Best Of (worst In) Me

[ID: Venn Diagram with one circle titled “Tried to kill Din at least once” and the other titled “Will babysit his child”. Under “Tried to kill him at least once” are pictures of Moff Gideon and Xi’an, while Frog Lady, Omera, and Peli are under “Will babysit his child”. The “both” category has the most people, with Mayfeld, Fennec, Boba Fett, Greef Karga, Cara, and Ahsoka. End ID.]

i kinda give the show itself a pass in this respect because there are only one or two named characters (male or female) besides din and they usually don’t interact. din being male severely limits the chances for named female-female interaction. i mean if you genderbent din and did a reverse bechdel test (same criteria but for male instead of female characters) i'm pretty sure season 2 would fail. so it’s not really a gender thing and more of a small cast thing.

however, fanfiction doesn’t have that excuse because there are no limits to what characters you can have interact. you’re right - looking through my bookmarks, i might have a fic or two with some omera & winta conversation but that’s the extent of the female-female interactions. i would def be interested in finding fics that pass the bechdel test. i don’t usually read fics with ocs but i’m willing to give it a shot if they’re decently written.

How well does The Mandalorian pass the Bechdel Test?

I kinda got grumbling about representation of women in Mandalorian fanfiction as it relates to the abundance of nameless reader-insert characters a couple days ago. Namely, the general failure of the Bechdel test – does the story have two women who talk to each other about something other than a man? One step further – do both women have names? Two steps further – do they talk about something other than babies?

It shouldn’t seem that radical – two named characters who are women who talk to each other about something other than men or babies. Yet so few fanfics pass this benchmark. Among a set of authors who I suspect are mostly women.

Granted, the source material of the show presents a challenge in that the focus is, well… a man and a baby. And then I had to think about how long it took for the show itself to pass the Bechdel test, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen until late in the second season.

The first time two named women appear in the same episode was s1e4: Sanctuary, with Cara Dune and Omera. While Omera is named in the credits, I don’t think anyone calls her by name during the episode. I’m also pretty sure Cara and Omera don’t talk to each other directly. The closest we get is when Cara is telling the villagers they have to abandon their homes and Omera protests. Omera later serves Cara a beverage and Cara thanks her. Aaaannnd… that’s it! I don’t feel like this passes.

The next time we get two named women in the same episode is s1e8: Redemption, with the Armorer and Cara. Whether “the Armorer” as a title counts as a name is up for debate. I guess Din goes nameless most of the season as well, so I’ll allow it. Regardless, in their limited time together in the Forge, they don’t really interact. Cara notes that the Imps will arrive soon and the Armorer instructs them on how to escape. Aaaannnd… that’s it! Season One fails the Bechdel test.

The next time we get two named women in the same episode is s2e2: The Passenger, with Peli Motto and Frog Lady. Again, whether “Frog Lady” actually counts as a name is up for debate, and I don’t think Peli is ever called by name, either. They do have a brief, but direct, conversation confirming the presence of Mandalorians on Trask, albeit it’s in Frog language and we can’t understand it. I’d give this one a maybe, depending on how strong one wants to hold to the criteria.

Next up: s2e3: The Heiress, with Bo-Katan Kryze and Koska Reeves. I don’t think Koska is ever called by name. There’s some battle interaction, and they’re having a conversation at a table, though we don’t hear any of it. Weak maybe.

Next up: s2e5: The Jedi, with Ahsoka Tano and Morgan Elsbeth. Finally, a solid pass! Ahsoka and Morgan have a direct verbal exchange at the beginning of the episode regarding the well-being of the townspeople and they are both called by name. Ahsoka questions Morgan directly after winning their duel, and there is, presumably, an interrogation, though it’s off-screen.

Next up: s2e7: The Believer, with Cara and Fennec Shand. Both are named and they have a conversation about setting up their strategy, and closely coordinate their shots while Din and Mayfeld escape the compound. Solid pass.

Last up: s2e8: The Rescue, with Cara, Fennec, Bo-Katan, and Koska. Bo-Katan calls Koska off of Boba at the cantina; battle planning directly between Bo-Katan and Cara, with Fennec participating in the general planning; the radio exchange between Bo-Katan and the unnamed Imperial coms officer; some battle conversation between Cara, Fennec, Bo-Katan, and Koska as they mow Stormtroopers down on their way to the bridge; and a few direct lines between them on the bridge itself. Solid pass.

So, out of 16 total episodes in the first two seasons so far, only 7, fewer than half, have at least two women who appear in the same scenes, and only three of those are what I would call a solid pass. Not a fantastic track record.

