I think that joke started from the fact that the republic had slavery and the empire didn’t. Sadly it kinda quickly stopped being a joke. It’s also interesting how we’re sorta presented with a Dems Vs republicans in that meme - there’s either the republic or the empire, there is no third option despite the three first films being about a rebellion working to create something new.
Then of course JJ shits the bed with his mystery box and “Skywalker saga”
They were pretty fucking brutal with the Wookiees for one, and that goes back to old 1970s canon including the Star Wars Holiday Special. If they weren’t enslaved, they were definitely being given “reservation” treatment on their own home planet.
Oh yeah for sure. I’m not really up on my star wars lore. As far as I understand it the joke sort of started because Anakin and his mother is a slave in I, but there’s no “slaves” in the original trilogy, which then makes people wonder how that is, which leads to a humorous observation.
The text is pretty clear that the empire is worse than the republic, but that’s the joke I guess
“Sure the text says the empire is worse, but the republic had slaves haha funny observation”.
Then people sort of started running with it and you end up with unironic empire stans.
Like it’s just a silly joke noticing one discrepancy (slaves Vs no slaves) without focusing on the bigger picture (brutal political repression, genocide of minorities, apartheid regime, religious repression, etc.).
I don’t think it was meant as something that could stand up to scrutiny, which is also why it’s so strange it led to actual empire stans.
It’s also what makes it more ironic to me because the empire stans go “well the empire was better than the republic” (never mind wether it was or not) and completely ignore the rebellion posing a viable alternative
They’re not going to do a detailed material analysis on the conditions of the Empire, because nobody would care about that, and that would bore everyone except super nerds.
Pretty sure it started out of simple contrarianism, using troll logic to find reasons why the empire are the heroes despite all evidence to the contrary - stuff like pointing out the empire reduced unemployment on alderaan to 0%.
I think that joke started from the fact that the republic had slavery and the empire didn’t. Sadly it kinda quickly stopped being a joke. It’s also interesting how we’re sorta presented with a Dems Vs republicans in that meme - there’s either the republic or the empire, there is no third option despite the three first films being about a rebellion working to create something new.
Then of course JJ shits the bed with his mystery box and “Skywalker saga”
They were pretty fucking brutal with the Wookiees for one, and that goes back to old 1970s canon including the Star Wars Holiday Special. If they weren’t enslaved, they were definitely being given “reservation” treatment on their own home planet.
Oh yeah for sure. I’m not really up on my star wars lore. As far as I understand it the joke sort of started because Anakin and his mother is a slave in I, but there’s no “slaves” in the original trilogy, which then makes people wonder how that is, which leads to a humorous observation.
The text is pretty clear that the empire is worse than the republic, but that’s the joke I guess
“Sure the text says the empire is worse, but the republic had slaves haha funny observation”.
Then people sort of started running with it and you end up with unironic empire stans.
Like it’s just a silly joke noticing one discrepancy (slaves Vs no slaves) without focusing on the bigger picture (brutal political repression, genocide of minorities, apartheid regime, religious repression, etc.).
I don’t think it was meant as something that could stand up to scrutiny, which is also why it’s so strange it led to actual empire stans.
It’s also what makes it more ironic to me because the empire stans go “well the empire was better than the republic” (never mind wether it was or not) and completely ignore the rebellion posing a viable alternative
So the woman chained up in Jabba’s palace until she was fed to the rancor wasn’t a slave?
Again, I’m not saying it’s good or correct or anything. It’s a simple joke, as I’ve said. It doesn’t hold up to any scrutiny.
It’s a glaring on-screen omission that the reactionary meme missed from the start so I’m baffled.
They’re not going to do a detailed material analysis on the conditions of the Empire, because nobody would care about that, and that would bore everyone except super nerds.
Pretty sure it started out of simple contrarianism, using troll logic to find reasons why the empire are the heroes despite all evidence to the contrary - stuff like pointing out the empire reduced unemployment on alderaan to 0%.