Screecher's Reach - Tumblr Posts
CW: abuse
To me, the Sith have always been about power, about manipulation, about abuse. They offer false hope as a lure to ensnare people when they are at their most vulnerable. They offer you what you think you need while gutting your support system, isolating you from those who could pull you back above water. Before you know it, the decisions you say you are making are no longer your own. And so, the visually brightest scene of the episode becomes its darkest moment thematically.
I am amazed that Star Wars continues to tell meaningful, complex stories about survivors, those who are able to liberate themselves from the confines of interpersonal and systemic abuse, as well as those who are unable to break free… yet.
This is why hope is so fundamentally important, not just in Star Wars or in storytelling, but in the real lives we lead. There is always, ALWAYS hope.
And may the Force be with you.
I couldn't figure out how to put it in to words last night when I was summarizing my thoughts on Visions S2, but I think "Screecher's Reach" does a really good job with the concept of the Sith/dark side as corruption, in how it takes familiar, positive elements we've seen in other Star Wars stories, and twists them. Everything is recognizable on the surface, but just...off. Unsettling in a way that isn't obvious at first.
For example, the repetition of a mantra. We've seen this before, but usually with something that invokes the Force. An appeal to strength and courage seems positive enough (and in another franchise might very well be), but it definitely seemed odd, not Star Wars-y...until it took a dark turn when the protagonist describes herself as "strong" in reference to her taking a life, and the appearance of a Sith. It made complete sense then.
Another example, the test in a dark side cave. We've seen this before, as a way for Jedi to face themselves and confront their fears. And the narrative seems to travel this route, until it's revealed that the test was not to face herself, but another being - and kill them. Luke fails a Jedi's test by bringing his weapon and fear and anger with him, and sees his own face when he kills the illusionary Vader. This short turns that on its head, with our protagonist passing a Sith's test by taking up a weapon already inside. She sees nothing (that's shown to us) when she kills the real, living Sith. She doesn't face her dark reflection, but it is her reflection since she goes with the Sith in the end.
And of course, the mentor and leaving your old life behind - usually positive in this franchise. But here, while it has all the same trappings of the more positive or bittersweet departures (even echoing Shmi's "don't look back"), the audience knows that the Sith doesn't have any good intentions here, and that nothing but misery waits for the protagonist, not the better life she's expecting.
Okay, we got a fantastic novel expanding on Ronin from Star Wars: Visions season 1 – now I really hope we get one expanding on Screecher's Reach from season 2, because there is at least a novel's worth of interior monologue in Daal's face when trying to explain herself to her friends at the end there
CW: abuse
To me, the Sith have always been about power, about manipulation, about abuse. They offer false hope as a lure to ensnare people when they are at their most vulnerable. They offer you what you think you need while gutting your support system, isolating you from those who could pull you back above water. Before you know it, the decisions you say you are making are no longer your own. And so, the visually brightest scene of the episode becomes its darkest moment thematically.
I am amazed that Star Wars continues to tell meaningful, complex stories about survivors, those who are able to liberate themselves from the confines of interpersonal and systemic abuse, as well as those who are unable to break free… yet.
This is why hope is so fundamentally important, not just in Star Wars or in storytelling, but in the real lives we lead. There is always, ALWAYS hope.
And may the Force be with you.
Screecher's Reach -- Make your choice