Reflecting on Jar Jar Binks

I have no problem with Jar Jar. For me, he is an example for children what they shouldn't do, compared with the smart Anakin.
When I've watched the scene at the table, I remembered how my father taught me good table manners.))

Reflecting, you say???








You know... I love this crazy, erratic Gungan. I'm so much like Jar Jar, it's unbelievable! Yes, yes. I'm Kylo. I'm also Jar Jar. Ask the universe, don't ask me.

I've also written a lot about our good friend Jar Jar over the years. It's fun, but also a little exhausting to keep going back to the well of inspiration.

Jar Jar is a brilliantly realised character with awesome storytelling utility. Far beyond the one or two dimensions that most fans perceive. But, of course, as a certain Jedi Master said: Your focus determines your reality...



I just love how there's a bright orange light in that control box above Shmi's head, while there's a big orange door drooping down around/haloing Qui-Gon. 

While Jar Jar, incidentally, looks a bit more red/brown in this particular shot. To grok the orange of the owner, you gotta catch him just right.

Pyrogenic shared this particular thought with me last night. Not because of this thread, but I don't think he'd mind me sharing it:

He's like a servitor psychic spirit animal projection of Qui-Gon Jinn.

Or as I more crudely put it in response:

He's a midi-chlorian animal spirit factory.

What is Jar Jar? He's a swirling nexus of contradictions! The libido unsheafed. A computer-assisted, hotrodded manifestation of Id.

There's much more to Jar Jar than meets the eye. And there's a lot that meets the eye. Ooh la la.

But that's just the thing. Star Wars is populated by strange creatures, spirits, textures, and guides.

Jar Jar is practically the apotheosis of that as a concept. Also a salamander tribute/comedy rival to droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The triune comedy godhead unit of the Star Wars saga. This one actually has some mileage to it. Ahmed Best, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker share a title card in the end credits of Episode I. 20,000 dataries. Jar Jar is the droid dyad's physicalness made digital. Although, he has some physicality, just as they have some digitality (especially when you add in Episodes II and III). Yin and yang within a "three's a crowd" motif. Gorgeous and brilliant. Comedy rules the universe. Duh! Just one of a myriad of motifs that inconsiderate, boorish fans have failed to understand within the cosmic pleroma of Star Wars. 

Jar Jar is also made a "representative" by Padme Amidala -- perhaps *the* main character of the PT -- toward the beginning of the middle; or the end of the beginning? He's the "key" that unlocks the grand plan (grand army) of Palpatine's Galactic Empire. And he doesn't even know it. But some people now allege that Jar Jar was "in on it" all along. I don't know. I think Palpatine took some of that unresolved sexual energy that was just kicking about, in "representative" form, and poured it into his imperial mould. Like carbonite filling a block. That which isn't used one way, will be used another. Jar Jar undoubtedly plays a variety of "marker/milestone" roles throughout the PT. Even his relative absence in the other trilogy(ies) speaks volumes.  

Everything you might want to say about Jar Jar has already been anticipated. Try to kick Jar Jar, to injure him, or knock some pixels out, and it doesn't work. Like that pit droid in Watto's shop. Just a thunk sound. Even when you bring lasers and big machines, Jar Jar dodges -- doesn't even suffer a scratch. What *is* this guy? Who is he? Notice how he appears in Qui-Gon's path minutes after he arrives on Naboo. "Be mindful of the Living Force." Yeah, be mindful of it, Qui-Gon. Wait: "My young padawan." So Qui-Gon is speaking to the youthful learner within himself, still trying to break out and have encounters with the stuff of the world. The one who wants to take control, or block his way, if only to remind him there's more to life than humdrum political disputes. Jar Jar, you might say, is a cleansing force. Annoying? Only if every part of nature annoys you and you want to construct a false reality. Jar Jar might even help you there. He is a virtual manifestation, after all.

What I'm saying (I think) is that Jar Jar is basically everything you want him to be. He is bendable. He's not even really "there" (as such). Gungan Force Projection. You know that's a cool concept. Or Qui-Gon projecting his own "living force-y-nss" onto the screen. Gotta watch these Jedi with green sabers. Especially green/blue combos. They're liable to go into projection mode. Nute and Rune may be dumb, but they get it: "Use caution. These Jedi are not to be underestimated." Early warning. Jar Jar unites the Gungans and the Naboo under their auspices. "And we cannot use our power to help her." That's alright. Just keep your Jar Jar projection going. Luke seeing Jar Jar through R2's projector lamp: "Who is he? He's annoying." Just kidding. Elemental properties. Lucas is the Jedi Master at controlling and elucidating them. Basically, in Star Wars, everyone has a role to play, and there's perhaps no more beautiful tribute to that as an operating concept than Jar Jar himself (herself/itself). Even Rose, a variation on that concept in "The Last Jedi", has been (knee-jerk-reaction-like) compared to Jar Jar -- that's the referent. Sorry. I almost got to the end of this without mentioning the sequels. But remember what GL said: "Jar Jar is the key to all this."



