Luke and the humanity of droids

Something just occurred to me. Throughout the OT films, there is a wide variety of attitudes evident toward droids. Almost all the characters, to some degree or another, treat droids rather badly. There are lots of instances, from the bartender at the cantina warning Luke about them to Han Solo rolling his eyes at Threepio's greeting. Han, in particular, seems to be constantly annoyed by droids, but that attitude reaches to most of the characters either being rude to droids or viewing them as property or tools: the jawas, Uncle Owen, even Princes Leia and Obi-Wan to some degree. Most surprisingly is Yoda who almost never acknowledges R2's presence in ESB except to whack him with a stick a few times in a pointless argument over a lamp.

On the other hand, Luke seems to most consistently treat the droids as if they were human. He has a few lapses, but mostly he is respectful to the droids. The most illustrative moment occurs shortly after Luke meets Obi-Wan and we see them going back for Threepio.

There are even moments where it seems that this difference in the characters is underscored. In ESB, Luke chats with the medical droid respectfully and in the following scene Han is seen barking at the repair droid. Then, throughout the film, Luke journeys to Dagobah and Cloud City, the whole time treating R2 as a companion, almost as an equal, even going so far as to pull his gun in an attempt to defend R2 when he's attacked by the swamp creature. Han, meanwhile, takes Threepio along almost relunctantly and is constantly being disrespectful and rude to him, ordering him around and treating him to a fair amount of sarcasm. Leia does it too: the part where she tells Threepio to "shut up" and where she and Han switch him off mid-sentence.

Now, overall, this is pretty meaningless or insignificant until you get to the topic of Vader. Vader is spoken of as being more machine than man. In some sense, both physically and emotionally, Vader is a droid--or at least more a droid than human. Everyone's answer to Luke seems to be to kill Vader. But what eventually ends up being the key to getting Vader to turn to the good side? Luke's insistence, against everyone else's advice, to treat Vader respectfully, as if there were some humanity in there to be reached, not just a machine. This mirrors his treatment of droids exactly.

I have no idea if this was planned or something that came out unconsciously in the writing, but it's very interesting to me. The treatment of droids in ANH and ESB in particular almost seems to be a precursor to Luke's eventual strategy in bringing Vader back from the dark side.

 

Intersting point. I've never looked at it like that before. But did read about how Luke calls R2 "him" and "he" in the dinner conversation while Owen calls R2 "it".

Also Lando's response to first meeting 3PO is probably one of the most teeling signs of how droids are looked upon in Star Wars. He just turns his back on him and ignores him completely!

 

That's fascinating stuff. Although most if not all of 3P0's mistreatment (especially in ESB) is simply for comic relief so I don't really interpret Han, Leia or Lando's behavior as being pointedly anti-droid or anything like that.

 

yeah that is interesting.
even in the Pt it is done. i beleive this might mirror some of the stuff that goes on in real life to a certain extent. a new machine comes out and takes the job of a human. the human hates the machine.
i think Lukes tratment being different could be due to his Lot in life. also the droids will ultimately help him get off that rock tatooine.
Leia- raised in privlage and has no use for droids except for labor purposes.
Han- doesn't trust anyone but himself. send a droid to do a mans job type.
obiwan- "flying is for droids", "if droids could think they'd be no need for us" or something like that.

unchecked droids could be destructful and menaceing without social awareness.

 

wow, I don't think I've ever seen someone drawing parallels between Luke's treatment of (the) droids and his view on Vader


the parallel is probably not directly intentional, it might just be consistency in Luke's character that he's basically nice to everyone. Even to Jabba, even though that comes across as arrogance.

 

It is true that the people in star wars don't really treat droids as there equal. They're just tools.
Luke is nice to everybody even to droids. It's a Skywalker's thing. Look at his father, he always treats R2 with loving care. He cheers for him: " yeah, you got him R2!"
Or else defend him " euhm no miswiring jokes, he's trying!"
Ah those skywalkers
Masteryoda5 [face_alien_1]

 

I think the way Luke is treating droids was shown only to emphasize his good nature and respect for everything... er, not only alive, but at least not motionless. But points that were made about it, and Luke's attitude to Vader are really interesting.
See, when Obi-wan says that Vader is "more of a machine than human, twisted and evil", it sounds rather despiseful than pitiful - which, I think, would be more appropriate attitude for a Jedi, not to mention that he was talking about his friend.

 

While an interesting parallel, I don't think it was intentional. Luke's treatment of the droids goes back to their origins as Hidden Fortress characters. In that film, they're the servants, the lowliest of low on the social pecking order, basically akin to slaves, which creates a contrast when the epic events involving the highest of the high, are seen through their eyes. It was Lucas's intention to repeat this theme with Star Wars, which is why everyone else treats droids like ****. So when Luke treats them like equals, like human beings, it makes him look like the hero he's supposed to be.

It's a subtle thing, but with enormous impact when brought to mind. Try watching the movies envisioning the droids as human servants/slaves. That's the intended symbolism.

 

And to continue that thread, when Anakin becomes Vader, although he keeps Artoo with him, he hardly gives him a moment's notice. On Mustafar he orders him to "stay with the ship", a contrast to his more kindly directives to Artoo earlier in the film. Also, in the novel, Threepio is conversing with Artoo on Padmé's verandah - when Anakin informs her about his mission to Mustafar - when Anakin leaves abruptly, seemingly indifferent to whether or not Threepio managed to say goodbye to his friend.

The whole hatred towards droids thing could be a result of the Clone Wars. The EU has mentioned that species such as the Neimoidians kept a relatively low profile after the war, and the member races of the CIS were likely looked upon with little favour by the citizens of the Empire (which at this point is still the "safe and secure society" of Palpatine's empty promises. Droids wouldn't fare well against the former Republic-turned-dictatorship.

EDIT: It's also worth noting Obi-Wan calls Artoo "my little friend", and seems well inclined towards both droids. Could be a Jedi trait, if not for Yoda's apparent dislike of poor Artoo on Dagobah.

 

think there was a whole story in the old marvel comic about how droids are third class citizens but Luke treated them as equals and friends and the villain was enraged by it.

 

I noticed some time ago Luke's kindness to the droids, but never connected it to Vader's redention. Nice point!

 

It was things like that that made little girls in the 1970s fall in love with Luke. *Sigh*

 

It just shows Luke is pure of heart, the polar opposite of his father, who let ego and desire cloud his judgment every step of the way.

Luke was often about what he could do for other people whereas Anakin was often about what he could do for himself.

 

An excellent thread. I've always been aware the Luke's treatment of the droids was different, but hadn't thought so deeply about it. I think masteryoda5 has it right - Luke's treatment of "lower class" beings parallels Anakin's. Anakin builds C3PO, and seems to see R2 as a valued friend/companion.

Certainly the view that Vader was more machine and that has a parallel is not the intended one. It was about the good that Luke still knew was in his father, not about what percent of his body was human vs. machine.

Luke's view of the droids seems to be more what the Jedi way should be. Though Obi-Wan does show R2 kindness, and I think Yoda was being playful with R2 and putting on a show for Luke moreso than mistreating R2.