Lando: "Everything you heard about me is true..."

Jon Kasdan: "Lando is a pansexual" (on his social media page)

Is this line in the film meant as a confirmation of this Twitter comment? Or is it just a throw away line that didn't mean anything? I don't know, but the fact that this line was featured so prominently in the trailer makes one wonder. True, it isn't confirmed in the film proper that Lando is actually having sex with L337. Yet, even if that were true, that wouldn't necessarily mean Lando was "pansexual" per se. "Pansexual" literally means Lando's character is attracted to and will have intercourse with any one of any age. Since L337 was given the form and personality of an adult female, Lando could still be a heterosexual who simply enjoys playing with his glorified Fleshlight from time to time, especially if one rejects the notion that machines can truly have sentience or possess free will to give consent.

For whatever reason, the issue of AI hasn't come up in the Star Wars Universe, even though they are more advanced technologically than us. I suppose they could have chosen not to allow AI to develop, but the fact that Clone armies and droid armies exist, there is little reason to think they wouldn't have this issue as well. For whatever reason, though, it's been established that it's not an issue. Although dystoplan technology has always been a part of Star Wars, it's hardly known for being particularly "hard sci-fi", so suddenly bringing this issue up in the Star Wars Universe 10 films in seems jarring. They should have left this out of the film altogether.

In a movie based on a Phillip K. Dick novel, this would be a fitting topic. Indeed, this very issue was dealt with 36 years ago in 1982's "Bladerunner", based on a 1968 novel by Dick. The movie got away with the character of Rachel because she was well developed and an integral part of the story. In the 80's on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data the android has sex with a crew member, but in that case, the character of Data was well developed over the course of the series and the question of his sentience was a key element of it. By contrast, the suggestion that Lando is having sex with a robot seems totally random and not in keeping with the character as presented in The Empire Strikes Back. Also, there seems to be a specific reference to a sexual act in Solo, when L337 says: "Do that thing for me again" to Lando. Again, this feels out of place because although there was implied sexual activity between Hand and Leia, or Anakin and Padme, it was always kept off screen and never directly referred to. Some might even say Star Wars has always been a bit prudish. Even sensuality was largely avoided, although we did see Leia in that bikini, Padme in a sexy dress, and Anakin and Kylo shirtless. But it never went further than that. Therefore, the Lando/L337 exchange of dialog seems out of place in Star Wars and there should hardly have been any surprise that some of the audience might not appreciate it.

The two previous examples of Bladerunner and Star Trek: TNG that I alluded overtly represented the same material, yet didn't generate nearly as much controversy than in Solo in 2018, where it is merely suggested. So obviously, the context in which an idea is presented matters, and the foolish muddying of the issue with "pansexuality" (which has other implications) is just stupid on the part of Disney. This implied a level of sexuality (controversial at that) seems to have alienated some family audiences, a key segment of the fanbase.

Any thoughts?