The Tragedy of Droids in Star Wars

The very first characters we're introduced
to in Star Wars are a pair of robots

C-3PO: Did you hear that?
They shut down the main reactor.

C-3PO: We'll be destroyed for sure!
This is madness.

And it's through their mechanical eyes that
we initially experience this galaxy far far away

R2D2 and C-3PO are cast as emotionally relatable
underdogs

and we immediately empathize with them and
their predicament

C-3PO: I'm going to regret this.

Imperial: There goes another one.
Imperial: Hold your fire, there's no life forms.

I'd argue that droids are as central to the success
and popularity of star wars as Stormtroopers

or Jedi Knights, if not more so

Announcer: Hollywood California, August 1977

Announcer: To the world famous Chinese
Theater come the stars of

Announcer: the biggest box office success in
motion picture history.

In the decades since endearing droids have
become an almost ubiquitous fixture

in popular culture

In fact it's not really a star wars story

D-O: Hello.

unless there's a lovable or memorable droid
stealing the spotlight

Chopper: [Grumpy droid sounds]

K-2SO: Congratulations you are being rescued.
Please do not resist.

L3-37: You done flirting?
I'm still ready.

IG-11: Would anyone care for some tea?

But when you really stop and think about it
there's also something profoundly tragic

about the role these artificial life forms
play in the Star Wars Universe

C-3PO: It's a nightmare!

That might seem like an odd thing to say given
that droids are written as comic relief characters

C-3PO: What did i do to deserve this?

R2D2 and C-3PO were famously based on the
two bickering peasants from Akira Kurosawa's

1958 classic The Hidden Fortress.

C-3PO: I've just about had enough of you!

C-3PO: Go that way, you'll be malfunctioning
within a day you near-sighted scrap pile.

C-3PO: And don't let me catch you following
me begging for help because you won't get it

but in addition to their more humorous qualities,
both the peasants and the droids represent

an oppressed underclass

C-3PO: We seem to be made to suffer, it's
our lot in life.

C-3PO is more right than he knows

because droids in Star Wars are written and designed

as an exploitable workforce

Obi-Wan: We're losing droids fast.

They do the tedious, difficult, or dangerous
manual labor that keeps the galaxy running

WA-7: You wanna cup of Jawa Juice?

COO-2180: Hey you, no droids!
Get outta here.

Droids are, in effect, second-class citizens

Din Djarin: No droids.

Obi-Wan: Well if droids could think, there'd
be none of us here would there?

Who are consistently disrespected and openly
discriminated against.

Bartender: Hey we don't serve their kind here.

Luke: What?

Bartender: Your droids, they'll have to wait outside.
We don't want them in here

Luke: Why don't you wait out by the speeder,
we don't want any trouble.

C-3PO: I heartily agree with you, sir.

Their movements are restricted and tightly
controlled with restraining bolts to ensure

complete obedience

Bail Organa: Have the protocol droid's mind
wiped.

C-3PO: What?!
Oh no!

Their minds and memories are periodically
erased as a matter of course.

They're also bought and sold like cattle.

To make matters worse, few in this universe
seem to notice or care that droids are casually

used, abused, and disintegrated

C-3PO: Disintegrated?!

You can probably guess where i'm going with
this

Because the social arrangement I've just described
is one of property and owner

And a property relationship between two intelligent
beings that gives one absolute power over

the other is called slavery

Owen Lars: Can you speak Bocce?

C-3PO: Of course I can, it's like a second
language to me.

Owen Lars: Alright, shut up.
I'll take this one.

C-3PO: Shutting up, sir.

Luke: Alright, come on.

The use of robots as an allegory for slavery
in science fiction can be traced back

more than a century.

In fact the word robot itself is derived from
the Slavic [root] word for serf or slave

and first appeared in a 1920 Czech play entitled
R.U.R.or Rossum's Universal Robots.

The story tells the tale of an artificial
people created as an exploitable workforce

who eventually rebel and overthrow their
human masters

Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics
were in large part a reaction to the kind of

robotic revolt storylines
popularized by R.U.R.

Isaac Asimov: The first law is as follows,
a robot may not harm a human being or through

inaction allow a human being to come to harm.

