Our Conflicted Feelings for R2-D2

Lucas’ droids are halfway between human and inhuman, so we can both love and ignore them

Illustration: Martin Gee

By Jim Davies

“I am your father.” The iconic line from Star Wars, in which Luke Skywalker discovers the real identity of Darth Vader, marks the point in the series when two polar opposites that had been cleanly divided — the Jedi and the Dark Side — are suddenly mixed together in the most personal of ways.

This ambiguity of opposition, which is part of what makes the series so compelling, is well known. There is another example of this opposition, though, that is easier to overlook: Star Wars both humanizes machines, so that we can like them, and dehumanizes them, so we can accept their slaughter.

By the conclusion of the series, we feel a genuine warmth for the droid characters, R2-D2, C-3PO, and BB-8 and a concern for their safety. But why, when we know they are just machines?

LOVABLE?: C-3PO and R2-D2 express emotions and have language, but are foreign enough for us to easily accept the mass killing of other robot characters like them. Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Part of the answer is that R2-D2, BB-8, and C-3PO certainly act as though they have a wide range of feelings. C-3PO, in particular, expresses sadness, happiness, and a lot of worry and stress. In…