The Decaying Monomyth of Star Wars

[@Aranock]

To Jessie, I am so incredibly proud of this work, and grateful to be your creative partner. Cannot wait to see what everyone thought, especially of my animation. Also want to shout out again the entire voice cast. You, Steve Shives, Tirrrb, Neil of TheLeftistCooks, Ladyknightthebrave, Vera Wylde, Maggie Mae Fish and David J Bradley all did so well and made it enjoyable to animate for your characters. To the audience, Jessie and I started writing this in November of 2022, this represents a year of work in between everything else we've been doing. The runtime is as short as we could make it, we just had this much to say(and I cut major things to keep it this focused, I didn't get to talk about colour theory or architecture or representation of marginalized people or the heroine's journey and it's issues or all of my notes on the clone wars as propaganda films or how to make star wars art that says something meaningfully political and the examples of that). So if you enjoy it, and you want us to do the sequels we've considered making for this video, please share this!

[@inkibusss]

Loving your Cameos @Aranock! I appreciate having you as part of the story

[@Aranock]

@@inkibusss I cowrote, costarred and animated the cel animated sections for this. Those are not cameos. This is as much my video as it is Jessies.

[@AJ-wh1tw]

Love your work on these, I can’t wait to settle in for the next six hours.

[@inkibusss]

@@Aranock sorry didn't mean to downplay your work! I more meant it was nice to see you so much on the channel

[@avalokiteshvara113]

Love u aranock

[@quintonchurch4064]

My biggest takeaway from this 6-hour Star Wars analysis is that Nietzschean individualism is self-defeating. These guys think they're the ubermensch and they don't need to depend on or credit anyone else, but that just leads every one of them to recreate the same Nietzschean worldview and think that they're the first one to come up with it. Maybe Joseph Campbell started to realize that, but instead of thinking, "oh no, I'm trapped in a loop," he convinced himself that the loop is good and natural.

[@ryanmoore6259]

The way I see it ELEMENTS of Campbell's analysis have merits. At it's basic level the Hero's Journey is "callow youth goes on journey, accomplishes great deeds, returns home changed." That in and of itself is not inherently racist/sexist/fascist. Individual components (the belly of the whale, where the hero is at his lowest and has to overcome his mental doubts) are general enough that they can appear in other cultures. Components are valid and in and of itself it can be executed well. It's just not THE one single way.

[@Bustermachine]

@@ryanmoore6259 I think the issue has generally been taken to be that the monomyth is not as monolithic as Campbell presumed it to be. He cherry picked things a lot to make it all fit within his theory.

[@FDSignifire]

The post divorce recut lore is wild... I never knew that

[@sleepbeinshy5775]

Always enjoy seeing you atound FD! I read that comment in my head with your voice

[@nguyentuition1092]

Fr fr

[@AdumbroDeus]

It had long been my theory that the lack of collaborators who could tell him no was a big part of why the prequel trilogy's issues exist and specifically naming Marcia Lucas because she was his editor, because he still had great ideas, but the issues were things like dialogue writing. Finding out this additional information really adds a lot to that story, he pushed ALL his collaborators aside for a great man myth after the divorce.

[@ryanmoore6259]

Someone went into more detail why it didn't really work that way. The special editions were made LONG after teh settlement was paid off

[@Shhmallison]

Aw creators supporting creators 🥰

[@tonysladky8925]

"Democracies aren't overthrown. They're given away." Holy fuck, George. You actually DO have a way with words... which makes "I don't like sand" and "Are you an angel?" even more mystifyingly bad.

[@danielarenas8760]

George is destined to talk good but write bad apparently lol

[@catgrrlz]

Romantic scenes are not his strongest attribute.

[@harley-owo]

that's so wizard annie

[@haydentravis3348]

What's mystifying about a stupid kid and an awkward teenager? That they happen to be the same person at different points in their life?

[@SSVCloud]

I mean, "Are you an angel" isn't really that bad when you remember it's said by a child whose age is still single-digit.

[@samusmp1_4]

Defunctland: 2 hour video on the history of lines at Disney parks. Jenny Nicholson: 4 hour video on the Evermore theme park Hbomberguy: 4 hour video on serial plagiarists. Jessie Gender: 6 hour video on Star Wars and the monomyth. The long form video essay is now my favorite format on KZbin.

[@boop27407]

Same! I feel like the Super Ultra Beastmode version of this is Lily Simpson's "a Brief Look at Harry Potter" (10 hours long and a very good, verrrry thorough smackdown)

[@k.lambda4948]

but could we plese PLEASE *PLEASE* have these giant things released as multiple episodes? Kind of like Lindsay Elliot's "Whole Plate" series about the trnsformers? I watched every minute of all of them and loved it, but if I pause a big one in the middle, I vary rarely ever come back to finish

[@Ubermensch9240]

Just stay away from MauLer.

[@storysurgeon5922]

@@Ubermensch9240 why?

[@Ubermensch9240]

@@storysurgeon5922 His videos are WAY TOO DAMN LONG.

[@brainit6831]

11:27 not just anti imperialist but most importantly anti-colonial which is a big part of the Vietcong’s fighting, the French weren’t just imperialists, they were colonial settlers in the situation.

[@MrBazBake]

I think one thing overlooked in this video's reading is what it means to be a Jedi. And ignoring Mace Windu's role in the films is the issue. Mace Windu is used as a sort of shorthand representing the Jedi because he asks the words, "The Chosen One?" But Mace Windu doesn't believe Anakin is The Chosen One, and that's why prequel fans hate him. Mace is the most vocal opponent of The Chosen One prophecy. He is also attacked by Anakin primarily for treating him like just another Jedi. Mace Windu isn't the oppression of the Jedi in the films, he's the wisdom of the Jedi and Anakin is the threat. It's also probably not a coincidence that he's the only non-white human Jedi. There are signs in the video that reflect this, including his own words said by other leople. For example, you use Ahsoka saying, "I was trained to be a peacekeeper, not a soldier" as evidence the Jedi were corrupt -- but these are literally the words Mace directs at Palpatine when the Jedi are *conscripted* into war. So when Ahsoka is uncomfortable with her role -- that's Mace Windu, not something she voices independently. When Ahsoka defies the binary of light and dark, she's not defying the light. She's choosing the light. Luke had this choice in Return of the Jedi and when he, exactly like her, throws his lightsaber off a bridge, he doesn't declare himself this other thing. He declares himself a "True Jedi." He chooses the light side for the first time in the movies. Ahsoka also doesn't choose a third non-Jedi way. She returns to the Jedi from before The Clone Wars. When she refuses to kill Ghost Anakin and throws her lightsaber off a bridge, it is exactly that scene from Return of the Jedi. She becomes a True Jedi. It's what Yoda tried to teach Luke. It's what Luke chose. It's the same thing. Violence and the destruction of his enemies wasn't the Jedi way or teachings. Yoda's training in Empire is explicit of this as he tries to stop Luke from being the lone hero and let his friends handle their stuff. Luke fleeing and dressing in black and force choking people is the failure. He corrects it on the bridge when he says his friends are outside winning the war without him. Furthermore, Mace Windu getting his arm chopped off mimics the same sequence from Return of the Jedi where Luke succumbs to the Dark Side and tries to kill Palpatine. The difference is that Vader blocks Luke's lightsaber, sparing his son, but he cuts off Mace's arm instead in Revenge of the Sith. Vader chooses a different method because he doesn't want to hurt his son. But he makes the same choice for the same reason. Vader likely loses because he needs his son. The Jedi don't function off a monomyth by default. They don't even think about the prophecy until Qui-Gon steps in. And Anakin is repeatedly complaining that the Jedi don't treat him better or elevate him above the other students. Most of his anger is that his heroic destiny is denied. Palpatine feeds his arrogance, Mace tempers it, Yoda appeases it. This is also why Mace Windu won't let him become a Master. They openly discuss Palpatine taking control of the Jedi and forcing them to put him on the Council as a spy. Anakin knows he doesn't belong there, but it further feeds his demand for respect and entitled status. And Mace knows this. Anyway, Mace Windu was right.

[@MrBazBake]

You could actually read the OT as the destruction of the monomyth. Luke is the archetypal hero in A New Hope. He tries to do it again in Empire and fails horribly. Then he saves his dad while trusting his friends to save the galaxy in Return. The prequels are a further destruction of that myth. Anakin is explicitly the hero based on his genetics. Then he helps destroy the galaxy because he isn't treated as the main character in everyone else's story. And then the sequels create a movie where the archetypal hero isn't redeemed (according to Adam Driver) until Disney drags the monomyth out of the trash bin and gives it to Kylo with old coffee grounds and used diapers stuck to it.

[@proudjedi313]

Great notes about the Jedi & Mace. It's always odd to see the Jedi mischaracterized despite them being pretty simple to understand. Especially them seeing Ahsoka as between light & dark when she's so obviously still light-side

[@SarastistheSerpent]

It was actually Dooku who was the Jedi who disbelieved in the prophecy and in Anakin’s fulfillment of it, not Mace. In legends, the council admitting Anakin into the order despite his advanced age and their belief that he is the chosen one is one of the reasons Dooku leaves the Jedi. He despised the Jedi council for their belief in the prophecy. As for Mace windu, in the Revenge of the Sith novelization he straight up admits that Anakin is almost certainly the chosen one, and that he is a believer in the prophecy.

