"Disgusting creatures" vs. "They're like animals"

For some reason, some people think Anakin was unjustified in killing the Tuskens. They think that because he killed people Padme should not love him, and thus the film makes no sense.

To which I say, bollocks.

You see, my eyes have been opened.

Some Jawas come over and fondle Luke's landspeeder like it's some perverse phallic object. And what does Threepio say? "I can't abide those jawas. Disgusting creatures."
Now maybe Threepio is just covering for his own sexuality. He probably has a little crush on the landspeeder machine himself. It's a handsome machine.
But still.

Why is Threepio not called to task for being a racist? Why does he treat the Jawas like animals? Why doesn't Obi-Wan take him aside and explain to him that we must have respect for all intelligent life forms?
And don't say "Threepio is justified, they captured him and made him sit in the sandcrawler", because the Tuskens frickin' killed Anakin's mother, and people still won't forgive Anakin.

And while we're on the subject, Luke is prejudiced against Tusken Raiders. "Sand people, or worse!" he says. Not only does he use a slang term instead of calling the Tuskens by their proper name, but he makes the assumption that they're up to no good. Why does he assume all Tusken Raiders are bad?


My take is this:
Tatooine has fostered a socially acceptable (acceptable THERE, not here) sort of racism.
Humanoids dislike Jawas/Tuskens, and Jawas/Tuskens don't think much of humanoids either. They've given up on trying to understand each other's cultures, or making peace, and just consider it a good day when no one blows each other's house up. They don't consider each other equals, or as lives worthy of preserving.
And that's just the way things are on Tatooine. I'm not saying Lucas condones such a feeling. He's just showing this planet as it is. And Threepio has clearly figured out that people on Tatooine have no love for the funny little midgets, so monkey see, monkey do.


Discuss.


Rick McCallum loves you!

 

"Threepio is justified, they captured him and made him sit in the sandcrawler",



3po was merely pointing out that jawas arent very clean, Anakin man, he just goes to town on them and for what?!? She knew what she was doing when she went out to pick her magic mushrooms.

 

3P0 is a droid, and we hardly expect him to have the same moral compass as a human.

And anyway, he doesn't say he wants to or did slaughter them for being disgusting...

 

They kidnap droids, use them for spare parts, and smell funny. In his eyes, they are disgusting creatures.

 

Tatooine has fostered a socially acceptable (acceptable THERE, not here) sort of racism.
Humanoids dislike Jawas/Tuskens, and Jawas/Tuskens don't think much of humanoids either. They've given up on trying to understand each other's cultures, or making peace, and just consider it a good day when no one blows each other's house up. They don't consider each other equals, or as lives worthy of preserving.
And that's just the way things are on Tatooine. I'm not saying Lucas condones such a feeling. He's just showing this planet as it is.


Tatooine is, in many ways, the frontier. It's lawless and dangerous. There's more of a frontier-justice way of dealing with things. Death is commonplace, and life is cheap. It's from a place like this that a warrior like Anakin emerges. Already shaped by slavery and the frontier, he's not a person to discuss problems in committees. He is someone who finds his own solution and will fix things himself. (His Jedi abilities allow him to do this.)

His "they're like animals" opinion is probably widely held in Tatooine. I don't see 3PO's comments to be any different from Obi-Wan's "pathetic life form" from TPM. I think people take Anakin to task more for the slaughter than for his personal feelings about Tuskens. After all, he's a Jedi and knows better.

And Threepio has clearly figured out that people on Tatooine have no love for the funny little midgets, so monkey see, monkey do.

C-3PO has his own reasons for not liking Jawas. He is a prim and proper protocol droid. He probably likes things clean, polite, neat, diplomatic, etc. Jawas are none of those things. Everyone just happens to agree with him this time.

 

I think the main difference is that, 3PO didn't pull out a saber a start decimating an entire sandcrawler full of the little vermin
The underlining message is we all feel negative emotions at times. It's in how we handle them that matters.

 

I think the main difference is that, 3PO didn't pull out a saber a start decimating an entire sandcrawler full of the little vermin

I wish he had. On the Gungans and Ewoks too.

 

It's not like Anakin was running around stomping on cockroaches. To me, even massacring a pack of wolves in a fit of rage would be a bit much - especially for a Jedi. Tuskens are a few steps up from wolves, right?

The whole "love story" aspect of AOTC is still pretty mystifying to me, even disregarding that scene. The only explanation I can come up with for Padme falling in love with him is: girls are insane. Which works pretty well, actually.

 

Well its the only logical explanation I can think of.

 

The main reason Threepio doesnt like Jawa's is because they steal Droids and then repair them (Usually doing a bad job) and then sell them to Moisture Farmers or anyone else who will buy them cheap,their Ethic's and way of doing business leave much to be desired,like a Pawn Shop owner that sells crappy items and doesnt tell his customers that they are broken,run down or will quit working properly soon after they are purchased, Another reason is because Jawa's are smelly unclean creatures that use foul language alot, they are also a nuisance like Bums and Vagrants that start washing a Car after it has just parked and then expecting a handout that nobody wants to give them.

You can understand Threepio's prejudice better this way, as for anakin hating Sand People/Tusken Raiders they are Primitive acting Nomads that attack without provocation and frequently kill and enslave people, its really easy to hate both Species because they represent Con Artists and Thieves/Jawa's, and Violent killers/Tusken Raiders.

And the Hutts are hated as well,for dealing Drugs and organizing violent crimes and illegal business much like Gangster's do.

 

Can you blame Anakin? I mean what would you do if you haven't seen your mother in 10 years and then found out she was killed?

 

3P0 is a droid, and we hardly expect him to have the same moral compass as a human.

Yeah... he's supposed to have better morals than they do! He's a protocol droid, programmed for diplomacy. If he doesn't respect Tuskens, no one does.

I wonder if maybe a prejudice arose against them because they're considered less intelligent or less civilized than Tatooine's human inhabitants.

 

I wish he had. On the Gungans and Ewoks too.

That illustrates my point nicely. Thank you!

 

If he doesn't respect Tuskens, no one does.

Except 3PO was talking about Jawas. We have no idea what he thought about Tuskens... while I'm sure they didn't like them much after they tore him up in ANH (ala the scarecrow/flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz, actually...), he never said anything about them.

 

Fine. Try this logic on for size:

Anakin tolerates Jawas enough to ask them for directions, but sees Tuskens as animals. Therefore Jawas are more socially acceptable to humanoids than Tuskens. Threepio doesn't even like Jawas, so his opinion of Tuskens must be even worse.

Ba-dum-crash!

 

who else is bothered by OB1's line in TPM:

"why do I get the feeling we picked up yet another PATHETIC life form?"

I mean, how UN-Jedi is that?! and it totally contradicts his character anywhere else in the films

maybe it was Lucas' attempt at actually giving him the slightest bit of personality or wit in the PT, but it just came off sounding bad