For Star Wars fans who had been patiently awaiting the long-anticipated latest film installment – The Last Jedi – Chewbacca’s vegan epiphany likely came as a complete surprise.
What are we talking about? The brown-furred, large creature who has become somewhat of an icon throughout the Star Wars films was shown in a scene by the fire, eating a casual meal. However, this meal came with an animal rights twist. Chewbacca shows a flux of emotion over eating a chicken-like dead animal from the planet.
For the duration of The Last Jedi, Chewbacca and the ‘Porgs‘ are seen together frequently, presumably after sensing and witnessing Chewbacca’s sensitivity for animal welfare and natural disposition for empathy, the Porgs assume a fondness for their monstrous, yet kind-hearted friend. In itself, the friendship of these two very different species is believed to reflect the concept of ‘friends, not food’; how humans and animals can live in harmony with one another, instead of farming and slaughtering the lesser intelligence.
“Chewbacca is hanging out with the Porgs on Ahch-To. He’s gleefully sitting by a fire, a whole, roasted, chicken-shaped corpse in his hand that he’s moments away from putting in his mouth. But then he sees a small group of Porgs looking at him with adorable sorrow. In essence, their CGI-generated eyes are asking how he could possibly eat one of their kin.” Said Joelle Vann for PETA.
After realising that he was about to eat the flesh of another, once-living being, Chewwie ceases his dinner. This moment is truly powerful as it reflects how many people stop eating meat after finding love for an animal such as a cat or a dog. The scene is set to reach a wide audience, and may even prompt a few to consider the animals they eat on earth.
Regardless of the director’s intention for the fireside meal , ‘vegan epiphany’ – as a writer for Inquisitr suggests, “It just hurt his Wookie heart.”
P.S. Chewbacca, we’d love to see you share your vegan cookies with the Porgs!
Image Credit: Star Wars | The Last Jedi