[@TheZeroAssassin]

So you just ignore that Mace constantly treating him like he did, with suspicion, had any part to do with how things turned out? You're completely fucking WRONG, and too ignorant to see it. Quit sucking sam jackson's cock

[@Coco-hq6ns]

Fuck yes!

[@cthulhutheendless1587]

Jessie in George Lucas drag is the most brilliant costume I’ve ever seen

[@Svensk7119]

Drag? Costume. Oh. Wait. Now I understand. Never mind.

[@TheDankGiraffe]

Erm, drag is when yuo cross dress? That's a man...

[@TheDankGiraffe]

Erm, drag is when yuo dress as the gender yuo aren't???

[@Svensk7119]

@@TheDankGiraffe Yeah. As I said, now I understand. I didn't realize what the channel was at first. I just edited my comment instead of erasing it.

[@TheDankGiraffe]

@@Svensk7119 I wasn't talking to you.

[@Durandurandal]

1:03:43 I still, do this day, do not understand how the theatrical cut of Han is "morally grey" Greedo, a mob enforcer, *is holding Han at gunpoint*, and extorting Han for his ship over...not claiming the bounty Jabba has on his head. "Over my dead body" "That's the idea, Solo" Han shooting him is entirely defensive in nature

[@stevenyukabacera160]

Waiting for Greedo to shoot first in this situation is beyond ridiculous. Han shooting first just shows he's got some street-smarts.

[@harismeld9411]

Its a product of disingenuous 'pacifism' as a moral concept. Its the idea that the Bad Dude is always the one that shoots first, regardless of like...all context. Like its a moral imperative for the Good Dudes to wait until the actual moment the Bad Dude has STARTED doing the bad thing before using violence. Its the kind of bull that Hollywood tends to love but doesn't hold up under much thought.

[@breckhhh]

@@stevenyukabacera160 the problem is that it wasn't well conveyed in the scene, the film was rushed and it wasn't clear, that's why he changed, it was too fast.

[@smokedbeefandcheese4144]

That is how a pacifists morality works the best most moral person always fires last. That is what he believes and that is stupid as if learning to duck makes you morally righteous

[@smokedbeefandcheese4144]

@@breckhhh. It’s dumb that he changed it. Gun fights are supposed to be fast. Guess what even with modern cameras and stuff people cannot reliably tell how many shots were fired all the time even in heavily documented gun fights. You can spend years as a historian studying every detail of a specific gun fight. And still not know everything that went on. If you want a fun experiment to try this with. Look up the Miami Dade shoot out bank robbery thing. It is a very interesting gun fight that you could spend hours breaking down the details on. Or look at JFK we have video and audio of that and people still can’t agree fully on how many shots were actually fired what is an echo and what is not

[@haileybalmer9722]

I'm glad you spent so much time talking about Macia Lucas' erasure. I have long held that one of the biggest issues with the prequels was that there was not Marcia to reign George in.

[@nomisunrider6472]

I'd strongly argue against Bendu being a positive depiction of centrism, seeing how the last full conversation we see him have on screen is Kanan railing against him for hiding when he could be helping others. He is depicted as wise and powerful, but also as inherently flawed because of said centrism. Compare him to the lothwolves, who are also Force beings beyond typical assignments of light and dark, but are very clearly fighting for Lothal's liberation and restoration.

[@notbot2648]

HARD AGREE!

[@littlechickeyhudak]

Yeah I feel like he’s pretty explicitly depicted as ignorant and foolish for refusing to pick a side

[@snitterdog7276]

Jumping on this comment close to a year later just to make my immense loathing for bendu known. Not even rationally I just can't stand him. Moose shitto

[@DrewDesign]

- HBomberguy: releases 4 hour epic takedown video. - Jessie: hold my beer.

[@TheLuckySpades]

This is about the length of the Down the Rabbit Hole about Eve online, can't wait to slap spend a day on this

[@BarbarianGod]

*laughs in lily simpson's 10 hour video* but seriously it was a great one

[@zainmudassir2964]

​@@BarbarianGodA Brief Look at Harry Potter is a masterpiece

[@Parker402]

Lol true

[@BarbarianGod]

@@zainmudassir2964 it's so good! when I encounter hp fans in the wild these days I bring it up to illustrate just how much stuff is awful about that franchise, it permeates the entirety of the work

[@merri-toddwebster2473]

I keep being reminded of how Gene Roddenberry, as he aged, insisted more and more that Star Trek was his sole brainchild, discounting the show's important producers and co-writers, not to mention the stellar cast (pardon the pun).

[@guillermostreiger2307]

Idk shit about star trek behind the scenes, is this true or sarcasm?

[@Bustermachine]

@@guillermostreiger2307 It's at least somewhat true. Roddenberry was famously very controlling in the kind of stories he wanted to tell. Which is a good and bad thing at the same time.

[@ryanmoore6259]

@@Bustermachine You can find that with a lot of auteurs. As annoying as the suits and producers are, sometimes they're right.

[@AdamTheC]

@@ryanmoore6259 Roddenberry is not a good example of that though. He rejected "The Wrath of Khan", his tenure as TNG showrunner in s1 was disastrous, and he quibbled over things like whether Picard and his brother should be in conflict or Worf being the focus of "Redemption".

[@christopherpardell4418]

Roddenberry was right. All the other creatives operated within the parameters HE set. And when he passed, I remember Berman stating how, finally, they would be free to write strafleet characters who were morally flawed, and be able to make the show LESS optimistic about humanity. Roddenberry wanted to portray a positive vision of Humanity’s future. The idea that we could overcome our petty prejudices and squabbling and work together to build a more human world.

[@mikeciul8599]

Thank you for identifying the trap of believing we are stuck in an eternal cycle! I've been questioning my ideas about history lately, and one thing that encouraged me to do that was reading "We Have Never Been Modern" by Bruno LaTour. I don't have a philosophy background and I think a lot of it went over my head, but it really pushed me to rethink ideas like progress, revolution, and the wrong-yet-persistent sense that things have always been the way they are and always will be. I'd like to hear from others who've read it!

[@Clarkarius7]

I'm often reminded of the phrase "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" but what is often missing from the equation is "what to do about the people who refuse to see history beyond the narratives that compliment their nostalgia?" I hear this all the time at the museum where I work, people ranting about how "History can't be changed" whilst failing to realise how our history is changing all the time as new perspectives, often the ones which had previously gone disregarded come to light. The past cannot be changed, but we're always learning more about it, and getting a better understanding of the wider picture. Our heritage is but the history we consider valuable to present and it's up to us to ensure that it reflects it accurately and not just appeal to nostalgia.

[@JonathenPetrie]

I appreciate that this is a 6 hour video, 'cause I like to set Jessie up in a room to talk and then just go about my day. It's like having a neurodivergent friend come over and talk about their favorite thing for a while, so I feel less lonely. Parasocial relationships are surreal.

[@alanlu8625]

Dammit I feel found out

[@RPG1118]

I do that too!!!

[@flopcus]

🙋

[@llynxfyremusic]

appreciate the self awareness (i'm the same lol)

[@HazelwithaZ]

Body doubling is legit, don't feel bad! 🤓

[@000Dragon50000]

On the mythology side of things, Campbell clearly wasn't paying attention if he did ever read through Celtic mythology. Druids, Warrior women, sheltered noblegirls running into the forest seeking adventure and outsmarting the Fae, intimidating Faerie queens, goddesses of war like the Morrigan... Women play a vast variety of roles in celtic mythology, and that's just one cultural group among thousands. And each of those cultures are unique, you can't just flatten them into universal myths.

[@RaptorShadow]

Cambell's monomyth strikes me very much as an answer in search of a question. I doubt he truly reflected on the mythology of any culture outside of his own.

[@Aranock]

Definitely, really bothers me seeing Gaelic myth misinterpreted as badly as Campbell does(along with many other cultures but thats the one I actually have direct ties to)

[@ryanmoore6259]

@@RaptorShadow I think he did to some degree, but was pretty shallow. THJ is good as a VERY basic stepping stone and only as long as you acknowledge it isn't the ONLY way.

[@mse90]

Calling George "Marcia's ex-husband" in some of the segments is truly a power move. I'm only at the 1/5 of the vid, can't wait to continue tomorrow. :)

[@Aranock]

While writing I was stewing on how much it bothered me that Marcia is almost only reffered to as "George Lucas' ex wife" and I was thinking about how to discuss that section and when it hit me that I could do the same thing to George, I felt pretty great. I was hoping people would note that usage.

[@notbot2648]

That stuck out to me as well. Made me smile each time.

[@iriswaters]

​@@Aranock pretty hard to miss. Definitely a power move and very well done.

