The Star Wars movie franchise is divided into trilogies (besides the two anthology films, of course). Some fans like them all. Some only like two or one. But between the first two trilogies, there seemed to be a clear thematic line of a story being told. The Sequel Trilogy, which was the most recent of the three and released by Disney, seemed to lack the same throughline of the first two trilogies. Specifically, fascism within the Star Wars universe.
The Original Trilogy was fairly basic in this approach. The Empire was a fascist regime and the Rebel Alliance struggled to combat it. The concept of fascism became a lot more complex with the Prequel Trilogy. It detailed the rise of fascism within the Republic that eventually transformed into the Empire. Because this is a largely political process and not as straightforward as an armed resistance against it, the plot that weaved this theme together was very intricate and showed how Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) manipulated the system in order to establish his fascist order.
Subsequently, if the Sequel Trilogy were to continue on this road, it would have explored how fascism is difficult to eliminate and what its legacy can be. Political analysts in our own world still talk about this concept as the Nazi ideology refuses to go away. But instead, the sequel trilogy took a much different approach with its storytelling. The First Order wasn’t just a fascist legacy that wouldn’t die, but a force that rivaled the Empire itself. This disconnect in theme was largely due to the haphazard approach Disney took to its production and plotting. That doesn’t mean it can’t have its fans nor can the first two trilogies have their critics, but there’s no denying that the most recent trilogy lacked the strength the first two had when it came to its message on fascism.
Star Wars, in its current entirety, is streaming now on Disney+.
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