They never claim to be critics either.
Jar Jar Binks Actor Considered Suicide After 'Star Wars' Backlash
- Thread starter Mach5
- Start date
The criticism of Jar Jar was legitimate also, since he sucked. I think the issue here is one person's idea of satire is another person's cyberbullying. It's about whether there should be some sort of decorum in how people trash what they don't like.
Is there an argument to be made for no decorum?
I think Jar Jar was a great and critical character. The problem is that few seem to understand what he can be interpreted as (i.e. the scapegoat). He is the model of that type of person that we all know. He is someone who is endearing sometimes, and completely annoying at other times. He is the well-meaning bumbler who screws everything up, but you never get rid of him (even though Jar Jar's leader did get rid of him) because you would miss his antics that annoy you and make you laugh at the same time.
But, the crucial aspect of having this type of character is that the story needed (or at least wanted) someone on the "good side" to help Palpatine/Sidious rise to power. The story can't have the Princess Ardala call for the vote of no-confidence as she is supposed to be too smart for that (even though she is dumb to put Jar-Jar in). Instead it is left for Jar-Jar to do it. He ends up being the critical catalyst, and we should really be annoyed at Jar-Jar for that. So, I say his character, and annoying nature, was a brilliant aspect to the story. He is the scapegoat that takes the blame away from the truly heroic characters in the story.
I know I'll get blasted for this sacrilege, so I'll take it on the chin.
But, the crucial aspect of having this type of character is that the story needed (or at least wanted) someone on the "good side" to help Palpatine/Sidious rise to power. The story can't have the Princess Ardala call for the vote of no-confidence as she is supposed to be too smart for that (even though she is dumb to put Jar-Jar in). Instead it is left for Jar-Jar to do it. He ends up being the critical catalyst, and we should really be annoyed at Jar-Jar for that. So, I say his character, and annoying nature, was a brilliant aspect to the story. He is the scapegoat that takes the blame away from the truly heroic characters in the story.
I know I'll get blasted for this sacrilege, so I'll take it on the chin.
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None of that was until Episode 2 though. No idea if Lucas had even had that planned out during Episode 1.
I have no way of knowing either, but my opinion is that it was planned ahead like a setup job. Even if it is not planned, I like how it works in the end. I remember seeing that scene in Episode 2 and saying, "SOB, Lucas did it again".
It's a little bit like wondering if the original Star Wars had planned that Vader was Lukes father. I assume it was and there might be documentation proving that it was, but it need not matter because we can appreciate the end-product.
Back in the 1980s, I knew there were supposed to be 9 movies. Certainly, the outline of the saga was there for a long time. The details? It's hard to say.
Thing is they put Ahmed through this, along with Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen. They drove Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran from social media. Nothing will stop them expressing their hatred of anyone who does not produce something that conforms precisely to their own vision.
And so did Malcolm McDowell for killing Kirk - his response was that he hoped they could find a way to bring Soran back from the dead so he could kill Picard too.
But whenever I hear about this, I just can't helping thinking about this from Spaced.
And so did Malcolm McDowell for killing Kirk - his response was that he hoped they could find a way to bring Soran back from the dead so he could kill Picard too.
But whenever I hear about this, I just can't helping thinking about this from Spaced.
Author R A Salvatore got death threats for killing off Chewbacca in a Star Wars novel, and it wasn't even his idea to do it.
I know there is no way they are going to kill Chewbacca off in a movie, but I personally would have preferred to see Chewy die fighting trying to save Han, or to go berserk and die fighting after seeing Han killed. It would have been a good death for him. But, I certainly understand all the reasons for not doing it.
Were I to receive this kind of hate from fans, killing myself wouldn't ever cross my mind. Their killing me, however, would. I'd hire a body guard if I'd felt it came to that, but ... yeah, I never understood this thing with people wanting to kill themselves over harsh criticism, even on that level. For one thing, tastes change. At the start, Jackson Pollock's gestural abstraction technique was derided as childish and so forth and then, for a full decade, it signaled a major shift in the aesthetic perspective. Picasso's works in Cubism was misunderstood, at first, now he's hailed as a genius. In short, people can and will come around, eventually.
