The Star Wars Against Fascism

The horrors have been relentless this past month. There's a looming despair hanging over both I and everyone else's heads and in this despair, I tend to retreat to aspects of my childhood that didn't suck. In this instance I have been watching a lot of Star Wars. Now, admittedly there is a chunk of the Star Wars fan base that is vile. Media literacy eludes them. They are often racists and bigots that just want to clap when the lightsabers go whoosh much like a baby claps for jingling keys. This article is in part for any one of them that wants to hate read the rest of this, but also for those that just like the affirmation that, yes, Star Wars is anti-fascist.

George Lucas has said that the rebellion and the empire are modeled after the Viet Cong and the United States. The latter being the imperial force invading Vietnam during the time of the first film's conceptualization. The first six movies greatly reflect this with a warring Republic that, when put under a magnifying glass, lets slip any grander efforts at democracy. The chancellor is given emergency power, doing away with any term limits he had. There's immense spending on military and atrocities like slavery within its borders are swept under the rug. There's easy comparisons to be made between the republic and the United States. A bulk of our budget goes to the military whether we are at war or not, the 13th amendment abolished slavery unless of course you are incarcerated, and as far as term limits, I'm sure Donald would love to sit in the oval office for as long as possible.

Then the Republic devolves into a fascist imperial regime. The state of the galaxy grows far worse, but I always viewed it as the Republic taking its mask off. It was an empire for a while, it just didn't have the absurd loyalty that it did when transitioning its label. There's crumbs of this throughout the franchise. There is one in the Kenobi show, in which a driver declares that a little order is necessary, praising the Empire for instilling it. There is one show, however, that displays every facet of existence under the Imperial regime: Andor.

There are countless essays and videos out there already detailing the intricacies of this show and how awesome it is. I am sure there are just as many others either missing the point of the show or calling it "woke." The people who spout the latter are tragic and miserable, of course. Yet, there are so many that are just... so close to getting it. They have all of the thoughts and ideas, it's just a matter of organizing them. That's how I want to focus on Andor for this article.

Cassian Andor, the titular character, is one of those people that is just so close. He loathes the empire and the current state of things. He doesn't necessarily want to work within the system but he doesn't want to change it either. This takes work and effort and sacrifice. When an entity strips you of so much, the fear of losing what little you have left is controlling. It's paralyzing. It's exhausting. Why act when you can cling onto everything and just survive. The course of the show depicts the series of final straws and conversations that need to happen for someone like Andor to take action towards material change.

One of the arcs within the show involves Andor taking part in a heist in exchange for his escape from his home, where he is a wanted thief. The heist itself is organized, selfless. It's meant to get funding for the rebellion. Andor is embedded with a varied group, each individual there for different reasons. One of the notable characters is Nemik who, as if speaking to the audience directly, details the crux of how an Empire maintains control. He says the trick behind the imperial thought machine is to move faster than the people can process what's happening and that it is easier to hide behind several atrocities than one incident. Then he holds up the manifesto he's writing and a navigational tool, declaring that both are a map, one based on consciousness and one based on physical direction. This is half of Andor's brain. The part that loathes the Empire so deeply, that knows it's being oppressed over and over in ways it can see clearly and not so clearly.

After experiencing the Empire's colonization of the planet the heist is taking place on through its destroying of local culture, allowing them to practice a festival as a generous courtesy, Andor sees the other half of his brain in Skeen. Throughout the arc, Skeen shows mistrust in everyone. He was in the military, he usually only finds concern in money, like when he found that Andor was carrying an expensive stone given to him as insurance for the job. After the heist, Nemik is in surgery after a mortal injury and Skeen tries to convince Andor to take the money and run. He says that he and Andor are the same, born in the pit and climbing over everyone else to get out. It's a desperate way to think, desperation caused by oppression that can leave people born with nothing and thus only have self-preservation in mind. This is when something critical happens: Andor kills Skeen. He hates the part of himself that's just that selfish, and finally decides to kill it off. Skeen and Nemik are essentially the devil and angel resting on Andor's shoulders.

An interesting thing happens prior to Skeen's demise, however. When on the ship to escape, they do so utilizing a meteor shower that happens every few years on the planet as cover. With Imperial fighters on their tail, Nemik, while suffering his injury, directs Andor using the navigational tool he likened to his manifesto before. He begs Andor to climb, which Andor refutes at first. Everything he can see tells him not to climb further into the shower. Then, he listens. He trusts Nemik and the tool. He lets himself be guided despite not knowing if it's the right call. When Nemik dies on the operating table, he leaves his manifesto to Andor, which he accepts reluctantly. This is the more critical view into Andor's mind, the one that displays he is finally opening himself up to these ideas. That's all it takes, the one experience or conversation that can convince someone to be vulnerable to these ideas.

I've called Skeen desperate, but I think everyone is under the Empire. It's really a matter of reaction. The US Imperial machine does what the Empire in Star Wars does so well, it convinces everyone that they are single handedly responsible for their detriment. A "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality that can kill empathy so easily. Joy under capitalism is being peddled as money, things, social media likes. All arbitrary numbers that cover up the countless atrocities that seemingly happen so far away and when one finally shows up on someone's doorstep, the person next door isn't thinking "that's cruel I should do something." They're thinking "I need to do everything they say so that I'm not next." The former is too exhausting. To think of how to protest, to resist, it all takes a sort of action and planning that lies past an invisible threshold that's different for everyone. Some may see their neighbor beaten and have that be enough. Some have a thicker, denser threshold and find it far easier to do as they are told. Don't protest in the streets. Don't loot the Target. Don't kneel during the anthem.

The Imperial machine hates disruption. It hates having the cogs be impeded by our bodies thrust upon it. Yet it's what we must do. I don't have some perfect idea of resistance but it's important that art be looked upon for inspiration and communication of ideas. That's what I see in Star Wars. That's what I see in Andor. I think this is the importance of art within times like this. It's a communication of ideas and a tool for organizing all those thoughts into a desire for action. So for everyone reading this that's an artist or creator of any sort, keep going. Everything you do can create hope, comfort, and the ability to grapple with our current situation. I sincerely hope for and expect a brighter future, no matter how far away it is. Look out for each other, and don't stop. Create, get loud, and make yourself heard.

Keep disrupting the machine.

“Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.

Remember this. Try.”

- Nemik’s Manifesto, Andor Season 1