Fat Star Wars Views

General Goods

Jabba the Hutt does show rare moments of charity, however. For instance, in one Expanded Universe story, he prevents a Chevin named Ephant Mon from freezing to death on an ice planet by covering him with his bloated layers of fat; the two are eventually rescued, and Ephant Mon becomes totally loyal to the crime lord, making him the only resident of Jabba's palace that the crime lord trusts.[30] Also, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Jabba seems to have genuine affection for his son Rotta, and is worried by his kidnapping and angered by his supposed death.

One way to see if we are practicing right livelihood is to compare our trade with that of Jabba the Hutt. Jabba has his fat, stubby fingers in many of the pots that led to the dark side. He dealt largely in illegal spice trade—an illicit drug in the Star Wars galaxy. He also transacts business in the slave trade. He has many slaves himself, and some he fed to the Rancor, a creature he kept caged and tormented in his dungeon. Jabba uses deception and violence to maintain his position.[54]

Outside literature, the character's name has become an insulting term of disparagement. To say that someone looks like Jabba the Hutt is commonly understood as a slur to impugn that person's weight and/or appearance.[6] The term is often employed by the media as an attack on prominent figures. For instance, actress and comedian Roseanne endured what W. C. Goodman called vitriolic attacks based on her weight at the hands of The New York Observer columnist Michael Thomas who often compared her with Star Wars blob monster Jabba the Hutt.[55] In an episode of the animated television series South Park titled Starvin' Marvin in Space that aired in 1999, Christian Children's Fund spokeswoman Sally Struthers is portrayed as the Hutt and accused of gorging herself on food relief meant for starving Ethiopians.[56] Another reference appears in the Family Guy episode He's Too Sexy for His Fat when Peter mentions his husky ancestor Jabba the Griffin.[57]

Jabba the Hutt has likewise become a popular means of caricature in American politics. For example, opponents of California Democratic legislator Jackie Goldberg commonly depict the politician as the Star Wars character. The Los Angeles Daily News has caricatured her in cartoons as a grotesquely overweight Jabba the Hutt-like figure and the New Times LA referred to Goldberg as a human Jabba the Hutt who consumes the good while producing the bad. [59] William G. Ouchi uses the term to describe what he sees as the inefficient bureaucracy of the public school system: With all of these unnecessary layers of organizational fat, school districts have come to resemble Jabba the Hutt—the pirate leader in Star Wars. [60]