In retrospect it's astonishing that the Jabba/Leia scenes in ROTJ didn't cause a scandal (2025)

Considering Leia being put into a bikini, chained to a horny slug, the "kiss" and the implications of what he may have done to her.

Well, it was the '80's. People didn't start going bat**** crazy over stuff like that until Tipper Gore came along.

Eh. I grew up in the 90's, and yeah I gotta say these scenes are pretty cringeworthy at the best.

Yep. It's actually quite funny, considering these scenes, that ROTJ was together with TPM, the movie most mentioned by people who pretend that Star Wars is mostly for kids.

Well when you're a kid, you don't get it. That sort of thing flies over your head. When you're an adult, though...

Is that actually true, though? I remember being aware of stuff like that since at least the 4th grade. Have kids really changed that much?

Well, for it was when i was around 9.

But i saw rotj waaaaaaaay before that.

Heck, the ROTJ second draft by Larry Kasdan literally invokes the stock phrase "fate worse than death" for what Jabba has in mind for Leia. But back then movies were a lot less stringent about sexuality - it was the hangover of the 1970s, and even films like RoboCop had casual brief nudity. The original Poltergeist has a line suggesting that the teenage daughter is having sex at a motel and nobody bats an eye.

It's not the first time that that was implied, either. In ESB, we see Leia wearing different clothing after the "dinner with Vader" scene. Both Chewbacca and Han are shown being tortured. What happened to Leia? Does Vader just know the worst thing you can do to her is force her to wear dirty clothes?

The original ROTJ novelization had Jabba forcing Leia to kiss him as well.

But she choked him to death with the chains he put on her, which was pretty damn badass, and something I noticed even when I was 11 and saw ROTJ for the first time.

Yeah, but Leia liked gross, ugly men. She married Paul Simon, afterall.

And kissing in SW is "equivalent to a sex scene" in the words of Irvin Kershner.

I guess that all depends on the species. Some aliens may have reproductive organs on their lips. It wouldn't be the strangest thing I've seen. A recent US president had an anus where his mouth should have been.

lol, I've never heard that quote from Kershner, but I'm pretty sure it's referring to the expectations of the out-of-universe audience rather than in-universe romantic gestures.

It was portrayed negatively so I don't see a problem.
Yashahime is airing in 2022 with a romanticized portrayal of a child-grooming ship and rated TV-14, ROTJ is nothing compared to that.

There was no internet back then, but it was a little shocking. My parents didn't care for it.

I just remember everyone commenting on what a great body Carrie Fisher had.

Jabba's pure evil and likes his status trophies: a rancor; a dancing twilek; a chained-up princess on display. Not really for kids but neither is it porn. Anyway, it just makes his death seem all the more deserved.

Some of the scenes may actually be closer to porn than many people realize, in their possible implications.

Especially after considering Jabba's reaction, when Han stepped on Jabba's tail in ANH...

Warning NSFW:

The tail might be either (a part) of Hutt genitalia or at least be a erogenous zone. It also seems to change it's appearance in relation to if the Hutt is in a female or male state (at least according to how Hutt biology and genders worked in Legends).

It's possible that he Jabba used his tail to have sex with Leia, according to the implications of (some of the) scenes in ANH and ROTJ

Another warning, please don't open the Link if you can't stand erotic pictures or can't handle the implications:

https://www.deviantart.com/bellosh101/art/Manga-Jabba-s-Tail-Caresses-Leia-738694526

The implication of Jabba's "Soon you will learn to appreciate me" comment on the sail barge is that he hasn't gone beyond kissing.

Hope that's true, but it could also mean that he did something she didn't react to like he wanted.

Eh, in order for it to be genitalia, it would have to fulfill the same biological function as...male mammalian genitalia...which I don't think is the case.

Also, Randa is shown using his tail as a weapon, and it's mentioned that his skin is thick enough to withstand slashes from Yuuzhan Vong amphistaffs. So, probably not an erogenous zone.

I've always thought he licked his lips because he was threatening to eat Leia. I vaguely recall a comic where he consumes a living human.

He certainly doesn't look like he's got the equipment to perform a deviant sexual act on her. It just looks like he put her in gold because of her royal status but made the outfit skimpy as a way of humiliating her in front of other people.

Perhaps Hutt skin is more robust in this area, because their mating process could possibly be very intense.

I had the impression that the wriggling of the tail, seen in ROTJ, might be a sign of sexual arousal. And Leia apparently wanted to stay away as far as possible especially from this part of his body.

Then....I dunno.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