Go-Mer-Tonic posted:I don't understand how our history allows you to bait me then complain that I'm baiting you.
Quixotic-Sith posted:Go-Mer-Tonic posted:That entirely loses the purpose of the character, which is to teach the lesson that even the seemingly innane have their part to play in this existence.It's nice to know that some things never change. To this day you still confuse your own exegesis of the movies with Lucas'. After all, surely this message couldn't have been conveyed by the ewoks. Besides, this is utter B*, GL didn't include any number of potential archetypes who "have their part to play in this existence", and the saga loses *nothing* by taking a pratfalling, baby-pidgin speaking fool who is marginalized in the following two movies and portraying him differently. Seriously, there is next to nothing that redeems Jar Jar as he is scripted, and the idea of "outcast" is *much* better portrayed in TPRE.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:That entirely loses the purpose of the character, which is to teach the lesson that even the seemingly innane have their part to play in this existence.
Quixotic-Sith posted:Go-Mer-Tonic posted:It's amazing to me that some people's reaction to Jar-Jar is that he shouldn't exist, or exist as he is. People want to "change" him into a "more respectable" character, when he is perfectly worthy of respect just the way he is.Great, then don't show the pratfalling. Let him describe his accident without having to have the ridiculousness. It's amazing to me that some people don't get that characterization can be shown subtly, and we don't need to be beaten over the head with it. You want goofy, clumsy, and immature? Look at Tonks in Order of the Phoenix - we get just enough to show her character without having to have a CGI mess of pratfalls and accidental "heroism". It's bad storytelling and character development, *especially* when it is never referenced again in the subsequent movies. Does Jar Jar change during this time? Sure, why not? But then why show it to excess in the first movie? Why not make this maturation off-screen and then told to Qui-Gon, to show us a more sympathetic, rather than pathetic, character? GL gains nothing with ridiculousness, except to pull audience members out of the reality of the movies and create an off-putting, polarizing character. If he is meant to be an unambiguous "good guy" who gets duped, there is no need to make him as horrifically over the top as he is.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:It's amazing to me that some people's reaction to Jar-Jar is that he shouldn't exist, or exist as he is. People want to "change" him into a "more respectable" character, when he is perfectly worthy of respect just the way he is.
Quixotic-Sith posted:"Perfectly worthy of respect as he is?" Are you serious? Respect is earned, and none of the deeds (again, this is questionable) requires the nonsense. Hell, Tarpals is a much more sympathetic, brave, and worthy of respect than Jar Jar. By your logic, *any* character is worthy of respect, just as he is, from the lowliest Ugnaught to ROTJ Luke, which makes the term "respect" so bland as to be meaningless. Will I give him the respect due to all living things? Sure. Does that make his actions worthy of anything more? Hardly. It's poor characterization and bad storytelling.
Quixotic-Sith posted:Go-Mer-Tonic posted:It is heart breaking to see that so many are intolerant enough of Jar-Jar that they would do away with him. "In the Flesh by Roger Waters"Good. Quote Roger Waters. The man is such a malignant narcissist that it's appropriate. "Nobody gets me, the poor artist, so I'm going to alienate my wife and everyone closest to me, because they aren't worthy of basic attention." Have you seen The Wall? Do you have any idea how Waters acted towards his fans and bandmates? Literally, Pink Floyd fans would wear "Roger is a [sphincter]" t-shirts to concerts because of how much of a jerk he is. Quoting self-righteous pseudo-lyrics doesn't exactly make the point you want it to make.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:It is heart breaking to see that so many are intolerant enough of Jar-Jar that they would do away with him. "In the Flesh by Roger Waters"
Quixotic-Sith posted:The bottom line is that Lucas overdid what could have been a compelling, sympathetic character. This overcharacterization was fixed in other edits, which shows that while Lucas has "the vision thing", it's good when someone else reels him in, as the stories get better. Jar Jar is burnt toast - a little too much time in the characterization oven.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted: Well you would lose the pratfalling baby-pidgin fool wouldn't you? It's pretty obvious that Lucas was intending Jar-Jar to be a "don't judge a book by it's cover" lesson, in much the same way Yoda played that role in ESB before Luke realized who he really was.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:Of course you can show his characterization subtly. You can also do it over the top as Lucas has. If the point is to teach a lesson in tolerance, then why wouldn't he make Jar-Jar as annoying as possible?
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:If he had made Jar-Jar more subtle, then everyone would have simply accepted Jar-Jar. There would have been no lesson. Lucas walked a delicate balance between making Jar-Jar as annoying as possible, yet still characterizing him as a good person at heart.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:The reason it was shown to excess in the first movie was because that's where his role was intended to be. Lucas told Jar-Jar's story in the first movie, and then included him in the next two as a result of the over the top reaction he got from a lot of fans. He wasn't marginalized, he was expanded upon.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:He was always trying to help his friends, that makes him worthy of respect.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:His good nature didn't require the nonsense, but then again it certainly didn't preclude it. The reason for the nonsense is to push those buttons that incite people to be intolerant, despite Jar-Jar's earned respect. The fact that you don't think Jar-Jar is worthy of respect shows that pretty clearly.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:My point was simply to point out that the whole idea of eliminating the people or characters you are intolerant of is not a noble cause. People should accept others for who they are, especially when their worst crime is to be clumsy and hard to understand.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:Bottom line is you didn't agree with Lucas' vision for Jar-Jar, which is fine and dandy, but this is Lucas' story to tell. It's not up to you or anyone else to re-tell it for him.
Quixotic_Sith posted:It's not up to us, but others have told it better. He can have the "vision thing", but his movies are better when he is helped with it. Good storytelling is a mean between extremes.
Go-Mer-Tonic posted:Jar-Jar was a well written character, and I thought Lucas did a good job writing The Phantom Menace in general. Kasdan was a huge influence on Empire and Raider's scripts, the guy is not an idiot.