In your opinion, where does Rebels succeed in leftist storytelling where Andor fails? Genuinely curious, I’d love to hear to ur thoughts! I don’t disagree with you really i just like heading people’s takes :)
okay so i think a lot of people mistake the fact Andor is against fascism with the idea that its leftist. because Andor IS about fighting fascism! its about a character who works to fight the fascist organisation! but being against fascism doesnt make you a leftist. there are plenty of liberals, centrists, hell ive even met some people id probably classify as right wing that are for the most part against fascism.
leftism isn't the absence of believing in fascism. its not as simple as being not-fascist, it has a set of beliefs that fit into it. Andor as a show is comfortable showing the awful, gritty parts of fascism. it shows the imprisonment and assault and absolute power that comes with it. but it doesnt have any leftist beliefs to show as well.
for example: the main character of rebels is, in the context of the show, Indigenous. this, and the subsequent ties to his land, are a key part of his identity. a major conflict in rebels is how the colonial fascist empire is seizing, mining, and ultimately destroying, the land of Indigenous people. the climax of the last season has them defeating the colonial forces by actually working with nature, and ultimately working to preserve the world and free everyone. the motivation in rebels is to help people; fighting the empire is nice and all, but it frequently comes second. think of how the Ghost crew initially began stealing food, and only attacking the empire to further that goal. think of how the ultimate goal of s4 is to liberate lothal, because they see how much destruction has happened at the hands of the empire. and they help people they come across! they help ryloth, and mandalore, and all these individuals who's paths cross with theirs - even if it means going out of their way
by contrast, Andor... just doesn't really do that? Andor tends to focus, really above all else, on fighting the empire. cassian doesnt really care about the people he ends up helping along the way. he doesnt really care about helping the rebel group in the start of s2, and doesnt care about helping the people out of the prison much beyond how they can aid in his own escape, and really only joins the rebellion because people wanted to kill him (and even beyond cassian: literally everything luthen does is directly against helping people. he just seems to care about hurting the empire)
and its not that this makes cassians character bad! characters dont have to be leftists to be good. however it does mean that Andor just doesnt fit into leftism the way rebels does. its not a show about supporting each other in our fight for equality; its just a show about fighting the bad guys. rebels is a show about helping a wider world - Andor is a show about helping your own
anyways none of that actually matters when you look just at difference between how Andor and rebels treat their female characters
