Basis for Star Wars species. Ideas?

There doesn't seem to be much on the Internet on this subject, the actual world basis of various Star Wars species. Some are a bit clear. The Chiss--especially as depicted by their author, Zahn--are pretty clearly a Japanese/Chinese mix, leaning a bit toward Japanese in attitude and a bit toward Chinese in physical aspects such as Cheunch character writing and seemingly Japanese robes with intricate patterns; they were once more advanced than the Republic but by SURVIVOR'S QUEST are a tad behind. The Vagary seem to be the Huns or Mongols. [Jumping around Gungans, Toydarians, and Nemoidians..... Lucas does a pretty bad job at making species anyway.] The Ewoks have their treehouses and yodeling horns. The Wookiees were depicted as being Vikingish in Episode 3. Another clear one, the Yuuzhan Vong seem to be heavily based (in terms of culture) on pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. Bothans are depicted sort of as stereotypically Asian. 'Humans' are of course Westerners--rolling eyes. The Twi'leks might have sort of a Bedouin/Arab-nomad thing to them, with dancers and fierce warriors--not to mention trade and narcotics. The Noghri could be somewhat Filipinoish with knife-fighting the imperialists (Empire/Americans) and later fighting loyally *for* those same imperialists. What are the Mandalorians? Suspect that they're based on some Earth people. As for Mon Calamari, Quarren, and Caamasi, those don't seem to tie closely to a particular human group.

Any ideas on these mentioned species or others?

This was iffy to start with, and is getting ugly in a hurry. A legitimate conversation about race, culture, and religion is welcome in the Senate.

 

I think decided ONE culture for each species based on about ONE trait that might stereotypically be associated with that Earth culture is...probably a dangerous thread.

 

Could be (but shouldn't be). It's glaringly obvious that some Star Wars species bear striking resemblances to human cultures (on Earth) and that the authors drew from human cultures when crafting their alien ones. While it could get out of hand, so long as there's a recognition that all Earthlings are equal--and that while some fictional alien cultures are based on human ones, the similarities end there--this thread ought not end out all that badly. Hopefully this view is not too naive and people aren't that petty that they'll turn to mudslinging over this topic.

P.S. It isn't "ONE culture for each species based on about ONE trait." Especially for the non-Lucas species. In fact, that is sort of the point. Most notably for the Chiss, the Yuuzhan Vong, and to a slightly lesser extent the Twi'leks (Lucas species there), they are practically screaming out the cultures that they are based on. You would basically have to ignore history or cultural geography to not notice the similarities between those those species and the [Chinese and Japanese], ancient Mesoamericans, and Middle Easterners, respectively. Is that to state that Chinese, Guatamalans, and Saudi Arabians are Chiss, Yuuzhan Vong, or Twi'leks? Definitely and most emphatically not. However, that does not change that the cultures of those Star Wars species are--apparently--based on Earth cultures.

The question is primarily about the Noghri and the Mandalorians. The Noghri because Zahn has a pretty clear track record of his species being based strongly on human ethnicities (ethnicity defined as a cultural group; not a racial/genetic one), and the Mandalorians because they have such a rich culture fleshed out, primarily by Traviss.

 

I always thought the Mandalorians ... well, unless I'm forgetting something ... were more based on Sparta than anything else. This parallel is especially strong about the KotOR-era Mandos.

 

Sullustans in my opinion remind me (language wise of course) of hispanic people.
Humans in SW are obviously westerners if compared to the real world. (generally)

 

Why?

 

I don't know why, but I sure do hear that sentiment a lot. I've regularly heard them referred to as "Space Mexicans" (or similar but more racially inappropriate terms) by several different people. I guess Sullustese/Haya has many similar phonemes to Latin American Spanish or something.

 

Do you really want to pursue it, Matt?

There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.

 

You're entire opening post is misconstrued, Tactic, I don't know where to begin, or end . . .

