Latest / Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast / Issue 363: Jedi Fashion Show

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Issue 363: Jedi Fashion Show · Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast

0:00
We must be cautious. Welcome to the ned Palty. Hi. This is
0:08
Nick and Ostasu, story editor on Star Wars, the Clone Wars and Star
0:13
Wars bad Batch. And you are listening to aggressive negotiations. Well, hello
0:22
and welcome to aggressive negotiations. And I am Matthew Rushing and we are coming
0:29
at you live from the Waterfall district of Naboo and John, it is feeling
0:36
fabulous out here. I mean, it's what a perfect day for a picnic.
0:42
How are you doing, man, I don't know. I'm trying to
0:44
find my way back to the Hammock District. I really want to find the
0:47
Hammock District and buy a nice Hammock and then basically get a good vantage point
0:52
to watch what I think is going to be quite the rumble between the Battle
0:56
Droids and the Gungans and just sort of like set up there, get a
0:59
nice Uh what what would I'll tell you? What should I be looking for?
1:03
The Star Wars equivalent of a Mint Jewel up or a an Arnold Palmer?
1:11
Which one of those two should be going for? I mean, I
1:12
don't know, is Nick Bargatzi would say, I mean, gosh, you
1:15
know, what's it? Like to have two trees that close together, so
1:19
you and your hammock privilege. But anyway, well before we get further off
1:23
track, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. We would love
1:27
it if you go over to Apple Podcasts give us a star rating review.
1:30
I'd really appreciate it. It's been a while since we've had one of those.
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And we could also interact with you on social media. We would love
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Facebook dot com slash the nerd Party. You can also find us online at
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the nerd Party dot com as well as Instagram at the Nerd Party. So,
1:53
John, I have a surprise topic for you. I sent you ah
2:00
that you were like, huh okay, and I was like, don't worry.
2:05
There's a reason for me sending you this image of all of these Jedi
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and kind of like cartoon like form, and the reason is this. So
2:15
the new series The Acolyte has come out, and one of the things that's
2:21
interesting about the Acolytes is that all of the Jedi seem to basically wear the
2:29
same robes. They all pretty much have basically the same robes. Maybe a
2:34
slight variation here and there, but mostly they all seem to go to the
2:38
same tailor. There's not a lot of variations in their look, which is
2:43
interesting. And yet when we get to the prequel era, one of the
2:47
things that we notice is that there is quite a bit of variation in the
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Star Wars Jedi robe business. It's almost as if the baler at the Jedi
3:00
Order just started having people come in a bit like they were going to choose
3:06
their wands and had to through the force find the right outfit for that Jedi.
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And so one I just wanted to ask you, why do you think
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You know, that was facetious, of course, but why do you think
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fashion changed for the Jedi in this way where it does seem to be much
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more individualistic? You know? I first off, I want to say that
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this is a treat that we're having our very first fashion show here, yes
3:38
on aggressive fashion show, fashion show for so many years, and we've never
3:43
discussed fashion quite like this. So I'm thrilled because I'm a fashion aficionado,
3:47
a fashionado, fashion a fascian, fashion like fascionado, there we go with
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a particular focus on boots. Jedi boots have always been a thing for me.
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It's weird, I can there's a lot of variations to those two.
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Yes, there are, and I will say special shout out to Qui Gon's
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boots. Always enjoyed them a great deal. So your point's very valid.
4:14
What could possibly have changed? Because the thing is, I don't want to
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turn this into yeah, it should be this, or it should be that.