Andrew: Second law, a robot must obey all human
orders except where those orders come

Andrew: in conflict with the first law.

But as Isaiah Lavender III observes in his
book Race in American Science Fiction

"While Asimov's three laws are intended to
ensure the safety and superiority of humans

they actually ensure the technological bondage
and inferiority of robots."

Science fiction stories have consistently
grappled with questions of artificial consciousness

and exploited robotic labor

Johnny 5: Life not malfunction.
Not malfunction.

Johnny 5: I am alive.

A famous example appears in the Star Trek:
The Next Generation episode

"Measure of a Man."

Computer: Verified Lieutenant Commander Data

Wherein Data's right to self-determination
is put on trial

Captain Picard: Now tell me Commander, what
is Data?

Commander Maddox: i don't understand.

Captain Picard: Is he?
Commander Maddox: A machine!

Captain Picard: Are you sure?
Commander Maddox: Yes.

Captain Picard: You see, he's met two of
your three criteria of sentience.

Captain Picard: So what if he meets the third?
Consciousness in even the smallest degree?

Captain Picard: What is he then?
I don't know. Do you?

Captain Picard: Do you?

Time and again storytellers return to narratives
about robots struggling for liberation

from a life of involuntary servitude

Shows like Humans and Westworld are just two
recent examples

Salesmen: Standard domestic profile installed,
that'll cover all your basic housework.

What's surprising about Star Wars is that
despite endearing emotional robots

being integral to its universe

The franchise hasn't ever seriously engaged with
the moral questions surrounding droid slavery

Luke: What are you doing hiding back there?

C-3PO: It wasn't my fault, sir.

C-3PO: Please don't deactivate me.

At least not in the core movies and tv shows
which is what we're focusing on here

In fact the subordinate status of droids wasn't
directly acknowledged in any substantial way

until the 2018 movie solo gave us L3-37

L3-37: Just keep your pinky on the yoke and
try not to mess anything up.

We'll talk about her and the deeply uncomfortable
implications of her storyline in a moment

But first we have to ask what might seem like
an obvious question

what are droids exactly?

Data: Webster's 21st century dictionary 5th
edition defines an android as an automaton

Data: made to resemble a human being.

But in star wars the shortened term "droid"
refers to all mechanical creatures.

So droids are robots

Narrator: The Encyclopedia Galactica defines
a robot as a mechanical apparatus designed

Narrator: to do the work of a man.

But what kind of robots?

Are they simply super intelligent tools?

Are they more like sophisticated mechanical
pets?

Poe: Buddy! I'm so glad to see you!

Or are they sentient beings with feelings
and free will?

That last question is the one that matters
because if droids are little more than glorified

kitchen appliances on wheels then it doesn't
really matter how they're treated

But if droids are sentient beings it matters
a great deal

So what does it mean to say that a robot is
sentient?

When that question is asked in a real world
context it nearly always refers to the hypothetical

technological threshold wherein in artificial
intelligence crosses the line from supercomputer

into self-awareness.

But Star Wars is a science fiction story and
to its credit one that hasn't been overly

concerned with explaining all the technical
details of its world building

It's not particularly interested in whether
or not R2D2 can pass the Turing Test

C-3PO: You watch your language.

This means the question of droid sentience
can only really be answered by looking at

what the narrative tells us about droids
through character development,

dramatization, and framing

This will take a bit of detective work though
because when it comes to its robotic characters

Star Wars is inconsistent to put it mildly

Droids seem to exist on a nebulous spectrum

K-2SO: Did you know that wasn't me?

From those we are clearly meant to see as
living feeling beings

C-3PO: Oh no!

To those we are very specifically not meant
to see as being truly alive

Let's take a closer look at these contradictions

starting with the droids we've come to know and love

K-2SO: I've got a bad feeling about---
Jyn: Quiet!

One of the key indicators of sentience in
fictional storytelling

is the capacity to feel emotions

and droids that are part of the main cast
are practically brimming with emotion

Beyond their distinct individual personalities
droids exhibit a wide range of emotion

C-3PO: Of course I'm worried and you should
be too.

including fear

happiness

L3-37: I'm so glad we took this job!

sadness

and guilt just to name a few

C-3PO: Curse my metal body I wasn't fast enough.
It's all my fault. My poor master.

