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Postcolonial analysis is a form of literary analysis that examines the effects that colonization has on the culture of society and the relationships that develop between the colonized and colonizers. It became a popular way of analyzing literature when scholars wanted to study the longer lasting effects of colonialism following the widespread European colonial rule and the manipulation that took place with the rampant establishment of colonies.

The process involves viewing literature through themes related to colonization such as identity, otherness, class, race, oppression and suppression. It focuses trying to understand how colonialism might have changed people's perceptions, behaviors, and reasons for why they feel the way they do.

All of the postcolonial themes are just as relevant today as they were in the past, even though they may not be as obvious as examples in history such as the effects of slavery or forced labor. Through the use of postcolonial analysis we can draw parallels to like today and learn how to prevent or minimize the negative effects of colonialism. It is important to understand that colonialism impacted the development of much of the world and how we perceive it today.

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While there is a lot of overlap with other themes such as identity or otherness, the postcolonial theme that resonated with me the most this term is class. Even though most of our discussions focused on other themes, I personally kept thinking about the impact of class on the development of the characters in each story. The wealthy and powerful tended to remain wealthy and powerful throughout each story and the opposite was usually true for those who didn't have wealth or status.

I also noticed many similarities between the opportunities that were available to those who were considered to be part of an "elite" class compared to everyone else and I believe society today has very similar parallels regardless of what country or region you are looking at. There are certainly varying degrees of separation between different classes depending on what region you are looking at, but there is always at least some separation of people between the class they are perceived to belong to.

One thing that I found interesting is that people don't typically see class as a inherently negative. An example of this is when we wrote our midterm papers about what we thought of Miranda and Ferdinand as rulers everyone unanimously believed they would be good rulers. Many of the reasons people shared were related to the experience that Ferdinand already had as a prince or the fact that they are both considered royalty and would have all the resources they need to learn how to rule. In this way class is seen as a positive. The problem is that people who are not in the beneficial class typically can't ever truly become part of the favored class.

I think part of why class resonated with me so much is that I can easily draw parallels to life today. When my family came to the U.S. they had nothing and we grew up very poor compared to those around us. Hard work helped me to move up and become more successful, similar to how Okonkwo was able to become very successful through hard work. Despite my successes, however, I will never have access to the same connections and opportunities that exist for those that are truly wealthy. In fact, this still applies even to people who have become far more successful than myself because society feels it is necessary to separate people by class. You can even see this in how people perceive receiving benefits from the government today. When opportunities such as loan forgiveness are given to businesses or wealthy individuals it is viewed positively, but when student loans are forgiven it is seen as unfair or considered a handout. The only difference is the class of people who are receiving the benefit.

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The Star Wars universe is an exceptional example of the effects of colonialism. The postcolonial theme of oppression is particularly noticeable. The new Star Wars TV series, Andor, is no exception.

Andor serves as a prequel to the popular film Star Wars: Rogue One, taking place 5 years before. It follows the backstory of Cassian Andor, who at this point in time is not even interested in the thought of joining the Rebellion against the Empire. The first episode takes place on a dark metropolitan planet that is controlled by an oppressive Corporate Security who are constantly trying to keep in the good graces of the Empire for fear of them taking full control of the system. This is a recurring theme throughout the series, and not just for the Corporate Security forces. The Empire benefits those who have power and are willing to manipulate, and those without status in the Empire tend to suffer from its oppression. Two of the Corporate Security officers attempt to shake-down Andor, who was simply looking for his missing sister, and it results in Andor killing both of them. He is forced to flee the planet and immediately begins to plan his escape from the system as he believes they will come after him.

We later learn that the Corporate Security higher ups have no desire to investigate the murders because it could make them look bad in the eyes of the Empire. An overzealous officer decides to investigate anyway, however, and the attempts to hunt down Andor go very poorly. Unsurprisingly, the Empire learns of the botched investigation that led to many more casualties and promptly decides to take full control of the system. This is a classic example of colonialism at work.

The effects of the Empire's oppression is not limited to the manipulated local populations or self-serving factions like the Corporate Security. It effects even the lives of those loyal to the Empire. Many Imperial characters express a desire to improve their status in order to escape their current miserable situation. They often adopt the cut-throat and oppressive ways of the Empire, hoping to earn favor with those in power and be rewarded. This seems to effect almost every character that has some of their story revealed, from the Corpo higher up who wanted to sweep bad events under the rug in order to look better to the Imperial investigators who are all too eager to throw each other under the bus for personal gain. We even learn about the oppression of Andor's home world, Kenari, through flashbacks of his past throughout the first few episodes. Though the story never explains exactly what happened to Kenari, it does imply that the Empire abandoned it and its tribal population when it decided it was no longer beneficial as a mining resource.

The main message I get from the theme is that oppression fosters more oppression, and anyone who is not at the top suffers for it. Even people who are willing to manipulate and oppress others do not necessarily have it that well off. The series really highlights how frustrated people can be by oppressive rulers and it is not that surprising that a full blown rebellion is right around the corner.

Thinking about postcolonial themes really gave me a different perspective on this series, and the Star Wars universe as well. Postcolonial theory really can be applied to just about anything, it is just as applicable in this fictional universe as it is in historical texts and current events.

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Disney's WALL-E tells the story of a robot named WALL-E and his adventures a lifeless Earth following the evacuation of humans due to an inhospitable environment caused by human pollution.

Diaspora is an excellent postcolonial theme to apply to this film because the majority of the film revolves around the curious and playful personality that WALL-E develops as a result of boredom and loneliness due to the Earth being uninhabited for almost a thousand years and his unique situation of being a solar powered trash cleanup robot. While the story never explains why he is able to develop such a personality, it is clear that it is caused by the lack of humans on Earth. When humans were present on Earth they would likely have reset him or rebuilt him if he were to show signs of not performing his sole purpose, much like the broken robots on the spaceship. We also know that he developed differently because when he is rebuilt by EVE he initially starts behaving like all of the other WALL-E style robots, simply crushing trash with not a care in the world. Through his curiosity in watching humans on his salvaged television, WALL-E develops a very friendly and playful personality and a desire for connection with another being.

Diaspora can also be applied to the development of humans that are living in space. Over the centuries they became lazy and no longer seem to desire fulfillment. They are just going about their lives without a care in the world, similar to robots who are only focused on their set task. They even forget what Earth is like and lose every connection to who they were in the past until some of them start to be "woken" up from the daze by their interactions with WALL-E and EVE.

The main message that I got from looking at the theme of diaspora in the film is that diaspora is not always negative. WALL-E, for example, was in a tragic situation because he was lonely but he would not have turned out so amazing if he was simply reset back to default when showing signs of different behavior. The humans also ended up working together to help WALL-E and EVE get the space ship back on coarse for Earth even though they no longer understood what Earth was like or had any attachment to it as a homeland. They simply had an inherent desire to do more, to do something useful or do better as people. They wanted to see Earth for themselves and learn about their homeland even though they didn't know what to expect.

While I subconsciously picked up on many of the details I pointed out, I had never thought about them so in depth in the past. Thinking about the impact of diaspora as a theme really opened up my perception of the relationships between the humans and WALL-E and their idea of having "pride" in visiting their homeland.

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Gilroy, T. (2022, September 21). Andor. whole.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. (2008). Wall-E [DVD]. United States.