Jar Jar Binks and Anakin Skywalker... am I the only one who understood what George Lucas made?

[VulcanMindBlown]

Constantly, I see that a lot of people didn't like the Star War Prequel Trilogy.

One of the main things that was mentioned was Jar Jar Binks and Anakin Skywalker being annoying. Though I can understand that for people over 12 years old, but George Lucas had a place for those characters.

Yes, Anakin as a little boy, teenager, and young adult was annoying and controlling, but isn't that how all bad guys start? Some people can't let go. A lot of people who become bullies are annoying, and then they turn to crime. Not always, though...

Jar Jar Binks was meant to be comic relief. He was supposed to be for the kids. He talked funny, and he was goofy. Now, I am saying that J.J. Abrams should have put him as a main character as SW Episode 7? No, but I don't feel either way in terms as a side character. He got more mature as he aged and got used to his position in the Senate. I thought he was really funny as a CGI character in the CGI cartoon The Clone Wars. Maybe some of the hate was for the fact that he was a CGI character who was on screen with real life actors.

All of these things I believe made me feel like I am a horrible person for standing up for these guys.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The entire point of Jar-Jar as a character was to lead up to that scene where, as a Republic senator, he casts the deciding vote to create the clone army - which eventually leads to the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire.

The point is that galaxy-shattering decisions like this can often settle on the shoulders of truly innocent people.

 

[JD]

I was never that bothered by Anakin or Jar-Jar, but I can see why people found them annoying.

 

[The Wormhole]

Jar Jar hate has always been too extreme, IMO. I actually liked him when I first saw Phantom Menace in theatres (I was 14 at the time). As the years have gone by, I do find him, not annoying, but somewhat unnecessarily distracting to the movie. But I don't think he deserves the hate he's gotten from not just SW fandom, but even the world in general. I feel so bad for Ahmed Best, who probably thought he had his big break, only to have his character end up becoming so infamous and hated around the world. At least he has a good sense of humour about it, having done Jar Jar related skits on Robot Chicken.

 

[Set Harth]

At one point on The Clone Wars they had a different actor doing the voice.

Jar Jar not played by Ahmed is actually worse than Jar Jar played by Ahmed.

 

[Richard Baker]

Jar Jar was a clown brought into be funny and it did not work for me- perhaps it is because I do not care from clowns, even circus ones, in the first place.
One thing TFA did have perfect is that the humor in it was character driven- sometime it was just a look a character gave another, but it worked well. When you have to insert a clown into scenes something has gone wrong.

Anakin never did work for me- he was just hitting the points needed to drive the story forward. I never got the feeling of a person on a tragic path, evolving into Vader. We got his story in spurts and he made fundamental changes far too quickly.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Did anyone under 12 actually find Jar Jar Binks funny, though? I've never met anyone who genuinely found him entertaining, old or young.

Star Wars is a series meant to have appeal for both kids and adults. You can appeal to kids without having elements pushed to the forefront that are just plain stupid. It's not even that terribly difficult, bb8 had exactly that kind of humor that could appeal to both kids and adults and was not annoying.

Anakin didn't bother me too much.

 

[fireproof78]

Jar-Jar I just never found funny. I don't "hate" him but I certainly understand why he gets mocked.

Anakin just feels flat. More of a missed opportunity. I think he had some good moments were he felt like a classical tragic character, but they were brief.

 

[The Wormhole]

Did anyone under 12 actually find Jar Jar Binks funny, though? I've never met anyone who genuinely found him entertaining, old or young.

There actually were a lot of laughs during Jar Jar scenes when I saw TPM in theatres. And even during his scenes in AOTC, too.

 

[kirk55555]

Did anyone under 12 actually find Jar Jar Binks funny, though? I've never met anyone who genuinely found him entertaining, old or young.

TPM came out when I was 8. I saw it in theaters. I might not have loathed him at that time, but I definitely didn't like Jar Jar, even at that age. I hate him more as I get older, but even as a kid I didn't like him.

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

At least he has a good sense of humour about it, having done Jar Jar related skits on Robot Chicken.

Lol, I think that everyone can enjoy the satire of Jar Jar Binks.

Did anyone under 12 actually find Jar Jar Binks funny, though? I've never met anyone who genuinely found him entertaining, old or young.

Well, I didn't poll for people opinions back then, but I was in first or second grade at that time. Probably some people my age at that time found him funny. My family finds him funny and I did more so back then. I still make jokes and talk like him sometimes nowadays.

