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Saga Why is the Rebellion so different?

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by Darth Bradius, May 17, 2014.

  1. Darth Bradius

    Darth Bradius Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2014
    In ANH the Rebellion is mostly very young/very old white dudes. Pretty much the same in ESB. In Return of the Jedi it's suddenly a completely different group of leaders with people from other worlds and not everyone's an old white guy. Did the Rebellion grow as the movies went on, picking up more support from other leaders and different worlds as the movies went on? Is there an official line/canon on this development?
     
  2. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    In universe, the Alliance was a small band of freedom fighters as noted in the title crawl for ANH. Following the destruction of both Alderaan and later the Death Star, the number of systems supporting the Alliance grew, as did the number of soldiers. Ethnic appearances was never referred to at all. In real life, the casting beyond the main leads was mostly made up of British and a few American actors at the time. There was no effort to whitewash the GFFA, it just worked out that way in ANH. Hence as the series went on, people of other ethnic backgrounds were cast. Same with gender. With the PT, especially the last two films, were shot primarily in Australia and actors from both there and New Zealand were cast.

    In universe, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa were two of the upper level leaders in the Alliance with the rest being made up of generals from different field commands. When Bail died, Leia took his place but Mon Mothma was still the high ranking leader.
     
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  3. Dameron

    Dameron Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 8, 2014
    I think there's an effort to show the Rebellion growing and becoming more complete and more professionalized. In ANH, besides the Tantive and its crew, we just see a hangar with some pilots and ground crew, and one control room with some leaders and tech guys. The end medal ceremony shows greater numbers, but there's still little military hardware on display besides starfighters. In ESB, it's still kind of a grungy locale, but we see more guys in uniforms with rank insignia, and the base is much better: shields, ground defenses, ion cannon, speeders, and transport ships -- plus the medical facilities. Then in ROTJ, we see a real Rebel fleet, and the briefing is in a bit more of an upscale compartment, with civilian political-type leadership and uniformed troops reporting to them, and more species present.

    You could argue it's only a difference in what we see -- Yavin was a minor outpost, but establishing a Hoth base was important to the Rebellion and they sent more stuff, etc., etc., but I think Leia sums it up perfectly when she tells Tarkin, "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." That's exactly what happened. And as for old white guys...

    [​IMG]

    ...All the best rebellions have them!