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There is a possibility here if I lay over now that the Acolyte series
4:27
as we record this hasn't finished, I would offer this that what's possible is
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that if I try to construct a headcanon reason for it is that the Jedi
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used to have more uniform dress, ah uniform dress for uniforms, yes,
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yes, basically to be more reflective of a more strict order, a strict
5:00
style or something like that, where it's like it was more strict, whereas
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by the time we get to the prequel era, of course, we have
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more individual expression. Maybe it shows that the Order has decided to loosen up
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a little bit and say, express yourself, give tribute to your culture and
5:20
your heritage. Basically, but you know, like sometimes the robes are specifically
5:29
in the prequel era, you could say, oh, well, you know,
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Luminara unduly wears hers that way because it's the culture that she comes from,
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and while she doesn't have any attachment to her family, they still have
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her in that garb as a you know, like shock t it's a tribute
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to where she came from, to show that the Jedi aren't just a monotonous
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blob, but rather from the many one as opposed to just like a collectivist
5:59
whole. I don't know, that's the best I can do, because you
6:02
caught me completely off guard with this, because I thought you were going to
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talk about lightsaber colors and everything and handles and stuff like that. Now you
6:09
throw this fashion thing. That's the best I can do on the fly like
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that, Like where would you come at it with? So I do like
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the thought process that you went where you kind of go from a more collectivist
6:24
mindset to maybe a slightly more individualistic mindset with the Jedi. And I don't
6:30
mean that in a bad way. What I mean is is that and I
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think that you kind of were on this trend as well, that the Jedi
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had become by what we knew in the prequel era a little bit more in
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tune with the idea of the force creating diversity, right of of like what
6:55
people wear. They weren't so worried about what people wore, and like you
6:59
mentioned, and it was a way for the Jeti in some ways to kind
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of reflect the galaxy at large. Right, you know, not every being
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looks the same in the galaxy, not every JETI dresses the same in the
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galaxy. It was a way to express kind of, uh, your connection
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with the force in the same way. Uh, you know, your light
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saber color kind of had a a similar reflection as you bonded with your crystal.
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Uh, it came out with the color of say blue, green,
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yellow, we've even seen we've seen purple now and and so uh to me,
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that's that that's the thought process that I had my mind is that there's
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actually a bit more freedom in the force. Uh, there's there's a little
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bit more it's more forceful fashion because it's more force forward, like we're we're
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we're allowing one a being to be themselves in the force. And also I
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think in some ways almost reflects a little bit of the the thought process that
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we had. You know, when we were reading the Old EU, right
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and what and we thought about what the Jedi might be like, and that
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we thought of them kind of being these warrior monks, you know, going
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around and helping people in the galaxy. And one of the ways they reflected
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that was by wearing robes that helped helped them blend in but at the same
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time kind of fit with the cultures around them and the cultures they may have
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come from. And I mean, it's so interesting because you do end up
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with such a variety, like you mentioned Luminar and Duley, and in the
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way in which you know, her robes are very ornate. The headdress that
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she wears is particular to her as a character. The only other one you
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see that somewhat similar is her Padawan embarrass Offie. But then you have a
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completely different type of Jeti and somebody like we got with Ala Sakura, you
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know, very different from you know, say, what you got with Shock
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t and so like, or Adigallia different from those two and so like.
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I think that's that's really fascinating to me that these characters in some ways maybe
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got to be slightly more expressive of themselves, you know, in the Force
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and that was reflected in their clothing. Well, I'll offer this as well,
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and I know this could be a controversial statement, but maybe tacked on
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if we're constructing headcan and have a little fun with this. By this point
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in The Acolyte, the Jedi do not appear to be the fighters that we
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got accustomed to in the prequel era and the Clone Wars, right, I'm
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I'm offering that as a ginger criticism because people have fixated on it, and
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I'm merely saying that in a play. Maybe what we're finding out is that
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additionally the robes changed so that maybe after this, the Jedi realized we need
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to be able to we need to be able to throw down when push comes
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to shove, and therefore I, you know, as a Jedi master,
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have to find robes that enable me to move the way I need to,
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and these uniform robes maybe didn't help the Jedi. Everybody has a different fighting
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style, everybody has a different body type, everybody has a different connection.
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So maybe it is even a step further where it's like, you know,
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you might run into trouble on the road, you should definitely wear something that's
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going to enable you to be able to move and flow quickly and easily,
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you know when push comes to shove, and maybe these current robes you know.
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Now, now I go off in the funny way if anybody watched Seinfeld
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where you start having the discussion of you know, when Costanza comes in and
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he's like, you know, you should really be wearing cotton. Look at
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that, it's breathable. It stretches. And then the Yankees wash their uniforms
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and they all shrink and then they can't move and stuff like that. Well,
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I did, you know, say this facetiously earlier, But in some
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ways, I do think that there is maybe something more to the idea of
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a a Jedi almost going to an Olive Vanders, but the Jedi tailor,
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you know. And I mean because like, come on, you know,
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you see quinnlan Voss, who's like every level of dude bro Jedi you could
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see right, he's got the sleeveless look. You know, he's he's super
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cool. He's got them awesome dreadlocks and everything, and it's like that's his
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look, man, He's just he's he's hip, he's cool with it.
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You know, whatever's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. Man, he's he's,
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he's you know, he feels like he just walked out of a you
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know, Jimmy Buffett. You know what I'm saying concert. He looks like
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he smells like he walked out of a Jimmy Buffett. Yes he does,
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but which is not a knock on anybody that went to a Jimmy Buffett concert.
