Look, it’s obvious we have kind of met in the middle. We both agree none of this was intentionally racist or even a good example of stereotypes in some cases. The issue for me is that enough people like myself have seen these movies and did see some quite startling stereotypes that made us uncomfortable.
My last words on the topic is that there will always be such issues from time to time because, as you say, film makers borrow all the time from each other. It is my hope that they will take a little extra time to minimize the potential problems their creations can produce.
Agreed.
Some real-life comparisons will always accompany alien characters such as Tuskens, Hutts, Neimoidians, etc. for a multitude of reasons (that we have both suggested); whether through artistic laziness, artistic imitation of old insensitive films, coincidence, or even pareidolia. But I completely agree that regardless of why/how a character (like Watto) ended up being as they are, it couldn’t have hurt for Lucas and his team to have listened to some proper feedback and then made a few minor adjustments. I’ve harped a lot on the importance of intent (though we seem to agree on that point), however I’m not completely ignoring the importance of outcome.