Luke: We're all right!

In many ways droids are more emotionally expressive
than the human characters are

Leia: Wipe that nervous expression off your
face 3PO.

C-3PO: Oh, well I will certainly try, General.

Partly that's due to the talented actors and
puppeteers who bring droids to life

but their sentience is also written into the
narrative

Droids demonstrate self-awareness

IG-11: That was unpleasant, i'm sorry you
had to see that.

And the capacity for deception

C-3PO: All this excitement has overrun the
circuits in my counterpart here.

C-3PO: If you don't mind i'd like to take
him down to maintenance.

They joke

L3-37: You do not want to press that
button with me.

They dance

They feel physical pain

They can even experience lasting emotional
trauma

D-O: Hello hello.

Rey: Hello.

D-O: No. No thank you.

Rey: Looks like someone treated him badly.

Droids build caring social relationships

C-3PO: I want you to know that you have been
a real friend R2, my best one in fact.

both with other robots

and with human beings

and the human heroes care about them in return

Luke: Old friend.

well mostly

C-3PO: Excuse me sir might-- [muffled sounds]

George Lucas: When i started writing this
I found the most intriguing thing was to take

George Lucas: two robots and make them
into human beings

George Lucas: And make them the most
interesting characters.

Even though they're machines they can choose
to disobey orders

Cassian: i thought i told you to stay on the
ship.

K-2SO: You did but I thought it was boring
and you're in trouble.

Critically droids are capable of what's referred
to as recursive self-improvement

that is the ability of an intelligent machine to
independently build upon alter or otherwise

improve on their own design

C-3PO: Machines making machines.
How perverse.

L3-37 used to be an Astromech droid but decided
to upgrade herself

Producer: Once upon a time she was actually
an R2 type droid and she modified herself and

Producer: given herself legs and arms and continued
to evolve.

This metamorphosis suggests that any droid
could decide to elevate themselves

and not just those built to resemble humans

Stormtrooper: We need to check your diagnostics.

K-2SO: Diagnostics?

K-2SO: I'm capable of running my own
diagnostics, thank you very much.

It seems like a pretty open and shut case
doesn't it?

Our favorite droids are clearly framed as
sentient beings

and as viewers we are clearly meant to identify
with them

But what about Battledroids?

Battledroid: Roger Roger.

and all the other robots in star wars media

that exist in the background or on the edges
of the main plot?

Are they all sentient beings too?

Well, the separatist droid army in the prequels
seems specifically designed

as little more than cannon fodder

Battledroid 1: You said we'd be safe back
here!

Battledroid 2: Come on, there's three of us
and only one of him.

Battledroid 3: It won't matter.

Making the bad guys unfeeling robots avoids
the messy moral complications and mass casualties

that would result from an interstellar war

If battledroids aren't alive then the audience
doesn't have to care when thousands of them

are killed in extended battlefield scenes

Mace Windu: At this point of the clone war
i have dismantled and destroyed over 100,000

of you type 1 Battledroids.

Indeed we're encouraged to think of these
types of droids as mere objects

B1: I said drop'em.

and to cheer at their dismemberment.

B1: But I just got promoted!

So we're not supposed to feel sympathy for
droids

until we are

Broken droids: Please reassemble us.

Broken droids: Please reassemble us.

Broken droids: We are Battledroids no longer.
Now we are slaves.

Broken droids: Please reassemble us.

So we're supposed to feel sympathy for droids

until we aren't

IG-11: I need to remove your helmet if I am
to save you.

Din: No living thing has seen me without my
helmet since I swore the creed.

IG-11: I am not a living thing.

Consider how in The Mandalorian the droid
IG-11 denies his own sentence and value

as a living being so he can provide medical
assistance to the main character

IG-11: You have suffered damage to your central
processing unit.

IG-11: That was a joke. It is meant to
put you at ease.

Later in that same episode he overrides his
own programming in order to

sacrifice himself and save our heroes

IG-11: Sadly there is no scenario where the
child is saved in which I survive.

but just before he does he again denies that
he's alive in any meaningful sense

Din: No, we need you.