I don't know what gave you impression Chiss have a Sino-Chinese influence, but they are the archetype Blue Alien, which is one of sci fi's most common looking aliens, past and present in any media. Vagarians are the Mrachani from his Conqueror books in exact persona and speech; he simply ripped his prior works off. Viking-Wookiees . . . no comment I'd like to make. And how in a sultan's harem are Bothans Asians? KOTOR's Duros' speech style was atypically Asian, yes. Are Asians ambitious greed lovers? No, they're hard workers.

 

A big part of the problem with this type of discussion is that a lot of the major alien races are portrayed in inherently stereotypical ways, so any comparisons between them and actual cultures is effectively an endorsement of that stereotype as applied to the Earth culture. If science fiction were a little more enlightened, it'd be hard to make such comparisons because we'd be seeing a broad variety of individuals from each species.

 

Sci fi is enlightened, Cooper. It's fantasists who cannot bear to write creatively. Nevertheless, I don't see how any SW species is a stereotyped Earthian culture. I am concerned fandom could sink to the bedrock entertaining such ideas...

 

If you'll take another look at the original post, Excellence, you'll see that for the Bothans it was written that they seem *stereotypically* Asian. And to point out, your comment reflects stereotyping of Asians. That you were able to pick out the 'ambitious greed lovers' clearly shows that you have heard of *stereotypes* about Asians. Furthermore, your comment that Asians are hard workers is similarly a stereotype--but a good one instead of a bad one. Are many Asians hard workers? Sure. Are some Asians lazy? Yep. Are many non-Asians hard workers? Sure. Are some non-Asians lazy? Yep.

As for the Chiss, you can't strongly argue that point--they (again AS ZAHN DEPICTED THEM) are blatantly based on Chinese and Japanese cultures (that would be Sino-Japanese cultures and not Sino-Chinese). Also, the Vagary are similar to, but not completely the same as the Mrachani. They both pretend to be subservient--and that's basically it. As with the name Thrawn (twisted), the name http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%20vagary%20]Vagary (Vagarie?) suggests something about the named thing. Thrawn was twisted. He started out honorable (as in OUTBOUND FLIGHT) and ended up bad (Zahn seems to have tried to reform him, but if you read the original Zahn trilogy, Thrawn is quite bad), being corrupted by his own pride that he could take drastic measures to achieve noble ends (much the same way as Jacen/Caedus in LOTF). The Vagary are a nomadic group that invade and loot conquered peoples in the UR. The Huns and Mongols were nomadic groups that invaded and looted conquered peoples, especially in Asia. As for 'offensive' stereotypes, the Vagary are depicted as vicious while the Huns/Mongols were stereotypically so. The Chinese character for Mongol is the same one for wild or crazy. A Western variant would be Vandal--formerly a Germanic tribe, now most commonly used as a petty criminal. To state that the Vagary are *based* on Mongols/Huns is not too much of a stretch. The Mongols/Huns were most notable for fighting against China--the strongest nation in the region. While they actually succeeded against the Chinese--and started the Manchu dynasty--they notably failed in their invasion of Japan. Just two more points--of a buttload of points--suggesting that the Chiss are based on the Chinese and Japanese.

Will agree that the Lucas species do seem to be the most 'offensive' in their stereotyping depictions. For the Vikings and the Wookiees, what? you hadn't heard that one before?

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For the comment about Sullustans, hadn't heard that one (or much of any besides Gungans, Toydarians, and Nemoidians). Sullustans are an honorable species, though--they run Soro-Suub after all. And case in point about the greater topic, Huttese is based on Quechua, an Incan language. That is a fact; no getting around it. To emphasize the point again--so as to deter those who jump at anything that they believe will offend people in a racial way (note again, race is not ethnicity or culture--culture and race are not the same; there are non-Caucasian Westerners and in the future there may be non-Asian Easterners and non-black Africans (culturally; obviously there are already white and Asian-descended Africans); people shouldn't be that weak; if any of the alien Star Wars races are related to some cultures of this member's ancestors, personally would not be offended if that were pointed out--THAT IS NOT TO STATE THAT ANDEAN PEOPLES ARE HUTTS, just that Hutts--solely in terms of their language, are based in part on Incans. For other species, such as the Chiss, more than just language is based on human cultures.