[@Aranock]

@@iriswaters you'd be surprised I'm always worried I am expecting to much of the youtube audience while simultaneously worrying I am expecting too little and verging on insultingly unsubtle lol So I try to layer it with a lot of both. But yeah Ive seen people brutally misinterpret 5 word sentences lol So I appreciate when people like do pay attention.

[@aaronkelly1762]

Could you timestamp it for me? I skipped most of the video to watch the animated segments. (I didn't like it.)

[@skywise001]

I remember reading in a magazine how Lucas' wife was the reason why the Empire Strikes Back had such good romance dialog. Its deeply saddening how he has erased her from the story.

[@MoramothHauntz]

Patton Oswald has a good bit about Marcia Lucas. One of the first times I had her brought up

[@numb3r5ev3n]

Yeah, that act on George's part makes me deeply unsorry for ahem, "sailing the seas" for the laserdisc rips of the original theatrical cuts of the original trilogy.

[@Lady-Y]

@@numb3r5ev3n Cough, 4K77/4K80/4K83 are not restorations I can confirm or deny exist and can be found via the "thestarwarstrilogy" forums (nor can I confirm if forum invites are located on the "originaltrilogy" website), cough

[@Lady-Y]

@@SnakeWasRight He literally had a studio policy banning all mention from her in official Lucasfilm documentaries on the making of the OT, so yes he literally did, but okay

[@FosukeLordOfError]

@@numb3r5ev3nbut even those aren’t theatrical cuts

[@GoldeneyeDoubleO7]

I'm currently at the sequels and how Disney/JJ focused on nostalgia rather than meaningful storytelling. I'm reaaly annoyed at that part because even by nostalgia standards they failed. How we never got Han, Luke and Leia in a scene is baffling

[@lfrands]

Oh my gosh! Thank you for sharing the passage about my great grandmother, Honey. This was a remarkable piece of work and I’m honored she was a part of it. Thank you for all the research and effort you put into this!!

[@13silentpoets]

This video was poetry. Devoid of rhyme, set to an unfamiliar meter, and beautiful. There is no may, the force is with you. The force is you.

[@vexfidel4127]

MADE IT THROUGH. Damn, what a journey. Mad props on the Tom Lehrer, still so glad that he got to outlive Kissinger.

[@TheMokeleMbembe]

SOLO is a lot better than people give it credit for. One thing I never see anybody mention is how Han's arc over the course of it is to grow a *fake* callous exterior, to make himself into the kind of person he thinks the 'hard' galaxy expects him to be. I like that this is a deliberate choice, and that other characters can see through him (Qi'ra tells him so). One thing that's super lame though is that they knew he was a spice smuggler and had a section of the story where they have to go to the spice mines of Kessel, but (presumably because Disney can't abide Han Solo being shown smuggling drugs even though that's his established backstory since 1977) there is a second, never before mentioned, mine that produces hyperfuel, underneath the spice mines... ? Convoluted only for the purpose of playing it safe.

[@andymac4883]

Han Solo isn't allowed to be a drugrunner, but apparently Poe Dameron is. People will claim that we're the racist ones for reading into a hispanic actor's character being turned into a drugrunner, but seriously...

[@ryanmoore6259]

Qi'ra gets more fleshed out in the comics. Hillariously enough she was actually trying to save Han in a way (she realized that if Han followed he'd loose his idealism and she felt he could still be a hero unlike her.) The comic where Leia and Qi'ra meet is VERY good.

[@Bustermachine]

@@andymac4883 Y'know this is a good point, and one that I hadn't really thought about before, probably because I always thought of Oscar Isaac as 'white'. Which just goes to show how even innocent ignorance can make you miss potential implications. But yeah, Han is called a smuggler. So presumably he did unsavory things in the big wide galaxy before becoming a hero of the rebellion. It's not like you get to exclusively and selectively smuggle 'victimless' merchandise.

[@ryanmoore6259]

@@Bustermachine There was a debate about that. Kevin Anderson wanted Spice to be drugs but the suits were uncomfortable and Lucas had to confirm "of course it was drugs". They compromised so that it wasn't quite heroin.

[@Urmumlel7025]

Amazing video. As a writer who is tired of seeing Star Wars in film classes, this video is validating for the many, many, many criticisms I have with George Lucas.

[@ryanmoore6259]

Star Wars works fine for film classes.

[@ubesfam]

Guess I know what I’m doing for the next six hours

[@robstewartstewart98]

Sometimes when videos I watch end or I can’t find another, I find myself craving. This vid should keep my brain good for days! 😁

[@bo.badison]

reallll

[@mitchelledwards5167]

You a trooper I’m definitely watching this in parts

[@russellharrell2747]

I saw Jessie make a video on Star Wars and was like I gotta watch it! Saw this comment abs checked the length….damn, she did an hbomberguy video essay, only 50% more! I don’t even know what to say. Guess I’ll be watching this over the course of the weekend

[@searchingfororion]

I was thinking the same thing. Ahahaha!

[@farthing9467]

This was a legendary watch. There's been a real focus with some of my favorite creators in reframing 'big man' narratives, and I am in awe at how pervasive your analysis and critique of those same concepts are here. This is absolutely one of those videos I'm going to be coming back to again and again, because it is **so** dense. Thank you to everyone who worked on this for sharing it with all of us.

[@Inscriptions37]

1) This was the sequel to Maggie's two-parter on Joseph Campbell I didn't know I needed; They're a trilogy! 2) Between the Editor's restructuring and the different layers each using different formats, this video is incredibly well paced for something so long. 3) Any animated work completed by a single person is an impressive feat, and Aranock ara-knocked this one out of the park. The Kel Dor Inquisitor character design is seriously cool. 4) On a related note, watching Aranock's confidence and skill grow as a writer, editor, presenter and animator continues to be one of the most rewarding parasocial relationships on this platform. Also that dress is amazing and I hope someday I can build up the self-assuredness to wear stuff like that, albeit for decidedly more allo reasons. 5) I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor fit into this discussion, because (*spoilers*) the latter game actually did some pretty cool stuff in terms of letting Cal differentiate himself from the Jedi of old as well as pointing out how wrong it was that the Order sent him to war when he was still just a child. He's also already had his big Dark Side Temptation MomentTM, so I'm guessing/hoping they have a whole new arc planned for him in the third game that doesn't just boil down to a choice between fascism and the status quo. 6) Thanks to those games, Rebels, The Bad Batch, Andor and Rogue One, the period between the prequels and the original trilogy is slowly becoming my favorite era in Star Wars canon, in no small part because each of those stories is about the various members of a found family or tight-knit community fighting to hold onto each other amid a broken, defeated world. It's so relatable to the experience of being a queer person irl today, and more than most other recent entries in the franchise these ones feel like they have real stakes due to the Empire's immense power. That being said, I wasn't a huge fan of Solo or the Obi-Wan series, despite both having their moments, so it's no guarantee of success. 7) I'd totally watch a series that was just Aranock reviewing laughably bad movies. 8) Seeing a cis woman with relatively short hair dressed in a T-shirt and a leather jacket argue that androgyny will lead to the downfall of society is pretty wild.

[@AlmightyDoubleHelix]

4:10:34 I thought the incorporation of imperial officers in the new republic was a criticism of operation paperclip and foreshadowing the rise of the first order. Clone scientist guy was clearly uncomfortable with his place in the first order, which was clear from his first appearance in the Mandalorian. He didn't have much agency in his situation and was hoping to find some in the rehab program. All the other recruits were wise to the fact that they had cushy jobs, were basically in a gilded cage, and waiting to be released into positions of power. Maybe that's not what the writers intended, but that's how I read it.

[@dylanwfilms]

As someone who loves Star Wars, I think this video brings up some valid and interesting critiques! I’ve always been kinda against the Special Editions, and knowing how that financially impacted Marcia and others sucks to hear but it’s good to know

[@SocraTetris]

Seeing Joseph Campbell quoting Aristotle's concept of soul but changing it to consciousness is so strange. I wonder if he realized that Psyche as a term was changed, and how that impacted early psychology, yet is rejected by modern psychology

[@PlaygroundMafia]

Psyche means one's soul, mind or spirit. Is this different then the previous definition?

[@Bojangus-]

Just in awe at this video. The length, the script, the quality, the content creator contributions, it’s all incredible. And honestly I love the fact its 6 hours long instead of a series. Oh, dear acquaintance, you don’t like how long video essays are? They’re too boring? Well that’s just too bad, this one’s 5x longer than the average. So for my money, this is the greatest video essay I’ve ever seen.