They don't always come around in the artist's lifetime. Human beings are pretty well wired to note and hang on to negative events and that negativity can add up over time and basically set the brain in a permanent negative mode.
Your post makes all kind of rational sense. Human beings do not always think rationally.
Yeah, it's kind of like how if you don't correct certain behaviours early on, they become a part of their nature to where it's virtually impossible to break them of it. This tendency to want to hang on to negativity does seem to be a very primitive aspect to our nature. Anyway, I don't mean to try to diminish the horror Best went through being threatened that way, because that's no way to live, you know? Looking over your shoulder, when you step out of a limo, wondering if this is the night they get you. But there's all kinds of deranged fans out there. Fans who think they're in love with you and want to kill you so you'll be together always.
It's just a matter of doing like the animals do. A zebra's still got to face the day, he's got to graze and join the herd, even though the lion's always out there. What's the alternative ... you know? See ... that's why if I were a celebrity, I wouldn't have anything to do with common folk, like some seem to like to. Don't try to get my autograph, don't try to engage me in conversation, I don't know these people. It doesn't pay to expose yourself to people like that when you don't have anything in common with them, anymore (or ever did). If you're making millions, live like it ... you know? Dip low into the lap of luxury ...
It's just a matter of doing like the animals do. A zebra's still got to face the day, he's got to graze and join the herd, even though the lion's always out there. What's the alternative ... you know? See ... that's why if I were a celebrity, I wouldn't have anything to do with common folk, like some seem to like to. Don't try to get my autograph, don't try to engage me in conversation, I don't know these people. It doesn't pay to expose yourself to people like that when you don't have anything in common with them, anymore (or ever did). If you're making millions, live like it ... you know? Dip low into the lap of luxury ...
This is the kind of behaviour that makes me genuinely wonder at times about the association between fandoms and unhealthy obsessive behaviours and thinking. There's such a fine line and the rhetoric used in fan circles so often straddles the line between playful and concerning it goes well past being simply embarrassing.
Whilst fandoms by their nature will always attract such single mindedness (the clue is in the name) we seem to have a culture which actively celebrates and rewards this behaviour, which at the end of the day is outright criminal. People operate within sociocultural bubbles within which they lose all sense of perspective, with the characters and events in films and TV series becoming of all consuming importance, their own reactions being heroic rather than disturbing.
I'm not sure how this can be addressed other than collectively coming together and thinking of promoting ways to encourage some degree of self awareness within the fan community, to promote awareness of mental health issues and the signs to look for that someone's interest is no longer that of a healthy enthusiast.
Harassing an artist just because you don't like art he has collaborated on is quite pathological.
I'm glad Best decided to stick around.
I'm glad Best decided to stick around.
Self-awareness as well as exposure to other points of view. There is often such insular thinking that it feeds the same beliefs, that "all fans" feel a certain way.
More disturbing to me is the fact that media has taken on such an important factor in culture and lives. That the outrage over surprisingly minor things has been given such an unearned soap box presents a lot of concern.
The world is so crazy that even if you do something that everyone loves, your number one fan may still kill you, as has happened a number of times. There is a reason why "fan" is short for fanatic.
This was a sad story but I'm glad that Best is in a good place. I wasn't a fan of the Jar Jar character but I never took it so damn personally like so many others did.
I thought Best's Jar Jar was actually a lot of fun on Robot Chicken and I liked the way he was used on The Clone Wars.
I thought Best's Jar Jar was actually a lot of fun on Robot Chicken and I liked the way he was used on The Clone Wars.
Unbelievable people can be so stupid.
I really don't like Jar Jar, or Rian Johnsen.
But i would never attack a person for a role or a movie they direct.
I really don't like Jar Jar, or Rian Johnsen.
But i would never attack a person for a role or a movie they direct.
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