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Dec. 4th, 2007
Are they forgetting the good guys?
Dec. 4th, 2007 06:52 pmOne thing that struck me about the proposed fan club tees, as alluded to by one of the poll responses, is that most of the designs feature stormtroopers or some sort of Imperial minion. It raised something I've wondered about for a while and that is the sliiiight favoritism shown nowadays by official fandom toward the Empire.
Example one? The book Death Star. Overall, I liked Death Star. But do you see authors lining up to write a book about the poor sods on Alderaan who had no idea the Emperor's pork project was headed their way? Almost everyone in Death Star was sympathetic. Not to say everyone should've been mustache-twirling sociopaths either, but talk about a retconned view of ANH.
The 501st right now is the public face of SW fandom. Now I know a lot of people in the 501st. They are a great group of guys and gals. Having participated in a number of events with 501st members over the years, even marching along with them in a Halloween parade, I know how the public adores them. They've done countless charity events all over the world. I'm not disputing their awesomeness as an organization.
Yet, I've heard grumblings from Rebel Legion members that they do not get quite the same respect or attention the 501st receives. Granted, Rebel Legion hasn't been around as long and I'm not really sure of its membership size vis a vis the 501st (and this is not counting other good guy fan groups like Jedi Assembly or Grand Army of the Republic). But I heard that at Celebration IV, the 501st got to come out on stage and induct Carrie Fisher as an honorary member, while Rebel Legion had to cut through a lot of red tape just to induct Jay Laga'aia as an honorary member…backstage. It's a little odd, given that the Jedi, Rebels, handmaidens, Padmés, etc. represent the core positive values of the saga. You know, serving the light and not being a cog in the Empire's machinery?
The bad guys certainly have caché in SW and the movies certainly display the glamour and beauty of evil. There are going to be fans who will argue that the Empire's grunts are just regular working soldiers who can display courage and valor in the field. The problem is, despite what many fans have come to believe about SW (and that perhaps is worthy of another post), it's not a tale of moral equivalency between Alliance and Empire.
Don't think I'm advocating flushing Impies down the toilet and pretending they're not part of the SW universe. Keep on wearing your stormtrooper armor and building that clone army diorama. All I'm saying is the heroes are cool too.
I'm not friends-locking this entry but I will be screening comments.
Example one? The book Death Star. Overall, I liked Death Star. But do you see authors lining up to write a book about the poor sods on Alderaan who had no idea the Emperor's pork project was headed their way? Almost everyone in Death Star was sympathetic. Not to say everyone should've been mustache-twirling sociopaths either, but talk about a retconned view of ANH.
The 501st right now is the public face of SW fandom. Now I know a lot of people in the 501st. They are a great group of guys and gals. Having participated in a number of events with 501st members over the years, even marching along with them in a Halloween parade, I know how the public adores them. They've done countless charity events all over the world. I'm not disputing their awesomeness as an organization.
Yet, I've heard grumblings from Rebel Legion members that they do not get quite the same respect or attention the 501st receives. Granted, Rebel Legion hasn't been around as long and I'm not really sure of its membership size vis a vis the 501st (and this is not counting other good guy fan groups like Jedi Assembly or Grand Army of the Republic). But I heard that at Celebration IV, the 501st got to come out on stage and induct Carrie Fisher as an honorary member, while Rebel Legion had to cut through a lot of red tape just to induct Jay Laga'aia as an honorary member…backstage. It's a little odd, given that the Jedi, Rebels, handmaidens, Padmés, etc. represent the core positive values of the saga. You know, serving the light and not being a cog in the Empire's machinery?
The bad guys certainly have caché in SW and the movies certainly display the glamour and beauty of evil. There are going to be fans who will argue that the Empire's grunts are just regular working soldiers who can display courage and valor in the field. The problem is, despite what many fans have come to believe about SW (and that perhaps is worthy of another post), it's not a tale of moral equivalency between Alliance and Empire.
Don't think I'm advocating flushing Impies down the toilet and pretending they're not part of the SW universe. Keep on wearing your stormtrooper armor and building that clone army diorama. All I'm saying is the heroes are cool too.
I'm not friends-locking this entry but I will be screening comments.