Why are there so many bottomless pits in Star Wars

Question

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Safety railings in the Star Wars universe

Nearly everywhere in the Star Wars universe there are bottomless pits. (I'm referring to the universe portrayed in the movies.) None of them have railings and people keep falling into them. You'd think they'd realize this is a bad design, but apparently not.

Why are there so many bottomless pits in the Star Wars universe?

I think this is also related to the general sci-fi genre convention that there are no fuses, so every electrical problem starts showering sparks. — Avner Shahar-Kashtan, Jan 18 '13 at 16:29
Also, check out the Film section at the bottom: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessPits — Avner Shahar-Kashtan, Jan 18 '13 at 16:30
This was also treated in Family Guy, when some hencback complained that there's no railing ... — Hagen von Eitzen, Jan 18 '13 at 16:31
@phantom42: I think the word "bottomless" is exaggerated. The question actually asks about rail-less skywalks and such (no pun intended). — bitmask, Jan 18 '13 at 16:46
@Iszi That's what I thought. (Curse the Empire.) However they do exist elsewhere, i.e., Naboo.
Was there no respect for human life "A long time ago..."? — jlconlin, Jan 18 '13 at 17:00
"Nearly everywhere" is also an exaggeration, as I don't remember such pits in the episodes 2 and 3. They do seem to jealously guard their views from balconies though; I don't remember seeing any railings on Coruscant. — Kyle Jones, Jan 18 '13 at 17:07
Perhaps George Lucas had a subconscious feeling of metophorical endless falling. — scifi, Jan 19 '13 at 04:30
@APaleShadow the question is not an exact duplicate but it is close, and the answer is the same, which is the primary factor in deciding to close a question. — KutuluMike, Jan 19 '13 at 16:14
I disagree that the answer is the same. 'Why are there no safety railings' should not have the same answer as 'why are there so many bottomless pits' — , Jan 19 '13 at 21:43

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 08 '15 at 04:51

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I am going to go out on a limb and say that it's an inverse phallus metaphor.

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.011.0232a

Those bottomless pits are always where great inferiority and doubt lie. For example: when luke learns the great myth of his life, that Darth Vader is his father, he falls down Cloud City's internal mechanism of a bottomless pit.

I can think of the sinkhole city, trash pit (instead of being bottomless it endlessly shrinks), cloud city, the rancor pit, sarlacc pit, the Death Star's many bottomless pits and tunnels (Emperor's last scene and the Millennium Falcon approach). This metaphor is elastic and could pertain to any moment of loss of self confidence or challenge to it.

edited Nov 08 '15 at 04:51

DJClayworth

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answered Jan 18 '13 at 17:10

underarock

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It has a bottom? Then it's not a bottomless pit. Luke hit the floor of the tunnel in Cloud City and slid down to the hole. – phantom42 Jan 18 '13 at 17:14
its all about metaphor and myth - exactly how lucas wrote the scripts. It's not definite, it's a rough abstraction that resembles emotions and character progression. Im going for a free form answer that might solve the deeper meaning of whats going on there. I understand that this question might want a specified realistic answer. – underarock Jan 18 '13 at 17:19
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Luke hit the bottom and slid down to the hole? I think we're onto something Freudian here. – Chris B. Behrens Jan 18 '13 at 17:40
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Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I don't think we need to read any metaphor into why a hole is scary: it's because holes are dangerous. If you're not sure try falling into one.. – Jan 18 '13 at 19:21
He didn't hit the bottom. Both the book and the film have him sucked into the exhaust pipe without mentioning or showing the bottom. – Mr Lister Jan 18 '13 at 19:24
and sometimes a scary nazi shaped black helmet of oppression and terror is a father figure... just saying George had more in mind when he bridged the gap between high minded psychological theory and pop cultlure – underarock Jan 18 '13 at 22:47
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If he bridged any gap I'm pretty sure it was unintentional – Jan 19 '13 at 14:42

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 18 '13 at 17:21

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The civilization level was such that they relied on force-fields as barriers and repulsor fields as cushions to prevent falls.

answered Jan 18 '13 at 17:21

DVK-on-Ahch-To

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Why are there so many bottomless pits in Star Wars

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