Yes. That's what I'm getting at. And I think it applies to all the franchises - or facets of franchises - that are 'for kids' but not really, they're for middleaged nerds. And it's an issue because, sure, Andor's 'grown up Star Wars', but I would prefer more Muppets and space battles.
ah I really loved Andor, and really did not want more muppets and space battles. I don't think there's a totally hard-and-fast rule other than "it works if it's *really really good* and not if it's not good, make things that are good"
Well, yes, ultimately. I'm certainly not saying that people making Star Wars or DC Comics should stay in their lane, it's only Star Wars and Superman, don't show any ambition. Certainly not saying readers shouldn't read it. I think I'm saying readers shouldn't stay in a lane, either.
I love so, so many of these characters and stories and so on. I think they can do more than you might think, that they can appeal to adults. I also think there are design limits.
I think Watchmen is brilliant, one of the great novels. I wrote two books about Alan Moore. It's not a call for 'grown up' superheroes. It's about how they *can't* be middleaged with bills to pay and erectile dysfunction. It's about how *stupid* it would be if superhero stories were 'realistic'.
I have not written two books about it, but I think it's a book about how terrifyingly fallible all leaders are, how appalling it is to put (let's say) atomic power into the hands of one 'great man', how much humans crave to believe in an infallible Daddy and how much he does not exist.
(In case it wasn't clear, the 'two books' thing wasn't a claim of superiority on my part, just me noting that I'm coming at this from a very, very pro-Watchmen position. I've re-read it *a lot* over the years, and it's a great example of a book that changes as you get older)
When I talk about a balanced diet, I just mean if you want a visceral power fantasy of good v evil ... superheroes. Read superhero stuff. But any story about, god, the Middle East and superheroes is going to be about the limits of the superhero genre, not a way to learn about the Middle East.
I think something like Andor has a place in processing how fascism takes root. Quite an important one, actually. If it's a gateway to reading the history, seeking out other narratives, or just a nice coping fantasy, that's great. But if it's the *only* way people engage with that topic ...
funny, I thought Andor - like Watchmen - was about stories. how the stories we like to tell, the ones that really push our buttons, the stories about the Big Hero doing One Amazing Thing to solve our problems are damaging fantasies that stop us understanding the world.
If an adult watches Andor, wants to learn more about totalitarianism taking root, and thinks 'maybe I'll check out Clone Wars', then I think, yes, that's Doing It Wrong. Check out Clone Wars, it's good. But not for that reason.