12:24
I've been to one too. Wink wink, We're all we've all been
12:26
through this. But like, you know, but the thing is now sort
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of like going down that Robot Chicken Star Wars detour sort of thing where with
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what you're saying, it's like, was there like a Jedi fashion season every
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year or two, where like the tailor would be down there and like debuting
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new fashions and new styles and stuff like that. And maybe what we see
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is between High Republic and the prequel era, like after this period, they
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were like we need some we need something fresh, we need something new.
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So they like hire somebody to come in who isn't a Jedi and like come
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on, let's make it. Let's make it sing, and you know,
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and they have somebody like uh, you know, Mugatu from Zulander or something
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like that where it's like we're gonna make these Jedi work and they're gonna and
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you have like a whole runway like I could actually see this bit being like
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you know, uh and uh, you know, you cap it off with
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like Yoda rock in the classic look, but this year it's it's Sand's belt,
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right, It's it's the beltless trench coat sort of look for him and
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you so you have like that this whole fashion show sort of thing, Like
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I'm on board with this. I want somebody to put that together where it's
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like we see the transition of the robes and it's it's just this the new
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fashion scene. Uh busts into the temple. But you know, you mentioned
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the robes helping them blend in when they go out into the world, and
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I'd say that's actually something that's very very insightful because when Qui Gon goes out
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into the world, he throws the covering on but and he ditches the cloak,
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but he's not changed his clothes really, He's he looks like anybody on
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the street, whereas in this era what we're seeing the Jedi could not blend
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in for lover money. They stick out like a sore thumb, and so
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yeah, that's easily you know that you could easily headcanon that into existence as
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well. I mean, I love the idea that every year they have basically
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Project Runway, you know, at the Jedi Temple and you know, you've
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got your tim Gun Jedi just being like make it work you and you've got
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the you got to got the the the Jedi fashionistas that are you know,
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trying to come up with the newest luck for that that year before bb Y
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you know, oh oh you could you could even have a Jedi and like
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what they do is they meditate for like months at a time. Yes,
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exactly, this year's fabric will be yeah, Kashiki and silk, right,
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and it's like it becomes that rate. Yes, yes see, I love
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it. Well, yes, so I do think it is interesting though,
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and of course this is a fun just kind of silly conversation, but I
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love that in many ways there is a semblance of similarity to a lot of
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these Jedi you know, uniforms from in robes from the prequel era, and
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yet again there was this freedom to really accentuate the character through the clothing that
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they wore. And it told you something about the character the moment they came
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on screen. And I think that's one of the things that's actually really helpful
15:46
about this era as well. You know, when you were having so many
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Jedi that we're meeting, especially when you get to the Clone Wars, their
15:56
robes did tell you something about them. You know, we're making fun of
16:00
Quinlan Voss, but the moment you saw him on screen come on screen,
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you know, he wasn't just a comic anymore, and he felt like that
16:07
character you saw in the comic, and then his personality with the voice matched
16:12
that all it told you something very you know importantly. You know, you
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see the I think Luminara or the regalness of of of somebody like a shock
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t it tells you something about that character. Right. You think of the
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clean, crispness and classicness, right of Obi Wan's choice of robes, the
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color palette always looking impeccable. You know, there's something about that that that
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tells you, Anakin, you've got the darker, moodier look. I mean,
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well, yeah, he's got leather, he got because right, yes,
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I think what you're really honing in on there, and again I'm gonna
16:59
I'm gonna couch this as as you know, as non critically as possible sort
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of thing. But I think what it is is we were very spoiled as
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well with I think it's she's a Scottish costume designer, Tricia big R.
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Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, she was the right track there yet.
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Yeah, she was the she was the costume designer for the prequels.
