If you look at Star Wars and the desert group of collector/traders called Jawas - you were seeing the first rendition of a Jewish joke/slur. Jawas were Jews - short, haggling for a buck or whatever the Tatooine currency was. Jabba was also a trader/smuggler Jew - a money grubber who looks like a grub - and about as offensive a stereotype as you can create.
Lucas has always been very racist and his depictions in all the Star Wars movies target Jews, Japanese, Blacks - every 1935 racial/group stereotype fleshed onto film for posterity.
Whether he was parodying the studio bosses or his own race-relationships is unknown - but the results and his prejudice are forever immortalized.
The Ferengi were (are?) an even more insulting rendition of the same joke. The big eared, sharp teethed money lenders/ greedy folks of the galaxy. All shorter and all looking very similar. I found the caricatures very offensive already back in ST TNG (the last Star Trek I have seen any considerable number of episodes) - and I'm not Jewish.
Since Lucas pays for the films with his own money - none of that prejudice gets edited out. The Star Trek people have to be more careful and that's why they didn't call them Jawengis or something - but their hand rubbing, money grubbing Jew stereotype was very clear.
Just another one of the reasons why the only Star Trek worth anything was TOS.
SDAI-Tech1
Off Topic » in reply to re: Star Trek and technological abundance
Ferengi and ethno-religious stereotypes.
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- Star Trek and technological abundance