I feel like you should be decorated with a Purple Heart. Good on you. 

I also feel like everyone needs to read this essay:

www.forcecast.net/story/blog/The_Case_For_Jar_Jar_134218.asp

(The author's name is redacted for some reason, but it's Paul F. McDonald, the author of this fantastic book).

I never had a problem with Jar Jar,and considering everything he does,he is a theme that is also present in The Lord of The Rings,wich is that no one is worthless as much as they seems to be.

Also,so he is a reason of why The Phantom menace is "childish" so what?,I always thought that Episode I being more lighthearted makes Epsiode III more tragic.

One of the coolest things I ever read about Jar Jar was a description of a deleted but filmed scene from ROTS where Palpatine essentially reveals to Jar Jar his true identity and his whole sinister plan! It has echoes of my absolute favorite TCW episode (from 'The Lost Missions'). I would kill hit someone really hard to see this scene see the light of day in any form. It's so bizarre but so bug nuts Lucasian.

Last year I was rewatching the Kurosawa classic, Seven Samurai. The parallels between Toshiro Mifune's character Kikuchiyo and Jar Jar are multiple. Both are rejected fools. Jar Jar is banished for being clumsy, while Kikuchiyo fails to pass a test of his reflexes because he is stumbling around like a clutz due to having one too many drinks. However, both Jar Jar and Kikuchiyo refuse to go away, following the heroes like stray dogs. Ultimately both play key roles in the final battle.

Furthermore, Kikuchiyo is a former farmer who disguises himself as a Samurai, while Jar Jar Binks disguises himself as a Jedi in The Clone Wars episode, "Bombad Jedi." As Cryo says in Reply #4: "What I'm saying (I think) is that Jar Jar is basically everything you want him to be. He is bendable."

Bendable indeed! Kikuchiyo and Jar Jar are basically shapeshifters. In the final battle, Kikuchiyo goes behind enemy lines and disguises himself yet again, but this time as a bandit to wreak havoc on the enemy ranks. Jar Jar is named Bombad General, a role he is ill-equipped for, but manages to rise to the occasion anyway. Shapeshifting at its best. He doesn't even know he is doing it. It just comes naturally.

Jar Jar and Kikuchiyo's mercurial qualities don't stop with shapeshifting. As Cryo notes (Cryo has a way with words so I just have to keep referring to his posts), "Jar Jar unites the Gungans and the Naboo under their auspices." This is exactly what Mercurius does in alchemy, he is that which unites above and below. Jar Jar is a native of Otoh Gunga, but like one of those frogs from a fairy tale that Lucas mentions in that quotation that Subtext Mining shared with us, he goes on an adventure and interacts with the surface dwellers. A creature of two worlds. An ambassador for his people. Like Kikuchiyo, who helps the samurai to understand and empathize with the farmers, because he is both a farmer and a samurai.

In alchemy, Mercurius is the philosopher's stone. All this business with Jar Jar is an elaboration on Psalm 118:22: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."

A longo time ago Cryo put together a nice post at TFN about how Anakin and Jar Jar form a yin-yang.

And I'd add that here we see Anakin focusing on the negative while Jar Jar is focusing on the positive.

About halfway down.
boards.theforce.net/threads/the-jar-jar-binks-appreciation-thread.50025348/page-12

Ahmed Best from Episode I Story Featurette:
"There's never been a real comic character in any of the Star Wars movies, like just outright comic. The character of Jar Jar, he was banished from his world because he was clumsy. He just didn't fit in with the other Gungans of his world.

And I think everybody remembers when they were that kid who just didn't fit in, and I know when I was that kid who didn't fit in to any group. I think all of those kids and all of those, ya know, people who feel like they don't fit in will identify with Jar Jar. He wants to fit in, and he wants to be with everybody else, and he wants to be good but he just can't help it, he's just... he's just clumsy.

You relate to the world, even though these are different creatures and different people, you know, something about it that makes you relate to it, something about it makes you feel for the characters."


Yep. And so it would seem the people who didn't relate to Jar Jar are either in denial or never experienced being a misfit. And the latter people who hated on Jar Jar, I ask; is that how you treat people like him in real life?

Ani and Jar Jar are the avatars of innocence and exuberance, they're representations of the good that was still left in Anakin. Ironic that they are the ones who got the most hate and became the SW community whipping boys.

I can't say I'm a big Jar Jar fan but I never minded him. I think he was just an easy target for the anti PT backlash. I suppose it could've been avoided if he talked normally and wasn't present on Tatooine. After all, there was no functional reason for him to be there. I see why Lucas wanted some comic relief during more "boring" scenes but he could've used R2 for that. This is where George got a bit too exuberant with the vfx innovation, perhaps.
However, I'm wondering what the original arc for the character was. I doubt the "Darth Jar Jar" theory but it's totally possible he wasn't as clumsy as it appears.