17:27
And I think that it's definitely a conscious decision in the acolyte from the costumer
17:37
to have everybody in this sameness. There's a little variance here and there,
17:41
but there there's this sameness to the way everybody looks. Whereas big R had
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what you're talking about every No, it wasn't just the Jedi, but it
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was every single character. Amidala walks on screen and you looked at her and
18:03
you went regal. I see the cultural influence. I see where you went
18:10
with this. I know what this character. I know the core of this
18:14
character based on what she looks. Because film is a visual medium. I
18:17
think what we miss with the acolytes costuming choices, and they are choices,
18:25
and you know they work this way, they work that way. They may
18:27
be saying something, but the difficulty with the choices that they've made is the
18:36
fact that you know what you're getting at. I can look at a Jedi
18:40
in the prequels or in Clone Wars even and I can say I can size
18:45
up that character. I can look at Pong Krell and I can immediately see
18:48
him and his costuming itself is like, Eh, there's something about this guy
18:53
that isn't settling right with me. It looks a little too militaristic men the
19:00
way he wears his clothes, and I think, I honestly think that the
19:04
costuming is making it a little bit of a challenge to have as much distinction
19:14
between the Jedi character types at a glance, and as I'm getting to know
19:19
these characters, I don't have an easy visual shorthand. Like you said,
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when I look at Anakin if I've never met him before, but I see
19:30
Obi Wan and then I see Anakin O. Anakin's dressed a little darker,
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a little edgier. He looks a little more imposing. That's odd because you
19:44
know, Obi Wan is very warm earth tones. He's very approachable looking.
19:48
Whereas if I saw Anakin in his outfit walking down, I'm like, this
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guy seems like he's a little bit, you know, you know, might
19:56
have a few angery, like literally, there's a dark this enveloping him,
20:00
exactly and exactly. I think that's that's the difficulty with the acolytes, you
20:06
know, costuming choices is I can't tell at a glance who like the nature
20:14
of a character. And I know, I know the old adage you can't
20:18
judge a book by its cover, that's very true. But film is a
20:21
visual medium, and you've got to give me every crutch possible for me to
20:26
be able to sit down and say that guy's that guy. I mean,
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look at look at as the joke goes right now, Darth teeth, that
20:36
character shows up and I go evil, bad, creepy horror show. I
20:42
need that for everybody. I need to be able to tell it a glance
20:47
for everybody. How that is working? That's my take on it, at
20:51
least, No, I agree. I mean, I think you know you
20:55
you immediately know that Smilo Wren is no good, you know, and to
21:00
credit a friend of ours, he knows who he is, he's listening to
21:03
the show. We appreciate you, buddy, Yes you just got a shout
21:07
out there. But you know, I do think that there is something incredibly
21:12
I mean, you even just think about that though. I'm thinking back to
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when you see the scene in the Attack of the Clones, right, and
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you have all of these Jedi in the arena, and each one of them
21:29
kind of has this distinctive look. It's not just that they're different aliens,
21:33
but they have these different rogue choices and everything, and so when you see
21:38
them, they do look distinct from everybody else, and therefore you're not confused
21:45
at who you're looking at, but you but again, like you also get
21:49
a sense of who they are, I mean, and it's helped by even
21:53
just the quick moment, Like I think of having kit Fusto, right,
21:59
and he's got these wonderful earthtone robes, you know, and then he gives
22:03
you that big smile, and it just seems like okay. Basically you get
22:07
the sense of okay, this character is like Obi wan Kenobi, but maybe
22:12
a little more loose, right, just from the quick look that you get
22:15
from him. And so I think you made a great point. Don't don't
22:21
let this go to your head. But it's it's one of those things where
22:26
it goes to show you that every single choice that you make in the visual
22:33
medium is meant to try to tell you something about the characters that can be
22:41
difficult to do if you just basically said, well, this dude is this,
22:48
and this dude is this, right, And so when you don't have
22:51
any differentiation and you have a sameness, you kind of end up in the
22:55
place where almost everybody just kind of feels a little bit more like a stormtrooper,
23:02
you know, than somebody distinct, and that, I think, in
23:06
some ways is kind of a problem for a series. And I think it's
23:11
one of the joys that we got with the prequel era in having all of
23:15
these Jedi jump off the screen immediately just through kind of what they're wearing and
23:22
what it can tell you. I mean, I even think again Attack of
23:26
the Clones. You know, you go to the Jedi library and Jacosta Nu
23:30
is in this incredibly ornate set of robes, and what does that tell you
23:37
about her? That she is somebody who's super uptight, and what she cares
23:41
about is what people think of her and what she looks like and the knowledge
23:45
she carries around, and she wears that on her sleeve basically, right,
23:49
I mean, it's it's just an incredibly interesting thing to see. Whereas you
23:56
get the other side, you've got Yoda, who's in the most blase robes
24:03
possible. It looks like the dude wears pajamas all day and it's completely comfortable.
24:10
Couldn't care less what people think about what he looks like. The thing
24:15
is the way you phrase that reminds me of I think it was the last
24:18
episode of Cheers ever, classic sitcom. If anybody wants to watch it went
24:22
out, well, it was still going strong. God bless it. It's
24:26
one of the best shows that was ever on television. Where Cliff Claven,
24:30
the know it all character, is having a discussion about what made the great
24:34
philosopher's great thinkers, and he said it was comfortable shoes and so that sort
24:41
of you know, and somebody like throws somebody out there and he's like,
24:45
well, barefoot, and look at that, one of the great thinkers.
