Rewatched Seasons 1 and 2 of Andor. I loved it the first time I watched. I loved it even more the second time. And then went right into rewatching Rogue One. Perfect.
It’ s not just a good story really well told. It’s not just the spot-on casting. It’s not just that it fits perfectly into the main line Star Wars universe I love (which I find most miniseries do not – and certainly episodes 1 – 3 did not), even though it’s quite dark. All of that would be enough to love it. It’s the overt anti-fascist message, and the overt messages we can use right now:
All rebellious acts against authoritarians aren’t organized centrally. The person who is trying to fund and coordinate the rebellious acts you see in Andor even says this.
You absolutely DO need “front lines” in a fight. No rebellion suceeds just from small acts of resistance. But those small acts of resistance are essential, so if you really feel you cannot give up your family, home, friends and all stability in order to join a rebellion, please at least find ways to rebel right where you are, ways to slow down the authoritarians down, ways to gum up the works. I think about that scene in the Sound of Music when the nuns have hidden the Von Trapp family, and with Nazis literally at the gate, the nun fumbles the keys to let them in, giving the family more time to hide, and then while the Nazis are searching the place, two nuns go out to the car and remove pieces from the car engines so the Nazis can’t chase the escaping family. When you have people doing these acts regularly, across a region, across a country, it has impact, supporting those people who are taking much bigger chances on the front lines.
In Season 2, Episode 3, Harvest, one character says that the man who he believes is leading the rebellion – alluding to Luthen – needs to know what’s going on with the Storm Troopers hunting people on Mina-Rau who don’t have work or resident permits, and the man he’s talking to say, “It’s happening everywhere.” There’s a similar scene in Season 1, when men in the prison are shocked that no one on the outside knows their plight, and the response is pretty much, “It’s bad everywhere.” I think about seeing the video of a woman thrown to the ground by ICE outside of where I used to work, how she was later released without any charges. I thought sharing her video would get her media attention, but… it’s happening everywhere.
Again, with all this said, the reality is that micro-resistent efforts, no matter how many, collectively, can’t defeat an authoritarian government. And the TV show Andor makes it clear that, if you do join an organized rebellion against an entrenched regime, it’s likely you will have to give up security, family and love, and never see the results of your work: you have to do it on faith that it matters to those who do survive, who will join even after you are gone.
But we need everyone in the fight.
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