# Who's More Annoying: Dobby or JarJar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223 "2005-12-12T05:36:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/41 "2005-12-14T06:20:50Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > The human race. > > Jar Jar is more annoying. If I lived at Hogwarts, I would avoid Dobby. If I lived in the Star Wars universe, I would kill Jar Jar with my bare hands. No jury would convict me. Well, you would try, but then again, look what has happened to every single other thing that ever tried to kill Jar Jar. Most of the droids were destroyed, oftentimes inadvertainly by Jar Jar, hell, the big fish thing got eaten right as he was trying to _eat_ Jar Jar. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/42 "2005-12-15T02:53:09Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Well, you would try, but then again, look what has happened to every single other thing that ever tried to kill Jar Jar. Most of the droids were destroyed, oftentimes inadvertainly by Jar Jar, hell, the big fish thing got eaten right as he was trying to _eat_ Jar Jar. šŸ˜ƒ Thatā€™s what makes Jar Jar even more annoying, is that he canā€™t die. I bet if Vader tried to take down Jar Jar while doing his jedi genocide, heā€™d suddenly slip on a banana peel and lightsaber himself in the face, while Jar Jar ran around screaming like silly. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/43 "2005-12-15T06:47:18Z")
> [@Yumblie](#): > > Thatā€™s what makes Jar Jar even more annoying, is that he canā€™t die. I bet if Vader tried to take down Jar Jar while doing his jedi genocide, heā€™d suddenly slip on a banana peel and lightsaber himself in the face, while Jar Jar ran around screaming like silly. Yaknow, the image of Darth Vader slipping on a bannana peel is an amusing one. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/44 "2005-12-15T07:13:30Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > The argument continues that Jar-jarā€™s slapstick antics reference minstrel shows, and are no less offensive, since the infantile pink reptile involved is _clearly_ meant to represent an African-American (yet west Indian) caricature. This conveniently ignores that American minstrel shows didnā€™t feature anything remotely _like_ Jar-jarā€™s physical comedy, which almost exclusively references to the films of [this guy.](http://corporate.gettyimages.com/edit/en-us/articles/124/images/extra1_1.jpg) Oh, wait, that picture might give people the wrong idea. [This guy,](http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/images/020730.jpg) then. Jar Jar references Harold Lloyd? Well, he canā€™t be _all_ bad thenā€¦Keaton wouldā€™ve been better thoughā€¦ But I gotta agree with the others. Jar Jarā€™s racist stereotype is more than the sum of its parts, unintended though it may have been. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/45 "2005-12-15T16:34:21Z")
Jar Jar is more annoying, simply because of the way **The Phantom Menace** was written. There were way too many scenes in that movie of characters doing nothing more than reacting to Jar Jar, too many obvious, ā€œOh, ha ha, look at that Jar Jar, what a character!ā€ moments that grated on my nerves. Dobby, or something like Dobby, was necessary; Jar Jar was forced on us. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/46 "2005-12-15T17:02:37Z")
Jar Jar combines a number of characteristics that many reasonable people think echos the incompetent, somewhat cowardly, servile nature of the [Stepin Fetchit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepin_Fetchit) character in the early US cinema. I might have been willing to give Lucas a pass on this as just a confluence of coincidences in designing the character until the [Ming the Merciless](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_the_Merciless) oriental style aliens ([Nemoidans)](http://www.starwars.com/databank/species/neimoidian/) showed up. At that point it was obvious, and somewhat pitiful, that Lucas was reaching into the bottom of his shallow barrel of creativity and these were the comfortable memes he came up with. If you deconstruct Jar Jar bit by bit itā€™s true you canā€™t find any _definitive_ piece of racism. Itā€™s the entire nature of the character as whole that makes peopleā€™s pattern matching mental software come to the conclusion that Jar Jar is, by his overall servile, loping nature, aping a cowardly, shiftless negro character of early film. [Interesting article here denying SW racism](http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Racism.html) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/47 "2005-12-15T18:20:06Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Jar Jar references Harold Lloyd? Well, he canā€™t be _all_ bad thenā€¦ Youā€™d think so, wouldnā€™t you? Oh well. > [@Rodgers01](#): > > Keaton wouldā€™ve been better thoughā€¦ Thereā€™s Keaton in there, too. When ā€œGeneralā€ Jar-Jar fights in the battle of Naboo, several sight gags are borrowed from _The General_ ā€“ Climbing around the outside of the tank, struggling with the ā€œboombas.ā€ Just a different war, a hovertank instead of a train, and boombas instead of cannonballs. > [@](#): > > But I gotta agree with the others. Jar Jarā€™s racist stereotype is more than the sum of its parts, unintended though it may have been. Meh. Okay. I donā€™t see it. I prefer to keep my hatred of Jar Jar pure. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/48 "2005-12-16T07:11:53Z")
> [@astro](#): > > JI might have been willing to give Lucas a pass on this as just a confluence of coincidences in designing the character until the [Ming the Merciless](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_the_Merciless) oriental style aliens ([Nemoidans)](http://www.starwars.com/databank/species/neimoidian/) showed up. Wait, wait, theyā€™re oriental? I thought they were French? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/49 "2006-01-17T04:50:52Z")
Having now invested the time to read the series, I can definitively and completely settle this matter for now and all time: Dobby sucks the glistening sweat of the scrotum of the acne-ridden angst-filled unwashed teens in the back of the juvenile hall transport van. In July. And that Winky needs to be kicked between the legs and turned into a snowshoe. Most.annoying.supporting.character.EVER. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/50 "2006-01-17T05:52:04Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > Dobby sucks the glistening sweat of the scrotum of the acne-ridden angst-filled unwashed teens in the back of the juvenile hall transport van. In July. > > And that Winky needs to be kicked between the legs and turned into a snowshoe. Winky? But who am I going to draw to get into art school? ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223/51 "2006-01-17T06:04:31Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > Winky? But who am I going to draw to get into art school? [Iā€™m partial to the pirate, myself.](http://www.artists-ais.com/free/index.php) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-more-annoying-dobby-or-jarjar/335223.md?page=2)