For the commentator about the Mandalorians, that's a great point--hadn't figured that, and it makes sense. They do have quite a few parallels. Though the Spartans were sort of sexist (as was much of the world in that day) whereas the Mandalorians are much more egalitarian.

 

Agreed. And Star Wars seems to be moving somewhat in that direction. Note how Admiral Niathal is actually mentioned by Traviss (in the dialog thing at the end of one of the novels between the authors of the series and the book company) as not fitting the mold of the archetypal Mon Calamari. Earlier, Asyr Sei'lar (Gavin Darklighter's Bothan girlfriend) broke the stereotypes of Bothans. A Noghri scientist or Jedi would be great.

 

The Jawas in Episode 4 reminded me of nomadic desert merchants. And while they're more of a culture than a species, but most Imperial Officers in the movies seem to come from Great Britain. The old West End books always gave me the feeling that the Galactic Empire was being compared to the British Empire in the way the rest of the galaxy was being treated.

 

wow.

this thread is sure to either get locked or get people pissed off.

 

Yeah. I thought it would be gone by now. Bad medicine. (slowly backs away)

 

WHY DO SOME OF YOU PEOPLE KEEP ON STATING THINGS SUCH AS THIS? That's more infuriating than not acknowledging the obvious and pretending to not notice these similarities between Star Wars and human (Earthling) cultures because of some mistaken view that people are pansies and so thin-skinned that even suggesting that some fictional alien species has some connection to 'their' culture will cause them to froth at the mouth EVEN WHEN THE COMPARISONS ARE COMPLIMENTARY.

If a Star Wars species was mentioned as walking around in kimonos and wooden sandals and ate with chopsticks and wrote using both an abujida and characters and performed tea ceremonies and had a noble warrior caste and was ruled over by an emperor...... and on and on and on and on and on, would you people still pretend that that alien species is not based on Japanese culture? Man. You don't even have to resort to bigoted stereotypes about *personality* (i.e. stingy and cowardly Asians); THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT (hence the not mentioning Gungans and Nemoidians and Toydarians). This is about CULTURE (language, clothing, laws, rituals, histories, etc.).

 

No, I just thought drawing attention to it might underscore my first post above.

 

One member posted a reasonable suggestion for the Mandalorians (the Spartans). Any ideas about the Noghri?

 

I always read Villie like he had a thick Russian accent because of his speech pattern. I don't really see it as likening the Devaronians to Russians, and it feels sort of weird given an Earth trait to an alien character. I can't recall off the top of my head, but are other Devaronians given a speech pattern similar to Villie?

 

I don't know but I do remember that Kapp Dendo of the Rogue Squadron comic series talks normal though.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kapp_Dendo

 

The Mandalorians aren't Spartans, they are clearly based on Millwall, F.C. fans. They even sing "No one Likes Us- We Don't Care" (as a ballard) for pity's sake!

 

i dont know.. ive actually got some respect for mandalorians! and they seem to have morals behind the... thuggishness (bad word sorry couldnt think of another way to phrase it)

 

Good call. Now, do we consider that this is because Kapp was raised speaking only Galactic Basic and not Devaronian, or perhaps some sort of regional/planetary accent that Villie has? Or maybe Ville just has some sort of speech impediment?

 

I wasn't being 100% serious

However, besides it being hard to pin made-up races down (although I suppose influences is fair play, but I'm leary of even trying to pin stereotypical behaviors on certain BIOLOGICAL races and then compare them to real CULTURES), there's also the problem with Mandalorians that they don't really care about most traditions and besides the six rules they more or less just live and let live within limits.

Extreme libertarians with less of a racial or even cultural connection than most any of the other examples, adding to the problem being that they are constantly evolving due to the addition of orphans and other races into the mix.

I think any race or culture in the GFFA can be written stereotypically, and some there's just no escaping the effect of culture or biology, but good writers can go beyond that, and I should hope they would. Nevil and Niathal certainly don't act like your average Quarran and Mon Cal pairing.

I think the OP may have been looking more for influences than the direct correlation that many posters are worried will lead to flaming and questionable content, which is an interesting question, but a hard line to tip-toe on.