[@BenjaminBarack-s2r]

Overall, I mostly liked this video, but I really disagree with the idea that we’re supposed to see Pershing, the protagonist of “The Convert”, as sympathetic. I really didn’t interpret him that way, and I don’t think the narrative did either. Pershing is a representation of the idea of Nazi scientists as much as the reality, who just want to do their science by whatever means necessary and don’t really care about which government writes the paychecks. When he talks about how his eugenics will definitely totally help the Republic, it feels to me much more like flimsy justification for his preexisting desires than that he genuinely thinks that this will somehow help. I read it as a critique of Operation Paperclip and stuff like it rather than, as you put it, “what if Operation Paperclip was good actually”. (Which, I just want to point out, would be an extremely weird take for a Jewish man like Jon Favreau to actually have. Especially since a lot of people, including myself, interpret the Mandalorian as metaphorically-Jewish in the same way Superman is. But that’s a whole other discussion). That’s not to disqualify your interpretation, which is just valid as any other, including mine, but I feel like you naturally assumed that every viewer already believes that Pershing is supposed to be seen as sympathetic, and I just don’t. Also, while Jack Black being an ex-Imperial is definitely kinda weird and unnecessary, that idea of the reformed fascist is kinda prevalent in Star Wars already. Like, I believe Han’s been established as an ex-Imperial since the days of the old EU, a fact which was adapted into Solo. Yeah, otherwise I mostly liked this - I may personally think it’s maybe too long and self-indulgent at some points, but hey, self-indulgence can be fun sometimes - but I’m just not convinced Pershing is supposed to be sympathetic. I also think that the fact that Han Solo, one of the franchise’s most popular characters, is canonically an ex-fascist should probably be at least mentioned in a video that is very much about fascism and Star Wars. That’s all. Otherwise, great job!

[@mikeheywood7521]

On the "ex-Imperial" point, I think there's a meaningful difference between "served as a grunt in the army for a few months to get out of a bad situation, then fucked off to do his own thing at the first opportunity", and "was a planetary governor" or "willingly and enthusiastically did eugenics for the Empire".

[@BrigitteEmpire]

Can't wait for the 2 amazing sequels to this video, the 3 well intentioned but poorly written prequels a decade and a half later, and the 3 soulless corporate sequels with a million mixed quality spinoffs a decade after that

[@hewasfuzzywuzzy3583]

The irony and sarcasm are understandable. LOL

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

Like I always say: I can't wait to see a trilogy 30 years for now in which Rey is in exile, Poe became a washed-up smuggler and Finn is a general who uses the Force maybe three times before they all pass the torch and die

[@spantigre3190]

I wasn't gonna comment this, but I can't get it out of my head. I think its so crazy that Joseph Campbell cites Prometheus as an example of the monomyth. Prometheus was already a god, he stole fire behind the other gods backs, and came down to earth to give it to humanity. He then returns home to his divine realm where he is punished. I can't figure out what the elixir is, if not fire. But if Fire is the elixir then he gives it away, and instead of being rewarded is eternally tortured when he returns home without it. It's not a monomyth at all.

[@notbot2648]

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I love this. I love the care and love put into it. It shows the series means as much to y'all as it does to me that you put so much time and effort to really look into it and give real, deep, substantive criticism of it and have truly thoughtful and interesting things to say. I laughed, I learned, I felt heard, and I was challenged. Just fantastic!

[@sampagano205]

It's funny that the ouroboros is used as a symbol of infinite recursion when snakes do sometimes start trying to swallow their own tail, and it just kills them.

[@Concreteowl]

The clones are based on the likeness of Temuera Morrison who is Māori. Their armour is white.

[@snorpenbass4196]

The sheer brainbreak when realizing JJ had no clue you actually need plans when telling a story told in chapter format was just...well. Nailed my feelings exactly. For all I find that the sequel trilogy had more flaws than highs, it just drove home _why_ it had such issues. No wonder Rian Johnson's story felt out of place, he actually tried setting up the next movie! *Edit:* Also wait, "Ewan" is pronounced "Ian"?

[@wallabywayful]

J.J. had a plan he gave to Rian, Rian just threw it out, according to J.J.'s interviews. Apparently in favor of downplaying Finn and boosting Kylo. Take this next bit with a grain of salt, because finding hard proof for this beyond deleted scenes is sketchy, but apparently in J.J.'s original script for Force Awakens, it was clearer Finn and Rey were meant to be immediate partners (the "dyad" idea) and both force users (hence Finn picking up the lightsaber first in the finished film). Rey and Kylo were meant to be related. Luke was supposed to be on some sort of epic mission to find a magic MacGuffin. So J.J. and Kasdan did have a plan, Disney just scratched it.

[@cassettetape7643]

​@@wallabywayfulAll of that sounds soooo much better than what we got 😒😮‍💨

[@Spades20XX]

@@wallabywayfulsources?

[@Spades20XX]

@@wallabywayful yeah I think KZbin wants to remove links but you could just explain the website or keywords and I can look for it! Thanks

[@wallatoo]

@@Spades20XX lol and now my other comment got deleted. Third try on a different account: 'JJ Abrams initial Star Wars plans' -- you'll find Daisy Ridley, JJ, and Adam Driver interviews that talk about it. There's also a great vid called How Bad Movies Are Made that examines Rise of Skywalker, what its initial story likely was, and why it might have ended up such a trainwreck. Also look up J.J.'s 'good to have a plan' quote, because I think it's taken out of context in Jessie's video -- he had a plan, Disney did not, and he's saying that obliquely.

[@conormurphy7017]

It’s taken me a few weeks just to get halfway through but as an ex-die hard Star Wars fan I’m absolutely loving this dissection and breakdown

[@thospe-f8x]

It occurred to me watching this that many of us are raised and taught in school to believe that to be a complete story, there must be a central character who overcomes a conflict and grows as a result, that that was the bare minimum necessary quality that all stories must have, and in fact that the quality of a story can be assessed by how well it conforms to that model. It never really occurred to me that that was a specific cultural expectation rather than something baked into the definition of the word.

[@littlechickeyhudak]

As a colossal, life-long Star Wars fan, I can’t express how refreshing it is to see a sincere, good faith criticism of the franchise. The new content especially is often hated/criticized for all the wrong reasons, and legitimate thoughtful critiques are few and far between. Thank you so much for this

[@mikeheywood7521]

It's possible to read even the original trilogy in a way that decenters Luke Skywalker, if you're really determined to. To go movie by movie: A New Hope: In the story of the destruction of the Death Star, Luke can be read not as the hero who accomplished this great deed, but as the last in a long chain of people who gave their lives to make his trench run possible. Rogue One & Andor make this reading practically canonical. The Empire Strikes Back: On Hoth, Luke is just one of many rebels fighting in the delaying action to make the evacuation of Echo Base possible. (Sidenote: the Battle of Hoth was actually a Rebel victory. Yes, the Empire took Echo Base, but that was always going to happen once they discovered its location. The point, on the Rebellion's side, was to hold out long enough to evacuate their people, which they did quite successfully. It's also interesting that in Return of the Jedi, it's implied that after Hoth, the Rebellion abandoned the idea of a fixed "rebel base" entirely.) Then in the third act, Luke goes to Bespin to save his friends, but finds himself unable to do so, and in fact winds up being rescued *by* them, after they've escaped the Empire's trap themselves by means of an uprising in Cloud City. Return of the Jedi: What was Luke's actual role in the Battle of Endor? First, he almost got the Rebel infiltration team caught before they even landed, due to his Force connection with Vader. (He even calls this out himself, "I'm endangering the mission, I shouldn't have come.") He somewhat made up for this by helping to prevent a squad of Imperial scouts on the planet from reporting their presence. By the time the battle proper began, he had turned himself in, so as to get a chance to talk with Vader. In the throne room, he did manage to keep the attention of Vader and Palpatine squarely on him rather than on the battle. This was probably useful insofar as it kept Vader, a quite capable pilot, from joining the space battle, but it was hardly decisive to the outcome. And as for distracting Palpatine, do we really think that Palpatine's micromanagement would have *helped* matters for the Imperials? The actual victory was won by all the other rebels; Luke's personal reckoning with his father merely played out against that backdrop. And even if Luke *had* turned to the dark side in that moment, he probably would've gone down with the Death Star, along with Palpatine and Vader. Anyway, the point is, even in a story deliberately constructed as a Monomyth, that way of reading it can be subverted by focusing on the glimpses we get of the larger context in which the capital-H "Hero" operates. And what sucks about the sequel trilogy is that the larger context is so scattered and incoherent that you *can't* really do this kind of reading against the grain.

[@moonflowergal]

I already left this comment over at Aranock's channel but I think it deserves to be here as well: Lol, just finished watching the Patreon release just a few hours ago. Good work, you two (and everyone else who contributed too)! As someone who is not much of a Star Wars fan, I actually found that your analysis of the franchise showed magnitudes more depth and nuance than the franchise itself seems to have on average. So all in all I found much more meaning in your work than in Star Wars itself. Congrats on finishing this opus of a video. May the Rainbow Force be with you!

[@Aranock]

💜

[@searchingfororion]

You captured my sentiments exactly. I don't have very strong feelings regarding Star Wars, but did I devote my entire day to this video? You betcha! Was it incredibly freaking *awesome?* Absolutely!

[@adhyaksh134]

Hmm, doesn't that mean that the work does have that depth. It's one thing if it's complete speculation but if someone glean and analyse so much of it to deliver a different and interesting perspective, regardless of authorial intent, seems like a fairly deep well to pull from. But eh, that's just me, I suppose. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@iantaakalla8180]

It is possible that the exact way Star Wars is shallow is why such a good analysis can be made from it (that is, it springs forth from the monomyth that is culturally dominant). That is, it is less that Star Wars is deep and more that Star Wars is archetypal for a specific deep-rooted problem.

