# Why do we hate Jar Jar Binks so? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2000, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990 "2000-04-17T13:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/61 "2013-12-13T22:44:11Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The problem with Jar-Jar is he is basically Jerry Lewis - loud, annoying voice, stupid clutzy antics. Well, that explains why those movies did so well in France then! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/62 "2013-12-13T23:09:28Z")
> [@amorali](#): > > I just saw ROTJ on TV complete with the animated band scene that crazy man added in. It’s just absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what Lucas was thinking. You have a semi serious scene, I remember as a kid being scared of all the scenes with Jabba. And then suddenly thread a cartoon. . . . Animated band scene? Do I want to know? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/63 "2013-12-13T23:11:27Z")
What’s not to hate about Jar Jar Binks? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/64 "2013-12-13T23:53:09Z")
I still like the idea of Jar Jar becoming a Sith Lord. “Jar Jar eesa deaded. Isa Darth Binky.” Followed by a drawn out and hilarious death scene. “What a pathetic waste of Gungan Life.” ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/65 "2013-12-14T00:34:03Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Animated band scene? Do I want to know? What in the what? You never saw the newer versions that Lucas butchered? The whole who shot first thing? Jabba being able to stand up? The stupid CGI band scene? ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/66 "2013-12-14T00:36:55Z")
What has been seen cannot be unseen. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PiDRgDmXGi4/hqdefault.jpg "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - Jedi Rock's") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiDRgDmXGi4) ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/67 "2013-12-14T18:58:51Z")
> [@amorali](#): > > What in the what? You never saw the newer versions that Lucas butchered? The whole who shot first thing? Jabba being able to stand up? The stupid CGI band scene? Nope, I’ve successfully avoided it all, mainly due to the outraged fan discussions here on this very board. Until now. I could stand about twenty seconds of that clip. Hurl. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/68 "2013-12-14T19:54:55Z")
Jar Jar never bothered me much. Anyway, how could he ruin the movie after Jake Lloyd did? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/69 "2013-12-14T21:19:28Z")
He was introduced as comic relief at a time when not-particularly-stressful things were occurring. “Oh, no, Obi Wan’s being chased! um… I bet he survives…” “Oh, no, Anakin’s in trouble! um…” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/70 "2013-12-14T21:42:14Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Jar Jar never bothered me much. Anyway, how could he ruin the movie after Jake Lloyd did? That’s the thing I never got - the hate for Jake Lloyd. I always thought he did a pretty good job. He [acted](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i909Rm4NQN8) naturally in the role of a nine year old. He even manages to deliver some pretty bad lines in as convincing a manner as anyone could have. Now the concept of portraying a legendary villain as a normal nine year old was questionable. But that wasn’t Lloyd’s idea. He wasn’t miscast as much as he was well cast in a part that was misconceived. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/71 "2013-12-14T23:07:53Z")
Yeah, I know it’s a necropost, but I missed the first round. When I saw the movie, I’d already heard the debate about JarJar, so my reaction wasn’t fresh. I could see why people had the reactions they had regarding racism, even though I didn’t agree. I attribute it to oversensitivity, but I also acknowledge that oversensitivity to a grievous problem is natural. Perhaps Lucas should have been more aware of this sensitivity. In any case, I didn’t hate JarJar, nor did I love him. > [@oasis325](#): > > I think JarJar is just a bad stereotype of a Jamaican. I think he’s an attempt to portray a culture that speaks a creole language. I like that idea. Perhaps they failed, or perhaps we can’t even hear an attempt at a creole without piling on a lot of our preconceptions about them and the people who speak them. > [@evilbeth](#): > > First of all, I’d like to say that Yue Han is completely correct and I applaud him for bringing reason to this discussion. I agree with a lot of what Yue Han said. > [@extra\_crispy](#): > > jar jar was pretty bad but you what really killed the movie for me was the way the gungans spoke to each other. i mean it’s one thing if jar jar talks in pidgin english when he meets the jedi knights, maybe basic isn’t his native language so he has an accent. But when the gungans gather and speak in ebonics, that’s crossing the line. they should have had their own language. That’s true if JarJar was speaking a pidgin. I interpret it as a creole, which means they’d speak it to one another; it would be their native language and not a second/foreign one. I think the real problem was touching on the racial issue with a character who isn’t well-loved and is poked fun at. As for him not being well-loved, that may be his appearance, but I think it was just failure to achieve the desired (lovable) effect. Oops. I haven’t seen the picture in 10 years. I wonder if I’d have the same reaction today. