Jar Jar racist?

[Pwnzor326]

I heard on the Forcecast 2 weeks ago that there was some controversy over Jar Jar being racist at one point. I just wanted to know how he was racist?

[TKA-001]

Beats me. The only thing I see in Jar Jar is a really stupid character who was over-analyzed.

[Darth krunchy]

He was too much like a Jamacian.

Then again, the guys who run the droid ship in Ep 1 sound like the guys when you order Chinese take out food.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Originally Posted by Darth krunchy

He was too much like a Jamacian.

I don't think that has to do with the actor who played Binks, and much less his color.

[Blix]

Originally Posted by TKA-001

Beats me. The only thing I see in Jar Jar is a really stupid character who was over-analyzed.

Ditto. I don't ever recall Jar Jar being/portraying racism, just over-bearingly annoying.

[Agent_Katarn00]

Jar Jar racist?
Weird,I thought Jar Jar was on the light not the dark!
I thought he was just some annoying famous character like rosh penin

[Inyri]

Obi-wan was speciesist. Does that make him a follower of the dark side?

[Agent_Katarn00]

Yes.

[adamqd]

Ahmed Best is a black man, and from what I hear black people cant be racist, but no jar aint racist, you cant even call him stereotypical really. You should of had him wearing khaki's shopping at the gap, playing golf and going on ski trips lol, with no rhythm

[Hayden Kered]

It's probably just some anti-Jar Jar fans starting rumors to make more people/fans hate him.

IMO, every one just needs to get over Jar Jar! His biggest role in SW universe was TPM and that has been out for 9 years. It's getting old!

[GeneralPloKoon]

You know, I look back and Jar Jar isn't as bad as the Ewoks I think...the racism makes no sense.

[Rev7]

Jar Jar is just weird.

[Kalonus]

I don’t think he was racist just incredibly annoying. It's the only time I've wanted to be physically violent with a fictional character.

[Hayden Kered]

The funny thing is, as annoying as Jar Jar is and as much as people hate him, it's surprising to see how he keeps turning up in everything Star Wars.

spoiler:

He's even in carbonite in the TFU 360 version.

[K_Kinnison]

Orginally Jar Jar was suppose to be a tragic figure, he was suppose to be killed for bringing the "outsiders" to Gungan city. There is a great Sketch done by Iain McCaig that shows Jar Jar wrapped in chains.

Kinda like Captain Needa... not a bad guy, just at the wrong place at the wrong time

Too bad they had to make Jar Jar into a kiddie character and comedy relief

[DeadYorick]

I laughed my head off when I saw the title of this thread

I highly doubt Jar Jar was built as a racist character. When I say highly I mean there is probably a 0.000000000000000000000001 in 10000000000000 chance that he was built as a racist character

[Hayden Kered]

"Sir, the possibility of Jar Jar being a racist is approximately 0.000000000000000000000001 in 10000000000000" ~C-3PO

Sorry, couldn't resist!

[LordOfTheFish]

?!?!

The only thing that could relate to racism with Jar Jar, was the fact that he think that the Republic (non-Gungans, though some are) have a week army, while the Gungans have a "grand army."

[TripHammer]

It wasn't Jar Jar being racist... It was ppl complaining about the character because he was seen as a bit stereotypical of blacks. The complaints varied from Jar Jar's voice... to his walk... to his manorisms. In fact, I remember reading that the complaints were so bad after the character was introduced in Episode 1 that George Lucas considered dropping the character for ep 2. I'm sure google could shed more light on that topic though.

I didn't mind the character but I thought it was a stretch to make him Naboo representative. However; it did make for a nice way to nominate Palpy for supreme chancellor in the story line. Who else would have been stupid enough to make a motion to grant supreme executive power to someone? Although, someone could argue that it was Palpy using his mind tricks to get Jar Jar to nominate him.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

^ Yeah, well, Binks wasn't a politician.

[Rev7]

Originally Posted by LordOfTheFish

?!?!

The only thing that could relate to racism with Jar Jar, was the fact that he think that the Republic (non-Gungans, though some are) have a week army, while the Gungans have a "grand army."

You spelled weak wrong.

As I said, Jar Jar is weird, but I don't think that he is racist.

[urluckyday]

The entire premise of star wars is racist if Jar-Jar is racist...think about it...

DARK side = bad
LIGHT side = good



I mean, honestly, Star Wars represents the best in good clean movie-making, but some moron who has to complain about everything decides to call out Jar-Jar for what? Being racist? This is what happens when everything has to be politically correct in our world...
I'm sorry, but anyone who even contemplates that Jar-Jar was anything but just a goofy character has too much time on their hand...

[Henz]

Jar Jar was the best acted character in Episode 1 (irrelevant)

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Meh, that must come from the same source that states Disney satanism.

[Henz]

lol I'm serious. The script + direction didn't give the real actors a chance. Jar Jar's is the only performance with life in it.

[Yar-El]

No, no, no. Jar Jar is a Jedi Knight.

[PoiuyWired]

Jardi Knight...

Plus, girls like guys with a loooong tongue.

[FinlandGirl]

Not sure. Maybe.. Seems so

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Originally Posted by PoiuyWired

Plus, girls like guys with a loooong tongue.

