In an Age of Increasing Authoritarianism, What Becomes Tolerable or Even Morally Necessary?

 

Ace of Spades posted a question (which I can’t find anymore) in relation to Disney canceling Gina Carano.

Increasingly Pressing Question: Does Piracy Become Not Only Tolerable, But Morally Necessary, In An Age of Nazi Media Companies?

That’s a worthy topic to be sure, but the thought that forced it’s way to the front of my brain after reading that is this: Han Solo was only likable and acceptable to good people because he was a smuggler and rogue in context of an evil regime. If he were the same rogue smuggler during the time of the Republic then he would have been just a selfish criminal. The pervasive evil of the totalitarian Empire made his life an acceptable and in some sense even admirable endeavor, a declaration of individualism and free will in the face of evil and oppression. In 1977 we all understood that implicitly, as the Soviet Union was quite real and a constant reminder of precisely the kind of totalitarian evil represented by the Empire. We didn’t need backstory for either the Empire or for Han Solo to know that it was ok to like Han Solo and to hate the Empire.

This is why the sequels ruined Han Solo. Once the Empire was destroyed, Solo returned to the black market of piracy and smuggling (and all that goes with it presumably). How could Solo return to such a shiftless and parasitic life absent the evil regime? How could he destroy his family? His replay of his old life wasn’t admirable or even excusable anymore. Now it was just a catastrophic and almost total failure of character. Was he always a low character? If the answer is yes then that seems to erase the original movies where he obviously had good character where and when it really counted; if the answer is no then how could anyone think it a reasonable development that Solo would not only return to that life but reject his found and earned good life?

I suppose it’s just another dead canary in the American coalmine of the 21st century. Only a culture that doesn’t understand what made Han Solo a beloved character to begin with or doesn’t understand why the sequels ruined Han Solo could cancel Gina Carano from a supposedly quality Star Wars product in a most totalitarian and fascistic way and feel righteous in doing it.

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  1. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    It is not morally necessary to torrent Star Wars products.

     

    It is if you want the original non-special edition version of the original trilogy.

    ;-)

    In high-def? Because I have that on DVD.

    Maybe. But the revised visuals, etc. were made for the 1997 re-release of the original trilogy, and AFAIK DVDs entered the US market in 1998. DVDs look great, but they weren’t high def; it took Blu-ray for that. 

    On the other hand (ahem) my laserdiscs of SW IV-VI are pre-re-edits. They look and sound great, but they are low def. 

    • #61
  2. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    It is not morally necessary to torrent Star Wars products.

    It is if you want the original non-special edition version of the original trilogy.

    ;-)

    In high-def? Because I have that on DVD.

    Maybe. But the revised visuals, etc. were made for the 1997 re-release of the original trilogy, and AFAIK DVDs entered the US market in 1998. DVDs look great, but they weren’t high def; it took Blu-ray for that.

    No, I just meant that I have the non-special edition on DVD. But I don’t have anything high-def. There was a release of the trilogy on DVD that had both the Special Editions and the Originals.

    • #62
  3. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    At Christmastime 1977, a ten minute cut of SW was released as a Super 8 sound film, boosting sales of the (then) new Super 8 sound projectors. This was a bigger deal than you’d think; there was next to no home video yet, and it would be years before SW arrived on VHS. At that time you couldn’t buy a movie in any format, so even what amounted to a ten minute long trailer was exciting. 

    • #63
  4. Misthiocracy got drunk and Member
    Misthiocracy got drunk and
    @Misthiocracy

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    It is not morally necessary to torrent Star Wars products.

     

    It is if you want the original non-special edition version of the original trilogy.

    ;-)

    In high-def? Because I have that on DVD.

    a) DVD is not high-definition.

    b) Those DVDs are no longer sold.

    • #64
  5. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    It is not morally necessary to torrent Star Wars products.

    It is if you want the original non-special edition version of the original trilogy.

    ;-)

    In high-def? Because I have that on DVD.

    a) DVD is not high-definition.

    b) Those DVDs are no longer sold.

    a) See above

    b) I am frequently spurred into action by FOMO!

