The Jinx of Binks -- Role and Function of Jar Jar

This is a great thread.
A couple more things:

Many people complain about the lack of a Han Solo type in the prequels. This is just plain silly for many reasons, but if this position made any sense at all, I would point such detractors at Jar Jar--the skeptic who does what he feels like.

"Ohh, maxi big da Force. Well that smells stinkawith." (I hope I spelled those correctly!)
That line is a great one.
I never understood what he was talking about, but after some sleuthing, I think that I figured it out:
A "maxi" is a skirt or coat reaching to the ankle--aka JEDI ROBES.

He's saying, essentially: "Oh, yeah? You and your fancy clothes and magical powers. That's not cool," or "Long robes and the Force, huh? You guys are stupid." (As if it were the Force giving them the right to wear the clothing or that the clothing gives them authority on such philosophy--both ridiculous to Jar Jar).

Jedi being identified by their clothing actually does seem to be a theme after all.

Anyway, it's clear to be that Mr. Binks has become the most gratuitously calumniated character in the history of film. He's a better character than most.

It is also interesting to say that some people's hatred for Jar Jar apparently stems from what really amounts to a form of racism (or at least a cynical meanness). He isn't real, of course, but hating him for his appearance/speech/mannerisms is odd. Even so, none of this makes him a poor character. He is so innocent, it's sad. He has no idea what is going on, but he does his best. Strange that so many people hate this in Jar Jar but consider it a sympathetic ideal in other places (like Forrest Gump).

Qui-Gon is a great, tolerant role model. Obi-Wan is a jerk.

 

THIS JUST IN...


JarJar was officially declared responsible for Anakin's turn to the darkside! Shortly after leaving Tatooine he became consumed with thoughts of choking the life out of Binks. Once he started down that path there was no turning back...

 

Huh. Interesting.

 

Well,

Something else to put into this discussion: http://www.jeffhouse.addr.com/mythology/fools.htm

A few choice cuts from the page:

In other words: Jar Jar is blessed by the Force. He retains some intimate connection with it that other characters cannot hope to comprehend. The second quotation also makes it clear that Jar Jar is a natural fool (as opposed to Yoda when we meet him in TESB, an artificial fool).

And this:

Jar Jar was an outcast at the start of the saga because of his inherent clumsiness, which was perceived as undesirable by his own kind and aggravating by those he encountered.

 

If your extend your analysis to outside of the films, Jar Jar also becomes an "artificial fool" because he is computer generated.

 

This really nails it, IMO. TPM is a film about children, for children. The key thing to children is that they are innocent and naieve. Jar Jar Binks is the very definition of innocence and what better way to show the innocence of the galaxy "before the dark times" than to follow the tales of the most innocent character in the galaxy?

As The Sith drain away the beauty and innocence from the galaxy and night falls on the characters, so Jar Jar ends up being relegated to nothing more than a face in the crowd. His exuberance and innocence are destroyed by the corruption and evil of The Sith. Its kind of the same thing as how the colour pallete changes as we move through the PT. So, we go from the lush blues and greens of TPM to ominous oranges/yellows and dark blues/purples of AOTC to the melancholy blacks and reds of ROTS.

Now I'm not saying Lucas planned it like this, I'm not sure he really knew that by ROTS Jar Jar's role would be non-existent, and I'm sure of lot it IS down to the hostile reaction Jar Jar recieved, but actually, when you view the PT as a complete work, I think it works exceptionally well. Through the character of Jar Jar you really do see the way the galaxy changes through the course of the PT.

 

Wow this thread shows alot of promise. I like Jar Jar and I have no shame saying that. I will read more of it tonite.

 

Very well said, G-FETT.

One thing I will add to my original description there: Even though Jar Jar is very much a face in the crowd in ROTS, including the cut footage, he also shows an even greater level of assimilation with the polite-but-trite civility of the decaying Republic. He's no longer wordy or animated; his personality is almost completely crushed and bled dry. I know this might sound daft, but in TPM, he blurts out "Exsqueeze me" in a lively tenor voice, earning embarrassment for himself (and Lucas, for many), but in ROTS, it's a much more dignified and bland "excuse me", uttered in more of a dispassionate baritone. Jar Jar came to Coruscant full of promise and his old self receded more and more under the Sith-driven decadence of the planet. A bit like what happens to Anakin, in essence...

EDIT: As I was making an edit to the above, a song called "Face In The Crowd" came on the radio. See!

