Drunkdrivingthedeathstar - You Don’t Go Around Killing People. It’s Not Nice.

luke hull, the production designer of andor, says it is a very visually light show, and he’s not wrong, but it is deeply interesting to me how the brightest and lightest part of andor is the empire.  in most other star warses, the empire is depicted as, well, dark; it’s vader’s looming shadow, the grimly lit death star. the empire is a creature of malice and hatred, a Bad force led by the shadowy darkness of palpatine - the empire reflects its morals and character. this is an effective way of queuing in to an audience primed by a lifetime of light versus dark good versus bad metaphors the situation at hand; in anh the tantive is visually very white, vader brings a darkness (literally) in with him. the light in star wars is the rebellion - leia’s pure white dress, mon’s r1 and rotj garb, luke’s white outfit. they are the hope, and so they are the lightest points of the movie. the rebel hq is white, blindingly so - look, you get my point.  in andor, however, this is flipped. luthen’s fondor is often shadowy and greyish, mon gives her speech disavowing the empire a primarily grey colourscape, the radio tower to luthen on ferrix is dark, the backroom of the gallery is dark, but the empire is a blindingly sterile white again and again and again. narkina-5, the isb building, dedra’s flat. it’s a very deliberate brightness, one that contrasts with the more naturalistic lighting at play in rebel-led scenes and places; the imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. the empire has to continually signal its presence, has to continually signal what it claims to offer; Light, Order, Reason. it’s an inescapable brightness, a pervasive presence. you can retreat into the shadows but not the light.  and at the same time, that pretence is so deeply hollow! there’s a clinical aspect to the light of the empire, a constant oppressive artifice to it; it smothers mon in the embassy, isb uniforms and stormtrooper armour has to be perfectly smooth and pressed, in contrast to the aforementioned rebels. dedra’s torture of bix strips the bright and clinical facade away, revealing the empire not as a medical organisation, treating the illnesses of the galaxy, but as a cruel creature, fed by and greedy for the desire for power and control and harm that those that make it up embody. dedra and the false light of the empire are symbionts; in the light she must be composed (as the empire demands of its subjects), it is only in the dark that she can be vulnerable. the light is more intuitive than the dark, but that is the exact framing that andor’s empire relies upon. it is easier to comply than to resist, but that light is false and cold and will burn you in time.

I love how Yoda’s first inclination when Luke crashes into his self imposed exile is to just absolutely fuck with him. He proceeds to rummage through his shit and pester him and beat his droid with a stick and talk nonsense while stealing his food and when Luke is understandably testy with him Yoda turns to Obi-Wan’s force ghost and goes this fuck ass kid is an impatient bitch just like his dad.

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY 2016 | dir. Gareth Edwards

Natalie Portman as PADME AMIDALA [9/?] Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Happy May 4th! Based on this fic by @dailydragon08

John is too good for this world

Another drawing from last year of one of my absolute favs. Not sure if this is any particular moment, just a combination of different pieces of her story through tcw and rebels

Andor Jedha, Kyber, Erso | 2.12

ANDOR 2.09 "Welcome To The Rebellion"

sooooo fucked up but padme and shmi are inextricably linked in anakin’s mind as both his family, his attachments and the people he will do anything to keep in his life, the secret-most part of him he gets to have all to himself, ANDDD palpatine is in that secret chamber too. he didn’t grow up with a father so he’s got palpatine and obi-wan to choose from, and obi-wan loves him obviously but can only say it when he thinks anakin is dying, like it or not there is a level of emotional repression in the prime jedi order that anakin simply never gets from palpatine who he kneels before and trusts without question. palpatine and padme the politicians he is told not to trust, shmi the mother he was never meant to see again. mother & father & mother to his children. each an attempt at a family unit he never really got. it’s the evilest dynamic of all time and of course it ends in a bloodbath