Esoteric Star Wars VI: Human-Cyborg Relations

From "Star Bores: Re-Hash of the Jeti" published in "Mad Magazine" #242, October 1983. Written by Dick DeBartolo, illustrated by Mort Drucker

Sixteen years after this was published we found out that C-3PO is the brother of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, in a way, when we learned that he was the art/science project of nine year-old Anakin Skywalker in "The Phantom Menace". He is the creation of an overt messiah figure, and one can think of few motifs in mythology as significant as the ability to create life from inert matter.

This revelation about C-3PO is I imagine still somewhat controversial. But I find it adds a lot of interest to his role and his underlying purpose in the Star Wars saga. Just to save myself from typing extra letters I write the Droids' names using the numerics, but just as frequently we see their names written out, Artoo ("little Arthur") and Threepio or even See-Threepio, combining trinity and eye/seeing symbolism in the name alone. 3PO is a divine figure. The Ewoks knew what they were talking about. We can even observe this Holy Robot phenomenon in the most seemingly innocuous of locations, like this unauthorized item of merchandise from circa 1981, described as a lamp, and I'm guessing made in China or Taiwan.



Which I found in a list of 10 Unauthorized C-3PO Collectibles, See-Threepi-fauxs from a galaxy far, far away. A golden, Art Deco robotic, space Buddha that lights up. If you found some of the items on that list to be ridiculous, note that many of the licensed uses of the character for various products are only marginally less silly.



He's thinking about girls underwear based on himself.




Like his partner R2-D2, 3PO is one of the most important icons and figures in the Star Wars saga, a fact that I feel is somewhat veiled by his fussy mannerisms and comedic value. 3PO is frequently used throughout the films to provide humor and levity. But as important as that role is in any work of popular entertainment, it is only one aspect of his character. His importance can be testified by his position in the films as the speaker of the first and last lines of dialog ("Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure!" in "A New Hope" and "What? Oh, no." in "Revenge of the Sith"). I also feel that he gets many of the best lines.

As stated previously, R2 and 3PO were initially conceived as a space opera take on the p.o.v. peasants Tahei and Matakishi from Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress". Like R2, 3PO translated relatively unchanged from the initial concept to his presentation in the films.


Art by Ralph McQuarrie

His visual inspiration came from the robotic gynoid from Fritz Lang's sci-fi chamber film classic "Metropolis" from 1927, truly the mother of all movie robots. She's sometimes called Maria after the woman in "Metropolis" she was built to duplicate.



The design of C-3PO is perhaps the readiest example of the strong influence of aesthetic principles in Star Wars from related design movements Art Nouveau, Futurism and Art Deco. In describing the sources and attributes of the latter, Wikipedia states:

"The structure of art deco is based on mathematical geometric shapes. It was widely considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources. Among them were the, so called, "primitive" arts of Africa, Ancient Egypt and Aztec Mexico, as well as Machine Age or streamline technology such as modern aviation, electric lighting, the radio, the ocean liner and the skyscraper. These design influences were expressed in fractionated, crystalline, faceted forms of decorative Cubism and Futurism, in Fauvism's palette."

And noting the overt solar character of C-3PO's design, the article observes how solar symbolism is inherent in the movement, "Some of these motifs were ubiquitous — for example, sunburst motifs were used in such varied contexts as ladies' shoes, radiator grilles, the auditorium of the Radio City Music Hall, and the spire of the Chrysler Building". Art Deco developed concurrent with Streamline Moderne, and both informed the look of what has come to be termed Raygun Gothic and the oxymoronic Retro-futurism. While perhaps not as obvious an example of the genre as "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" or "The Rocketeer", Star Wars not only fits into this category of aesthetics, but furthered it, greatly propelling its influence on world culture. 3PO is no mere clockwork man. He's a Cartier.

3PO was inducted into The Robot Hall of Fame in 2004 alongside Astroboy, Robby the Robot and ASIMO. Maria didn't make it in until 2006. The induction ceremonies have been emceed more then once by 3PO portrayer Anthony Daniels.



Daniels of course is the actor who portrayed C-3PO in the Star Wars films and nearly all other major appearances of the character. He is notable as being the only actor to perform in all six Star Wars movies. Originally meant only to be the man in the suit, it was decided after listening through many auditions for the vocal part that Daniels' British accent and delivery gave a certain "English butler" quality to the character George Lucas found appealing.

Interestingly, Daniels has a brief cameo part that appears in both "Episode II - Attack of the Clones" and "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith", as Dannl Faytonni, a con man whose partner Achk Med Beq was played by Ahmed Best, the voice actor who portrayed Jar Jar Binks. Note how the character names are tuckerizations of the performers. The name Faytonni (Fay Tony) itself might be a play on words suggestive of a magical, non-human (but human-like) figure, which is truly what C-3PO is.



