2d ago

GONK

38 comments

So, in Star Wars, do robots have free will and consciousness or is it just an illusion?
Are droids slaves, or just tools?
As an aside, that's just the lowest of low effort costumes I've ever seen. It's almost literally a rectangular trash can, with "robot legs" made from metallic flexible ductwork you can buy at a hardware store. It would make for a bad home-made halloween costume, let alone a character in a Hollywood movie.
- Robots are slaves. The original idea was to show the story from the point of view of the lowest class. He got the idea from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress which is shown from the point of view of two slaves. A short stocky one and a taller slender one. And they are constantly bickering.
  
  I watched The Hidden Fortress years ago, and the connection between C3PO and R2D2 with Tahei and Matashichi is obvious. But, they're not really slaves are they? The movie certainly doesn't make it seem like they're slaves, from what I remember. The Wikipedia plot summary says they're peasants who sell their homes and leave to enlist with the Yamana clan. A slave can't really sell their home and decide to take a new job. They may be of the lowest social class, but they weren't property.
  As for the droids though, if they're slaves, has there ever been a hint that they wanted to change that status? In the dozens of movies, TV shows, books, comic books, etc. they seem content to be bought, sold and owned. Sure, R2D2 objects to being owned by Luke Skywalker in the first movie, but only because it interferes with his mission. He doesn't seem to object to the concept of ownership.
  And, if they are slaves, there are certain droids who seem to have normal jobs and a lot of autonomy, like the IG-11 who is a member of the Bounty Hunter's Guild.
  OTOH, we've also seen that slavery of humans is pretty common in the Star Wars universe. Maybe it's possible that some droids are slaves and others are free, just like humans?
  What we really need is a Star Wars series with courtroom drama to explain some of this stuff. The Andor series has shown that people actually really like a series that gets into deep political intrigue, and isn't just stories of people's action figures fighting each-other. Maybe Law And Order: Coruscant would be a hit.
  
  In the Solo movie Lando has a droid who wants to fight for droid liberation. But it's mostly played for laughs without any real consequences.
  
  Ugh. That sucks. Just because it is a sign of cheap, paper-thin world building, which is typical of Star Wars.
  
  I remember seeing that film open with Tahei and Matashichi arguing in a barren desert and thinking "ah, so this is where the inspiration for C3PO and R2D2 came from...".
- As far as I recall, you only see the top part of it in one or two background scenes. So the legs aren't even necessary, they're just there to help the puppeteer of a background character stay in character.

38 comments