On #Andor, #revolution, and #characterbuilding in #nowadays #storytelling:
"In these universes characters and settings are monetary assets, to be exploited, protected, and manipulated according to the owner’s wishes. Understanding them requires understanding what the owner wants: how this story fits not just with the other stories to which it is connected but into the ever-proliferating network of brand identity and profit opportunities of which it is a part. (This is one of the things that differentiates such corporate storytelling from mere sequels, and from the more familiar dictates of genres and adaptations.) It takes so much #metatextual awareness that it can feel, at times, like watching Hollywood movies made under the Hays Code, or like reading novels written under strict censorship. The best works of corporate storytelling are, in a sense, acts of quiet resistance, written in the blank spots of the #enforcednarrative."
https://www.nybooks.com/online/2025/07/24/the-revolution-will-not-be-star-wars/