Star Wars Rebels Season 3 and the very selective indignation toward alleged pandering

[sarahtasher]

There was a rare nearly universal approval yesterday, when it was revealed that the supervillain of Rebels season 3 was going to be Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the most liked characters of the old EU. (With concerns that he is going to be butchered).
Here come a very simple reflection : if Thrawn had been female or any culture/ethnic group that would have been remotely Earth-like, there would have been the usual backlash about SJWs…Yet while Thrawn was always very well written by Zahn and cleverly avoided being a Gary Flu (Thrawn looks like one thanks to an astute PR campaign), he pretty much have, in the larger EU, the same alleged flaws angrily pointed out toward Rey or the Rogue One gal : he is superpowered compared to the white guys (its sure than in most StarWars fiction, Imperial officers would have trouble tying their shoelaces, incuding canon material…),he learn everything with ease (Thrawn learned in a few months to command and operate warships infinitely more complex than the patrol craft-type lighters he was used to).


It goes without saying that the only difference between Chiss and Humans, at least in the previous canon, was that Chiss have blue skin…(Poor Mara would not far well in 2016, I’m afraid..) IE, have a dude with a plastic forehead that state he is the best warrior ever (usually thirty seconds before being punched by the vilain of the week) no issue, but woe befalls you if this is a black or chinese actor...

[zorkuus]

what?

No seriously... what?

[sarahtasher]

what?

No seriously... what?

That if the supremely skilled admiral had a brown, yellow or black skin, people would be screaming ''pandering'' (like they do for hispanic/chinese/black actors in Awakens and Rogue).

Blue skin, no issue, even if this blindingly obviously a metaphor (Zahn was the author that explicited the concept that Imperials were xenophobics)

[Puupi]

What did I just not read?

[sarahtasher]

What did I just not read?

That no one is angry at having a blue skinned super skilled admiral that but that people were very angry at having a black mercenary, a black stromtrooper or an hispanic starfighter pilot ?

[Deleted]

That no one is angry at having a blue skinned super skilled admiral that but that people were very angry at having a black mercenary, a black stromtrooper or an hispanic starfighter pilot ?

Was anyone really angry at those? From what I recall the only one who kicked up a major fuss over Finn were trolls trying to stir the shit.

[zorkuus]

That no one is angry at having a blue skinned super skilled admiral that but that people were very angry at having a black mercenary, a black stromtrooper or an hispanic starfighter pilot ?

Were they or did you read these hate comments from a star wars sub forum of Stormfront?

[Puupi]

Were they or did you read these hate comments from a star wars sub forum of Stormfront?

Stormfronttroopers?

[Jotaux]

If they bring him into Rebels then at least that makes him cannon.

[Kraenen]

Oh man this is really stretching it

[TirielWoW]

Oh man this is really stretching it

Well...gotta look at the OP.

[sarahtasher]

If they bring him into Rebels then at least that makes him cannon.

He is canon and he even have a planned canon book. By Zahn.

[dd614]

what?

No seriously... what?

The mental illness that is SJW.

[derpkitteh]

don't think people care that finn was black, just that it seemed like they were gonna try to use his character to push more black guy/white girl relationship propaganda.

i honestly would prefer rey would stay single, why does the girl always have to be with someone? it's annoying. have finn be with that guy some people were shipping him with.

as for bringing thrawn into canon, that is amazing. now they just need to bring sith purebloods into canon, because they're fucking awesome. have a ship of them come out of a time warp or something, like that one story.

[Stormdash]

That if the supremely skilled admiral had a brown, yellow or black skin, people would be screaming ''pandering'' (like they do for hispanic/chinese/black actors in Awakens and Rogue).

Blue skin, no issue, even if this blindingly obviously a metaphor (Zahn was the author that explicited the concept that Imperials were xenophobics)

Maybe that's a lesson in the power of metaphor, instead of using fiction as a vehicle for baldly preachifying the shit out of one's politics?

There was a lesson in Thrawn in the early 90s, true -- that the Emperor, and the Empire, grossly erred in assuming that an alien fleet commander would never be as competent (or, when demonstrably competent, still had to be wasted because he'd never be as accepted) as a human one. The message sticks, because it roots at a level below anyone's political biases.

You like the movie Inception? Inception is a fabulous movie that is, before it's anything else, a metaphor about making movies, and telling stories in general, and how they can communicate to an audience. To wit, Tom Hardy's Eames and Leo's Cobb have this exchange about how to carry out the title concept of planting an idea in someone's head and having it stick --



In relevant part:

EAMES: "...You need the simplest version of the idea, in order for it to grow naturally in your subject's mind, it's a very subtle art. So what is this idea that you need to plant?"

COBB: "We need the heir of a major corporation to dissolve his father's empire."

EAMES: "Well, you see right there, you have various political motivations and anti-monopolistic sentiments, and so forth, but all of that stuff, it's really at the mercy of the subject's prejudice, you see? What you have to do is start at the absolute basic."

COBB: "Which is what?"

EAMES: "The relationship with the father."

So, in this context, the idea you want to plant is "racism = bad, harmful, ungood". Right there you have a lot of political motivations you can appeal to, white privilege, institutional racism, correction of historical wrongs... but all that stuff, is at the mercy of your subject's audience's prejudice, you see? What you need to do is start with the absolute basic. Which is? Don't judge a book by its cover.

Advantage Zahn.

- - - Updated - - -

He is canon and he even have a planned canon book. By Zahn.

I sincerely hope Zahn is able to grab in bits and pieces of his prior now-"Legends" work and canonize it in the book. And holy crap would love to have Mara Jade salvaged somehow. I get it, she's never gonna marry Luke now nor have puppies with him, etc, but the character was legit, "Mary Sue" dismissals were kind of lazy, IMO. Introduce her in "Rebels", if one likes, never even to interact with the Main Characters, but give us us Jade.

[Jotaux]

He is canon and he even have a planned canon book. By Zahn.

Oh, well thats great news!

[Torched]

Am I the only one that has a hard time understanding what this op is saying? I had to try and read this 3 times and just gave up

[sarahtasher]

For the record, they obviously did an effort to make Thrawn look like the original EU.

In the trailer, he speaks about the art, he have ysalamari like mosaics...

The OP says that the usual suspect scream like posessed when there are black dudes, ''brown'' dudes or yellow dudes in Star Wars, yet seems very okay with blue dudes.

Blue dudes that are far more, first hand, following their claims about ''SJW characters that are overpowered'', since, by old Canon, Thrawn was vastly more competent than the hundreds if not thousands of Imperial human admirals that hated him as alien.

[Deleted]

he pretty much have, in the larger EU, the same alleged flaws angrily pointed out toward Rey or the Rogue One gal : he is superpowered compared to the white guys

If you read the books Thrawn is a genius, but still exiled (he is not loved by all) did you notice Thrawn sidekick Gilad Pellaeon (the mediocre white guy) he surpasses "everything" Thrawn have done, maybe not in the same elegance as Thrawn and it helps that he lives then Thrawn is dead

[Kalis]

Was anyone really angry at those? From what I recall the only one who kicked up a major fuss over Finn were trolls trying to stir the shit.

Finn pissed me off.

His arse was about twice as wide as every other Stormtrooper.