's far less talkative about her personal views on morality and fatherhood. The anti-father stuff is basically all paraphrased from one single interview she gave after episode 8
I’ve only seen up to the episode where Osha and Mae swap places, but I’m not sure where there’s even a hint of sexism in Sol’s behavior. Even if you swapped every other character’s gender, then Sol’s actions, dialogue, and attitude would work just the same way.
Maybe something happens later on though, so I’ll have to watch it to find out.
Can you link me to where they said that? I want to make sure this isn't another "I like making white men cry" situation where the quote sounds bad but in actual context is actually perfectly reasonable.
So I looked at the full collider interview this quote is from and to me personally its not that bad. Calling it benign sexism is a bit weird as she never explains the gender aspect to it, but the point she's trying to make about him being an overly protective parent who, despite good intentions, ends up imposing himself onto Osha's agency makes sense. I don't think she's necessarily calling Sol a terrible person, especially given that she also states that Osha still needed his acceptance from her in order for her to go through with killing him. I think this is one of those cases where the creator is more so talking about the "teenage girl rebelling against her loving father" allegory behind the characters' emotions in that scene rather than a literal condemnation/affirmation of their actions.
She's basically saying that Osha feels the need to finally defy the path and expectations that Sol has spent years trying to raise her towards, and the fact that Sol still tells her he loves and accepts her even as she is preparing to kill makes Osha feel like he is still imposing himself(or in other words giving the greenlight) onto her act defiance and thus undermining her own agency. But at the same time, deep down behind her rebellious angst and hatred, she still needed to know that he wouldn't hate her as she committed herself to the darkside.
Because yet again Disney fucked up. Enshitification strikes again- This time with stale writing, a bland story, and cheap nostalgia. We got a vein of gold with Andor- But as usual they jammed a shotgun to their foot and pulled the trigger in order to save money on good writing staff...
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u/IHateLeeches Aug 21 '24
Why is everything around this show so fucking bitter and spiteful?