Not sure if this has been said yet; both the Fleet Officer and Mara Jade are hot.

I always thought they were more xenophobic than sexist, but maybe back in the 70's when the original trilogy was made there wasn't as much equal employment opportunity, especially in the military.

If my 7/8 year-old memory is to be trusted, Tarkin's wife was the first adversary in the daily comic strips right after A New Hope (although it may be so far back that it wasn't even named that yet) came out.

Both Sexism and Racism (Humanism? Specisism?) may not be explicitly mentioned in the movies, but are rather heavily implied. There are neither aliens nor woman represented visually in the films amongst the empire (to my recollection), while in the first film alone the rebels have several powerful woman, and at the least a more open attitude towards aliens. If I had to guess, I'd imagine that this was a stratagem to further darken the empire, along with the facelessness exhibited by solider and pilot alike, and the lack of any real.... sympathetic characters, Vader in ROTJ aside.

These attitudes began to vary from glossed over to outright evolved past as the EU went along, however. At least that is the impression I have, I'll admit its been a while on much of the books, so I could be off.

Leia was the only powerful woman from the first film, we got a 2nd in RotJ. Not really much in the way of aliens in the military either. The Mon Cals and their cruiser and Nien Numb in the Falcon. I don't recall seeing any more than that. Maybe the rebellion is just as specist and sexist as the empire.

Both Sexism and Racism (Humanism? Specisism?) may not be explicitly mentioned in the movies, but are rather heavily implied. There are neither aliens nor woman represented visually in the films amongst the empire (to my recollection), while in the first film alone the rebels have several powerful woman, and at the least a more open attitude towards aliens. If I had to guess, I'd imagine that this was a stratagem to further darken the empire, along with the facelessness exhibited by solider and pilot alike, and the lack of any real.... sympathetic characters, Vader in ROTJ aside.

These attitudes began to vary from glossed over to outright evolved past as the EU went along, however. At least that is the impression I have, I'll admit its been a while on much of the books, so I could be off.

Leia was the only powerful woman from the first film, we got a 2nd in RotJ. Not really much in the way of aliens in the military either. The Mon Cals and their cruiser and Nien Numb in the Falcon. I don't recall seeing any more than that. Maybe the rebellion is just as specist and sexist as the empire.

Prune Face!

How could you forget Prune Face, you racist!

Everyone always forgets Lando ISN'T the only black guy in the galaxy.

Not really much in the way of aliens in the military either.

How many Bothans died to bring you this information?

Everyone always forgets Lando ISN'T the only black guy in the galaxy.

That guy doesn't count, he's clearly Hispanic. Afro-Cuban at best.

Everyone always forgets Lando ISN'T the only black guy in the galaxy.

"There is another."

Leia was the only powerful woman from the first film, we got a 2nd in RotJ. Not really much in the way of aliens in the military either. The Mon Cals and their cruiser and Nien Numb in the Falcon. I don't recall seeing any more than that. Maybe the rebellion is just as specist and sexist as the empire.

This is an interesting proposition. We humans tend to think that good things go with other good things, and evil things go with other evil things. Certainly Leia was not politically correct when she called Chewie a walking carpet. Also, the presence of powerful women in the Rebellion may be an imperfect indicator. For example, Margaret Thatcher was not part of a particularly feminist government. Neither was Queen Victoria.

Maybe the more interesting question is: What do we want to see? Do we want a sexist Empire (vis-à-vis an inclusive Rebellion) in order to make them more evil (and the rebellion more good? I presume that we all think inclusiveness is good, even if some of us may be more gung-ho about the subject than others. But do we want to explore the nature of goodness, and the nature of evil, or do we want to explore the greyness of any human conflict, where the battle lines may be on one abstract principle (order vs. disorder, or individualism vs. uniformity, depending on how you do read the nature of the conflict), but not on others (inclusiveness vs. stratification, etc.)

All of this is avoiding the entire issue of droid slavery that is rampant throughout the entire Star Wars galaxy.

All of this is avoiding the entire issue of droid slavery that us rampant throughout the entire Star Wars galaxy.

Yes, and the Rebellion seems to be a greater offender on this front than the Empire is.

Everyone always forgets Lando ISN'T the only black guy in the galaxy.

Let's not forget Mace Windu.

