Star Wars is one of those fandoms that has a massive following that is, at times, at odds with itself. The saying goes “No one hates Star Wars more than it’s fans” and well that makes perfect sense. If you love something you desrve the right to be critical of it. But sometimes the arguments and issues that fans pick with Star Wars can be pretty petty and insignificant. This was my line of thinking when I saw this post trending and going around on Twitter/X at first.
The Tweet that inspired this piece.
But then the more I thought about it the more it began to make sense to me. It’s no secret that Star Wars has felt a bit “off” since the start of the Disney+ age. There is something odd about the outfits and costumes on the shows. There of course can be multiple reasons. So I took to The GNN Greats fan page we run and a few affiliate pages to figure out what it could be and got a few surprsing comments.
Production Has Changed
Andrew Fortier over at Temple Of Nerdom said this:
I’m not an expert but I thought it was just because of the cameras used. They have 4K cameras now so it captures more detail than cameras used during filming the older movies.
I hadn’t considered this so much, but maybe he has a point. We get less film grain and everything is sharp and clean now from a filming/tech angle. That could certainly be part of it, but even the helmet that the Armorer is carrying in the thumbnail of this article looks like something you would get froma toy store. So i’m not entirely sure. JB Mangold gave his take on the GNN Greats Page:
When Star Wars first appeared on the scene back in 1977, one of the things that made George Lucas’ vision stand out was its ‘lived in look.’ Gone was the shiny chrome, everything looked worn, used, nearly burned out. It felt authentic. This took time and attention to detail, two things current day Hollywood has no interest in investing. In all those pictures, everything looks too new, too plastic, too fake. Not Star Wars.
Left: Boba On Mandalorian Season 2. Right: Boba in Return of the Jedi/ Right has more detail, his armor tells us a story contextually. Storywise it is the same armor.
If you look at the picture of Bobe Fett’s armor from the scene in Book of Boba Fett it actually looks cleaner and smoother than it did in RotJ. So I do think JB is onto something here. There is almost a “commerical” or “mass-produced” vibe to the newer Star Wars material that feel less guerrila than what the original trilogy did and even compared to the more recent The Force Awakens. Yet other point to other things entirely.
It’s More Than One Singluar Answer
The Mods and their mopeds were not very popular among the fans. Their whole aesthetic isn’t believable on Tatooine.
Rick Facer on the Temple Of Nerdom page chimed in with this:
“[…]There is a definite disconnect from that aesthetic. But there’s probably a couple of reasons for it and it’s not completely a new thing […]
A: The lighting because of the use of the 360 degree virtual sets with the LED screens rather than green screens.B: in some cases like Hera, it’s reproducing the character from animated series but making them accurate to the cartoon rather than translating the look to a more weatherbeaten used aesthetic.C: Using digital cinematography over film.D: some bad design choices, like the mod squad bike gang bikes in book of boba fett. They were way too nice for a street gang and too shiny and clean to not stick out like a sore thumb on tattoine.E: possibly some budget restraints for a Tv show vs film.
Closing Thoughts
I feel Andor sidestepped alot of these issues. There was very little use at all of the Volume in that production. The lighting was well done, the on-location shooting made it feel open and grandiose. Not to mention the whole show had this gritty dark vibe that made it feel lived-in and believable. Even Andor’s clothing was patched and looked authentic!
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. Just look at the fabric, man!
I don’t want depressing Star Wars from here on out. Don’t misinterpret what I am saying. But I do think Star Wars has shifted it’s focus in recent years from anchoring and seeping itself in believable space fantasy (yes, I know that is an oxymoron but you know exactly what I mean by that) to just resting on it’s laurels as the premiere space opera that we are all familiar with. Give us some grime, rust, and weathered outfits again.
What do you guys think? Is this all “much ado about nothing”? Or do you feel the shift too? Sound off in the comments! I genuinely am interested in this particular topic/facet about Star Wars. Make sure to follow GeekNewsNow on Facebook here. Also check out our main site here! As always stay geeky out there folks!