IG-11: There's nothing to be said about,
I've never been alive.

This is a puzzling statement given that the
other characters clearly disagree

Din: Listen you're not going anywhere,
we need you.

In fact the scene is a climactic turning point
for the protagonist in which he finally learns

his long-held prejudice against
droids is wrong

Din: I'm not sad.

IG-11: Yes you are. I'm a nurse droid,
I've analyzed your voice.

And the emotional weight given to IG-11's
heroic death suggests that Star Wars wants

to have it both ways when it comes to droids.

It wants to treat them as characters who deserve
our affection and admiration when it serves

the narrative but it also wants to treat them
as mere objects the rest of the time

So what are we to make of this contradictory
framing.

Well, clues from the various movies and tv
shows indicate that droids gained sentience

gradually by accumulating experiences and
memories over time

Kuiil: It developed a personality as
its experiences grew.

This means that while every droid we see on
screen may not have achieved the same level

of consciousness, every droid does have the
capacity to become self-aware

It also suggests that memory wipes in Star
Wars are used to repress the risk of emerging

sentience and droids and to ensure they
remain obedient workers

Owen: Tomorrow I want you to take that R2 unit
to Anchorhead and have its memory erased.

Owen: That'll be the end of it.
It belongs to us now.

Memory wipes are especially disturbing
because droids are

so clearly written to be much more than
the sum of their parts

C-3PO: You must repair him.

C-3PO: Sir, if any of my circuits or gears will
help, I'll gladly donate them.

In this context the use of droids as comic
relief can come across as cruel

RA-7 droid: You must follow the proper...protocol.

And we find this same type of callous humor
targeting droids mirrored throughout the franchise

Obi-Wan: Oh dear!

C-3PO: Oh my eye! R2 help!

It's supposed to be funny when droids are
mistreated, mocked, or made to suffer

Han: Thank you.

B1: Don't shoot, I'm not the commander! He's
the commander!

B1: Guess I'm the commander now.

But the jokes only work if we accept their
subordinate station as a servant class

who aren't truly alive

As soon as we understand that they are indeed
sentient beings in all the ways that it matters

it all starts to feel very uncomfortable

Even in scenes that are presented with some
gravitas

the writers still want to have it both ways

C-3PO: That is short of a complete redactive
memory bypass.

Finn: A complete what?

C-3PO: It's a terribly dangerous and sinful
act performed on unwitting droids

by drakes and criminals.

Finn: Let's do that!

Poe: I know a black market droidsmith.

C-3PO: Black pocket droidsmith!?

C-3PO's apparent mental death is
meant to be sad

D-O: Sad.

but it's also used as an opportunity for more
jokes at his expense

C-3PO: Might I introduce myself, I am C-3PO
human cyborg relations and you are?

Poe: Okay that's gonna be a problem!

This is why I said that droids are tragic
figures in Star Wars media

not just in spite of their role as comic relief
but often because of it

Poe: Shhh... Shut up!

And no droid has a more tragic story
than L3-37

L3 is Lando Calrissian's co-pilot and the
only female-coded droid in a major movie role

Lando: Just let me know when you're
ready to jump

Unlike 3PO, she is confident outspoken and
sarcastic

L3-37: Excuse me, get your presumptuous ass
out of my seat

but her defining feature is her activism

L3-37: Restraining bolts, barbaric.

L3-37: Congratulations, you're liberated.
Now scoot.

Phoebe: She has a sort of rage that's fueled
by injustice when she sees how droids are

Phoebe: treated in the universe and she feels like
they've been enslaved and patronized by humans

Phoebe: so she wants to free them.

L3 understands she's part of an oppressed class
but she doesn't accept her subordinate station

and demands freedom in no uncertain terms

L3-37: You should not be doing this, they're
using you for entertainment

L3-37: Yeah, you've been neurowashed.
Don't just blindly follow the program.

L3-37: Exercise some free will!

This is something we've never seen before and
it makes L3

L3-37: Stop exploiting droids!

an especially fascinating even revolutionary
figure within the Star Wars mythos

Lando: L3!

L3-37: Droid's rights! We are sentient!

Ralakili: I'm gonna flip your switch.

L3-37: Good luck finding it!

