Boba Fett’s ship is named Slave 1. Or, at least it used to be. A couple of years ago Disney decided to rename it Firespray and I wonder at the choice. In the “real world” I have no doubt that that’s a language disassociation effort – that Disney doesn’t want to have merchandise, stories, or language that references slaves. Cynically I was going to say “I bet they don’t want to even associate themselves with the trademark, but I can’t imagine they’ve canceled it” – but I went and looked it up and actually Disney HAS canceled the trademark!
“In-universe” I guess it doesn’t really matter. I don’t know if there’s canon for why the change occurred. I don’t know if it’s even a change or a retcon. But in-universe, it’d be in character for Disney to have Boba Fett recant in some way, to acknowledge the deeds he’s done, the evils he’s perpetrated, and yes – the slaves he’s captured and sold to evil and reviled gangsters like the still evil and still reviled Boba Fett – and to then reverse course or to explain these sins away. Disney especially, and more broadly all across fiction it seems we want to have not simply morally grey villains, but ones that we relate to – ESPECIALLY if they’ve been deemed “cool” in some way.
As Batman got more and more ferocious, we got to see into the heads of his nemeses more frequently. Boba Fett was cool enough that we wanted to have a series about him, making him relatable and just sort of … grumpy … Maleficent is back, but she’s not that bad, and she’s ALWAYS been that hot … and just recently we’ve got Asajj Ventris popping in and simply “doing the right thing” seemingly out of the blue.
I don’t know if this is Disney trying to take evil out of their lexicon, or if toy companies feel like the merch will sell better if everybody’s a “good guy”, but the stories we tell and retell seem to be moving further and further from black and white, for better or for worse. I’d argue we need our heroes, and heroes imply villains.
We’re certainly into villains in the REAL world.
Just as we move further into the greys in our fiction – in the news, on social media, in politics, and in our Lives – we desire sharper and sharper delineation. No backstory, no context. This one’s good. That one’s bad. No apologies offered or accepted. Othered = demonized and same = someone who can do no wrong. Complications are for fiction. We like the real world simple.
Funny, it’s why I think I tend towards “shallow” entertainment… I know damned well the real world is hard ENOUGH.
Oh MY! That’a a couple BEAUTIES of the classic robOmelette