You can like things for any reason at all but if you’re going to write about Gilroy!SW I think you should consider: 1) the “lack” is a required artifact of being an immediate prequel to ANH 2) RO repeatedly reminds us that the Jedi are victims of an ongoing genocide (and features Vader)
3) there’s literally a place called Jedha ffs can we be serious 4) a blind man uses sorcery to be immune to lasers in broad daylight 5) Cassian is literally a Force-prophesied hero, which we know because of a Force healer
6) when talking about the broader franchise being able to articulate that the Jedi Order were collaborators in fascism AND victims OF fascism is an entry level requirement Sorry (not actually sorry) like if this is tough watch 1-3 with your thinking cap on and/or watch “The Acolyte”
7) if you like “Andor” because there’s “no Jedi” and you want to cherish your love for it without involving yourself in the rest of the franchise, that’s wonderful. The value of a varied franchise is to produce different things for different folks. But…
I don’t think we should confuse that with something “Andor” or its creators are *saying.* It’s no more embarrassed to be part of the broader Star Wars universe than BLACK WIDOW is embarrassed to be part of the MCU.
8) I think this is what’s really bothering me…saying “Andor can be Truly Antifascist because it doesn’t include those Jedi and Skywalkers” feels like gloating over the absence of the exact people that the Galactic Empire devoted itself to destroying. “Andor” isn’t saying this—some of its fans are.
Metatext: the chosen one ideas of Jedi and the Skywalker blood line specifically, tie and overlap well into fascist theories of will to power and blood and soil and great leaders. in text: this view would be supporting the fascist purge of a dissidant religion/oversight group
Fans have made more of this than the text has and they always have The Chosen One = “A prophecy that misread, could have been.” The Skywalker Bloodline *barely exists* and the one time someone got explicitly excited about it, the Jedi got killed off again
Nearly all the other Jedi aren’t related to any other Jedi, or any other characters of note, since there’s actually in-universe rules to prevent that sort of dynasty from taking off
And yes the Jedi and Skywalkers are fictional characters. So are Vulcans, and Romulans, and Augments. We are not dealing with real-world stakes, but sometimes we don’t realize what we sound like either.
(PS—the exact guys who killed the Jedi also killed Clem Andor We think this wasn’t deliberate imagery? What are we DOING here?)