Andor Isn’t “Woke.” It’s Much Deeper Than That.
Some are complaining that Andor is “woke.” Others are praising it for being an excellent critique of fascism.
Both of these reactions are too surface-level.
Yes, it has elements of both a and b (though “woke” needs a clearer definition from those who use the term), but its true message runs much deeper.
More so than “fascism is bad,” Andor’s message is that the biggest problem of all is that the human character is unreliable, regardless of political alignment.
And thus, it’s neither staunchly “woke” nor leftist. In fact, I’d say it’s “post-leftist.”
Not Your Typical Star Wars
Most Star Wars content are fairly straightforward critiques of fascism. There’s a clear good guy (the Rebels and the Jedi) and a clear bad guy (the Empire). It doesn’t get more complex than this, and it doesn’t need to to succeed.
What makes Andor so compelling is that within the context of the Rebellion and the Empire, most of the characters are actually morally gray. Good guys and bad guys appear in both the Empire and the Rebellion.
