Controversial Poor Old Jar Jar: Is All the Hatred Warranted?

Surely Jar Jar is not all that bad?

  • Yes he is! I can't stand him! I am surprised at you even asking!

    Votes: 7 77.8%

  • I liked him! The level of hate is unwarranted.

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • Go away. I'm not interested in polls!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    9
chainsaw_metal1

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I don't think anyone wanted Star Wars turned into The Terminator. We all just wanted a Star Wars movie that felt like the ones we grew up with, not one that felt like it was intentionally written for anyone under ten years of age. I understand it was his creation, and I respect that, but all he cared about by this point was merchandise sales and seeing how far he could advance CGI.

And what was it with the great pedophile trying to get into movies that he didn't belong in? This is almost as bad as when he tried to get a movie about Edgar Allan Poe made with him as the author. Dafuq?
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Jar Jar Binks Actor Unhappy About Mo-Cap Snub


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Actor Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, has spoken about how his much maligned character’s contribution to motion capture performance has been overlooked.

A new video feature for Wired featuring Andy Serkis showed the evolution of mo-cap, but began things with Serkis’ work on “The Lord of the Rings” which came over two years after Best’s work in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace”.

Best took to Twitter to say: “I don’t know how to retweet this and not sound bitter, but I feel I have been forgotten. No disrespect to the great @andyserkis”. When fans responded with waves of support, he followed it up with a longer response (via Screen Rant):

“Thanks for the love today especially the Star Wars fans. Jar Jar is bigger than just me or my performance. As much as we actors are on the front line when it comes to the success or the failure of characters we play, what’s more important is the accomplishment of bringing the work to the screen.

Jar Jar helped create the workflow, iteration process and litmus test for all CGI characters to this day on some days the code was being written in real time as I was moving. To deny Jar Jar’s place in film history is to deny the hundreds of VFX technicians, animators, code writers and producers their respect.

People like John Knoll, Rob Coleman and scores of others who I worked with for two years after principal photography was ended to bring these movies to you. There’s a joke I like to use when talking about this stuff, Jar Jar walked so Gollum could run. Gollum ran so the Na’vi could fly. Thanks for lifting me up today.”

Best has spoken candidly about the backlash against his character in the past and has a point – Jar Jar Binks was the first fully-computer-generated supporting character in any feature film and a major step forward in the then-new technology of motion-capture.

On the flipside Serkis was talking mostly about his and Weta’s involvement in the digital capture side of mo-cap, not ILM which is where Binks was crafted.
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
'Star Wars' Author Chuck Wendig Shares Fans' Responses to The Fate of Jar Jar Binks


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Love Jar Jar or hate him, you definitely wanted a proper send-off for your favorite Gungan. The politician has faced much hostility from the Star Wars fandom for his role in the rise of the Galactic Empire, but more so because his character represented everything that people hated about George Lucas's new trilogy. With fans and critics failing to connect with the amphibian and many accusing the Lucas of racism, it's fair to say that Jar Jar wasn't exactly the MVP of the Star Warsprequels. But there was another very important reason why the character was so disliked: Jar Jar Binks was simply annoying as fuck.

And so, fans certainly had somethings to say when Chuck Wendig's novel Star Wars Aftermath: Empire’s End finally revealed the fate of Jar Jar Binks.

Star Wars Aftermath: Empire’s End is set between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. In the book, it is revealed that Jar Jar has become a clown, reduced to dancing on the streets and begging for money. As it turns out, not everyone celebrated Jar Jar for his complacency in the days leading up to Order 66, with many blaming the politician for Palpatine's rise to power, and the Republic's transformation into the evil Empire. Jar Jar's turn as a clown may perhaps be the author's clever way of acknowledging just how big of a joke the character has become in pop culture.

Speaking to the The Star Wars Show, author Chuck Wendig talked about the polarizing response to the big Jar Jar reveal:

"Everybody reads that chapter differently. Some people look at it and they're like, 'What a beautiful thing you've done,' and some people think, 'You didn't punish him enough' or 'I loved how you hurt him' and I was like, no! I just wanted it to be an authentic, earnest look at the world of Jar Jar."

Given that the character is so widely hated in pop culture, it certainly makes sense why many fans would want a grisly death for this character — but Jar Jar becoming a clown seems like poetic justice, an ironically cruel twist for a character George Lucas intended to be an endearing and prominent part of the Star Wars prequels.
 
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