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/72 "2013-12-14T23:19:10Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Your’e all missing the real villain. Jar Jar Binks was annoying but that kid made me wince in pain. The thing is that there are a hundred things wrong with “The Phantom Menace.” As bad as Jake Lloyd is, you cannot honestly say Natalie Portman is any better; her performance is just jaw-droppingly terrible. ALL the actors are bad, really. The story makes very little sense, the cinematography is boring, the dialogue stilted, the effects cheap-looking, and the characters quite often don’t make any sense at all. Jar Jar gets special hate because he’s both especially, intensely irritating with his racist, clownish buffoonery, but also because he is totally irrelevant to the story. Jar Jar’s only purpose in the tale is bringing the Jedi to the Gungan city - something that could have been done some other way - after that he is purely a tag along and one who is inexplicably but unforgettably in the way at all times. Contrast him with C3PO in “Star Wars” who is also an irritating pain in the ass - think about it, he is intensely unlikeable - but is vastly less intrusive and actually helps propel the plot several times. The Phantom Menace would be a dreadful movie without Jar Jar but it’d be more like, say, a movie like “Oblivion” or “Elysium,” a bloated and dull sci fi movie with lots of sizzle and no steak. (In a lot of ways The Phantom Menace is actually much worse than those movies but I can’t think of a better comparison.). But imagine “Elysium” exactly as is is except cast a really bad actor as an actual clown, cavorting in some racial stereotype next to Matt Damon almost the whole movie. You’d detest him, too. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/73 "2013-12-15T01:44:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s the thing I never got - the hate for Jake Lloyd. I always thought he did a pretty good job. He [acted](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i909Rm4NQN8) naturally in the role of a nine year old. He even manages to deliver some pretty bad lines in as convincing a manner as anyone could have. . . . Total agreement. And I’ll give some of the same credit to Hayden Christensen, too: he was directed to do a whiny teen-ager performance. He has said he didn’t want to do it that way. If this is true, then he can be absolved for much of the blame. A wise person said to me: If one actor in a movie is bad, it’s the actor’s fault. If all the actors in a movie are bad, it’s the director’s fault. ([A real killer example: Alice in Wonderland, 1966.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060089/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_17) A cast studded with top-level stars – and every single one of them turns in a leaden performance. We know they’re capable of much, much better. How does this happen? Bad directing! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/74 "2013-12-15T08:06:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yousa bombad necromancer! Great username/post combo! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/75 "2013-12-16T22:18:53Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Total agreement. And I’ll give some of the same credit to Hayden Christensen, too: he was directed to do a whiny teen-ager performance. He has said he didn’t want to do it that way. If this is true, then he can be absolved for much of the blame. > > A wise person said to me: If one actor in a movie is bad, it’s the actor’s fault. If all the actors in a movie are bad, it’s the director’s fault. People whine about the acting in TPM being stilted. But the thing is, that is what Lucas wanted. I swear I read an article about that. I mean, when you have Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor coming across as stilted and wooden, you’ve got to know something is going on. I never got the hate for Jake Lloyd or Hayden Christensen, either. But Jar Jar, I totally get the hate. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/76 "2013-12-17T03:17:10Z")
Anent the charge of racism in _Phantom Menace_: If it were just Jar-Jar, I’d agree with what **Yue Han** wrote thirteen years ago. But it isn’t. I mean, first you have the Trade Federation guys, with their Mickey-Rooney-in-Breakfast-At-Tiffanys accents and their Chinese robes. What are they doing? Economically exploiting another planet. Launching a sneak attack. Then we meet the Comical Negro Sidekick Jar-Jar. Then, the slaver, Watto. Whose name ends with an “-o”, and who has a big nose, stubble, wears a wife-beater, and speaks in an Italian-by-way-of-Brooklyn accent. Once is bad luck. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a pattern. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/77 "2013-12-17T08:11:52Z")
Meesa no hatin Jar Jar Binks. Me thinkin someone’s gotta be takin up the slack for Threeso not bein so much in the movie. Where else you havin the comic relief? I also love that in the recent alterations to Jedi, he winds up getting the last line WEESA FREE haha take that haters. (Yeah, they tried to backpeddle and say it’s just some random gungan, but you know that’s not what they intended) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/78 "2013-12-18T04:14:26Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Then, the slaver, Watto. Whose name ends with an “-o”, and who has a big nose, stubble, wears a wife-beater, and speaks in an Italian-by-way-of-Brooklyn accent. Watto’s Italian? That’s a new one. He’s usually said to be a Jewish stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/79 "2013-12-18T05:10:02Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Then, the slaver, Watto. Whose name ends with an “-o”, and who has a big nose You want they should have named him Shapiro? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990/80 "2013-12-18T05:52:45Z")
You want maybe they _shouldn’t_ have named him Shapiro? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hate-jar-jar-binks-so/17990.md?page=5)