Caution: This article contains spoilers for Andor season 2, episodes 1-3 and discussion of sexual assault.Andorseason 2’s premiere featured a scene of sexual assault that has exposed a dark truth about theStar Warsfandom. I had the privilege of seeingAndorseason 2 early, and I was struck immediately by the way Tony Gilroy’s TV show grounded the evil of the Empire. We’re used to seeing the Empire’s evil writ large, with planets destroyed and acts of genocide constantly mentioned (though seldom seen).Andorseason 2, though, offers a much more intimate look at life under a fascist regime;it particularly explores that regime’s impact on women.
Personally, I found theend ofAndorepisode 3deeply disturbing. There’s a subtle juxtaposition between two scenes; the wedding of a child bride and an attempted sexual assault. Gilroy is a skilled writer, and I have no doubt that this placement was intentional, to point to multiple ways in which women suffer under fascist regimes (the Imperial philosophy was popular on insular human-populated Core Worlds of theStar Warsgalaxy, Chandrila included; notice how few aliens attend Leida’s wedding).
It didn’t take me long to guess the sexual assault scene would become controversial.I even spoke to my writers about it, asking Liz Declan to write our first response because I could easily imagine female voices being drowned out by predominantly male YouTubers (besides which, Liz is one of my best writers, and she had a lot to say about it). What I didn’t call, though, was the specific direction the discussion has already taken - and it’s this direction that I want to address.
This Is (Technically) Star Wars' First Rape Scene
TheStar Warsgalaxy is a brutal one, and there have been hints of sexual assault before; I know the Slave Leia costume was designed to evoke some classicConan the Barbarian-style imagery, but the meaning (and Jabba’s gross tongue-lick) is quite clear. As Liz notes, the Bix scene seems reminiscent of one drawn from comics published as part of the oldStar WarsExpanded Universe(even character names involved are similar, perhaps hinting this is no coincidence). But we’ve neverseena sexual assault on-screen before, and some viewers are understandably disturbed.
What I did not expect, though, was for one prominent YouTuber - who I won’t name here - to make the following argument:
“SA in SW feels unnecessary. You can portray power dynamics and making the audience hate the Empire in other ways without taking it to such a disgusting place.
Vader wouldn’t tolerate that s*** nor does the Empire condone it.
It has no place in Star Wars. Period. Unnecessary.”
I’d anticipated an argument that sexual assault has no place inStar Wars, because George Lucas intended this franchise to be aimed at children. Even then, I’d disagree, becauseAndoris self-evidently a rather more mature show aimed at adult viewers - although, for the record, I do think Disney may have wanted to include a sensitivity warning on Disney+.
I hadn’t expected someone to essentially argue thatthe Empire is better than this.
No, The Empire Is Not Better Than This
Firstly, I want to tackle that claim head-on: no, the Empire is not better than this.The Empire is a fascist regime, created by a man who sought absolute power and who had no qualms about commanding the murder of children.It is a matter of undeniable historical fact that fascist regimes tend to concentrate power in the hands of men who abuse that power in every way, especially over women, and that women suffer under fascist regimes. If you’ll forgive a real-world parallel, the resurgence of misogyny in the U.S. right now is one of the surest signs that the wheel of time has turned again.
I’ve already seen some people defendingAndorseason 2’s sexual assault scene by arguing it simply shows the reality of war, where rape is a weapon of power. I’m afraid the truth is worse than that; the Imperial agent in that scene has no idea he’s dealing with a rebel, he simply thinks he’s exercising his power over an attractive undocumented woman who he believes can’t defend herself. Tony Gilroy is deliberately showing the reality oflifefor women under a fascist regime, where they are subject to the every whim of men of power. And yes, it’s horrific.
George Lucas was inspired by the Vietnam War when he createdStar Wars, but the parallels aren’t exact; the Empire is an amalgamation of every real-world fascist regime in history. Women have suffered under every fascist regime, which means I can say with absolute confidence that the Bix scene is perfectly accurate.No, the Empire is not better than this.
Why Are We Defending The Empire?
There’s another question rumbling under this, though, one that really needs to be called out:Why does anybody think the Empireisbetter than this?I should note this is why I haven’t sourced the tweet; not because I wanted to avoid the controversy of calling someone out by name, but because I think that tweet is representative of a bigger problem in theStar Warsfandom. There are portions of this fanbase who find the Imperial philosophy and characters a little too attractive, and thus try to whitewash the Empire’s evil.
For the record, I get it.Nobody likes to think their favorite characters are outright evil, and we can even see strands of this running in officialStar Warspublications. LegendaryStar Warsauthor Timothy Zahn fell in love with the character ofGrand Admiral Thrawna little too much, penning books in which he portrayed Thrawn as a “sympathetic Imperial” who believed in security and peace but wasn’t corrupt. He never quite got around to exploring the fact that such “sympathetic Imperials” stand behind the corrupt ones, empowering them, and so are no more innocent.
We’ve seen (or, mostly, heard of) countless acts of genocide inStar Wars.Andorseason 1 features death camps and scenes of torture. But this sexual assault grounds the evils of the Empire in such a visceral way, putting a face on the suffering of women under fascist regimes. This, I think, is why some parts of theStar Warsfandom are flinching from it - it’s too real, too uncomfortable, shattering any illusions of the “sympathetic Imperial” and confronting them with the reality of life under a fascist regime.
Andor Season 2 Offers Hope
Image via Disney+
But notice another pattern running throughAndorseason 2;the women don’t need to be rescued.Bix doesn’t need any man to save her from the Imperial; she does it herself. Luthen Rael may be a master spy, but Mon Mothma is the one who will ultimately lead the Rebel Alliance. This idea runs through the entireStar Warssaga, all the way back to 1977, when George Lucas introduced a princess who took charge of her own rescue.
This, too, is the message ofAndor; fascist regimes may be brutal to women, but women are not powerless to fight back. So many science-fiction and fantasy shows would have played the Bix scene completely differently, especially given the fact Bix is Cassian’s lover, but Tony Gilroy chose a different path. He reminds those fascism would strip of power that they still have power - and that’s a message I love to see.
