Standing around 2ft tall, the brightly colored, non-verbal alien first appeared as the cute sidekick for a morally ambiguous criminal, but has since become so beloved that they’ve begun to eclipse their protagonist in popularity. Currently, the small figure is a merchandising behemoth, visible everywhere from toys to t-shirts to lunchboxes, and although it does canonically have a specific name, it’s called something completely different by fans. Moreover, in the next installment of the franchise, viewers will be given a closer look at this cute creature’s lore, expanding on their history.
Ok – was this passage describing The Mandalorian’s Baby Yoda or the Despicable Me’s Minions? The answer is, of course, both, because they’re exactly the same. Baby Yoda is just a ‘Minion’ for Millennials.
This statement (that they’re literally the same) is sure to be an incendiary realization for many. Whilst Baby Yoda (canonically called ‘The Child’) broke the internet when he was first released through his sheer, obnoxious cuteness, the Minions are seen as harbingers of the apocalypse for many online, with their incessant demand for ‘bananas’ signaling the death of culture and perhaps even society as we know it (would the coronavirus have happened if the Minions never existed? We’ll never know.).
Nevertheless, among the young, the tables turn. By not sharing their parents’ memories of and love for Star Wars, children aren’t necessarily endeared to the weirdly-hairy green toddler – if they don’t love Adult Yoda, why would they love Baby Yoda? Alternatively, the minions have a lot to love: they’re bright, hilarious (remember when they sang ‘banana’? Comedy gold), and remind them of Despicable Me, one of their favorite films. Simply put, then, Baby Yoda is to Millennials as the Minions are to young children.
It just makes sense: each person is hard-wired to love their own ‘baby’, even if they’re objectively ugly (including being green potato with massive ears, or a piece of sweetcorn in dungarees) and will consequently interpret their actions positively because of this love. When the minions play with a fart gun, young children don’t think “ugh how crude”; their love for these silly little blobs makes them think “wow, my baby is ADORABLE”. Equally, for Baby Yoda, his obsession with spherical handles is either obsessively cute if a person loves this telepathic alien, or incredibly exasperating if they don’t. Just like how other people’s kids seem whiny and sticky and vexing, a person dislikes Baby Yoda or the Minions if they don’t consider them ‘their’s’. Sure, the majority of the internet hates the Minions and loves Baby Yoda, but that’s only because the majority of the internet has a connection with the green baby and not with the yellow one. If a preschool were surveyed, the results would likely be VERY different.
Moreover, if the passage above is anything to go by, the two creatures are nearly exactly the same in narrative practice and merchandising prowess… in fact, perhaps their similarities border on the deliberate? Who’s to say that Jon Favreau didn’t sit down one day to watch Despicable Me with his children, and become utterly inspired by Stuart, Kevin, Bob, and the rest of the Minion ensemble? He may have jumped straight on the phone with Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni, and said “guys, I’ve got good news: I’ve found something cute enough to convince people to buy Disney+ …”
Equally, the world may have to accept it’s going to be seeing a lot more of ‘Baby [insert beloved pop-culture figure here]’ moving forward. Since Baby Yoda debuted, there’s already been Baby Sonic (from the Sonic movie) and Baby Nut (from Planters’ weird Superbowl ad), with countless more probably in the pipeline. Whether or not these future Babies will be as derivative as Baby Yoda is to the Minions, rest assured they will be cute to some people and annoying to others.
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