Lit The Empire's Sexism and Racism

Thanks for the spoiler tags, I'm not done reading it lol

Corran started the mission with the intent of 'seducing her' instead of the other way around. He said it was a common practice Corsec officers used while undercover. Tavira didn't like him until he "made" her kill Remart. (She's clearly just messing with him but what's married Jedi Corran Horn's excuse for wanting to seduce someone obviously not right in the head. xD)

 

True. But exprtessing vocal dislike for a whole species because you've had run-ins with one of its members still qualifiy as racism, methinks.

 

True. Might be a holdover from her time as an Imperial Senator- even if she believes in the Rebel ideals- the basic attitudes are not so easy to shrug off.

 

I wouldn't read too much into it. Leia has a mouth on her and there's very little malice involved, just a complete lack of filter.

 

This has always bugged me too. I wonder whether they had decided just how sapient Chewbacca was supposed to be at the time. He doesn't even react to that insult.

 

I think she's just frustrated and it's not as offensive as it would be in our world.

 

The Star Wars blog articles (Alien Henchmen of the Empire) do suggest otherwise:

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/in...olerable-alien-henchmen-of-the-empire-part-3/

Given the many aliens who worked alongside Senator Palpatine during his rise to power (Sly Moore of Umbara, Mas Amedda of Champala, Onaconda Farr of Rodia, and Kashyyyk’s Yarua, among others), few could have foreseen the ideological changes that would accompany his assumption of the Imperial throne. Palpatine’s true beliefs became evident only after it was too late for anyone to stop his sinister plans.

Aliens, in Palpatine’s view, existed only to serve the humans of the Empire, whether willingly or through force. The enslavement of the Wookiees, Mon Calamari and others during his rule came as a shock to the galaxy, yet such tendencies were always present, if subtle. As a Senator for Naboo, Palpatine shared his people’s distrust of the Gungans who co-inhabited his homeworld. Despite a new understanding being established between the two peoples during the Trade Federation’s invasion of Naboo, he ruthlessly tricked Jar Jar Binks into convincing the Senate to grant him special wartime powers. His manipulation and subsequent abandonment of the Trade Federation shattered the Neimoidians’ power base, even while helping to build his own — and in having the Geonosians help design the Death Star and other war technology for him in secret, Palpatine maintained the illusion that he himself was a peaceful, benevolent leader.

As Emperor, Palpatine fostered the concept of Human High Culture, asserting that humans were inherently superior to all other species. Though not all humans supported this notion, enough did so that aliens soon found their rights and freedoms restricted under Imperial edict. The widespread prejudice encouraged by the dictates of the Emperor’s New Order only made things worse for nonhumans everywhere.

Still, Palpatine was definitely not a stupid man. He knew a valuable resource when he saw one, and utilized alien species for his own gain. Thus, a small number of aliens managed to gain positions of power within Palpatine’s dream of a New Order.

 

I wonder if that's in-universe or out of universe.

Anyway, we have enough viewpoints of Palpatine that we know he never thinks of humans vs. aliens.

 

I think she is just annoyed with both Han and Chewie. She's equally caustic with both, and nearly as much with Luke before he told her he was with Kenobi. The little Detention block -> garbage masher escapade also wasn't their finest hour.

 

I've always been fond of the idea that Palpatine hates aliens because he grew up on Naboo, where the only aliens around are Gungans. Under those circumstances, who wouldn't decide that non-humans are scum? Slimy, clumsy scum with terrible diction. It makes perfect sense, I tell you!

 

I dunno. It's hard not to hate the Hutts when their culture is literally, "lord over lesser beings."

 

Perhaps she'd say the exact same thing to an especially hairy man in a similar situation.

Oh and: "Laugh it up, fuzzball."

 

Did the whole egalitarian angle ever actually enter into things when they were making the original trilogy? I would be surprised if the protagonists threw around labels like that in the new movies.

 

To think, she's supposed to be a diplomat.

He knows he can rip her head off and play basketball with it, any time he likes. She'd never see it coming.

 

Any time people in the EU tout Leia's diplomatic skills, or worse, claim they picked up some conversational trick from watching Leia, I think back to her part in the Black Fleet Trilogy - her conduct was so abysmal, I don't get why people don't complain about it more. Ackbar and Drayson speculate that Nil Spaar is brainwashing her in their bilateral meetings and it actually seems plausible, given what's going on. It's worse when you consider that that was one of the few Bantam stories where Leia actually governs instead of chasing after her kidnapped children yet again. I'd say we're down to just Mon Mothma and Gavrisom as reasonably competent executives.

 

She is also a Skywalker and not to forget she only hours/days before lost her whole planet!

 

I could see why that would make you a bit grumpy.

 

But she did keep behaving like that to some extent even years later.

 

I don't think Plagueis would teach Palpatine about human racism, since it's not in the Banite Sith culture, and Plagueis himself is a Munn.

 

Which would go well with it being a common trait on Naboo, and him having picked it up from his father or acquaintances, rather than his Sith Master.

Plagueis himself is pretty prejudiced- seeing Muuns and humans as the pinnacle of intelligent life, and some others as falling far short of it.