Is the bounty hunter in "The Mandalorian" a good father?

Mando and baby Yoda in "The Mandalorian" -

• The Mandalorian

  Season 2

  premiere

   was released on Friday, October 30.

• In season 1 Mando accepted a contract to transport a strange child, endowed with wonderful powers.

  But discovering that his sponsors want to destroy him, he decides to save him, and bring him back to his family.

• " 

  The Mandalorian

  is a fiction that will reassure fathers who think there is a dilemma between their masculinity and changing diapers," comments one of the researchers we interviewed, on the type of fatherhood that presents series.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting it, here it is: 

, the sequel to the Star Wars spinoff series, which follows the adventures of Mando, a bounty hunter with exceptional armor and a big heart, after the fall of the Empire.

A series that reveals a strange mix between a virile and silent knight and an attentive father, scrambling the codes of traditional masculinity.

However, is this bounty hunter a good father, a modern father?

In Season 1 (summarized here), Mando agreed to a contract with the Dark Forces to transport a strange child, endowed with wonderful powers.

But discovering that his sponsors want to destroy him, he decides to save her and bring him back to his family.

The warrior armed from head to toe finds himself obliged to take care of the toddler ...

A cowboy, female characters in the background

At

first glance,

develops more of a traditional masculinity, in line with western codes.

The hero of this "space western" evolves without a woman in his lap, or barely.

As in classic westerns, "there is the idea that the patriarch must reproduce, but that the masculine ideal is freed from the woman", explains Mounir Michel Bondurand, specialist in genre and American cinema, and teacher in Paris 3 New Sorbonne.

The cowboy of this "space western" has a double blow: Mando manages to find a filial figure with baby Yoda but he did not have to "sully himself with a female figure", specifies the researcher attached to the Institute of cinema and audiovisual research (IRCAV).

“He's a knight but not a servant.

"

A feeling confirmed by Charles-Antoine Courcoux, film historian at the University of Lausanne: "It's a series that seemed very traditional to me, nostalgic, with nevertheless a desire for updating".

The emphasis is on physical performance, while female characters take a back seat: Gina Carano, who plays the role of warrior Cara Dune, takes a back seat.

"We show parity on the screen, but it lasts just the time of an episode," abounds Mounir Michel Bondurand.

Updated masculinity

Rare are however the westerns where the cowboys have for main mission to take care of the children.

It is in this sense that Mando is a somewhat particular cowboy.

And that the societal “role” of the series is to accompany a transition, from warlike masculinity to softer masculinity, explains Mounir Michel Bondurand:

Mando continues to play cowboys and surrogate dads in 'The Mandalorian' Season 2 - Disney +

“ 

is fiction that will reassure fathers who think there is a dilemma between being masculine and changing diapers.

Through science fiction we combine the impossible: this cowboy accepts the responsibility of a child but he will have as little contact as possible with him: he does not even touch the pram [which levitates]… ”

A model of masculinity from the 1990s

This model, halfway between a pure and hard patriarchal model and that of the “new fathers” that we currently see, emerged in the films of the 1990s, adds Charles Antoine Courcoux.

This is the year of the “big switch” according to theorist Susan Jeffords.

“At that time, the bodybuilding heroes of the 1980s turned into good dads, they discovered their sensitivity,” says the researcher, author of the book

.

It is for example

(1991), figure of man-machine and protector of children.

But this conversion is only partial.

The figures of fathers from those years, as well as that of Mando, are never shown with their hands dirty.

“The child only serves to preserve his level of patriarchy.

Mando doesn't change his diapers, he doesn't go to the supermarket.

He plays with him and he assumes paternity in the form of cultural transmission ”, judge Mounir Michel Bondurand.

Even today, playing with children is THE domestic task par excellence assumed by fathers, far ahead of all the other less rewarding tasks (dressing them, putting them to bed, etc.) which fall to mothers.

A father who runs away from home

Mando will also flee the home offered to him to build by farmer Omera, on the pretty planet Sorgan:

"We would like you to stay.

The community is grateful, you could put all of this aside in case things go wrong.

You and your son could live happily.

Here he would lead a child's life… Wouldn't that be wonderful?

She asks him.

Our hero seems torn, but he ultimately refuses to abandon himself to this domestic life, to avoid worries for this community but also because we can guess that he cares about his life as a warrior.

“A modern series in its representation of fatherhood would be a series where the father is occupied with something other than football, hobbies, or learning a powerful masculinity.

Fathers we see supervising homework, changing diapers, cuddling, ”explains Charles Antoine Courcoux.

All things that we don't see in

series

.

By contrast,

appears as "a truly feminist film, which mocks the junk heroism of male characters," said the film historian.

The impossible equation

In short, Mando is not an excellent father, but can you really be a good father and a “hero”, as we commonly understand it?

The heroes and heroines who shine, who impress, are rarely those of everyday life.

Caregivers in the fight against Covid, or professors defending freedom of expression, only prove to be heroes in the eyes of the public in times of crisis.

“The absolute hero doesn't change diapers.

An absolute hero cannot be a good father.

He is too far from matter and from the world.

The good father has a credit, he goes to seek the children from basketball… ”, thinks Mounir Michel Bondurand.

For now, the good fathers and the heroes seldom merge.

But who is he?

That may change ... In the meantime, we can still enjoy season 2 of

, the summary of which is to be read over the course of

.

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