[@moonflowergal]

@@iantaakalla8180 What I'm trying to say is that lots of elements have been introduced in Star Wars over the years that could potentially be used for telling stories with depth, but for the most part they end up as missed potential discarded in favour of repeating the same story telling format and tropes instead of doing stories that are structured differently and are built on established lore. Jessie and Aranock's video kinda shows just how much more depth Star Wars could have if it would just engage more with its own serious ideas. Just clarifying. (I don't know if this answered your question)

[@AzaleaJane]

The instant I saw the title for this video I thought, "Jessie, are you trying to seduce me?" I'm not even all that invested in Star Wars, but I'm *very* invested in criticizing Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey. Ooh boy, Christmas came early!

[@M_M_ODonnell]

When undermining Joseph Campbell and his fans and acolytes is a gift, every day is Christmas.

[@aidenvayotur6470]

Amen 🙏

[@pencilpauli9442]

IMHO The critique is highly flawed, and totally misrepresents Campbell. I appreciate that Campbell is problematic, but I don't see how his concern for individual growth in seeking one's own bliss is associated with fascism. He interpreted Vader as representing the machine of state barbarism.

[@M_M_ODonnell]

@@pencilpauli9442 Saying "nuh-uh!" doesn't mean that Campbell is right and all of history and anthropology (and evidence) is wrong. Dude forced everything into his preferred (Western-centered, though he liked to pretend that everyone else secretly had his specifically Western concept of narrative, gender, power, society, etc.) set of narratives -- that doesn't mean what he came up with was universal, just that he was willing to pretend that everything that contradicted his thesis didn't exist.

[@pencilpauli9442]

@@M_M_ODonnell I never said "nuh uh". So I have no reason to take your response seriously What I said was Campbell is problematic and gave reasons as to why I disagreed with Jessie, who has misrepresented Campell. If you can't engage in the discussion in good faith, then I'm not interested in what you have to say.

[@jaycewood7071]

I think the separation from the monomyth is why stories created in many MCYT spaces are so compelling to so many (especially queer) people? I think part of why the Outsiders (as an example) spoke to so many people. There wasn’t a main character, there were just people. Minecraft as a medium is something I believe has a lot of untapped and unappreciated potential with the inherent ability to see from so many people’s eyes.

[@tentativegazer]

You have no idea how much effort it is taking me not to bring up Homestuck here- god dammit I did it already

[@amatafy]

i CANNOT believe someone copyright claimed you with what i can only describe as 100% fair use content. smh YGOTAS beat 4kids constantly copyright claiming them, and their work literally wouldn't exist without using huge amounts of the episodes they're abridging. Your video is SO MUCH more than that and deserves to be monetized for it!! this is why i'm so glad i can afford to do thinfs like patreon and nebula subscriptions... i'd join as a youtube member too if i could; they are way too harsh on you. thank you for this amazing video; it has me thinking a LOT about my own stories and how i can maybe tell a different story myself.

[@LeavinMyTown]

Only an hour in so far, but I just want to raise this point about the monomyth. Of course it’s a universal story: It’s the core structure of a work that made a metric fuckton of money and that subsequent creators wished to replicate, so the market is flooded with imitators, some of which go on to create their own success. Saying that stories coalesce around the monomyth is like saying that machines naturally coalesce around the Philips screw standard. Of course they do: They were consciously made to do that

[@onward-skies]

"Question what stories you are holding close" What a great question! I love that invitation to self reflection, thank y'all for such a well thought out piece! Viva anarchy xD

[@Concreteowl]

George's divorce from his "muse" Marcia was a motivation for stopping Star Wars.. He reworked Return of the Jedi into a conclusion when around the time of the release of Empire it was going to be a 9 or 12 part saga. This is when Star Wars (1977) became Episode 4 :A New Hope. It was the success of the sequel books and Jurassic Park and the desire to make something his children could enjoy that prompted the return to Star Wars. The special editions being a way to both test CGI, audience interest and tamper with something with Marcia's name on it.

[@joeywisedrums]

A lot of Marcia’s ideas for Star Wars went unused.

[@mca7905]

George Lucas’s editing of the original trilogy is so so insidious, it jeopardizes the fan relationship to the movies but I’d never considered the damage it did to the contributions of everyone who worked on the original and wasn’t consulted on the changes. I’ve lately become so suspicious of this pattern where Dave Filoni will work on the Bad Batch and it will decanonize the Kanan Jarrus comic series which (in my opinion) had a much more engaging story to tell for a shallower version that doesn’t serve the characters of Kanan and Depa Billaba nearly as well. Or Filoni works on Tales of the Jedi and it decanonized the Ahsoka novel to tell a cliff notes version of it that has nowhere near the level of care for the personal journey of Ahsoka and the relationships she forms through the course of the novel. The more he creates that retreads the same steps, the more he cannibalizes the works of other Star Wars creators.

[@loverofmusicality]

Well, to an extent, it's the entire story of the Disney Canon of star wars, really. We had the stories of Luke, Leia, and Han after the Original Trilogy, one that actually managed to make some good points about trauma, and generational trauma, and all of that, and Disney decided to create their entirely own story that both undermines the victory in the Original Trilogy, while also ignoring all of the valuable work and writing that was created in the Extended Universe and all. Further, with the rumors and chatter that Disney might decide to create a new Sequel Trilogy that retcons the current Sequel Trilogy, it's just another layer of this, too. Unlike mythology or folklore that's owned by the people or communities that believe in it or tell the stories, this new age of corporate Capitalistic storytelling really ruins any sense of ownership the fans or the original crew have over the stories they help to create.

[@AshanBhatoa]

I disagree. Lucas has the right to alter his works and augment them. The fan argument is baffling. The issue is not having the film in prior versions easily available.

[@austinmitchell2652]

I am loving this video so far! I especially enjoy the performance of "the editor" by Aranock. Great job to everyone involved!

[@Aranock]

💜💜💜

[@austinmitchell2652]

​@@Aranock I also loved the line about "assigned soldier at birth" xD

[@Aranock]

@@austinmitchell2652 that joke is never getting old for me lol. I called K "assigned cop at birth" when I talked about Bladerunner 2049 in Queer Relativity.

[@KayleyWhalen]

Aranock showing up on screen just to point out that Confederacy of Independent Systems is CIS and laughing clearly shows the fun AND insanity of making something this massive 😂❤

[@Veritos777]

I'm only 15 mins in and Disney needs to give Jessie and Aranock their own Star Wars movie. I'm so sucked into this animated short film!

[@joana6020]

Wow, no wonder Lucas tried to censor fanzines back in 1981. He really didnt wanna share the work with the people who truly loved it. I'd love to see more of this, all of you did a wonderful job, i can only imagine how hard it was to put it together, thank you!

[@cripplious]

Im sure someone else mentioned this but *spoilers* American Graffiti is set before or during Vietnam because one of the characters was drafted after HS and died in the war. The sequel takes place during Vietnam.

[@mikeciul8599]

In "The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity," David Graeber and David Wengrow attempt to answer the question of "what is a state?" by identifying the tools that can be used to dominate a people. They identify three tools: violence, information, and personal charisma. The subset that includes just violence and charisma forms their concept of heroism. When I read that, it transformed my ideas about fictional heroes, and in particular superheroes. Ever since then, I've been reexamining my taste in entertainment media...

[@TheParadoxGamer1]

Oh now i need to think about this.

[@Bustermachine]

I honestly think some of the best Super Hero dialogue came from one of the DC comics where the Justice League, Superman in particular, just flat out state that the only problems that they can really 'solve' are the ones tailor made to justify their own existence. It's lovely meta commentary on the Superhero genre. I think that's also why Superman values being Clark Kent so much. Clark is a rejection of the idea of being above other people. Clark is how Superman fights 'human problems' rather than the problems tailor made to justify the existence of Superman.

[@Spacewitchofthelittledancer]

"It's time for the opening credits" Me: Looks up at screen, checks timeline... "Oh my god" Looks at video description and views... "Oh my GOD!" So excited to get to see one of your videos off rip! This is truly the age of the 2.5+ hour video essays in the face of so many shorts and tik-tok clones! Thank you for being a part of this.

[@Spacewitchofthelittledancer]

I finished it yesterday after a single go. It was really amazing, I want to go back and watch the isolated animation, it was a LOT to follow and I am going to add this to my rewatch list. I almost didn't click on it, I have been avoiding Star Wars youtube after the tidal wave of chuds I got after making the mistake of searching youtube for "Star Wars Bad" looking for a Carl Sagan clip and not being specific enough but I clicked when I saw it was JG! Great work! Love your channel love your stuff!

[@AlexJ1]

Done. Watched this over 3 days. Somehow this 6 hour essay doesn't waste a single second. Thank you for this. It's left me with a mountain of perspectives to reflect on.

