Slave?

OK, newbie here who's been reading around the forums for a while now. I checked through several pages of the archives, and I didn't see one subject from the 1st movie addressed. Forgive me if I missed it.

Anakin is supposed to be a slave correct? Now when I picture a slave I think of someone working endlessly at menial labor without pay and sometimes cruelly supervised.

Anakin was a slave who seemed to work after school for the local salvage yard. Shmi is never seen working. Anakin and mom have enough money for Ani to constuct several Tatooine equivalents of a Formula 1 racecar. And enough money to build a sophisticated droid. They also eat fresh fruit which I assume would be rather pricey on a desert planet instead of the Tatooine equivalent of rice and bread.

Wouldn't it have made a tad more sense to have Ani and mom actually be treated like slaves? Have them do hard labor under the two suns for a master who at least is verbally abusive, with attacks by Tuscan raiders always a threat. When the Naboo craft has to land in the middle of nowhere, there's an easy setup for Qui Gon and Ani to encounter each other. Then in Ep 2, have the slave owner steal Shmi back from the Lars and end up killing her, leading to a little dark side whooping from Anakin.

I think this does several things. It accentuates the underlying anger within Anakin that would arise from such an upbringing. Having been controlled rather cruelly as a child it would also explain his desire for control shown and his thirst to be in power in the following episodes.

You would still want Anakin to act like a typical happy go lucky kid for the most part so you don't hammer the audience with " this kid's gonna be a psycho Sith when he grows up". Maybe a flash of anger a little stronger than his statement to Padme that he's a person not a slave.

For a guy who had 16 years to think up how to write a story for three movies where he already knew the ultimate ending, Lucas went completely wrong on several key issues. I think this is one big one.
Any comments?

Just cause they were slaves doesn't mean they were treated badly.

Not all slave masters were the hell-bent, abusive, forceful bastards that people say they are. Majority of people who owned slaves only had 1-3 of them. Not enough to really work a field...so they did housework.

Anakin does 'house'work at the shop. Meanwhile, the racer he has being built hasn't been made from purchased parts, but rather salvaged parts from Watto's shop. If they had enough money to buy those parts, they'd live somewhere else.

Lastly, Anakin's true reason's for joining the darkside is more subtle than simply just hating people. He essentially lost his mother at age 9, and believe it or not, sees Padme as a mother figure more than a lover. He's always needed a woman's touch of some kind in his life. Shmi's death is significant. His outburst of rage afterward isn't as much so. It's simply telling us that Anakin has only one other woman in his life, Padme. When she 'turns' on him (ie, chooses integrity rather than power), he loses the last woman in his life and turns. I honestly believe had Shmi been alive, or more of a force in his life, he wouldn't have turned at all. The fact is, he WAS too old. He grew attached to his home, to his mother, and leaving it took him from his normal familiar situation to an alien world that he was only vaguely aware existed.

And the fact he's such a 'happy go lucky' kid, as you say, makes the change that more drastic, which makes it that much more dramatic. And in movie making, drama is good.

Your view of slavery seems to be based on the American model. In fact, this is more Roman, where a fair master could easily keep a relatively happy household.

The definition of a slave is that he is the property of another. That makes no automatic assumption about how that slave is then treated.

It os, of couse, still morally wrong to be enslaved.

Anakin is like Watto's R2 unit... only he can't sprout jets from his feet or extend a rod from his body to insert into a... oh, wait...

😆 😆 😆 😆

but yeah Ush is right 😮

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Your view of slavery seems to be based on the American model. In fact, this is more Roman, where a fair master could easily keep a relatively happy household.

The definition of a slave is that he is the property of another. That makes no automatic assumption about how that slave is then treated.

It os, of couse, still morally wrong to be enslaved.

ok, lets not even get into "well treated slaves". as much as i would like to tear that disgusting oxymoron apart, wrong forum.

and yeah, anakin built 3p0 and the pod racer from salvaged parts. the whole point is we're supposed to think "wow, he took watto's garbage and turned it into a protocol droid and a winning racing pod...what a genius"

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Your view of slavery seems to be based on the American model. In fact, this is more Roman, where a fair master could easily keep a relatively happy household.

The definition of a slave is that he is the property of another. That makes no automatic assumption about how that slave is then treated.

It os, of couse, still morally wrong to be enslaved.

American slaves were not always treated tha tway. Alot of them had fair masters who were kind people.

more of this bullshit about fair slavemasters.
do you people even think about that? please STFU

Originally posted by PVS
ok, lets not even get into "well treated slaves". as much as i would like to tear that disgusting oxymoron apart, wrong forum.

and yeah, anakin built 3p0 and the pod racer from salvaged parts. the whole point is we're supposed to think "wow, he took watto's garbage and turned it into a protocol droid and a winning racing pod...what a genius"

You have such a set view of everything, and it's incredibly negative.

Countrary to what you'd like to believe, there were well treated slaves in Roman times, and oftentimes it was in their benefit to be "bought" by a patron family who could pay for their lifestyles. In a civilization where everyone was two weeks away from starvation, such a system worked and flourished. So the problem here is that you are projecting your bias onto the situation and viewing it in a negative light.

PVS welltreated Slaves is not an oxymoron...and I don't really know why you react so aggressve.

But anyways actually what Obidad said sounds like a better story...i didn't like that scenes at all...they just weren't realistic, or good for the further path of the movie.

Originally posted by PVS
more of this bullshit about fair slavemasters.
do you people even think about that? please STFU

Bullshit? I'm guessing you've never heard of the Romans or of many slavemasters in the south who taught the blacks how to read and some actually paid them? I think that deserves a pic.

NOOB? Dude, PVS has been here for over a year. 🙄

Originally posted by DeVi| D0do
NOOB? Dude, PVS has been here for over a year. 🙄

Ya ,but saying STFU noobs cuz he's wrong, I think that's pretty noobish, don't you agree?

General Clarification:
n00b: Dumbass, troll, etc.
Newb: Short for newbie, as in "newly being".

Originally posted by Darth_Janus
You have such a set view of everything, and it's incredibly negative.

Countrary to what you'd like to believe, there were well treated slaves in Roman times, and oftentimes it was in their benefit to be "bought" by a patron family who could pay for their lifestyles. In a civilization where everyone was two weeks away from starvation, such a system worked and flourished. So the problem here is that you are projecting your bias onto the situation and viewing it in a negative light.

you are an ignorant screwball if you would dare argue that it was humane in any way to own another human being. thats all i have to say to you. good day sir

Originally posted by Hornyman
Bullshit? I'm guessing you've never heard of the Romans or of many slavemasters in the south who taught the blacks how to read and some actually paid them? I think that deserves a pic.

NOOB? did mr. 5/05 just call me a n00b???? thats so cute 😱
and since you just love your little pictures, here's one you should take heed to:

Originally posted by PVS
you are an ignorant screwball if you would dare argue that it was humane in any way to own another human being. thats all i have to say to you. good day sir

NOOB? did mr. 5/05 just call me a n00b???? thats so cute 😱
and since you just love your little pictures, here's one you should take heed to:

😂

Wow. That's just great. You find so many different ways to get aronud the issue at hand.

Yeah, he's a regular debater.

Must have issues to act out like that.

Like this kid.

Originally posted by Hornyman
😂

Wow. That's just great. You find so many different ways to get aronud the issue at hand.

derp derp derp

the 'issue' is anakin's slavery. you know....the topic?

you people should be slaves for your ignorance.
well treated slaves that is. 🙄