 

I don't think it's so much the force putting Jar Jar in front of Qui-Gon as I think it was inevitable. The Force is starting to become unbalanced. Opposing factions will always attract. Qui-Gon is on the run so it makes sense that he would run into somebody who really shows him what he is doing wrong. The Force needs to be balanced, which is why Anakin is a doubled-edged sword in the prequels (despite how is seems). He befriends Jar Jar and confides in him. Something the other Jedi find to be repulsive. Anakin is already showing the Jedi how to behave and is already starting to balance the force. Granted he starts doing things worse to it, but he's already changing it for the better in some areas. What's interesting is that Obi-Wan listens. Cryo says, "Conversely, Obi Wan remains relatively cynical towards Jar Jar and his master's whims for almost the complete duration of the movie," but I disagree. Obi-Wan is a friend to Jar Jar in AOTC. Jar Jar says, ?Obi? Obi! Me sa so sited to seeing you sir.? Obi responds, ?Good to see you again Jar Jar,? and genuinely means it. Then he becomes one with the Force during his isolation on Tatooine. He, Alec Guiness somehow manages to show this with little actual dialogue, knows the interworkings of the creatures of Tatooine. He knows about the Jawas and he knows that "Sandpeople walk side-by-side to conceal their numbers." The other Jedi change also. Yoda, goes straight to nature-world Dagobah. There he has a clear understanding of all the creatures and the way of life. And you may even take that a step further and say all of nature. I feel that if Luka were training to be a Jedi he wouldn't be picking up rocks with the force, he'd be picking up Statues or computers or something manmade. Look at the younglings, they learn in the Jedi Temple and on Coruscant away from all of nature, a completely man-made world. I think Jar Jar's whole idea, encompassing all four of Cryo's original ideas, is that he represents natures in a physical form.

1. Good-hearted fool. Nature literally goes with the breeze. Very easy going. I would think if nature could talk it would be quite foolish because it has complete faith in everything because it is brainless.

2. Conduit for the Living Force. The Force is nature and the nature is the Force.

3. Political diplomate. Nature can molded and destroyed and mangled any way humans see fit. That's what Palpatine does. And it isn't a good thing. It unbalances the Force. Jar Jar is well-intended and so is nature, it provides humans with everything they need, but it can still be shaped into any way we want it to. Look also at his line, "My have been banished." The Gunguns have banished "nature" and replaced it with mechanical buildings and technology in the underwater city. There's no life in those things other than the Gunguns themselves. Take that a step further and because the Gunguns see Jar Jar as actually doing the right thing they rise out of the jungles to fight the mechanical droid army. What imagery is that!?!?

4. Barometer of the saga. Jar Jar becomes less and less important, which is a representation of growing less and less important. Palpatine is so machine-oriented. That's why the original trilogy is a lot murkier and dirtier than the original trilogy, infested with pollution.

 

Any thoughts on this? Am I just tad off my rocker?

 

TPM is a film about children, for children. The key thing to children is that they are innocent and naieve. Jar Jar Binks is the very definition of innocence and what better way to show the innocence of the galaxy "before the dark times" than to follow the tales of the most innocent character in the galaxy?


I don't think that TPM is a film simply about children for children. I think that it was a film about innocence . . . and how that innocence will eventually lead to disaster and chaos for all, because of the characters' tendencies to blind themselves from the truth.

 

Be it as all this may be...

I just think it's funny when he gets hit in the privates.

 

Well, i read a lot of very good answers and Cryo's analysis is almost perfect.
The point that i have to add is that Jar Jar's role in PT comparing with the OT is to be the substitute of both 3PO (comic relief, fool) and Chewbacca (alien friend), two things that you
expect to see in a SW episode.
Another thing, and that because i always view the PT as a tragedy like the Greeks and the Shakespearean, there is often a fool in a court, or a company, that acts not only as a comic relief but as a catalyst also, the trigger to greater events. Also his innocence is the base that the other characters acts are compared.

 

Wonderful summary. You just described the appeal of TPM and what it means at the same time.

As much as I love this entire post, I love that final line more.

Oh, skgai1! If you are off your rocker, that's exactly where I want you to stay! FANTASTIC POST! I came back in here to add something totally new and quite revolutionary (if I do say so myself), but I need to respond to your own post first, which is pretty darn new and revolutionary to me as is:

 

Jar Jars role and function is painfully clear to me.

SELLING TOYS.

 

Y'know, in playing the fool and completely running against the grain of this thread, like Jar Jar, you've just revealed something important.

Star Wars is multi-faceted and multi-layered. One of its functions *is* to sell toys and various other products. It not only increases Lucas' wealth, but increases the saturation and visibility of the "Star Wars" brand name and helps propagate the mythology of the series itself. So I don't deny that Jar Jar has a role in selling toys; it's just not the only role he has. This strand of SW has always existed, but it's easier for people to tag Jar Jar with it because of how broad the character is. But if you think back to 1977, where Lucas transformed the peasants from "The Hidden Fortress" into robots, he essentially colourised and commodified human characters, making them ripe for assembly line toy production (indeed, we now have self-referential manufacturing scenes in AOTC). And the saga itself has spawned all manner of tangential fictions, in the form of comics, games, reference CD-ROMs, books, magazines and even television series (with one up and coming). It's funny how few people rally against the commercialisation of SW in general, as if denying it outright, suppressing it all, rather like the characters of TPM, and saving it all for Jar Jar, unleashing their anger like a barrage of Sith lightning on this poor and unassuming Gungan.

