What?!? You mean all that money I spent on those figures, and I don’t even make a dent in the demographic figures?!? (okay, previously, i mean)
jar jar was strange, but i guess i was able to tune him out or something…i’m looking forward to the next two star wars episodes, which should hopefully be better than the first one (I don’t know, it just felt fake…)
Has anyone else noticed that the guy playing anakin looks like a member of a boy band? Lucas is pandering to pre-teen girls now too…
SwimmingRiddles:
I guess that Captain Panaka, the queen’s chief of security and her trusted advisor, doesn’t count. Oh, and the fact that the queen herself is a woman, as is her decoy and number-one bodyguard, doesn’t count either. Oh, and the Jedi Council is made up entirely of aliens and nonwhite humans. I guess that also doesn’t count.
FYI, according to Lucas, the accents spoken by the Nemoidians were supposed to evoke the Transylvanian of Draculs as portrayed by Lugosi. I think the fact that so many people missed that (as well as the confusion over whether Watto was supposed to be Jewish, or Arabic, or Italian, or what) is a big clue that most people who claim to have been offended were projecting their own implicit cultural signifiers onto the nonhuman characters.
Let’s face it–much like people on TV are assumed to be straight and Christian unless otherwise specified, for some reason, movie viewers assume that all alien species, unless otherwise specified, are “not white.” I think it’s ridiculous to assume that in a movie containing several black human characters, the Gungans are supposed to be “black.” Not to mention that the people claiming offense seem to reason from a rather racist viewpoint themselves: Jar Jar is “not white,” has a funny accent, and is lazy and clumsy, so he must be meant to be read as “black.”
Chance the Gardener (who likes to watch):
See, I don’t think it’s “obvious” at all (although I’m glad you’re not offended by it). Having picked up several of the “Making of” and “Art of” books for Episode I, I saw the character grew from a sketch of a froglike creature one of the designers had made for another project altogether. Lucas liked it, and asked her to make it into a character for the movie. I think part of the rap is, unfortunately, growing from the fact that Ahmed Best is black, and therefore everyone assumes that his reading of the dialogue as written demonstrates that the characters are supposed to be “Jamaican.” Let’s face it, anyone who has heard an actual Jamaican speak would have to determine that Lucas and Best were the most tin-eared folks ever to try to interpret the accent. That dialogue would have sounded a lot different if the lines had been read by, say, Billy West or June Foray.
See above, regarding the accents.
So now we have Jewish, Arabic, Italian and French. I think that pretty much puts an end to Watto signifying anythingracially or culturally specific.
This reminds me of the old adage about being able to take three random newspaper headlines and crafting a conspiracy out of them. One piece of “evidence” for Jar Jar being racist is that he’s played by a black man. Say Ahmed Best was white. Raise your hand if you think people would have compared Jar Jar to racist blackface comedy then.
Also, consider tht Samuel L. Jackson is noted for his strong anti-racist presence in Hollywood. Do you actually believe he would continue to support Lucas if he felt that Phantom Menace had negative racial stereotypes.
Oh, one other thing. Every slave in Menace was white. Go ahead, find the implicit racism.
…Jedi Girl-wasn’t Harrison Ford then pandering to hormonally crazed women in their twenties and thirties?
Mark Hamill? Carrie Fisher? C’mon!
While I still wish for Christian Bale…sigh
For crying out LOUD, people-everyone complained there were no blacks in the original Star Wars, FWIW…
You just can’t win!
remember: It’s just a MOVIE!!! (I can’t believe I’m saying this!)
What? Isn’t anyone going to be outraged about the openly admitted stereotyping of Transylvanians???
Nah. Everybody knows that they’re all blood-sucking undead demon spawn.
Personally, I think he made them look better.
Well, yeah, I guess he was going for the women in the original trilogy, but were mark hamill and harrison ford as well known then as they are now? It seems to me that they perhaps owe a lot of their ‘sexual charisma’ to star wars…and in any case, they at least didn’t look like members of backstreet or nsync! (no offense intended to anyone who likes those guys)
I have to agree, it’s just a movie, it’s supposed to be fun, we’re not supposed to become overly critical of it.
I think if Lucas would just change Jar Jars voice he would be OK. Visually, I thought he looked good and the slapstick didn’t bother me. It’s just that darn voice. He has an annoying voice reminiscent of the comedy relief characters you would see in old Hanna-Barbera and Filmation cartoons.
Jar-Jar was a little over the top for me, but my 8-year-old enjoyed the character. Maybe we should poll the under-12 crowd, I’ll bet Jar-Jar would have a pretty high approval rating.
My impression of Lucas is not one of a person who would change his vision of what the story is to be and who will be in it because of public opionion.
I probably would have enjoyed TPM more without Jar Jar, but I still kind of hope Lucas sticks with whatever he has in mind for Eps 2 and 3, and ignores the whining fanboys.
Jar-Jar was a distraction, but nothing I couldn’t overlook upon second viewing of the movie. However, it took me half the first viewing to be able to understand anything he said, so I did feel that it would have played better without him.
sigh I miss Han and Chewie so much.
GuanoLad: George doesn’t really care much about profit outside of the usual need to make his money back.
Bull.
It was recently announced that they would once again release the Star Wars trilogy on VHS. They’re justifying it by adding in interviews or snippets of information about Episode II.
Let’s do a count:
- Original releases on tape
- THX remastering on tape
- Special edition on tape
- These new ones on tape
That’s called milking it. You can add 5 when they finally get the trilogy + Episode I on DVD, and you just know that after Episode II they’re going to have a trilogy + Episode I & II release, probably changing some stuff to lure in people to buy it again.
I understand why he wouldn’t take out Jar-Jar (it’s his vision, he’s not pandering to the masses), but I find it unforunate he’s in there in the first place. I had hoped that Lucas wouldn’t direct Episode II & III, but it looks like he will. I really don’t think he’s that great of a director; Empire and Jedi were directed by other people, who did a better job than he did on the first.
He is kiddy-fying it more than the original trilogy. Remember in Star Wars when Ben cut that guy’s arm off? I don’t think Lucas would put something like that in the new ones. In the battle with the Ewoks, it was shown to the audience that yes, Ewoks are dying. In Episode I, there is no such indication with the Gunguns. (Of course, they’re also fighting droids, and no one cares if they perish.)
If Lucas doesn’t relax on the kiddy-ing effect, than Anakin’s descent into the Dark Side is going to be really lame.
I reiterate: Nobody is forcing anyone to buy this stuff. He’s meeting demand.
I ain’t gonna buy this new version of the tapes unless there are some improvements on the effects. Otherwise, I’m waiting for the DVD.
How about decapitation?
Oh yes, that’s in Episode 2, and it definitely happens. It’s an important plot point.
Two Words: Darth Maul.
If you dont’ think THAT was violent…
Bleh. We saw blood in Star Wars, there was a close up of it. Darth Maul just seperated.
Oh, and GuanoLad, hows about you don’t tell people about what will and won’t happen in Episode II? As dissapointed as I am by Episode I, I would still like to see Episode II spoiler free.
You mean I can’t mention the return of the Ewoks, that Jabba the Hutt is Anakin’s father, and that young Chewbacca appears as a background extra?
Darn. I was so looking forward to telling everyone.
Seriously though, alluding to one incident in such a vague way is relatively harmless, don’t you think?