Fandom in Context: 'The Mandalorian' Shows 'Star Wars' Fans The Way

Star Wars fans love to argue. They've made it a cottage industry on YouTube, message boards and meme communities, arguing about prequels versus sequels and original trilogy versus everything. Ever since George Lucas began expanding the Skywalker canon, fans have tip-toed around the edge of a volcano, occasionally losing the high ground and falling into the lava of heated debate.

Star Wars fans are gluttons for punishment, who return to the series despite their feelings on the previous installment. First, the prequel films disappointed old fans and delighted new ones, then the sequels disappointed prequel fans and appeased prequel critics. It's a never-ending battle over what Star Wars should be.

But there's one thing that Star Wars fans agree on: The Mandalorian. Debuting in November 2019, The Mandalorian arrived at a low point for the franchise. Vocal critiques of The Last Jedi and the outright dismissal of Solo: A Star Wars Story gave many fans reasons to worry about Disney's handling of the beloved franchise. The Rise of Skywalker, the final installment in the "Skywalker Saga," crashed into theaters with a dull thud and did little to assuage their fears. While fans debated the choices made in Solo and The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker was a complete non-starter. Fans mostly ignored it.

Luckily, they had The Mandalorian to focus on. The Mandalorian, free of the Skywalkers' familial baggage, told different stories from different perspectives and without the expectations that accompany a Star Wars capital "E" episode. Plus, the show has Baby Yoda, who, to quote Werner Herzog, is "heartbreakingly beautiful."

Baby Yoda is a welcome addition, but The Mandalorian succeeds because of the things it lacks. There's no John Williams score, no "long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," no lightsabers, no Darth Vaders and no Skywalkers. It tells an inventive story that touches on Star Wars relics but finds new avenues into the mythology. The show offers a clear lesson for the future of Star Wars: Stay away from the original trilogy.

"The conclusion to the Skywalker saga left a bad taste for many fans, even those that were willing to overlook the previous movies," writes Nathan, a mod on /r/StarWars, a community that boasts more than 1.6 million readers. "However, The Mandalorian follows the thread of the anthology films by giving a fresh perspective on the Star Wars franchise: not every story in the galaxy revolves around a lightsaber." Staying away from the canon, The Mandalorian has an easier time getting viewers on board. They don't have to do math about the chronology or rethink how the force works. Fans can just enjoy the show.

That canonical problem solving is where all the Star Wars films find themselves in trouble. Looking at the last several Star Wars movies, the ones that fit neatly into the chronology without disrupting it tends to leave more people satisfied. Rogue One, for example, clicks in the series like a puzzle piece. While the movie may not be every fans favorite, it doesn't change how we view the original trilogy. If you don't like it, you can ignore the film and continue enjoying the Star Wars you want. The same is true for The Clone Wars animated series. "Rogue One has received a lot of praise from fans for being a great movie. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was also a great series," says love_the_heat, a veteran /r/StarWars mod of three years.

The more the films are in conversation with the franchise as a whole, the more divisive they become. The Last Jedi, for example, takes a meta approach to the series, challenging our assumptions about what a Star Wars film is. That change was too stark for some viewers. Solo, meanwhile, attempts to split the difference. It should slot in like Rogue One, but because you're dealing with, perhaps, the most popular and beloved character in the series, Han Solo, you run into issues of characterization. After all, the movie solves Han Solo, turning him from rogue to hero, which makes his arc in A New Hope unnecessary. It doesn't fit as cleanly because we know who this character is going to become.

Ultimately, fans were split upon release. "Solo was a mixed bag -- some people loved it, and others hated it," writes Nathan. "There seemed to be very little middle-ground. Since then, the movie is rarely brought up in discussions." If Star Wars is too interested in Star Wars as a cultural artifact, it becomes divisive. But if it's too unsure of itself, it gets ignored. The easiest solution is to avoid the lore of the original trilogy entirely.

Movies like The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are about Star Wars: What they meant to us, to our culture and our fan communities. The Force Awakens reckons with fandoms' unwavering commitment to the film's mythology. Rey and Finn aren't just characters. They're fans of Star Wars. They've heard of Han Solo; they love Luke Skywalker. The Last Jedi attempts to deal with Star Wars disappointment when a series becomes too fractured and too big that it means too many things to too many people. That self-reflection doesn't always jibe with people. It's a big ask for a blockbuster film about space wizards.

After all the controversial movies, fans craved fun adventures with a Star Wars skin, not a critique of its place in the culture. This split divides fans. "I've seen it go both ways," writes Nathan. "Some dabs absolutely love the original trilogy style and wish more content followed that direction. Other fans, like myself, find it hard to believe that every story in an entire galaxy revolves around the same cast of a dozen characters that always seem to run into one another."

Ultimately, The Mandaloiran splits the difference, focusing on George Lucas' original influence, western and samurai movies, and building its own, separate framework. "I think most people like the John Wayne-Western with Ralph McQuarrie artistic flair," writes Nathan on the show's style. "It uses a lot of nostalgia from the original trilogy as well, but also introduces its own flair."

The Mandalorian gave fans a fresh start. There's no need to bicker about chronology and continuity because this is separate from the Skywalker of it all. "It's unique for Star Wars; nothing has really been attempted like this before in Star Wars media," writes moderator JSK23 a moderator from Michigan. "At the same time, it also has some really cool callbacks to other eras and mediums from the fandom, including comics, older trilogies, cartoons, artwork, etc. And obviously, The Child has really captivated fans, and Mandalorians have always been popular in the fandom." Mando and the Child, better known as Baby Yoda, are perfect avatars for this approach. _

Star Wars_ has always been about wish fulfillment and projection. Since 1977, fans have seen themselves in the core characters. Drawn with broad strokes, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia aren't so specific and nuanced that people have difficulty relating to them. Their wants and desires are vague enough for anyone to latch on to the story. As the film series went on, the characters became more complicated, making that relationship between fan and character more difficult (It's hard to imagine anyone seeing themselves in Qui Gon Jinn.)

But with Baby Yoda, who cannot speak, and Mando, who we cannot see, it's easier for us to engage. We can throw ourselves onto the adventure. In Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, he refers to this as "projective identification," which McCloud believes makes more minimally designed characters easier to identify with. Mando's helmet, which he pointedly never takes off in public, is a knight's armor with a black shield over the visor. Because we cannot see his face, it's easier for us to build a strong connection with the character, psychologically placing ourselves in the situation.

The Mandalorian has been working hard to please fans. But this could always change. In the first episode of season two, Mando comes across the armor of Boba Fett. Fans expected this development, but it should give them pause. The closer the show comes to interacting with the characters they love, the more likely it'll start disappointing them. If Mando wants to succeed in his mission, he'll take his ship to the system farthest away from the original trilogy and stay there. It's a big universe, but the fact that we keep running into the same batch of characters makes it feel much smaller.