 

[JD]

I loved him when it came out, but I was also right in that target age as a kid. I still like him, but like I said before, I can see why people find him annoying.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I really think the biggest problem with Anakin in TPM was just that Jake Lloyd wasn't a very good actor. Later, I believe Hayden Christensen actually did a great job, but the writing failed him. Like cutting down the Younglings. What a ham-fisted and over the top way to make it clear he had become a "villain" - when that's something that I frankly just don't believe even ESB Vader would have done. Turned the kids over to the Emperor for training, sure - but not wiping them out like that.

And all of my problems with Jar Jar can be fixed with ONE line of dialog that I just go ahead and pretend he said: right after he said the reason Boss Nass exiled him was because "Meesa Clumsy" I mentally add him saying "I fell on his daughter" under his breath while Qui Gon has already started talking again. Changes him from a complete idiot into an idiot scoundrel, which is somehow more acceptable.

I still wish he had gotten the rumored scene where he dies trying to defend Padme and the twins from Vader. Not because I care if he's dead, but because I think it would have put an end to the crazy hate for his character.

 

[The Wormhole]

I really think the biggest problem with Anakin in TPM was just that Jake Lloyd wasn't a very good actor.

Ah, but was the problem really Jake Lloyd? As Samuel L Jackson said about him "he was only a kid working with a director who doesn't know how to work with actors."

 

[USS Triumphant]

Ah, but was the problem really Jake Lloyd? As Samuel L Jackson said about him "he was only a kid working with a director who doesn't know how to work with actors."

I'll be as generous as I can manage as say that Jake Lloyd wasn't the only problem with his performance as Anakin. Because SLJ is, of course, correct. But, everyone else managed to sell *most* of their lines, even so. Lloyd seemed like he was in a bad school play, and that wasn't all on direction.

 

[The Wormhole]

But, everyone else managed to sell *most* of their lines, even so.

Again, it's not really a fair comparison. Everyone else were adults with some acting experience under their belts. Well, Natalie Portman was a teenager, but she was already well known. Granted, TPM wasn't Jake Lloyd's first movie or acting role, but while everyone else was experienced enough to intuit their roles and figure out how to play things under a director who is more skilled at the technical aspects, a child only eight or nine years old isn't going be as capable. Maybe there are child actors out there who could have done a better job under the same circumstances, but at the same time Lloyd did a pretty decent job considering his circumstances.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those hateful people who BLAMES Jake Lloyd. I felt bad for him, because even if he *wasn't* an actor equal to the role he was being asked to play (and there *are* kids who are more skilled - Osment, for example), he was still chosen by Lucas - for reasons I can only assume had something to do with him matching a look Lucas wanted or some other similar thing, rather than his actual acting skill. If Lloyd's acting career had not been suddenly jumped several levels ahead of what he was ready for, and his skills had been allowed to develop with roles that were on his level, he might be acting today. Or, not - he was a kid, and he might have gone in a different direction. But maybe he at least wouldn't be so bitter about his acting experience.

Regardless of any of that, I hope his doctors can get his schizophrenia under control with medication so he can live a relatively normal life.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The problem with Jar-Jar isn't that he was supposed to be funny, it's that they didn't succeed in making him funny. He uses the most juvenile form of humor possible and fails. Slapstick done poorly is just annoying.

I'd have been fine with him if they toned him down but, even when I was 12, I didn't like him. Jake Lloyd himself was fine, it just created some odd moments with the Jedi Council saying "he's too old" (leading to eight year olds getting decapitated) and it undercuts the parallels to Luke. Plus, he seems to win through the power of cuteness, which is unfortunate because it doesn't build credibility with the audience.

 

[fireproof78]

Jar-Jar was never funny to me, even when I was younger, though I was 15 when TPM came out.

I also tend to agree that Anakin didn't really gain any credibility with the audience. I think, in terms of character development, Luke was far more the everyman, who grows in to the hero. Anakin is "the Chosen One" and that can separate him from sympathy with the audience. As much as I understand that Anakin's fall is tragic, there isn't a moment where I feel like he is a real person going through a real crisis. He feels fated to be Darth Vader with no redeeming quality to endear me to him.

Is it the writing? Probably. I certainly don't fault the actors, but I struggled to connect with Anakin.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Jar-Jar - as pointed out by @Alidar Jarok - is supposed to be funny, but isn't. So really he is a waste of a character. The interview with his designer on the Blu-Ray edition of TPM is quite illuminating. She didn't want Jar - Jar to be a "funny" character, but Lucas did and she manages to convey her disappointment and irritation even in a heavily sanitized corporate interview.

Anakin as a kid was fine. Making him some immaculately conceived child of destiny was a weird choice.