Basis for Star Wars species. Ideas?

From what I see, he is speaking culturally more than anything else. Give him a break. It makes sense!

 

Mandalorians were actually based on (Karen Traviss's ideas regarding) the Picts, not the Spartans.

 

Some do, some don't. IIRC, the Devaronians on Devaron in Republic spoke with the same accent.

And there's a reason he sounds Russian...

 

I don't see the Noghri - Filipino connection. At all.

Anyway, I always associated the races that represent the CIS as nations that participated in WW2/WW1. Triple Alliance and Central Powers of course. Anyway, I won't delve to deep into it, probably get torn to pieces.

All you really need to know is: Powerful nations with great industrial capabilities. And money. Lots. Pre-war I guess.

 

How? Bothans are uptight, intelligence-obsessed dog people. How are they like Asians at all?

Your ideas of what constitutes a culture are simplistic at best.

 

I think the Lepi are based on offensive, derogatory stereotypes about rabbits. I'm glad George Lucas has decided to put a moratorium on any more Lepi characters. Score 1 for tolerance.

 

i think its the ugnaughts that are like that

 

Well...I never viewed the Yuuzhan Vong to be like the Chinese or Asian, they always came off to me to be like the Aztecs with their bizarre sacrifices. But I've had some ideas on others:

Coruscanti- English

Mandalorians- Spartans with a splash of Gaelic culture

Corellians- sort of Americanish

Chiss- Russians

Charon- again like the Aztecs

 

Oh Come on!! Not cool. Why in stars does this thread live? Don't answer. It was rhetorical.

 

See, that's why people were calling for the thread to get locked. Let's not go there.

We've let it live because there are legit comparisons to make (Mandalorians to various warrior cultures, Correllian Americans etc.) but if it continues like this, it'll get locked.

 

Perhaps it would serve the purposes of the OP if the emphasis was switched to "historical" rather than "cultural/racial" comparisons. That way, cultural and historical comparisons can be made, but they're based on facts and well considered conclusions rather than "Sand people are like Arabs because they live in the desert" or "Sullustans remind me of Mexicans because they talk funny."

 

Indeed.

People need to stay away from making comparisons that involve stereotypes of real cultures/races. Historical comparisons are fine, most racial/cultural ones are not.

 

For a simple example, comparing the Coruscanti to the English just because of the accent is shortsighted, as is comparing the Corellians to Americans where it may be more accurate to say they're based on a particular segment of American society as it was portrayed in film in the 50's and 60's...

 

And you're putting words in his mouth.

In response to the actual topic, I can say that personally, I have always found Earth-like traits in many of the Star Wars species. That's sensible...given that we live on Earth. Mandalorian culture reminds me of a mixture of Spartan (minus the baby-killing) and Hessian warriorism. I've also found a near direct correlation between the Yuuzhan Vong and Islamic radicialism. The religious fervor, embracing of suicide, and desire for conquest are all inherent traits in the ideological constraints of Islamism (a subject I've been studying for nearly five years). I've also regularly associated Coruscanti culture with British culture at the height of the British Empire and Corellian behavior and culture with that of Americans.

Now, if some of you see accents or mannerisms of real cultures/peoples found within alien species in SW to be bigoted, then you would be better suited to directing your anger at George Lucas.

I'm not too young to remember the ire of politically-correct and mentally-chained people crying foul at the accent of Jar-Jar Binks back in 1999. The amusing thing of course was that most people didn't think twice about Jar-Jar's accent. Then a group of misguided simpletons decided that THEY saw Jar-Jar as portraying black people and that Jar-Jar was a sign of blatant racism.

The truth of course...is that THEY were the racists and bigots.

All of this aside, this is a rare good thread with the potential for some actual quality discussion about the literary value of the Star Wars books. Could be a nice change from all the "JINO," "Mandos suck," "Whose your favorite..." hogwash.

No personal commentary.

 

Edited into irrelevancy.

I don't think anybody's really trying to do that. I think most were pointing out the dangerous places a thread like this can go given its flawed premise, or at least the flawed articulation of its intent. As I mentioned a little bit above, there are better ways to go about this.

Well, now, that's unnecessary.

Thing is, they're not unique to Islamism so much as inherent to brainwashed, destructive religious zeal, right?

The major difference I see between the Coruscanti and the British is that the British are a culture that's used to monarchy. Yes, I know that the throne is nothing but a figurehead these days, but the deep cultural history of European monarchy creates a culture that doesn't have the same anathema towards the idea of power centralized in a single man that American culture, and Coruscanti culture even before Palpatine, seems to have. What's more, Coruscant doesn't seem to have an imperial mindset for most of its history, and in fact, besides the brief time Palpatine was in power it seems to be something like modern day London and New York, a city that has a definite culture but is increasingly changed by the largely immigrant population.

Corellians don't seem based on representative Americans, but on a particular idea of Americans. They don't resemble Rockwell paintings, is my point. They seem more like a planet of James Deans and young Marlon Brandos.

Agreed.

Unfortunately, a few stupid comments can drag a thread downhill. I made a suggestion on how to improve discussion. If you have any, feel free to contribute them, too.

 

Yes...good point.

 

Tactic, you still haven't provided any evidencing support how those aliens in your opening post parallel Earthian natives, but each to their own, I'm not going to pursue this further.

 

Don't see that one. I see the Chiss more of a blend of human culture in general (linguistically related to Southern/Eastern Asians, socialy European, and someone on the Chiss fanclub said they use the mile to measure)

 

It's the truth. The truth is rarely unnecessary.

You're only right if you water it down to saying that the embracing of suicide (as well as the other individual components listed) are not unique to Islamism. But you combine them all together and compare them with historical ideological and cultural movements, you're dead wrong. Never in the history of mankind has a joint political/religious ideology spread so effectively through a culture and risen to such global prominence with such barbarous repercussions. The totalitarian movements of the recent past (Nazism, Stalinism) were all exceedingly secular. Granted, it can be argued that the radical godlessness of those ideologies were in themselves practiced with a religious fervor, it should be noted that Islamism combines the worst ideas of authoritarianism with the highest degree of zeal.

Islamism is its own animal.

So, in context to the thread, that is why I find the Yuuzhan Vong clearly identifiable to the Islamists.

A series of good points. I should have qualified the statements I made more thoroughly on this particular part. I don't mean to suggest that I find the two completely compatible. There are differences obviously. British and American culture wasn't just transplanted into the Star Wars universe and given a different name.

The Corellian penchant for independence and the right to self-determination bear hallmarks to American attitudes. And the Coruscanti elite and high society spring forth images of the British high culture during the years of the Monarchy (prior to the Orange Revolution).

In other words, a few American cultural aspects can be found in Corellians. I agree.

 

Good points here (didn't want to monster quote). Other aspects of their culture are quite different, of course, but I think you're right.

I see what you're saying, but the above quote is to illustrate why I suggested looking at things historically rather than making blanket cultural statements, as well as elevating the level of discourse all around, if this thread is going to continue...if we do this, we can make sure that the bigotry we feared might rear it's head - and kind of did - stays far away. That's all I think most of us were suggesting.

 

Let's not get too far into Senate territory, guys. I'm not sure how productive this thread is ever likely to be, but if it gets off-track it's going to get locked quickly.

 

No personal commentary.

 

I tried. Can we get a lock, already?

 

Hey, ConservativeSoldier up there started it. I was just stating how the whole business of classifying "who's who" involves a gross dumbing down and simplification of various ethnicities/cultures. I'm sorry if that's "too out there".

No personal attacks.