Far, Far Away Royals (I'm okay with)
Sep. 8th, 2022 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerEnough political opinions get pushed into the fray online that I do try and keep my own often-definite preferences to myself beyond possible allusions. Today I do have to admit thoughts came to mind again to the point of my wondering if I could dare an oblique approach, if back to a point I made earlier this year.
Whether or not this has something to do with moping that I don’t feel as if I read science fiction the way I once did, since early in my life I’ve found stories where hereditary nobles wield apparently unconstrained power over interstellar states provoke feelings of resistance and suspicions of “there’s too much of this in the genre; I’d rather see varied and unusual (yet soft-focus?) speculation” in me. At the same time, I don’t seem troubled by real-life constitutional monarchies where the head of state appears to be a figurehead, and there’s one science fiction story where “royal titles” neither bother me nor get me working on suspicious interpretations. Beyond simple acceptance that “Princess Leia and Queen Amidala both seem devoted to public service,” I did start wondering if the fairy-tale overtones of “Star Wars isn’t suggested to be an evolution from here and now” keep me from supposing the Organas “seized control when democracy on Alderaan collapsed under its own weight.” At the same time, I suppose I’ve long been interested by an early suggestion the “election of the queen” on Naboo amounts to “formalized public approval of a ritual or even random selection.” The thought that “political objections to Star Wars” are one more way to distract from showing offence at “corniness instead of uninterrupted coolness” might only provoke as detailed a criticism as overt political content might, of course; there, maybe, I’m just stuck thinking back to how the group of “saga-positive fans” I managed to luck into at last over a decade ago was small enough people with different political opinions (of the time, unfortunately) had to get along with each other.
Whether or not this has something to do with moping that I don’t feel as if I read science fiction the way I once did, since early in my life I’ve found stories where hereditary nobles wield apparently unconstrained power over interstellar states provoke feelings of resistance and suspicions of “there’s too much of this in the genre; I’d rather see varied and unusual (yet soft-focus?) speculation” in me. At the same time, I don’t seem troubled by real-life constitutional monarchies where the head of state appears to be a figurehead, and there’s one science fiction story where “royal titles” neither bother me nor get me working on suspicious interpretations. Beyond simple acceptance that “Princess Leia and Queen Amidala both seem devoted to public service,” I did start wondering if the fairy-tale overtones of “Star Wars isn’t suggested to be an evolution from here and now” keep me from supposing the Organas “seized control when democracy on Alderaan collapsed under its own weight.” At the same time, I suppose I’ve long been interested by an early suggestion the “election of the queen” on Naboo amounts to “formalized public approval of a ritual or even random selection.” The thought that “political objections to Star Wars” are one more way to distract from showing offence at “corniness instead of uninterrupted coolness” might only provoke as detailed a criticism as overt political content might, of course; there, maybe, I’m just stuck thinking back to how the group of “saga-positive fans” I managed to luck into at last over a decade ago was small enough people with different political opinions (of the time, unfortunately) had to get along with each other.