[@MorgenPeschke]

I really like Editor!Aranock cutting in over Presenter!Jessie. Particularly with a video this long, a new voice popping in (especially one as unabashedly chaotic as Editor!Aranock) helps keep things from getting monotonous.

[@Aranock]

I'm glad you enjoyed the Editor, it is a very fun character to embody. 💜

[@zachhiggins1668]

I'm only one hour into this so far but wow what a masterpiece. I had to pause just after the mention of the empire's slide into "analog" tech, and I've thought for a long time that's a clever way to see the regression in technology, hope this theme gets resumed later in the video.

[@JJGGYT]

I watched this whole thing and then watched the Maggie Maefish videos on Campbell and now I’ve just been taking it all in the last couple days. Campbell was a hero of mine and I really did accept a lot of his ideas almost as gospel. These videos have made me reconsider his work immensely and I’ve realized none of it is gospel. Some of his work is still worth thinking about but a lot of it is certainly BS that comes from a narrow and self-serving privileged viewpoint. Thank you for taking the extraordinary amount of time to create videos like this so myself and others like me can get the slap in the head it sometimes takes for us to rethink these problematic concepts we unfortunately married our personalities to when we were younger. It feels good to learn I was wrong and that even in my thirties I have plenty of growing to do

[@ryanmoore6259]

I'd hesitate to say it's completely worthless.

[@user-eq8ww1gr6v]

Great deconstruction of the myth of the monomyrh, the myth of the great man, and that the myth that those who achieve wealth and power did it on their own. The say myth is used by people to explain their world, the flup side is myth is cultivated to explain to a community how to interpret their works. If those with power can shape those myths, they can maintain and extend their power. Epic work by all involved in making this video. Thank you so much!!!

[@koivunen2489]

I have to say, I strongly disagree with the statement: "Anakin is a sad little incel who wanted power and immortality for himself". Palpatine's grooming of him started as soon as, if not before, he even joined the Jedi creed. Palps is there to meet him after the battle and to "watch his career with great interest" after all. He was deeply traumatised by his early childhood and again when he watched Shmii die. When the same exact trauma of losing a loved one, starting with his dream visions, repeats, only Palpatine (who, again, has been grooming him for years now) gives him *any* tools to deal with his CPTSD. Horrible, evil tools are still better than the absolutely nothing the Jedi provided him with. That's not incel behaviour. Anakin didn't want immortality for himself. He wanted to save Padme because his CPTSD-tunnel-vision convinced him she was bound to die, just like Shmii. By the time we get to Mustafar, he's too far gone, largely because of all the grooming by Palpatine. The tunnel vision moves to blame his pain on Obi-Wan and, by guilt by association, Padme. What I'm saying is that Anakin's story in the Prequels is frustrating because all that happened could have been prevented by therapy!

[@ryanmoore6259]

He was scared of loosing her; the reasons are understandable but still VERY possessive.

[@maatcrook6910]

Thanks to you both! Great work all around, including Aranock’s animation!

[@anomalocaris540]

the year, 2027, new Jessie Gender video comes out. you have to watch it, you lovingly look into your family's eyes, they know that look. you won't be seeing them for a week.

[@TransientWitch]

As soon as the talk about Lucas started right at the beginning, I began to secretly hope that the slight alteration to Jessie's narration meant what I thought it meant... My hopes turned to joy as I saw not only were they confirmed, but surpassed by all measure of expectation! Well done, Jessie...Well done!

[@jackal27]

Watching this incredible essay and seeing my CRT photos pop up is certainly not what I expected. It resonated with me on a deep level and honestly made me a bit emotional. It’s my birthday today and one the best gifts I could have received. Maybe it’s time I pick it up again. Thank you. -CRTpixels

[@Devimon4000]

Wonderful job. As someone who, just never liked Star Wars, (Parent showed me the first three movies on VHS and bounced right off them. I joke there was just far too much action, where was all the talky scenes form Star Trek and Doctor Who I craved?) you still manged to make a compelling essay that casts the narrative of how the series has developed as one I enjoyed. The passions is palpable and the work poured in on full display. At the same time I can hear more than a few of my English professors talking about my essays, so going full glass house here, the scope seemed like it got away from you. Like I said I get it, its impossible not to see how so many thing interconnect and to understand X you should also get Y which ties into Z and so forth. And as the this work currently stands, which again is overall very very good, I can’t see how to untangle any thread. But the main issue is the discussion on other forms compared to the hero cycle. Especially when you touch on older forms. For one it ends up feeling as universalizing as mono-myth, just with some values flipped. They didn’t center a hero, they changed the status quo. Well I’m sure some did those thing. I doubt all did both. And it feels as if you runaround a contradiction. A real important core of your argument is the danger of the never ending cycle, of the importance of a liner view of history with forward progression. But the very video on our obsessions with the end of the word points to older views of history as… cycles. Now you do try and frame it as ‘being again’ automatically equaling ‘change the status quo’ but that’s not inherently true and neither you or Zoe Bee in her “Why Ee Secretly Want the World to End” show that. And so much of our video is about showing how a cycle can shake up the status quo just to put it back in. It feels like taking your desire for progression and preference for linear history and projecting it onto older cycle understandings of history without grappling if that is actually the case. And I get why, doing that would add so much more time in terms of reach, and writing and would make an already massive essay even bigger. But again that’s where we run into the issue of scope and it even being brought up at all. Still I restate this is a master work and any point I make falls before the quality on display. Just my inner-English major shouting at me I guess. But also if you are looking for some very socialist, work together sci-fi, I do have to suggest the 7th Doctor’s stuff in Doctor Who. “The Cure of Fenric” and “Survival” both in particular take aim at ‘us vs them’ and ‘everyone for themselves’ mentally. And “The Happiness Patrol” has a lot of queer readings and is a big middle finger to Thatcher.

[@Starbush69]

Well, I guess you could say I’m one of those crazy nerds who watched this entire video. 😂 Not only do I love Star Wars, but I love the way you and others collaborated in an effort to deconstruct the narrative that I too wish Star Wars and other stories like it would stray further and further from the past. The animated sections by Aranock are so good that I would seriously love to see a Star Wars show or movie done by them. I also appreciated the way you deconstructed the narrative around George Lucas. I wish more people could learn from that situation and realize that Star Wars can work beyond Lucas’ vision. I’m also trying so hard not to make the same mistakes he did through my career path. I want to get the ball rolling for whatever story I’m interested in telling, so that one day I can share it with people who can possibly tell it better than I can. I wanna thank you, Aranock, and other left-tubers for being an inspiration for my creativity. And I hope to one day share these stories with you. May you live long in prosperity with the force. 🖖💗💗💗

[@jadencrawford2772]

I need to see a video from Jessie on The Old Republic Era from the first games and the MMO. It has the style of Star Wars, but tells new stories. Even with the copying of a Empire and Republic. It works to be unique with its story making

[@LuaEvaLazuli]

I thank you for all this. You've been able to put into words how I was feeling about star wars, disney and the fandom for a long time.

[@colinwardle]

Congratulations on a superb script and production, Jessie! It was teaming with such great stories and insights, and glad to see Star Wars finally get JG Star Trek treatment ;) Considering your brief video on the Somerton saga, such an enormous collaborative piece really re-emphasised what you said about (creative) communities, and I can’t wait to see Identiteaze!

[@86fifty]

This huge beast is a monumental and incredible achievement, and I give you all SO SO many props for the work needed to put this together! And animation is extremely tough, every single image having multiple copies, cycling through those copies, the zoom-in effects, all of that, it DOES take a huge amount of work. The red flash over the Empire soldier lady's eyes is the best part, imo! The attention to detail you took to animate the characters' whole chins moving for the various lip-shapes for their talking is an above-and-beyond touch that I do want to shout out as a great thing. It would probably have been easier to only animate the mouth itself, I have seen professional cartoons do that to save time, so the extra effort is noticed! There is some room for improvement, though. As an artist myself, I know that unsolicited criticism can be VERY unpleasant, so I won't share it any, unless asked to.

[@hoopyRJ]

Only found this video because of your post about the issues with publishing it-- I don't have time to watch yet so until I do I'll like and comment for the algorithm. You're such an inspiration, joy, and light to so many people.

[@fiaistired]

the whole video i was wondering whether there’ll be a comparison between the star wars works structured around the monomyth and andor. i know jessie already has a wonderful video about it on this channel (so if anyone is reading this and hasn’t seen that yet i’d highly recommend it!). i guess adding discussion about it into this video would’ve made it two hours-ish longer and this is already such a labor of love! (6 HOURS?? that’s crazy impressive. like woah.) i just think based on all the examples shown in this video it’s interesting to think about how different and fresh and more radical andor is. all that being said, this was an amazing video. huge, massive kudos to you and Aranock!

[@muddlewait8844]

Yeah, I *really* felt this. This video cries out for an Andor section. At least a strong mention.

[@AJ-wh1tw]

Saw the run time and am like “well, there’s my work day”. Love these super long form videos when you dive in to stuff that is beyond what I even don’t know. Thanks!

