The main thing I realized from The Acolyte is that I probably would be pretty easily corrupted. Manny Jacinto telling me how what I feel is important and that it’s ok to give into desires and my instincts and what not… I would fold like a cheap chair.
andaNow I am no Star Wars superfan. I am incredibly casual about my consumption, but what caught my attention and interest is how different this approach to the Darkside felt, yes it was hot, but also the emphasis on individuality was interesting to me.
It’s the mirroring for me, both sides are grey…
The mirroring of the stranger and Sol was so interesting to watch. The stranger killed indiscriminately to keep his freedom while Sol tried and failed to rationalize his desires into something that fit the black-and-white mindset of the Jedi. It’s a clear display of the idea that even if someone fully believes that what they are doing is right, they can still very much be acting selfishly and dangerously.
There are many Star Wars titles I’ve not seen or read, but I’ve not seen the Jedi shown that way before. The mythos around them always seemed pretty straightforward, light and dark etc. etc. but in The Acolyte there is not one Jedi that we meet that I completely liked, the closest being Jenki. The uniformity that seems to be required with becoming a Jedi does not appeal at all to me and like we see with Osha even when it does appeal to you it’s not always something that everyone can do well enough to fit in.
The show gave attention to the shades of Grey in this world by diverting attention away from the Jedi or more accurately highlighting the areas in which they fail. It takes away some of the unquestionable, or rather unquestioned shine, that the Jedi have and allows for focus to be put elsewhere.
ndaIt doesn’t hurt that elsewhere is Manny Jacinto and Amandla Stenberg’s beautiful faces, that helps a lot. That would also be what would make me an incredibly easy target. I wouldn’t even need the Osha treatment, I likely wouldn’t even have to see him naked and that’s not even what convinced her to partake. I am going to be transparent and admit that I am not big on organized religion, and that is how the Jedi are classified. Not only that, they are a religion with immense political influence that doesn’t seem to be governed by anything but themselves, which sounds to me like a recipe for abuse. Whether it be individual members abusing the lack of external oversight or the organization itself imposing its will where it deems necessary.
Pardon my ~light~ spoilers
In the show what we see Sol and the other Jedi intervene on Brendok, where they were not wanted, and as a result, a lot of people died. Because of their organization they were able to cover up their crimes for 16 years and it would’ve been longer if Mae hadn’t started picking them off. While their individual guilt may have been manifesting in certain behaviors as a whole they were not trying to take responsibility for what they did and the system that they belonged to protected them. So I can completely understand why things played out the way that they did. Osha was raised by her mothers killer and encouraged to blame her sister for it. Learning about that would be enough to make anybody turn to the dark side. Hell, I’d probably turn for a lot less than that, as I previously stated.
Gotta loop it back to the past now
Tangentially related I gotta say, yes the Mandalorian is interesting and fun and what not, but personally I never got over the latest trilogy and how the people of color were treated in it. So to have this show center characters of color that are marginalized in the world for just wanting to be themselves, even if that puts them at odds will popular belief interest me deeply.
Amandla Stenberg being at the forefront of the show instantly put it on my watchlist. Black people, Star Wars, light sabers. I was going to be seated. I’m not gonna lie, though my thirst over Manny Jacinto did make me watch a lot sooner than I otherwise would have. I don’t know, it’s like I had such high hopes for Finn‘s character and those trilogy and that didn’t pan out at all. He was largely ignored and relegated to the role of Rey’s sidekick. Rey support, if you will.After that experience I am more than open to the idea of exploring what the dark side has to offer. Not only because it’s been framed sympathetically but because I am fascinated by narratives that challenge established ideas and institutions. Also after Finn and all of that, I don’t even want to give the light my attention who cares if the events of The Acolyte are so many years before the trilogy. Perhaps evil isn’t so evil after all. Not that we’ll ever know as the show was canceled.
The Cancellation Kerfuffle
At this point you kinda can’t talk about the show without mentioning it’s cancellation. I didn’t realize the show was so polarizing before that I should have figured as much but I just focused on enjoying the show. So it wasn’t until after that I learned about the racist deluge against Amandla or how people tanked the rotten tomatoes score before the show even premiered. If ever you wonder if the white hot burn of racism has died all you have to do is put a Black person in a role of importance in a Star Wars franchise. You’ll get your answer real quick. It’s unfortunate but if Lucasfilm were willing to stand behind a project that isn’t an overnight success, it wouldn’t be an insurmountable obstacle. That issue isn’t unique to Lucasfilm though, the TV graveyard is overflowing with recent single season shows that didn’t have a fighting chance. Not gonna lie this one hurts though.