    • #65
  6. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy got drunk and (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    It is not morally necessary to torrent Star Wars products.

    It is if you want the original non-special edition version of the original trilogy.

    ;-)

    In high-def? Because I have that on DVD.

    a) DVD is not high-definition.

    b) Those DVDs are no longer sold.

    a) See above

    b) I am frequently spurred into action by FOMO!

    FOMO? I would do an internet search, but I’m skittish about looking up unknown terms and acronyms on my work computer.

    • #66
  7. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    b) I am frequently spurred into action by FOMO!

    FOMO? I would do an internet search, but I’m skittish about looking up unknown terms and acronyms on my work computer.

    Fear of missing out. (At least, that’s how I’m using it.)

    Lots of times I’ll see something I’m interested in on its way to being out of print or otherwise not easy to acquire, and that will spur me into acquiring it.

    For example, when Gone With the Wind was targeted by the woke and rapidly disappearing from Amazon, I bought a copy. Not that I needed one. But I wanted to make sure I had one before the original was replaced by an official “Woke Edition.”

    • #67
  8. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    b) I am frequently spurred into action by FOMO!

    FOMO? I would do an internet search, but I’m skittish about looking up unknown terms and acronyms on my work computer.

    Fear of missing out. (At least, that’s how I’m using it.)

    Lots of times I’ll see something I’m interested in on its way to being out of print or otherwise not easy to acquire, and that will spur me into acquiring it.

    For example, when Gone With the Wind was targeted by the woke and rapidly disappearing from Amazon, I bought a copy. Not that I needed one. But I wanted to make sure I had one before the original was replaced by an official “Woke Edition.”

    Now that is has been replaced we need a Han Solo to bring you what you need while also sticking his finger in the Empire’s eye.

    • #68
  9. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    b) I am frequently spurred into action by FOMO!

    FOMO? I would do an internet search, but I’m skittish about looking up unknown terms and acronyms on my work computer.

    Fear of missing out. (At least, that’s how I’m using it.)

    Lots of times I’ll see something I’m interested in on its way to being out of print or otherwise not easy to acquire, and that will spur me into acquiring it.

    For example, when Gone With the Wind was targeted by the woke and rapidly disappearing from Amazon, I bought a copy. Not that I needed one. But I wanted to make sure I had one before the original was replaced by an official “Woke Edition.”

    That was me in December. I needed a few dollars to put me over into free shipping with Walmart.com and they had Gone With the Wind for $5. I didn’t really need it but grabbed it before it was disappeared.

    • #69
  10. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    b) I am frequently spurred into action by FOMO!

    FOMO? I would do an internet search, but I’m skittish about looking up unknown terms and acronyms on my work computer.

    Fear of missing out. (At least, that’s how I’m using it.)

    Lots of times I’ll see something I’m interested in on its way to being out of print or otherwise not easy to acquire, and that will spur me into acquiring it.

    For example, when Gone With the Wind was targeted by the woke and rapidly disappearing from Amazon, I bought a copy. Not that I needed one. But I wanted to make sure I had one before the original was replaced by an official “Woke Edition.”

    The Woke Edition replaces the entire film with a double-bill of 12 Years a Slave and Django Unchained. 

    • #70
  11. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    While I disapprove of Gina Carano’s cancellation. I think this is a minor incident in the moral cesspool of Disney. They filmed a movie a stone’s throw from concentration camps in China – and then thanked the Chinese government for allowing them there. Disney’s entire relationship with China should make any thoughtful person queasy.

    The entire foreign policy goals in Asia for the past 50 years have been a total failure. Open up to China they said, We’ll import cheap goods (made with slave/prison labour) and we’ll export our values. It turns out China has also been exporting its values, companies fearful of being locked out of China collaborate with China’s security severices and propaganda efforts to further their agenda here, and block ours there… This is a train wreck dumpster fire of policy failure. 

    Given that goods produced by slave labor have already been stolen …  If you take something away from a receiver of stolen goods, is that stealing?

    Ronald Reagan’s successors lost track of the fact that his opening to China was a Cold War stratagem, not a lovefest. 

     

    • #71
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