Star Wars Outlaws Ditches Politics For A Stronger Story

Summary

The phrase ‘no politics’ is an extremely loaded one these days. To many, it means avoiding anything that could be deemed as ‘woke’, which taken to extremes means an entirely white cast led by a cisgender man who conforms to all societal norms, then falls in love with and rescues a woman as beautiful as she is helpless and docile - which in turn makes for a very political view of the world, rather than the avoidance of politics.

A less far flung example of ‘no politics’ may mean a tolerance for and upholding of the status quo, which again is highly political while seeming to keep its hands clean. But when it comes toStar Wars, what I mean by no politics is entirely different to angry YouTubers screaming into their microphones.

Star Wars Outlaws - walking through a populated city

Star Wars Has Internal And External Politics

Politics are a foundational part of Star Wars. The title contains the word ‘war’, which is one of the most political acts humanity is capable of. This is the kind of big picture politics that I’m talking about. It’s not aboutRey being a Mary-Sue or everyone being racist to Kelly Marie Tran. Thinking that Star Wars is too political because now it has strong female characters and current day issues, when the original trilogy had Princess Leia and was built on a rebellious group of do-gooders defending indigenous lands from imperial invaders who dress in fascist uniforms, shows a lack of common sense.

When I say I’m sick of Star Wars being political, I don’t mean that I am sick of it having characters who don’t look like me or think like me. I mean I am sick of big picture politics. Star Wars is a huge universe full of interesting communities and characters and cities, and yet all I hear about is the Jedi. Order 66 was a cool idea, but we didn’t need 66 different stories about it. Not everything needs to be Senate hearings and planetary invasions and universe-threatening conspiracies. That’s why I lovedThe Mandalorian- it still had heart and thought behind it, but it mainly told the tale of a lonely drifter going from town to town and getting into fresh adventures.

Star Wars doesn’t need to get rid of the politics, big or small, but it could do with more stories that let the adventures speak for themselves - enterStar Wars Outlaws. This seems to have more of a Mandalorian focus, where it explores an individual adventure across the vast planets and systems Star Wars has created, rather than being on constant run from the government rulings within the canon.

Outlaws Has Cameos But Avoids The Canon

I loved Andor for its politics, so I know I’m a bit of a hypocrite here. I’m an ugly moron who smells like an elephant’s butt, I get it. But Andor has fresh, aggressive, narratively interesting politics that felt uniquely passionate for a Star Wars project, rather than another explanation of how a space bill becomes space law. Compare that to theStar Wars Jedigames, which get tangled up in Cal being the last Jedi (one of many), and are unavoidably shaped by the official in-universe politics that doom them to telling stories with too high stakes for me to feel anything.

Star Wars Outlaws looks more like a space western, and even the name conjures up that feeling. It definitely mixes with the canon (we see existing characters like Jabba the Hutt and Qi’ra get into the thick of things), but our heroine Vess and her faithful companion Nix are too small to matter. That’s a good thing, as it gives Outlaws the freedom to go wherever it wants and do whatever it wants. Cal was hamstrung by the fact that, as a Jedi, there are certain things he must or must not do. Vess is unlikely to do anything that challenges the established lore of Star Wars, but that only means there are fewer restrictions on where she goes.

Outlaws feels like a game set in the Star Wars universe, rather than another Star Wars movie that needs to consider the ramifications of its existence. This is how things used to be with Star Wars, back before culture became obsessed with canon and bland corporate capitalism took over with the need to please key demographics and hit algorithmically decided USPs mandated by focus groups. You might say, this is how Star Wars was before it got all political.

The irony is Star Wars Outlaws is likely to be called out for being too political by certain sections of the audience because it hasa female lead with a rugged haircut. Vess is not ugly, but then,neither is Aloy and she still gets criticised for her looks. Vess is designed to be a real person, an action hero with a combat-ready Ellen Ripley hairdo rather than soft luxurious blonde hair and pouty lips on a supermodel body. The no-politics crowd, who (apolitically, of course) place strict boundaries on what a woman can look like, may take issue with Vess. Hopefully though, they can see how perfect she is for this story.

I’m still a little torn on Star Wars Outlaws. I don’t adore Star Wars the way many do, though I do keep up with most major releases, and despite loving someUbisoftgames down the years I’m a little wary of its recent output. I’m sold on it enough to be there day one though, and a big part of that is the premise. By stripping Star Wars of the weighty politics within its own universe and giving it the freedom to tell the adventure stories it was always meant to, Outlaws could be the most exciting Star Wars story since The Mandalorian.