24:48
And it's like Yoda's the same way. He's in pajamas in barefoot, no
24:52
wonder, he's so great. He's absolutely chill. But you're right it,
24:56
I mean on you know, look, we're are both astute enough to know
25:02
that Yoda's costume stems from necessity as much as anything else, because you know,
25:07
we've seen we saw the the outtakes where they actually put the hood over
25:12
his ears, and it's like, oh, oh, thank goodness. They
25:15
didn't go with that. In fact, I think, isn't it the uh,
25:19
the Tartakowski one where they have him on Ilum and he has his hood
25:27
up but his ears are still out of the hood. I believe you're right,
25:33
and so they didn't even try to get around that in that type of
25:37
animation because yes, they realized that would be ridiculous looking, Well, Yoda
25:41
would have to tie his ears back like a like a ponytail, and I
25:45
don't know that that. Okay, hold on, I'm seeing some possibilities here.
25:48
That's fine, that's fine, But I mean, this is a This
25:55
is a great topic because I'll be completely honest that one of the the constructive
26:02
criticism things I would have said I have with the Acolyte and specific is the
26:08
costuming choices. And again, totally totally cognizant, totally aware that they are
26:15
choices. I'm not saying they're invalid. I'm saying that they don't necessarily work
26:22
for yours truly, And I think this conversation sort of gets it. Why
26:26
I'm struggling with it. I think that their choice definitely hits different for me,
26:33
and I think that, like you said, I think they're doing it
26:37
on purpose. I think it's meant for a reason. I think they're trying
26:41
to tell us something just about the Jedi Order in general in that time period
26:45
and all. But I do think that it kind of ham strings them in
26:49
a way that's somewhat sad because it takes away an opportunity to truly tell you
26:57
something about a character very quick quickly, just by what they're wearing. And
27:02
then they have to find another way to try to do that, and that
27:06
can be difficult when you know you only have so much time. Yes,
27:08
you got eight episodes in a series, but that can be a difficult thing
27:11
to do and to find time to really give you those little intricacies. I
27:17
mean, you see the bad Batch, right, and immediately just from their
27:22
original armor, it tells you something about that character. Every part of that
27:30
character has been designed to tell you something about who they are, right And
27:36
again, when you I think when you constrict a costume designer in that way,
27:45
you do kind of take away one of the best ways to get to
27:48
know a character, because you know, that's how you got to understand the
27:55
character of Padme Amidala as queen as opposed to Padme just yourself, right,
28:03
you know? And so yeah, I just it is. It is a
28:07
really fun conversation and I'm glad we finally turned our keen eye towards fashion.
28:12
John. But if people want fashion advice from you, where would they find
28:18
you? Well, I'm dispensing fashion advice twenty four to seven, honestly on
28:21
the social media's that the kids love. Still not TikTok. I'm still perfecting
28:26
my dance because, as I understand it, you need to dance on TikTok.
28:32
But you can find me as Castle Junkie out there. I think the
28:34
spelling is apparent. That's your first test, you know what, That's your
28:38
Smilo Ren test for me is can you spell Castle Junkie? There you go,
28:42
And of course you can find me here on the network, co hosting
28:45
a show called house Lights where we look at the work of directors. But
28:48
I also have the pleasure and we've even done a crossover episode with aggressive negotiations
28:53
of appearing every so often on the six Poho two Club with you Matt,
28:56
which is over on the TFM network. And you know that's one of the
29:00
many places they can find you online. That's true, and they can also
29:04
look. They can also look on social media. Matt Rushing zero two.
29:11
Just search for me if I'm there, that'll be the name. You can
29:14
find me over on the TFM network with a bunch of other shows outside the
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six Zo two club. You'll find me with a lot of star Trek talk
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with the orb Work five, the Artist Official Tango, Saddle Up, and
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sometimes on literary treks. And if you're a big Harry Potter fan, you
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can find me here on the nerd Party Network with owl Post talking about every
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single chapter of the Harry Potter series, one chapter at a time. But
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you know what, John, I hear we're about to have the annual Project
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Runway Jedi Fashion show. So I think it's time we get back to the
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temple and close these negotiations. Master Rushing, it is time to slay,
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So these negotiations are closed. Join the Revolution, Join the nerd Party.