What surprises me here is the number of near misses – four of the seven came so close but didn’t quite make it. It becomes more surprising when you consider Dave Filoni’s prior work. While the male:female character ratio in The Clone Wars wasn't stellar, whenever two women were in the room together, they almost always had names and they almost always had direct conversations with each other about politics or battle strategy or something. Rebels was even better by way of Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren together on the same ship. My memory of Jon Favreau’s prior work isn’t super-sharp on this subject, but the MCU didn’t offer a whole lot of opportunities (though I admit I’ve managed to miss most of the newer Spiderman stuff). Maybe Dave needs to steer Jon in the right direction on this for later seasons.

Point being: one of the great uses of fanfic is filling the gaps left by the source material. The Mandalorian has some huge gaps in terms of women with names who talk to each other (about something other than men and babies). The potential is enormous. Did Cara and Omera develop a friendship on Sorgan? Cara and Fennec seem to get along well – how did they become such fast friends? Why is Koska so loyal to Bo-Katan? These are all easy things to tuck in around our favorite Man and Baby. Like, you know Cara and Fennec are having conversations about their favorite guns while Din’s in the back losing his mind over finding Grogu. It’s not hard. (And yes, I’m working on a few of these, myself.)

I’ll also admit I’ve been so wrapped up in my own writing lately that I haven’t had much time to check out AO3. If anyone has some good examples of Mando fanfic that passes the Bechdel test, please feel free to reblog with recommendations! OCs with names - actual developed characters who are their own people - count as well! (Conversations can, of course, include our favorite Man and Baby, but just not be limited to them.)

Happy writing!

masks and helmets that hides someone's face in such a way that they become the face themselves my beloved

these are all creatures to me

hello, today i’m here to talk about the effect that obi-wan has on people, like there is something about him that everyone in star wars universe just loves, whenever it’s in a good or bad way.

you go back to prequels and the clone wars and obi-wan is just everyone’s favorite. the animals, the kids, he walks into a village and people just trust him that he will do his best for them. ironically, even the villains are just soft for obi-wan (dooku, ventress) to the point they are just obsessed with him (maul, grievous, vader, reva)

i mean, you can write this to the way obi-wan looks and the way he walks and talks, he is master jedi but that doesn’t apply for the kenobi series and yet -  haja walks to the inquisitor, when he knows reva can just easily kill him, and stalls for time. tala throws her cover away without a second thought for him. leia, the 10yo that knows him for like a day, says “bring him back” and walks alone into the dark tunel.

at this point obi-wan looks like an unwashed rat. he is grumpy dad, his hands are shaky with the lightsaber and he is just…sad. but people that know him for five minutes, still do crazy sh*t for him. well, it’s because obi-wan is the light. he is the light in leia’s analogy about being afraid of the dark. he feels safe and trustworthy in very unsafe and distrustful world. people fall for that.

notice that the only person in the galaxy that never cared for obi-wan, that ignored him and dismissed him as unimportant, was sidious. the exact opposite of everything that obi-wan represents.

i first watched rogue one around the time i was doing a lab in ap bio involving potassium sulfate so now i can never remember whether the droid's name is k-2so or k-2so4

Anakin's Second Mother

family tree, ethel cain // obi wan kenobi episode three, dir. deborah chow // as consciousness is harnessed to flesh, susan sontag

people who post gifs of din djarin: we all know what we're looking at 👀

me, an aromantic asexual with a din hyperfixation: i have no idea what you're looking at but i'll still watch this gif twenty times

noticing a pattern of unusual instruments being used in the soundtracks of the disney+ tv shows. bass recorder and electric guitar in the mandalorian and theremin in loki. it’s so different and fascinating compared to the standard john williams orchestral soundtracks and i love it

unpopular opinion but chapter 9 is definitely the weakest episode of the show. it’s not bad but in comparison to the rest of the show it’s subpar. plot-wise it’s just a rehash of chapter 2 (fighting a big sand monster in return for getting back something valuable) and chapter 4 (arming the villagers) but without adding the same emotional weight or new insight into din’s character.

most of it just seems irrelevant. it was definitely too long in proportion to its importance — really the only point of the episode was to introduce boba and cobb for later episodes. i wish the main conflict had been around boba’s armor rather than the fight with the krayt dragon because that was actually relevant to later themes in the season, while the krayt dragon was just like... big scary monster. that’s it. you could substitute any other antagonist and it wouldn’t change anything. i felt similarly about din - this was the first episode in the show where some of his lines and actions felt like something anyone would do or say. there were just a lot of things in this episode that i didn’t feel like there was strong reasoning behind their inclusion.