Originally Posted by FinlandGirl

Not sure. Maybe.. Seems so

Was that last post referring to this one from Poiuy? Just guessing.

[noizer]

he isnt a racist, he is just annoying.

[Kurgan]

I didn't think of the Jar Jar character as some kind of racial stereotype while I was watching it... just an annoying "comic relief" stock character, that reminded me too much of Roger Rabbit (and the mutant offspring of a duck billed Dinosaur rejected from the Jurassic Park model library). I thought he felt totally out of place in the movie, like a cartoon character. I suppose at the time Lucas felt he had to do this to be more "kid friendly" (his movies changed when he adopted kids), and to balance the fact that he made so many of the other characters and situations in the movie dry and wooden by comparison... so he thinks "I'll throw in an over-the-top character to keep people awake till the end!"

And sell merchandise... he really miscalculated the character's popularity, since there was a ton of unsold Jar Jar product after Episode I came out. I remember I could have gotten a Jar Jar figure for really cheap, I just didn't care for the character.

As for the racism thing, I actually thought the Neimodian characters were supposed to be some kind of spoof of asian stock villains from movies of the mid 20th century. That was just one complaint about them... their mouth movements didn't match their voices very well (I figured... Lucas has had 16 years to perfect this, right?) and they were so bumbling and silly... and they had bumbling and silly droids (which only got sillier with each passing movie), making them completely non-credible as a threat. I suppose this was to make the Jedi seem cooler and the Sith seem even more threatening, but it just didn't work well for me. Play UP the threat, for drama, please, to give a bigger payoff. I guess that again, he didn't want to scare the little kids early on and let them think that maybe the good guys wouldn't win.

If you ever see a lesser known sci fi movie called "the Guyver" (1991, starring Mark Hamill) there is a black character in it (a henchman) that turns into an alien monster that resembles Jar Jar in certain ways (the movie has this alien technology that gives people bio-armor for combat or mutates you or something).

Black characters tend to be stereotyped in hollywood as it is, so just because he was played by a black man doesn't mean he couldn't have been a caricature. People have argued that Lucas himself couldn't really be racist (he has had an African American girlfriend lately). But again, that doesn't mean he couldn't have drawn upon stereotypical "stock characters" in creating these fictional space aliens in his new movies.

In any case, that was the "controversy." Whether it was racist or not, I think the bottom line for me is that the character was just DUMB and annoying. NOT funny. The best part of the character was being told to shut up. People compare him to the Ewoks, but other than Wickett (who had very little screen time in ROTJ and didn't speak mangled English), they didn't really come off as such buffoonish characters. Then there's the comparison to C3PO (who got really annoying over time, especially in ESB). But at least C3PO also had character development such that you didn't hate him ever second he was onscreen, and people DID tell him to shut up (whereas everyone just seemed to sort of tolerate Jar Jar... I guess because on set they were just talking to Mr. Best himself, probably just talking in his normal voice with a rubber duck on his head and a script in his hand).

I guess on the one hand that was a good idea because the Star Wars humans (especially world-savvy Jedi Knights) shouldn't be shocked by the appearance or manners of space aliens. But then his movements were so spastic, he was leaping ten feet in the air and screaming, etc. he was still pretty over-the-top even compared to the other creatures we meet along the way.

[Deadshot#1]

He's just a gungan, what else can i say?

[Kurgan]

Originally Posted by Deadshot#1

He's just a gungan, what else can i say?

So Lucas invents an entire species of alien that is made up entirely of morons?


On the contrary, the movie leads us to believe it's only Jar Jar. He was banished from his society for his "clumsiness." He caused some property damage with his antics, and (according to the original script or novel, I can't remember which), he was going to be executed by being beaten to death if he ever returned (the movie renders it "punished").

Compare this to the situation with the Ewoks. Sure, as a society they are portrayed as primitive and superstitious (even though they get the job done), but compare Wickett (the little brown Ewok played by Warwick Davis who finds Leia unconscious). He's a clumsy little twerp (like a kid who's playing at being a warrior). The rest of the Ewoks aren't really slapstick characters, just him.


The question critics have had is, did Lucas have in mind certain racially insensitive stock characters (stereotypes) when he created Jar Jar Binks (like "Stepin Fetchit" who incidentally was played by a black actor who, I hear, defended it to his dying day; see a movie like "Bamboozled" for details on the Minstrel Show phenomenon). We may never know for sure.

To me, the character was simply unnecessary, over-the-top, and annoying. I think he did it because he thought kids (in 1999) wouldn't like the movie otherwise. Which is a bit odd if it's true, because he tried to defend the backslash from fans that it was "only a kids movie." (Or at least that's the excuse I heard most often, if it didn't originate with Lucas himself).

I personally think when Lucas adopted kids after his divorce, that changed his film making (for the worse). They were mostly grown by the time of Episode III, so the effect was reduced.

On second thought, I suppose Boss Nass seems like a bit of an idiot (the mind trick works on him, so that means he's "weak minded" like the Stormtroopers, right?), he makes Jar Jar a GENERAL (in a long tradition of awarding field commissions to unqualified people in Star Wars?), and that thing he does with spit flying from his jowels looks pretty silly. But compared to Jar Jar, he's a well-mannered genius.

[Silent Descent]

He isn't racist at all.