There is a good chance the detention officer on the death star didn't know what a wookie looks like or even is. Got to take that into account too before labeling it racist.

edit: but wait there is another....black guy in star wars. The ice cream maker guy! Hasbro even made a toy of him complete with ice cream maker lol.

All of this is avoiding the entire issue of droid slavery that us rampant throughout the entire Star Wars galaxy.

Yes, and the Rebellion seems to be a greater offender on this front than the Empire is.

Nah, you see droids all over the death star in the first movie. In fact, if I remember correctly, that's why C3PO and R2D2 are able to get around, because they pretend to be imperial droids.

There is a good chance the detention officer on the death star didn't know what a wookie looks like or even is.

Wookiee's were a huge part of the slave labor in the Empire, so he knew what one was.

The Imperial officers were all British white men and the hero is a frontier farm boy, read into that what you will.

All of this is avoiding the entire issue of droid slavery that us rampant throughout the entire Star Wars galaxy.

Yes, and the Rebellion seems to be a greater offender on this front than the Empire is.

Nah, you see droids all over the death star in the first movie. In fact, if I remember correctly, that's why C3PO and R2D2 are able to get around, because they pretend to be imperial droids.

Right, but those were happy and fulfilled droids. They had unions, solid contracts, competitive wages, 15-minute breaks every 2 hours, and generous repair-care policies.

Judging a trio of movies from the late 70's early 80's based on modern progressivism is an effort in futility. And more than a little misguided.

I don't know, but the Empire is still sexy to me...

Judging a trio of movies from the late 70's early 80's based on modern progressivism is an effort in futility. And more than a little misguided.

Yes.

But that's not what we're doing.

modern progressivism is more than a little misguided.

You could have just shortened it like that.

I don't know, but the Empire is still sexy to me...

I hear that they're bringing that back.

Judging a trio of movies from the late 70's early 80's based on modern progressivism is an effort in futility. And more than a little misguided.

Yes.

But that's not what we're doing.

It really is. Leia was progressive for the time period all on her own. I mean, she fought back, had attitude, and quite clearly did not belong in the Kitchen. Saying that the Rebellion might be sexist or the movies racist because casting choices from the time period were not up to snuff for Modern PC standards is exactly what I mentioned.

Why do women have small feet? So they can stand closer to the moisture vaporators. #swmisogyny

The discussion has evolved beyond that, to encompass the elements of the EU that better illustrated the standings of both factions. You are correct, analyzing the movies is a bit silly. For all we know castings unions and contracts and other such behind the scenes could have had as much to do with the female to male ratio as an implied or expressed philosophy.

The novels, comics, and video games however did a better job of painting and illustrating the leanings of the factions. The rebels have a bevy of bad*** belles, and aliens abound. On the imperial story you have a few examples of woman officers, and their stories of warring their way up through the ranks. I can only think of one prominent alien officer, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and if he hadn't been relegated off to the edges of things, the GCW probably would have gone a little differently.

Personally I think the EU started as was accepted for the time, and then became more inclusive as time went on. This probably wasn't an intentional change, but more indicative of the changing of the times. I'm glad FFG is picking up there, and giving us options.

The discussion has evolved beyond that, to encompass the elements of the EU that better illustrated the standings of both factions. You are correct, analyzing the movies is a bit silly. For all we know castings unions and contracts and other such behind the scenes could have had as much to do with the female to male ratio as an implied or expressed philosophy.

The novels, comics, and video games however did a better job of painting and illustrating the leanings of the factions. The rebels have a bevy of bad*** belles, and aliens abound. On the imperial story you have a few examples of woman officers, and their stories of warring their way up through the ranks. I can only think of one prominent alien officer, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and if he hadn't been relegated off to the edges of things, the GCW probably would have gone a little differently.

Personally I think the EU started as was accepted for the time, and then became more inclusive as time went on. This probably wasn't an intentional change, but more indicative of the changing of the times. I'm glad FFG is picking up there, and giving us options.

It really is. Leia was progressive for the time period all on her own. I mean, she fought back, had attitude, and quite clearly did not belong in the Kitchen. Saying that the Rebellion might be sexist or the movies racist because casting choices from the time period were not up to snuff for Modern PC standards is exactly what I mentioned.

Why do women have small feet? So they can stand closer to the moisture vaporators. #swmisogyny

WRONG! It's so they don't leave big footprints in your blue milk if they spill it while bringing it from the kitchen.