Star Wars as a Comedy of Humours:

As an over-the-top melodrama, Star Wars is a parody of science fiction, as well as a “Comedy of Humours.” The exaggerated characters are sanguine, bilious or phlegmatic, i.e. named after the “humours” that long-ago physicians viewed as the liquids of the body, which when out-of-balance would cause unique traits to develop. Star Wars is also a “Romance,” in which the characters are placed into one of two categories—either the dark side, or the light side. Because these “humours characters” are so exaggerated, they can also be classified as “Eccentrics,” and in some cases, even as “Grotesques” as seen in the following slide where one “normal” woman stands out simply because she is so ordinary.

Names are the only part of a language that speakers can invent for themselves. The creators of Star Wars were so good at inventing names that we come away feeling we have figured out a foreign language (or several foreign languages) when we toss around such character names as, Boba Fett, Adi Gallia, Hu Yang, and Gardulla the Hutt, along with such place names as Naboo City and Coruscant.

Some of the invented names follow authentic patterns of English word development, as with Darth Vader for “Dark Father,” and Luke Skywalker, where “Skywalker” describes Luke’s job, and Luke relates to words meaning “light” (as in Latin luc and luk) and in Greek leukis meaning “white”). However, most of the created names are just suggestive of an English meaning which in a subliminal fashion helps the audience connect the name to either the characters’ appearance or actions.

For example, our familiarity with the concept of “chewing tobacco” may trigger an almost subconscious mental association to Chewbacca’sbrown, hairy fur, while his species name of Wookie, might trigger us to think of “Whoops!” In contrast, Ewoks are short, violent cannibals, which look like Teddy bears but act like savages. Some names are obviously created as descriptors as with Hevy who during the Clone Wars carries the “heavy guns.” Other names are just Jabba the Hutt “jabbers” as he smokes marijuana from a hookah and speaks a strange language that requires sub-titles. We can understand his names of people and places, but even they are pronounced in a strange fashion. He is a cruel mountain of lava, who makes Princess Leia his Slave Dancer and freezes Han Solo in carbonite. easy to say and to remember as with Yoda. And, surely viewers are waiting for Jar Jar Binks to “blink his eyes.” In spite of their prominence, he’s always bumping into things.

When numbers and letters are used together in a name, we know that machines are being personified. For example, C-3PO is a tall, shiny android who walks stiffly and gingerly, while speaking with a British accent. R2-D2 is a squat metallic grey android who rolls as he squeaks and whistles. Ironically English speakers can make sense out of these squeaks and whistles. BB-8 is an “astromech droid,” the newest name for androids. His domed head stays in place, while his body is a round ball that can roll in any direction. In Android naming, a hyphen separates the “first name” from the “last name.” Thus we have C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8.