The original post: /r/television by /u/Eli_Freeman_Author on 2024-05-30 11:32:46.
I should start out by saying that I came in with fairly low expectations. Before watching it, I’d heard all kinds of bad things about Rebels, and at least some of those things turned out to be true. There were moments when, watching Rebels, I wanted to cringe, and to be completely honest, some of the most cringe-worthy moments in Star Wars, at least for me, were in Rebels. Ezra taking out storm troopers by throwing fruit at them (meilooruns), or Ezra taking out three stormtroopers with his hands cuffed behind his back and then joking about it, or Sabine jumping around the stormtroopers as if she were a Jedi (notice all three of these incidents involve stormtroopers, perhaps my biggest disagreement with Dave Filoni and perhaps a topic for another article). Incidents like these, along with a few other, less notable ones, all served to undermine this show for me. And yet, for all my complaints, and for all my desire to see a story with a crisper, more intense feel, more closely resembling The Clone Wars or better yet, Rogue One, I found myself thinking more and more about what would happen to Ezra as his story unfolded, and even more at the series finale.
I suppose the fact that the show ended on a cliffhanger accounts for a good part of the intrigue. Ezra went through a long and difficult journey and suffered quite a few ordeals for his young age, only to be left in a precarious situation at the last that anyone knows, with everyone, both his friends on the show and the audience in real life, wondering what would happen to him.
But I would like to think there’s more to it than that.
As annoying as his character could sometimes be, and as much as I might agree with and understand those people who found fault with him, Ezra Bridger’s journey may represent the greatest transformation of any character in Star Wars, and at the same time, perhaps the most realistic.
At the beginning, Ezra, by his own admission, is fairly immature and selfish, thinking only about himself. But we are given to know that there is a reason for this. From the age of seven he is left on his own and forced to survive by whatever means he can. In this light, his selfish, even mercenary attitude makes sense, and one could interpret his immaturity as a childish, if feeble attempt to stay positive in light of his circumstances, something that many young people with that type of character might do in his situation. To me at least this earned him some sympathy.
Though he steals to survive he’s never really malevolent, only uncaring and temperamental at his worst and often quickly able to realize his error when confronted with it, though after everything he endured it might be understandable if he couldn’t.
What ultimately drives his destiny is that deep down he wants something more than just survival. We learn at a certain point that his parents raised him to care about the world around him, ultimately sacrificing themselves to that end in their defiance of the Empire. He may have understandably been angry that in sacrificing themselves his parents left him orphaned, thus partly explaining his selfishness. And yet, when presented with an opportunity for something better, he was able to recognize it.
When he first meets the crew of the Ghost he is reluctant to join them. After seeing what happened to his parents and spending most of his childhood preoccupied with surviving, one couldn’t blame him. But after seeing what these people are willing to do for him, as well as for others, the better part of him wins out.
What makes his coming around more believable is that it is by no means automatic. At times it feels like he fights tooth and nail to stick to his old ways, acting rashly and without thinking, and suffering the consequences of his mistakes. From involving himself with the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, nearly getting killed in the process, to letting his guard down around the former Sith lord Maul, resulting in a permanent injury to his master Kanan (to be fair, Kanan also let his guard down), to using a Sith holocron and defying orders and endangering himself and his crew by going on a perilous mission, Ezra certainly isn’t the type to just “go along”.
Many are turned off by these antics, and feel that Ezra is no more than a nuisance to someone like Kanan, who they might see as a more interesting character. However, as stated earlier, Ezra’s actions are not without consequence, and for every mistake he makes, he learns and grows as a person. When he first works with Hondo it is perhaps the first time he does something on his own initiative as a Rebel, and though the Ghost crew ultimately disapprove, they, especially Kanan, understand his desire to branch out, and Ezra is able to work the situation in his favor, also gaining a long term ally in Hondo and repaying an old debt and later cementing his relationship with Visago, who had helped him previously. Ezra later feels a great deal of guilt for what happens to Kanan as a result of his mistake with Maul, and for a time, this leads him down a dark path. He dabbles in Darkside powers and takes needless risks against the orders of his superiors, nearly getting himself and his crew killed. The show could have perhaps done more to explore and expand on this turn of events but in short his command is temporarily suspended and he acknowledges his error. What really brings a sense of closure to this arc is that Kanan ultimately reassures Ezra, and never really blames him for what happened, which brings the two of them even closer together.
His relationship with the rest of the Ghost crew is much the same. Though they may disapprove of many of the things he does, and let him know it, they never condemn him and are always there to support and nurture him, even in his darkest moments. He in turn learns from them, and does likewise. Thus, for every mistake he makes, he becomes stronger and wiser as a person.
What further helps to sell Ezra’s character is his expressiveness. While I have to admit I don’t watch many cartoons or anime, before I saw Ezra I did not think that a cartoon character could have that kind of range. From cocky self assurance (which is admittedly at times annoying, though at times a bit charming), to fear and self doubt, to anger, to grim determination, to profound grief and sadness, and even to moments of quiet reflection and some emotions that I cannot fully define, Ezra’s character seems to have all the bases covered. And while I’ve seen other cartoon characters express these emotions at various times Ezra is the only one so far that I’ve seen to have expressed all of them, and in a way I’ve found to be very deep and believable, in fact more so than many live action actors that I have seen. Here credit must be given to Taylor Gray’s voice acting, as well as the animators who produced the visual representations of these expressions. It must be stated here that while I could not find any complaints about Taylor Gray’s voice acting, there were a number of complaints about the animation as compared to The Clone Wars, and I am inclined to agree.
The animation on Clone Wars was generally better, and Rebels may have suffered from time and budget constraints, but for all that, I believe they mostly nailed the facial expressions, particularly for Ezra, but also for the other characters. In this regard, as far as expressiveness, Ezra set a rather interesting record: he cried more than any other Star Wars character (at least in the movies and TV shows, I haven’t read most of the books and comics). Whatever your feelings might be about seeing this on screen one has to admit that to do this with a character is a very serious risk, both in animation and live action, for if something like this is badly done, the audience may never forgive you. To show a character letting their guard down like that and being completely vulnerable MUST come across as sincere and appropriate to the situation, at the risk of forever losing all credibility and subjecting oneself to all kinds of mocking, perhaps deservedly so. If one attempts to “milk”, or exploit this, as has been done in countless other shows and films, it will be very quickly apparent and will not be allowed to slide. A person may not feel comfortable watching a character do this, but however uncomfortable they may feel perhaps the true test is whether they are willing to mock it, for if done improperly it appears as weakness, and mocking is what weakness invites. For all the complaints about Ezra, I could not find any complaints about his crying, and I have looked. To portray a character as vulnerable without making them look weak is perhaps one of the hardest things to do for a storyteller. Therefore, this is at least one aspect of Ezra that the show seems to have gotten right.
A character like Ezra invariably invites comparisons to other Star Wars characters, and the first one that comes to mind is Ahsoka Tano. This is one of the most popular characters in all of Star Wars, and I myself can’t think of any problems that I have with her. In fact, it is perhaps strange that while I can’t think of any cringe moments for Ahsoka, and can certainly think of several for Ezra, I still like Ezra better. How can this be? Well, you may disagree with me here, but to me it felt like Ezra was pushed harder than Ahsoka. Here, I can imagine some of you getting angry. Yes, they both risked thei…
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