[@archsteel7]

Second time commenting, having finished the video. _Whew_ this was a big one! I can only imagine how much effort went into making all of this, from scripting to editing to animating to acting... Goodness. Hats off to every person involved on this project, you've done a fantastic job. I feel a little bit of guilt that I'm not willing to put in the same effort to address every part of this video, because I do not have the time or energy to put in a fraction of the effort that has been done on it. Even so, I do want to say, that I think the script-writer(s) have a much... Kinder opinion of Filoni than I do. So I'll admit it was a bit strange for me to listen to Filoni be depicted as raging against the chains of Disney and trying to destroy the monomyth, when I view him as one of the biggest buy-ins for the myth of Lucas. I just don't think the guy who views himself as "Lucas 2.0" and treats all of the vastness of Star Wars media as either "Made by Lucas (Unattainable, untouchable, perfect gold that cannot be contradicted or questioned in any way)" or "Made by the menials (Feel free to take without crediting original authors and just change the names a little, no one will notice)" as the one to fix the problems with the series. I'm... Actually a little bit surprised you didn't touch on the pretty fascisty undertones of the Mandalorians in Season 3, as a warrior-deathcult worshipping their own past. Oh, and to answer that question at the end, for what stories I hold close... I think the stories that have had the biggest longterm impact on my worldview and my own conceptualization of the world are stories like Neverwinter Knights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Knights of the Old Republic 2, and Pillars of Eternity. With the common theme among all of them being the rejection of the gods. Not necessarily in an atheistic way, but insofar as they are symbols of authority. Anyways, watch me spoil 'em Mask of the Betrayer sees you suffer through an ancient curse transferred to you as collateral damage, which forces you to become a predator of souls lest your own be consumed by the curse. It's about overcoming a legacy of pettiness and cruelty that has become enshrined as just "part of how the world works" which is upheld by gods who claim to be benevolent in the sake of protecting the status quo. Meanwhile, Kotor 2 is one of the rare Star Wars stories that goes into the consequences of the aftermath of all this big upheaval. It's a story where every single companion is some flavor of traumatized, even the droids, and is either about processing that trauma or letting it consume you. Also, it's the only Star Wars story I know of that really goes into the idea that maybe the Force and the will it seems to exert over people to "fate" them to these cycles is a bad thing. And maybe, just maybe, we should kill destiny and take fate into our own hands. And finally, the most explicit story about punching out Divinity, Pillars of Eternity is a story about idols, lies, and finding meaning. All of the gods were manufactured in the face of an uncaring and cold universe, by an ancient civilization that fell prey to the ultimate "Great Man" syndrome. They saw a world that was imperfect, random, and sometimes cruel, and decided the only way to fix it was to conjure up a pantheon of gods who could shepherd civilization into prosperity. But each and every single one of these gods is a hypocrite, by their very nature. There are some who don't want the world to ever actually stop needing them out of a desire to maintain their own power, others are useless centrists who try and mediate the "radicals" members of the pantheon but mostly end up empowering the already powerful, while others try to tear down the systems of conspiracies and lies that hold the mortal world hostage but in doing so steal agency away from mortals so that they can accrue more power to help their schemes succeed. Can you really be freeing someone if you have to first subjugate them to do it? Each one of these games is fantastic, lives rent free in my head, and is probably a large part of why I have issues with authority. also, holy shit I just realized during the after credits part that I'm not subscribed to this channel yet. Lemme fix that real quick, and should probably fix that for Aranock too because she was FANTASTIC in this.

[@wombatiferous]

The Mandalorians strike me as very Spartan in some ways (you cannot have an entire culture of warriors - you just can't - so either warriors are the most valued class for Reasons or, like the Spartiate, everyone else isn't actually Mandalorian). And is venerating fighting and weapons and armor for the sake of weapons and armor really such an awesome basis for a culture? Is it likely to lead to a well-adjusted, healthy society? No, and that plays out in Mandalorian in-fighting and religious cults, but at the same time Filoni is trying to paste on a Jewish diaspora vibe with unfair persecution by the Empire. And then people watching buy into the coolness and forget that even before the Empire crushed it, Mandalore was...kind of screwed up. I feel like the combination of Jewish diaspora and Spartans ends up having a lot of really, really unfortunate implications that I very much doubt he wanted the series to have. I also don't love how Satine is set up as some kind of straw-pacifist to make the ideological-religious militarism of other Mandalorian groups look...better in comparison, I guess? Love Din, love Boba Fett (though BOBF did not do the interesting things it could have), but the Mandalorians and how their politics and religion kind of get shined up by their cool aesthetic really frustrates me.

[@lisyoubeengone]

I’ve recently found my love of Star Wars again after my disillusionment with Rise of Skywalker. This was THE video essay for me! I’ve watched all the movies and shows recently (I absolutely need y’all to watch Andor) and I’ve dreamt of writing an essay discussing the decaying of neoliberalism democracies into fascist governments and y’all have done that! Absolutely killing and knocking it out of the park. Worth all almost six hours!

[@ummmmmmmmmmmnmmmm]

I'm loving this video so far. Great job to Jessie and Aranock. The concept of making the video and having Aranock rearrange it to hammer in the point is nothing short of genius. If I made something like this, I'd be very proud of it.

[@StanSeder]

My first and admittedly shitty thought was a 6 hour video easy doesn’t make it good. Then I watched it and the production value and story telling is amazing! Jessie never lets down.

[@James.Stark.Ben.Edition]

sorry this is a little silly and a bit of a nitpick but @ 15:19, his introduction wasn't played to The Imperial March. that song wasn't even made until _Empire Strikes Back._ the piece of music there *is* similar to The Imperial March and probably some inspiration for the song but it is not The Imperial March.

[@casparrii]

Amazing video! So, as storytellers, how do we go beyond the monomyth? What are some examples of works that effectively deconstruct Campbell's hero's journey or go beyond it entirely? What if we resonate and find meaning in hero's journey narratives, are we to examine ourselves for hidden fascism? Edit: I have now watched the suggested Maggie Mae Fish video and I have no further questions. Good day.

[@mikkosaarinen3225]

I'd say the video answers your first question many times. Imagine something different or maybe better. Imagine a new and better world and tell the story of how it came to be. And to simplify a quote from Toni Cade Bambara, tell stories that make revolution irresistible. Oh and self examination should be a regular and ongoing process, we've all got stuff to work on for the rest of our days.

[@pencilpauli9442]

The way forward is to imagine a mythology for our own time and break the cycle. Something that Campbell advocated. That the monomyth became a template for film studies is not Campbell's fault, and imho, Jessie is in error in suggesting that this is so. This critique puts the cart before the horse. There is a pattern of the hero journey in stories that has been observed. I don't recall that Campbell ever said that this is necessarily a pattern that needs to be repeated. Personally I get bored with the "chosen one" destined to be a hero trope. A hero can be anyone of any gender or not who breaks the status quo. An analysis of Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" would be an example of such a challenge to the hegemony imho. In Masks Of God, Campbell states that it is artists who can provide new mythologies. That can mean overthrowing the rigid Jungian concept of patriarchal archetypes.

[@erindonovan7423]

Absolutely fantastic. Took me a few days to get through it all! But yes, this was such a deep and thorough analysis. I'm going to be looking at Star Wars through a new lens now. Brilliant.

[@the_starbyte9362]

Oh my GOD Jessie, you and Aranock have outdone yourself this time. This might have been the most eye-opening video essay on Star Wars and modern pop culture I've ever watched. I will need time to digest everything but THANK YOU!

[@Hawkatana]

You know, I kinda want to see an argument between Joseph Campbell and Robert Heinlein. I just have a masochistic desire to see the sheer brainworms that would emerge from both of their opposite, yet equally-stupid worldviews.

[@threeofeight197]

What’s stupid about Campbells worldview? I read some of his books and he had interesting enough things to say about archetypes, ancient myths and society. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a world view…. But maybe I just missed it. I don’t know who the other person is. Are they against the idea of archetypes being universally understood???

[@flyingcapsicum]

@@threeofeight197 Maggie Mae Fish did some videos critical of Campbell, maybe check those out

[@LeavinMyTown]

⁠@@threeofeight197I mean, as an archaeologist and an amateur anthropologist; Campbell’s thesis is at its best it’s incredibly simplistic and at its worst it is reductive to the point of destroying the meaning the stories analysed in ‘Hero with a thousand faces’. At least, that’s my contention

[@Hawkatana]

@@threeofeight197 Anyone who unironically cites Carl Jung as an inspiration is not worth listening to.

[@heavenlysmile2484]

What was Heinlein's thing again?

[@southparkking2]

The old newgrounds energy of that animation was pretty epic .3.

[@DiscoGoesOn5067]

Ah yes, one of my most favourite youtubers releasing a 6 hour video on MY roman empire.

[@flopcus]

it's crazy to me a video of this quality and 5 hours long is just free. i love the work you do!!! will definitely be listening in hour long segments and enjoying each second

[@MPLSVic]

This is great! And works very well with an idea I have been fixated on for a few days, DS9 bar association- not just a hero, a union man- I can’t change anything, but we can change everything

[@Eban11235]

I'm pretty sure this video is longer than the Star Wars I've actually seen. That's impressive.