 

Jar Jar was the comic relief. Now - the older audience probably find him "unintenionally funny" as in the fact that he really is very silly! But at the same time, the kids love him and he did have a function in the saga - both in terms of working with the themes and plot (only someone as naive and stupid as Jar Jar would give Sidious supreme powers!).

 

I didn't hate Jar-Jar like most people did. I do wish that he didn't have to be constant comic relief though... it would have been a nice tale of being a good bombad general if he could have done something heroic, or clever for once in his life, instead of bumblin around killing stuff by accident... like I wasn't finding that in the least funny, just ridiculous.

Another weird thing is, for a character so major in Episode I, it's not even clear what in the world happens to him. I know a lot of people would have enjoyed this for the wrong reasons, but I wouldn't have been against him running towards Anakin in the Temple, being like "Noooo, Annie, nooooo wassa youa doin?" and have Anakin cut him down... killing an innocent character like that sure would show his turn to evil. On second thought, that probably wouldn't work, and would turn a serious moment into a comic one, but I still wish we knew what happened to him.

Also someone said that Jar-jar Binks started the chain of events that made the saga work, as it helped Padme escape Naboo, and without that Palpatine could not have been elected Chancellor. I don't think that Sidious ever planned to have Queen Amidala come to Coruscant to get him elected.

I submit that his plan was probably to have her sign the treaty, kill her and the others, and when news of this got out, use the outcry and sympathy to get voted Chancellor in that way. I don't think he foresaw the Jedi escaping the Trade Federation Ship or escaping Darth Maul on Tatooine, but he made it work.

 

I think Jar Jar was used as a parallel to Anakin to show that anybody with good intentions can turn to evil. Both characters have several similarities;

1. Both Anakin and JJ come to Coruscant after growing up on other worlds
2. Both are considered insignificant in the beginning of TPM. JJ is seen as an annoying buffon until he leads Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to the underwater city. Anakin is nothing but a slave boy until Shmi tells Qui-Gon about his parentage.
3. Both are close to Padme, Anakin as her husband, Jar Jar as her hand picked replacement as Senator of Naboo
4. Jar Jar thinks he is helping the galaxy by giving Sidious Emergency Powers , but it leads to the formation of the Empire. Anakin thinks he is saving his wife by listening to Sidious, but he ends up killing her and becoming Darth Vader.

 

That's extraordinary. Imagine if Qui Gon and Obi Wan had been killed before they reached Naboo. No Jar Jar, no Padme, no trip to Coruscant, no Anakin. Palpatine could have risen to power without any Luke and Leia.

I like the parallels you've managed to bring together, particularly #3 and #4, which I don't think have been made before. The children lose their innocence.

 

Given George Lucas's interest in religion and education in philosophy, his and the other co-authors of Star Wars fondness for making subtle, hidden anthropological allusions, the similarities between the name "Jar Jar" and "Jah", and the similarity between the language of the Gungans and Rastafarians, you have clearly hit the nail on the head. It all makes sense. The attention to detail you have revealed in the choice of the character of Jar Jar Binks, and his role and function in the saga, is characteristic of the attention to the detail in many other parts of Star Wars.

Given that all of this detail was Lucas's intention, it follows that he must have thought about it for a very, very long time, before the films were made, if you take into account the amount of detail in other parts of the saga as well: possibly between 5 or 10 years. And it also follows that, given the long time he spent on it, that it would be highly unlikely that he would have cut-out Jar Jar Binks in response to pressure from his audience. Someone who had spent that much time slaving over their work of art would not casually compromise on it. Especially when they have had as much as commercial success as Lucas had before he started making the Prequel Trilogy. So it follows that the reason for the reduced presence of Jar Jar Binks, in the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, was that he had served his function in the saga.

There is a great irony in the character of Jar Jar Binks. Although he appeared just to be a fool, and to many made Lucas look like a fool, given what you have revealed about his function in the saga, he above all the other characters has revealed many so called fans of Star Wars to be fools. For they have conflated their incomprehension of the intel

 

I agree.

 

Jar Jar was an outcast at the start of the saga because of his inherent clumsiness, which was perceived as undesirable by his own kind and aggravating by those he encountered.


I wonder if Jar-Jar's role as an outcast represented humanity's lack of tolerance toward those perceived as NOT being perfect or near-perfect.

only someone as naive and stupid as Jar Jar would give Sidious supreme powers


Jar-Jar DID NOT give Palpatine/Sidious supreme powers. Why do so many fans continue to assume this?

 

You're right.

He proposed that the Senate give emergency powers.

Jar Jar's role as an outcast is also very comparable to Qui-Gon. It isn't so much a matter of perfection as it is nonconformism.

Jar Jar as banished is more related to the ousting of Valorum. They were both clumsy.

I never understood how anyone would find Jar Jar's annoying-ness as a fault in the film or character.

IN THE FILM, he is considered "clumsy," "brainless," "pathetic," and "very odd indeed."

Lucas knew what he was doing and it's justified.