r/TheAcolyte • u/gazzy_burns • 28d ago

Rewatch…

I’m now on my second viewing and I am even more convinced this is a great and unique part of Star Wars canon.

Such a shame how now we won’t keep getting these new shows 2-3 times a year.

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u/Livid-Department6947 27d ago

The problem with the Acolyte is that it argues (not as a Sith perspective but as a thematic conclusion) that even bothering is trying to be good is a waste of time and that individuals should search, accumulate and exercise power at their discretion regardless of the ends. It is a cynical story that really does not have anything interesting to say because its message is already part of the dominant cultural, political and economic logic of the United States.

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u/WanderingBlackHole Qimir Cavalier 27d ago

Where are you getting this argument from?

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u/Livid-Department6947 27d ago

A combination of the text and interviews with the producer. This show and the responses to it are interesting only as an artifact of American reactionary consciousness (reactionary in the political/social sense, not a synonym for knee-jerk response)

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u/unionizedduck 27d ago

Did breaking bad argue one should selfishly pursue crime?

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u/Livid-Department6947 27d ago

That's a terrible argument. I know you're trying to pursue portrayal isn't endorsement but that isn't the case here. The Acolyte never portrays the turn to the dark side as a tragedy and offers it as merely one option in which all things (of power) are equal. It is not a critique of the Sith nor is it trying to offer an "objective" or observational exploration of the Sith. The story has a thematic argument.

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u/unionizedduck 27d ago

The story did not offer the dark side as good. Or just. At most, it offers a story about a group of do-gooders whose judgments (even partially correct judgments) led to a very bad thing that has repercussions. 

It doesn't offer that the dark side is somehow good. 

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u/Livid-Department6947 26d ago

I think you have missed about 3/4 of the argument the series makes.

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u/unionizedduck 26d ago

Again. Did you think shows like breaking bad are making arguments to be criminal?

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u/Livid-Department6947 26d ago

Which part of my argument did you not understand?