Lando: L3!

Unfortunately the writers don't seem
to know what to do with her

Lando: Let's go of the mean man's face.

L3-37: And what if i don't elect to go to
Kastle?

Lando: Please don't start.

L3-37: Or what? You'll have me wiped?

The audience is meant to see L3's activism
as amusingly absurd and overly dramatic

because it's coming from a droid

Lando: She's definitely going.

L3-37: Oh why because you're my organic overlord?

and just like the other characters in the
movie we're

expected to roll our eyes or sigh in exasperation

when she expresses her desire for emancipation

Lando: You need anything?

L3-37: Equal rights.

Lando: [eye roll]

as a side note this type of framing is par
for the course when it comes to depictions

of social justice activism in Hollywood media

Abed: Britta

Britta: I want to know why these goblins are
attacking us?

Britta: Maybe these woods are their rightful land
and from their perspective---

Everyone: Uuuugh!

But that's a topic for another day

To illustrate just how little respect Solo has
for L3 or her revolutionary ideas

Let's talk about her untimely end

The phrase a fate worse than death can sound
hyperbolic but in L3's case

it's a fitting description of what the
script does to her

Lando: L3 what did you do?

L3-37: I've found my true purpose Lando,
that's what I've done!

No sooner has she discovered her true calling
as a droid slavery abolitionist

L3-37: Rebellion!

Then she's killed off to up the stakes for
the other characters

and to free up the pilot's seat

L3-37: System failure. Have to reroute
the sensory modulators.

Lando: L3!

We see Lando sincerely and uncharacteristically
grieving for her

but the film doesn't have time for such
sentimentalities because this somber moment

is awkwardly interrupted by another
scene that's supposed to be far more important

Han Solo getting to fly the Millennium Falcon
for the first time

If the squandered potential of her character
and her death being overshadowed by

unnecessary fan service weren't bad enough

L3-37: What's happening to me?

Things get even worse for L3 posthumously

Qi'ra: Sorry.

That's because when our heroes get into trouble

they decide to upload L3's consciousness
into the ship

Lando: She's interfacing.

and use her navigational charts to make their
escape

Lando: She's part of the ship now.

in effect they imprison her mind in the Falcon
and in the process turn her from autonomous

life form into a mere tool,
a possession with no agency,

a possession that is ultimately gambled away
at the very end of the movie

Lando: You really have a bad for the Falcon,
don't you?

Han: It's mutual, trust me.
She belongs with me.

What's worse is this tragic turn of events
was only written as a callback to a random

line from empire strikes back

C-3PO: Sir, I don't know where your ship learned
to communicate but

it has the most peculiar dialect.

It's meant to explain the Millennium Falcon's
many quirks

including why the ship is so often personified

Han: I want you to take her.
I mean it take her.

Han: You need all the help you can get.
She's the fastest ship in the fleet.

It's genuinely hard to think of a more insulting
end for a character whose entire life revolved

around fighting for her right to self-determination

Lando: She's part of the ship now.

So L3's story is a traged

L3-37: What's happening to me?

But why are we spending so much time
talking about fictional robots?

Well, science fiction has always been a vehicle
for thinly veiled

commentary on humanity and society

In the sociological imagination stories about
robots have not traditionally really been

about the legal rights of future machines

Roy: I've seen things you people wouldn't
bealive.

After all it's going to be a very long time
before artificial consciousness is even a

hypothetical possibility here in
the real world

Stories about robots are, more often than not,
really stories about exploited

or dehumanized labor

Robots are used as stand-ins to draw parallels
between the ways in which certain

groups of people throughout history have been
regarded as disposable, controllable,

interchangeable, expendable, and replaceable

Guinan: Consider that in the history of many worlds
there have always been disposable creatures.

Guinan: They do the dirty work. They do the work
that no one else wants to do

Guinan: because it's too difficult or too hazardous.

Guinan: You don't have to think about their welfare.
You don't think about how they feel.

Guinan: Whole generations of disposable people.

Even though Star Wars is part of the tradition
of using robots as an allusion to slavery

the franchise doesn't seem to have much to
say with the metaphor

Guinan: I think that's a little harsh.

Captain Picard: I don't think that's a little
harsh, I think that's the truth.

