Jar Jar Appreciation Thread (no joke)

[Whill]

THE CASE FOR JAR JAR

Today starts my family's "Star Wars Week". Rouge One comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday and we had already planned on watching it back-to-back with ANH. Then we thought of watching all of the movies one-a-day, with the prequels leading up to 4/4 and the other sequels after that day, so it worked out that all the episodes would be watched on the date of April corresponding to its episode number, and thus Episode I would be on April Fools Day. That made me think about Jar Jar.

I realize I am posting this mostly for the crickets, but on April Fools Day this year I thought that instead of posting something false I would post something in honor of our #1 Fool in Star Wars, Jar Jar Binks. Knowing something of the occult, Jar Jar has always reminded me of the first card in major arcana of the Tarot deck, The Fool, which in part symbolizes the beginning of a journey. Then I found the above article that is everything else I wanted to say, and more. I think the article's psychological/mythological archetypal perspectives on Jar Jar are fascinating.

If you read the article, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If not, I'd still love to hear anyone chime in with any positive or at least tolerant thoughts about Jar Jar. He's not my favorite character but I am somewhat entertained by his antics and he does actually serve a deeper purpose than poop jokes and selling merchandise to parents of kids under 7.
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[Melkor]

Aside from holding to the theory that Jar Jar is in fact a Sith Lord, he does have a mild amusement to him. Which according to the Aftermath books he's a Street Performer on Naboo who makes children laugh these days.

He does fit the Arcana Fool rather well as he does prompt several things to occur, Qui and Obi's journey, Palpatine's rise. Not all good things, but he does preempt major events like Lightning before Thunder.

[Telsij]

While I won't go so far as to say that I "appreciate" or particularly like the character per se, I do mind him far less these days,
as I now find him to be a sympathetic character and tragic figure -- especially by the time he is manipulated into suggesting
the motion to grant Palpatine emergency powers, while Binks fills in for absent Amidala in RotS.

At least for me and likely for others, Lucas played well off of previous dislike of the character and managed to create
some measure of audience sympathy to see JarJar's well-meaning nature exploited.

[Sutehp]

I'm going to have to read the Aftermath books for other reason, but now I have to read it to see if Jar Jar managed to find some sort of happy ending. A street performer isn't much of a career especially after being a war hero and a representative in the Senate, but I also remember what Galen Erso said in the holographic message in the RO novel (if not in the movie):

[ForbinProject]

[Whill]

[Kytross]

I enjoy Jar Jar. Odd as that sounds. I certainly never thought I would be saying that when the film first came out. I never hated the cartoon rabbit the way other fans did. I didn't like him, but I found him tolerable. Nowadays I actually enjoy him. I'll tell you why.

Www.redlettermedia.com

I'm on a new cellphone and chrome works a bit differently. You may have to copy and paste the link.

Red Letter Media did a comprehensive review of the prequel trilogy. They made excellent points about story and character that made me realize that the prequels were poorly told stories. My love, or bias, of Star Wars had blinded me to how flat the characters were and how many ways the story could have been told better.

One of the moments that really woke me up in the review was when they asked people to describe any of the characters in The Phantom Menace without using their job titles. It is extremely hard to do. Except for Jar Jar. (FYI you cannot describe the characters from their portrayals in other films, books, cartoons, and other media. Only the Phantom Menace)

In my opinion, for what little it's worth, people's hatred of Jar Jar is the result of the cognitive dissonance created by their love of Star Wars and the horrible film that was The Phantom Menace. Since people loved Star Wars they didn't want to hate The Phantom Menace so they focused their hate on a mildly annoying character.

Jar Jar is annoying. Especially the voice. Not the accent, the voice. Boss Nass and Captain Tarpals weren't annoying at all and they spoke the with the same accent.

In a better movie Jar Jar would be mildly annoying comedic relief, and the character everyone else can talk too. He fills in for C-3PO, who is also annoying but supplies most of the comedy in the OT. In TPM he is the most obviously objectionable thing in a bland and boring movie.

[Ray]

The only thing I can say about Jar-Jar is that he can use the Force Power: "Summon Bigger Fish".

[Whill]

[griff]

I never understood the hatred of TPM. I agree that it isn't great, but I was never disappointed with it. Jar Jar has grown on me having watched TPM with my young children. Both of them having watched Star Wars very nearly after being born. Jar Jar never seemed out of place. And because of his trusting nature and wanting to be helpful to his friends, especially Padme, was manipulated to proposing the motion to give emergency powers to Palpatine.
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"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.

[Kytross]

I'm glad you guys enjoy Phantom Menace. If you want to know why I think it's a poorly told story you can look up Red Letter Media's review. I'd rather not tarnish your enjoyment. Especially if it's something you can share with your wife and kids.

Ray, www.darthsanddroids.net is awesome!

[Whill]

[Kytross]

Red Letter Media has a style to it. He's telling a horror story as much as he is doing a review. It's not generally my cup of tea. When I got past the cursing and the horror show style meta story, he was able to make some points that resonated with me. He pointed out some things I hadn't really wanted to see because I wanted to like the prequels.



I find the plot of the prequels to be a thing of brilliance. Especially how Palpatine avoids the Jedi danger sense. The Jedi can't find a threat to the Republic because there is no threat to the Republic. The Separatists don't wish ill to the Republic, rather, they seek their own independence. They are not a danger to the Republic. Who starts the fight in Geonosis, and with it the Clone Wars? The Republic.

Brilliant!

I think the story is poorly told. We are never explicitly shown or told that Palpatine is maneuvering around the Jedi Danger Sense. A quick monologue from Palpatine in EP3 would have cleared a lot of things up for the audience.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Agreed. Great plot. Terrible presentation of the plot.

[Whill]