[@TheTitansBridge]

It took a couple of days to finish this, but I'm glad I did. Thank you so much to everyone that worked on this. It is so refreshing to see things looked at in a different light than I normally get to see. It has given me a lot to think about, both in the media I consume, and my own writing.

[@Grounded_Gravity]

The monomyth idea is wild - I'm sort of into Irish mythology and like, the plots, settings, deities and even the human characters are all so much more complex than that. I am familiar with a number of those stories and tbh I cannot think of a single Irish myth that would fit the hero's journey. There are so many that seem to be more cautionary tales than anything. Like, I don't think any characters come out of the Cattle Raid of Cooley / Táin Bó Cúailgne with a neat tidy character arc. And there is SO much cultural context needed to understand these! I am personally so far from being at a point where I have that deep of a grasp on history to be very confident in my own interpretations. The hubris of this man to assume he does... Also has this dude NOT heard of warrior queens?? The prevalence of this model in film is disappointing. But thankfully there are many truly creative people who press on with original story structures and consider communal context! This was beautiful, and I so enjoyed it. 💕

[@Brunoxsa]

Thank you for the video, Aranock and Jessie (and also The Editor)! Unsurprisingly, the "Hero's Cycle" not only perpetuates the false narrative of the hero figure, a single individual, being responsible for saving the world alone. It also spreads the lie of the conflict originating only from the villain figure, another single individual. Even if such affirmation would be true, the mindset of "cut the head off and the body will follow" would fail because the villain's supporters would probably have a hierarchy system in place in order to cover for their missing leader. And besides keeping the vicious cycle of the status quo of capitalism, neo-liberalism and fascism going, the "Hero's Cycle" also fails to acknowledge how, regardless their alignment, single individuals by themselves have no capacity of changing the world, it always requires a group of people composed by certain number of individuals or possessing some influence over the remainder. The dangerous aspect of being anti-institution is trying to take down the old institution, and replace it by a new one without realizing. It also includes the centrist mindset of trying to fix the current system from inside by becoming part of it. The second one seems to happen to George Lucas. Even as a casual fan, it is very unfortunate how Star Wars has become stagnated in the literal, metaphorical and philosophical senses. The Disney corporation using nostalgia bait by repeating the same stories and archetypes from the past, and trying to stay much centrist/apolitical as possible can only push the Star Wars franchise forward until certain point. It is very interesting to consider how, if the current system would disappear suddenly, the people at the very top of it would be the ones more affected and suffering by that. However, the people at the bottom of it would not see big changes because they already have to deal with struggles under the current system.

[@ryanmoore6259]

While no one person can change the world alone, they can still have an impact. Alexander the Great and Napolean absolutely relied on others, but they still had their own skills. Saying they have NO capacity to change the world is rather silly. If they didn't have the capacity no amount of help in the world. Moreover, we do tend to look to individuals for inspiration/rallying

[@ryanmoore6259]

The definition of "hero" is constantly changing. Back in the day it was "anyone who does great feats." Nowadays it means "a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities." There are plenty of those in real life who aren't reliant on others (a guy who saves a drowning child)

[@yllejord]

@@ryanmoore6259 I don't know about Napoleon but Alex was pretty much a result of the Persian Empire. Sure he had skills, but if he was born at another time in history, his skills would be meaningless. Or if he was not a son of a king. His impact was the sum of many different factors.

[@emmanuelfernandes5610]

MY GOD WOMAN WHAT A POWERHOUSE OF PRODUCTION I'M FLABBERGASTED

[@ClarkKentsRockandRollRevue]

Glad Mark Fisher was quoted a few times here, and the ongoing theme of endless war was well written. Curious about there being not much talk of Andor and its relative collectivism.

[@Enshohma]

I usually cannot stand KZbinrs with 5 hour long video essays (my own random live stream included) BUT Jessie Gender taking down the now overplayed Monomyth... YES PLEASE! I shall watch the video and cook and eat ALL the popcorn!

[@miguelpiresramos1280]

Absolutely amazing work, thoughtful, insightful, and at points truly surprising. To be able to bring something this well made into the discussion of such a beaten theme like Star Wars is a remarkable achievement. Congratulations!

[@sarahbrown6493]

Seeing as it may take me a bit to get through the entirety of this nearly 6 hour masterpiece (although I wish I had the time to experience the entire thing in one sitting) I wanted to leave a comment to support the incredible work done here. The art I have seen many youtubers, alongside you and Aranock, make in the last year has blown me away. In some ways its a travesty that the ideas and messages you craft so wonderfully do not reach so many people that need to hear them, but in others I am incredibly grateful that these...videos? movies? art pieces? can even be made in the first place. I just wanted to say thank you for the thought, effort, and time everyone involved puts into making things like this. The fact this has been demonetized is so petty and unfortunately unsurprising.

[@vixen-corpse]

Gosh this is such a great and amazing video, thank you so much for making it especially as a huge fan of the prequels. Also thanks for sourcing so much, gives me ton of stuff to read more about it!

[@ryanmoore6259]

1.) The hero's journey, at its basic essence is "person goes on quest, accomplishes great deeds, returns home changed." That's not inherently racist or fascist, and individual components are diverse enough that they can appear in any culture even if the details change. Luke returns home change and yet even David Brin (who thinks Star Wars is elitist) admits that Luke himself is actually a really good guy. Basically it's not a universal but to dismiss it as just reactionary is kind of short sighted 2.) I read a fascinating article that basically summed up how Star Wars is based on Buddhist ideals; in Buddhism love is wanting the other person to be happy, attachment is "an exxagerated desire to not be seperated from someone or something", and compassion is wanting the other person to not suffer. Han and Leia's romance ties in with the Buddhist definition of love (Han's willing to let Leia go when he thinks she loves Luke) and so is acceptable. Anakin's feelings for Padme were based on how he would be affected (he didn't want to endure the pain of loss). Luke's initial rushing off in ESB was somewhat based on attachment (he was worried about the pain of loosing). However, his desire to save Vader was motivated by compassion. He realized that Vader secretly hated himself and all the terrible things he'd done, and that there was a chance to save him. Incidentally, Luke SAVING Vader rather than killing him is an incredibly good subversion. The Jedi's sins were that a.) they fell into the same trap Anakin did; they grew attached to the power and prestige they wielded, and so focused more on maintaining the status quo rather than doing what was right. This led to them ignoring a lot of widespread corruption (such as the slavery Jessie mentions). In Shatterpoint Mace's thoughts show that he sees the republic as civilization, and that civilization MUST be maintained. b.) They got stagnant. The ROTS novelization has Yoda realize that he tried to refight the last war while the Sith adapted and evolved. c.) They assumed that ALL romantic relationships had to be selfish love rather than selfless love. Han and Leia show that it is possible for a romantic relationship to be mutually selfless, and if Anakin had been able to talk about his feelings Yoda might have given him a better answer. 3.) Yoda's "let go" speech, is I think somewhat misinterpreted. Anakin wasn't giving Yoda all the info so Yoda was trying for a more general "Death is a part of life, and while you should mourn the people who die you need to accept it". That's not a bad lesson in and of itself. The problem is that Yoda didn't have all the information and so spoke in general terms. This ties in with the "Jedi were overly harsh on romance." Had it not been banned Anakin could have been open and honest, which would have allowed better advice. 4.) One thing I love is that the Empire in the movies portrays the fascists as not only cruel but kind of pathetic at the same time. This is most displayed in the scene where Vader chokes Motti. The leaders are all talking shit but the second Vader starts throwing his weight none of them do anything because Vader scares the crap out of them. Going through the leaders paints a pretty sad picture. Palpatine: Effective, but utterly evil and actively breeds chaos to rise to power. Vader: Effective, but a broken man who hates himself and all the terrible things he's done, staying loyal both to satisfy his fix for the Dark Side AND his belief that he can never really atone so he might as well go all in. Tarkin: Bluffed by Leia (a teenager), has to be talked into agreeing to Vader's plan (let the rebels leave so that they can track the base), and ultimately dies in denial of his own failure after arrogantly rejecting the idea that the Death Star can be destroyed. Ozzel: LITERALLY the only reason the rebels get away in ESB is because Ozzel jumped the gun and came out of hyperspace close, giving them time to get a shield up. It's heavily implied this isn't the first time Ozzel fucked up either. Needa: Basically, a dignified victim; he does things as well as he can....but because Vader's furious and needs to vent he ends up getting strangled to death in a fit of rage. Note Tarkin describes how the governors will have charge of everything.....which is basically just cronyism. As flawed as the OR is, they still come off as better then the Empire

[@awhitney3063]

I'm blown away by the whole animated intro; I thought it was cool that you went through the effort to format the beginning like the real original text scroll, but then we got actual cartoons!? Crazy! Y'all blew it out of the water with this one, A+ =) So happy just to see animation of any kind when I don't expect it. Okay gotta finish watching the video now lol.