Barriss Offee
Mar. 7th, 2019 01:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorStill mad about how The Clone Wars treated Barriss Offee. Like, it's not surprising, but it still ticks me off. She's one of the many characters I'd like to incorporate in my fic at some point. I'd just have to think about what angle I want to approach that from. Certainly not how the show handled her, lol.
I also don't like the idea of just changing her character so she's fine with the war. Because what I objected to was not her objection to the war. Because supporting the Clone Wars is wrong! And not just because its entire purpose was to put Palpatine in power. Even if Palpatine had died during or directly after the war, that wouldn't have changed how incredibly evil it was.
Lets look at just a few things the Clone Wars entailed:
*putting those in impoverished and marginalized Outer Rim planets 'in their place' (eg. The start of the Geonosian genocide, the Kaleesh on Kalee being dominated by the Huk slavers who were supported by the Republic)
*use of slaves raised from birth for the purpose of being soldiers for the Republic
*use of child soldiers by the Republic
*assorted war crimes like Obi-Wan's fake surrender
It frustrates me that the Republic is viewed as 'good but flawed' or 'just a little misguided' despite these really major issues, and not only that, but that the Separatists are mostly presented as this nameless, faceless evil Other with their leaders all being these cardboard cutout evil characters. This is a criticism I have of Filoni and Lucas but also of a lot of the fan discussion and portrayal of these things. It just seems that mostly people don't care deeply (if at all) about any of these things as long as their faves get the outcome they want (and whether that's a happy or tragic end is somewhat immaterial to this issue). Like, hey, I understand having an interest for specific characters, and wanting to see certain things regarding their stories, I just wish so many people didn't seem to think that what happens with the Designated Main Characters can really address any of these things by itself, or that killing Palpatine is the end-all be-all of destroying these evils when there were plenty of others who could have said 'no' to this before the war ended...but didn't. And also considering a lot of this stuff was going on before Palpatine was Chancellor, and if Kotor II is anything to go by (Republic bombing of the Ubese homeworld into a "radioactive ball"), before any of these characters were even born.
Therefore, the fact that Barriss did say no, should not be cast as some misguided evil, and the way that The Clone Wars chooses to portray that as such is part of what upsets me. But also the way so much of the fandom seems to accept the 'Barriss is evil' moral judgment implicit in the show at face value without examining it any further. Like, is it really just a minor thing to use slaves, child soldiers, help slavers (eg. Jabba the Hutt), commit genocide, and perpetuate war crimes? Is it evil to realize those things are wrong and say no to them? What kind of morality would say that saying no to those things is evil?
I also don't like the idea of just changing her character so she's fine with the war. Because what I objected to was not her objection to the war. Because supporting the Clone Wars is wrong! And not just because its entire purpose was to put Palpatine in power. Even if Palpatine had died during or directly after the war, that wouldn't have changed how incredibly evil it was.
Lets look at just a few things the Clone Wars entailed:
*putting those in impoverished and marginalized Outer Rim planets 'in their place' (eg. The start of the Geonosian genocide, the Kaleesh on Kalee being dominated by the Huk slavers who were supported by the Republic)
*use of slaves raised from birth for the purpose of being soldiers for the Republic
*use of child soldiers by the Republic
*assorted war crimes like Obi-Wan's fake surrender
It frustrates me that the Republic is viewed as 'good but flawed' or 'just a little misguided' despite these really major issues, and not only that, but that the Separatists are mostly presented as this nameless, faceless evil Other with their leaders all being these cardboard cutout evil characters. This is a criticism I have of Filoni and Lucas but also of a lot of the fan discussion and portrayal of these things. It just seems that mostly people don't care deeply (if at all) about any of these things as long as their faves get the outcome they want (and whether that's a happy or tragic end is somewhat immaterial to this issue). Like, hey, I understand having an interest for specific characters, and wanting to see certain things regarding their stories, I just wish so many people didn't seem to think that what happens with the Designated Main Characters can really address any of these things by itself, or that killing Palpatine is the end-all be-all of destroying these evils when there were plenty of others who could have said 'no' to this before the war ended...but didn't. And also considering a lot of this stuff was going on before Palpatine was Chancellor, and if Kotor II is anything to go by (Republic bombing of the Ubese homeworld into a "radioactive ball"), before any of these characters were even born.
Therefore, the fact that Barriss did say no, should not be cast as some misguided evil, and the way that The Clone Wars chooses to portray that as such is part of what upsets me. But also the way so much of the fandom seems to accept the 'Barriss is evil' moral judgment implicit in the show at face value without examining it any further. Like, is it really just a minor thing to use slaves, child soldiers, help slavers (eg. Jabba the Hutt), commit genocide, and perpetuate war crimes? Is it evil to realize those things are wrong and say no to them? What kind of morality would say that saying no to those things is evil?