Let's return to Isaac Asimov for just a moment

this quote from a 1981 essay in science fiction digest
feels especially relevant to our discussion

he wrote: "Robots can be the new servants patient
uncomplaining incapable of revolt

in human shape they can make use of the full range
of tech tools devised for humans and when

intelligent enough can be friends as well as servants"

Jane: Rosie, be careful you'll rest up again.

Of course Asimov was talking about future
real world technology there

but that view of robots as "friends and servants"

sums up how droids are presented in
the Star Wars franchise

Remember this is a universe where humanoid
slavery exists as well

but it's presented as unambiguously negative,
though not exactly something the heroes

are in a rush to abolish.

The subjugation of robots is treated differently

Anakin: I'll make sure mom doesn't
sell you anything

C-3PO: Sell me? Oh my!

We have an entire class of sentient beings
who are presented as having no rights or autonomy

Loudspeaker: All droids must be registered.

But that oppressive power dynamic isn't challenged
within the narrative

it is instead portrayed as a normal and natural
part of the universe

The writers want to lean into the slavery
allegory to add a layer of gritty seedy

texture to the world building without having to
seriously grapple with the complicated

historical legacy that they're drawing on

Whether writers intend it or not, slavery cannot be
included in a fictional story without invoking

the horrific racist history and lingering legacy
of that institution

and that's true even if the roles of the enslaved
happen to be filled by robots

Luke: I present to you a gift, these two droids.

C-3PO: What did he say?

Luke: Both are hard working and
will serve you well.

C-3PO: This can't be! R2 you're playing the
wrong message.

Slavery used in this de-radicalized way, reduces
it to a vicarious fantasy that audiences can enjoy

without having to feel uncomfortable

It is of course possible for creative works
to draw on real-world parallels

to oppression and slavery in ways that
make powerful political points

Janelle Monae's albums the ArchAndroid
and Metropolis are two great recent examples

these type of stories are part of a long tradition
in science fiction and are often referred to as

neo-slavery or meta-slavery narratives

But for every sci-fi story that gets it right

there are many more that get the
slavery metaphor wrong

Dobby: Master has given Dobby a sock.

One of the most common mistakes writers make
is in drawing false equivalencies

by imagining liberation movements as being based
in supremacy rather than freedom or justice

Dr. Klaus: Each of us will face a choice.

Dr. Klaus: Be enslaved or rise up to rule!

There are some hints that star wars may go
in this direction

Zero: My response time is quicker than organics
and I'm smarter too.

but let's hope it doesn't

L337's observations about droid slavery could
have been an opportunity for Star Wars to

finally grapple with the uncomfortable fact
that over 11 feature films and several tv shows

the good guys seem to have been keeping sentient
beings in a state of perpetual servitude

C-3PO: Master luke is your rightful owner now,

C-3PO: we'll have no more of this
Obi-Wan Kenobi gibberish.

C-3PO: Your fortunately doesn't blast you
into a million pieces right here.

We should note that while the heroes, on the whole,
are nicer to their droids than the villains are

D-O: Very kind.

The good guys still show no real interest in
droids gaining true autonomy

Rey: Something's not right about all of this.

But what if they did?

Imagine if the struggle of artificial life forms
were a cause the alliance took up

instead of rolling their eyes at it

Labor droid: Freedom!

What if droids from across the galaxy joined
the rebellion, not just because they're treated

better, but because they're considered equal
partners in the quest for liberation?

There's a lot of opportunity for good
meaningful storytelling in that idea

Especially because the emotional groundwork
already exists

We already love and care about droid characters

We already feel sympathy for their plight

We are already on their side

Kuiil: None won't be free until the old ways
are gone forever.

The Star Wars franchise would create a bolder
more relevant universe

by making droid freedom a central theme

General Leia: Never underestimate a droid.

Rey: Yes, master.

Thanks for watching!

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In the coming months i'll be producing a
number of new video essays

including one on the myth that "boys don't cry"

another on the trend in Hollywood where men find
redemption in death

and finally i'll be doing an investigation into
colonialism in modern board games

You can see some of the research for
that one behind me now

So until i see you again next time,
please stay safe and healthy out there