Established onscreen 46 years later, but sure.
Yeah, I didn't mean like it was an established idea at the time. I'm saying it was a good idea and obviously one that George could have thought up instead of 'droid racism.' The idea of 'machine people drink oil' ended up in Star Wars. It could have started in ANH. They had oil baths already that 'felt good' after all.
I suppose you're right. I do wonder how much of it- especially in dealing with Cal and BD, and by extension, Kay and Nyx (even though Nyx isn't a droid) can be excused away by being a video game and it just being a part of the mechanics. You need your cute, conveniently sized sidekick to do certain things that you can't, but in return, both BD and Nyx are treated quite well by their owners. And in the case of Cal, he doesn't so much "own" BD as he does rescue him and work alongside him.
I actually kind of hate this in video games, by the way. We NEED this stupid little sidekick for mechanical reasons... which were invented so that we would need the sidekick. It's circular game design. I don't want a goofy little sidekick in every game. Nyx does not serve a purpose at all. Nothing that thing does couldn't just be something that Kay does or that doesn't even need to happen.
It's like how games invent reasons to use a grappling hook and then give you a grappling hook. And the reason you have the grappling hook? Because of all the places in the game where you need a grappling hook. God it sucks. I fucking hate grappling hooks in video games so much.
ANYWAY... Yeah, I mean, Nyx is a pet and I think we tend to allow for the idea that animals do not have the level of sentience and self-actualization to be slaves or not slaves, because animals are property. Right or wrong in your own mind doesn't really matter as this is still the socially accepted reality.
BD is a good example of skirting/avoiding the issue by basically making the human and the droid friends/co-workers. They're doing stuff together, rescuing each other, helping each other, and because we don't understand BD and aren't in his circuits, we can assume he wants to be there and is actively choosing to hang around with Cal when he doesn't really need to. That's more comfortable for us than 'Cal finds a droid and starts telling it what to do.'
But they stuck a fucking restraining bolt on R2. That dude was literally captured by slave traders and sold to farmers to go work on the farm. It doesn't get a lot more 'slavery' than that. Threepio as well, of course.
Amidala, who has all her handmaidens (another form of slavery, I guess?)
I don't think so. I think the Handmaids are the equivalent of any other 'household warrior' or even 'Secret Service' style of bodyguard, with the added 'pass for each other' thing. I don't know the lore very well, but I assumed the Handmaids are there by choice.
That said: thinking too hard about droid service and slavery in general in the SW universe leads to bad thoughts for me.
For sure.
Qui-Gon knew. He totally knew.
Classic example of using someone's belief that they're tricking you against them. Qui-Gon got to say what he wanted to say, ostensibly in a politically correct way. Can't talk to the Queen that way, but I can talk to her servant that way... right? While essentially knowing he's getting the information to the person that he wants to hear it. Good stuff.
(assuming there isn't one already)