Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/27/lawn-jawas-with-solar-charged.html
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I know that controversy == journalism these days, but lawn jockeys? I was thinking “garden gnome” but I guess it’s all about mindset.
It’s the pose. And the fact that “lawn jawa” sounds more like “lawn jockey” than “garden gnome.”
Emphasis mine. I think even the shortest Jawa was taller than that. I remember when Darth Vader appeared at a nearby shopping mall. This was late '77 or maybe '78. He was accompanied by a couple of Jawa “assistants”.
They were cooler than he was.
"A ThinkGeek creation & exclusive "
I assume this means they designed it? So, ThinkGeek is making racists Jawas now.
Though I do concur it is a similar pose. I didn’t know lawn jockeys were necessarily racists. The two I remember people having as a kid were both white jockeys.
But yes, yard “art” is a fine line between tacky and not quite tacky.
They call it a “Lawn Ornament”.
Yes, much taller. Wiki says 1 meter.
Untini!
Time to remind everybody of
A People’s History of Tattooine - Untold and misunderstood stories of racism and droid prejudice from the original Star Wars trilogy
The shortest person in recorded history was 21.5" (54.6cm, or 1’9.5") tall. He was discovered living in a remote village in Nepal in 2012, and died in 2015 at age 75. There are currently one adult man and one adult woman under two feet tall in the world.
This reminds me, I realized something pretty dark about The Phantom Menace.
In the Phantom Menace, Anakin’s mother was a slave. In a galaxy full of cheap and disposable droids, why would anyone own a slave that you have to feed, clothe, and hear whine about everything? Then it hit me what kind of slave she was. And when she got too old to be profitable, she was sold off and married by a decrepit farmer, Cliegg Lars. I guess that sort of shit happens, but rather dark for Star Wars that put in Jar Jar just for kids…
The same trilogy that had Anakin killing off the Jedi toddlers.
I believe lawn jockeys were pretty much all black until, what, the seventies or eighties maybe, when they began to be painted white instead. Much like how the Sambos restaurants changed their murals of “little black Sambo” to a white kid.
Should white (or Jawa) lawn jockeys be considered racist? I dunno - I would defer to African-American commenters and their sensibilities on that.
This belongs on the Phantom Menace Fridge Horror page.
Have you even bothered to ask any Jawas how they feel? I think not! But Cory says they’re weirdly reminiscent, so it’s okay to be upset.
I can’t help thinking of the dwarf Lurkers from Phantasm.
Umm… No?
No, you don’t want to start a conversation with them; what if they turn out to be Jawas for Jesus?
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