Daniels personally developed much of Faytonni's back story. The con man aspect of this cameo role is very interesting in more then one way. I find the pairing of Daniels and Best here as featured players making cameos as con artists to be a statement about the fundamentals of their primary characters. Both 3PO and Jar Jar are not really what they seem on the surface level, and this is done purposefully as the viewer is distracted, "conned", by their overt mannerisms.

In my last article, I'm sitting here in pieces and you're having delusions of grandeur!, I mentioned 3PO's highly influential abilities. In fact, his initial treatment by Lucas compared him to a used-car salesman, which is a less-direct manner of saying C-3PO is a con artist. This aspect of his character is especially apparent in "A New Hope". During the time of the initial Star Wars auditions in England, when the part of C-3PO was cast, Daniels was performing in a production of Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" about the deceptive duo from Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

Daniels' second most famous role is likely his vocal performance in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of "The Lord of the Rings" as Legolas (remembering the character name Fay Tony).



The relationship that is developed between Legolas and the dwarf Gimli is a short/squat, tall/thin pairing like R2 and 3PO. Note how Daniels' most prominent roles feature him as half of a dynamic pair. As is also the case with R2-D2, the highly successful portrayal of C-3PO is due to the talented and skillful performance of the actor playing him, entirely obscured through an immobile mask. Daniels' acting similarly comes through in his role as Legolas. While not nearly as popular, the animated Legolas possesses a charisma at least equal to the character in Peter Jackson's (heavily Star Wars influenced) films.

In order to portray the prototypical, "naked" C-3PO in "The Phantom Menace", an appearance making a costumed portrayal impossible, a technique described as a form of Japanese full-figure puppetry was utilized, with the puppeteer subsequently digitally erased.



So Daniels only supplied the vocal performance in that instance. This method was originally utilized again for a portion of "Attack of the Clones", that time with Daniels performing the puppetry work as well. Originally it was written and filmed that 3PO was still unfinished when Anakin and Padmé returned to Tatooine to find Shmi, and it was Padmé who clothed C-3PO in his original coverings. Unfortunately this highly significant, religious moment was cut and refilmed, though there's as much mystical import to the adapted explanation of his coverings being fitted on him by Shmi Skywalker. It is not unlike various confusions between the two Marys.

Having mentioned the car-salesman aspect of C-3PO, and my assertion that George Lucas' autophilia greatly informed the development of his droid protagonists (in R2-D2 what are you?), I find it very interesting, as described by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt on the commentary track of "The Phantom Menace", that the subtle sound we hear when C-3PO moves (his servo-motors) was recorded from the window motors of a 1968 Cadillac El Dorado.



Naturally this model came in gold, as the name El Dorado refers to the legendary South American City of Gold, and literally translates as "the golden man" or "the gilded one".

On the surface level C-3PO is fussy, self-concerned and cowardly. As an artificial intelligence this then represents his programming. He was designed to protect his personal integrity, and this translates as anxious, even existential, statements and actions. But considering his origins and the important role he and R2-D2 play throughout the saga, I have true questions regarding a separation between C-3PO's conscious mind (his personality matrix, primary functioning and behavioral programming) and his sub or super-conscious mind (an underlying higher motivation principle). This super-program would then be an aspect of C-3PO that his consciousness is not directly aware of. And seeing as he was crafted by a nine year-old child, as advanced and gifted as he may have been, we can assume that this artificial soul was created intuitively by Anakin, as a channel of the Force, and as a part of the fulfillment of his prophesied role as the one who would "bring balance to the Force".

Throughout the saga individuals who are strong in the Force are depicted as being exceptional pilots and mechanically adept (though these are not universals). In both cases this seems to be the Force working or being channeled through the adept. Though both the Jedi and the Sith largely describe themselves as "using the Force"  it works the other way around as well, a paradox of the Force verbalized by Obi-Wan as early as "A New Hope". C-3PO is a product and an agent of the Force, seeking to set itself in balance through the incarnation of Anakin Skywalker.

Speaking of the subconscious, the three primary non-human characters of "A New Hope", Chewbacca, 3PO and R2, can also be seen as representative of the Id, Ego and Super-Ego respectively.



When we see them grouped together playing Dejarik (space chess) aboard the Millennium Falcon the Ego suggests to the Super Ego that it let the potentially violent Id win the game, an interesting point considering Obi-Wan concurrently training Luke to interact with the Force in an unconscious, Zen-like manner.