Over on Disney+ the new show Book of Boba Fett released its second episode this week and after watching the episode I couldn’t help but think about how this was the perfect woke, but yet also non-woke story. Pavlov’s Woke if you will? What I mean is that episode 2, titled Tribes of Tatooine, dealt with imperialism, capitalism, colonialism, and pretty much every other ism you can think of but - it worked? So for this essay, I want to examine the episode a bit and show why *woke* themes (I’ll define this in a second) actually do work in a galaxy far far away and why most properties that use woke themes get so much backlash.
Politics Far Far Away
In its purest form *woke* is simply someone who is alert to injustice in society. At a popular level, however, woke has become more of a pejorative that’s used to deride and mock the inconsistency of the political left. We see this in the phrase “go woke, go broke”. Meaning that when “wokeness” is embraced by companies or individuals it doesn’t sell.
Staying in the Star Wars world, the most divisive Star Wars movie of all time, The Last Jedi was derided by fans as *woke* because it contained stereotypes associated with leftist causes, had an entire subplot about wealth, riches, sexism, and war that didn’t add to the main plot, and dressed down every male character in the movie - the most egregious example being Luke Skywalker. After The Last Jedi, Star Wars plummeted in popularity with toy sales drying up, resell value of old toys dropping dramatically (as a collector I can personally vouch for this), and the next movie Solo was the first Star Wars movie to bomb, which is unfortunate because it was not an entirely bad movie. It wasn’t until Baby Yoda showed up a few years later that Star Wars began to course correct.
Many associated with Lucasfilm took to Twitter to blame fans for these failures. They must be racists, homophobes, and sexists and can’t handle Star Wars growing with the times. But then Disney released the final season of Clone Wars, which focused mainly on female protagonist Ahsoka Tano, along with Mandalorian which had multiple lead female characters that were not only embraced by the fans but celebrated. While no doubt a subset of fans are probably all of the “isms”, a majority of them just did not feel like a good chunk of material put out by Lucasfilm was good and that ideology had become more important than the story. And I think this latest episode of Book of Boba Fett backs this theory up.
Tribes of Tatooine
Spoilers Ahead!
The second episode of the series focused heavily on Boba Fett becoming part of a Tusken Raider tribe. Throughout most of the Star Wars movies, Tuskens have always been viewed as “animals” and marauders. The Mandalorian and now Book of Boba Fett were the first time we’ve seen them humanized in any major Star Wars production. During this episode, Boba learns how the Tuskens live, do battle, and embraces their customs; he even takes a part in a sort of “walkabout” to find wood to make a Gaffi stick, the weapon used by the Tuskens - the final step Boba needs to become a full member of the tribe.
While Boba is dancing with wolves he’s interrupted by drug runners taking potshots at the Tuskens from a train. A train that runs across the land, killing the natives who have the rightful claim to the land. Boba is outraged by this injustice and helps the Tuskens take up arms against the cartel and liberates the tribe. At the end joining in the ceremonial dance of celebration. Totally a Dances with Wolves homage.
It’s very clear from the episode that the storytellers are speaking to imperialism, colonialism, and the plight of native communities conquered by “off-worlders”. But, unlike the same subplot in The Last Jedi, there’s no heavy-handed exposition trying to beat you over the head with it. It’s sort of subtle, it fits into the story and growth of the characters, and allows the audience to ponder the moral quandary it presents instead of preaching it’s not one. Tribes of Tatooine is how to do *woke* right.
Return of the Real Woke
One of the beauties of the genre of sci-fi and fantasy is that in its best examples it speaks to our current cultural issues and struggles but in a way that’s not partisan, but rather transcendent. So much of popular culture since 2016 (maybe even earlier than that) has doubled down on partisan and ideologically driven story-telling. And when fans reject it they’re maligned or generalized with whatever “ism” the storytellers are focusing on that week. And again, this is in no way meant to deny that there are problematic parts of fandom, there clearly is, however, it’s become so easy for content creators to create a boogeyman to cover up legitimate criticisms. And Star Wars is no different than any other franchise.
Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett work, so far at least, because it’s created by people who understand the legacy, the genre, and how George Lucas interjected his own political ideas into the Galaxy. Both of these shows have repeated this formula and it’s worked. Boba Fett addressed a whole host of hot button issues present in our culture but I’d argue it did it masterfully. It’s nuanced, provocative, and yes, even *woke* but in a thoughtful way that makes us the viewers ponder the implications for our world instead of telling us what we should ponder or we’re evil. And while I can’t speak for everyone, I think that’s exactly what many who partake in this product want. Because, obviously, only a Sith deals in absolutes.