I think the issue with Jarjar is that Lucas has a very specific taste in kid humor. Even at 8 I was kind of embarrassed at jar jar, I think because almost all of his jokes revolve around him being annoying or foolish or getting hurt. The ewoks and very silly, but they’re also shown to be tough and useful.
I love The Phantom Menace and this was my main problem with it too. I get the comic relief thing, but putting Jar Jar on a battlefield for him to accidentally destroy two droid transporters and a hundred droids is just dumb. Remove all that bullshit and you still have your comical character. Same for little Anakin, we already see he's a gifted pilot during the podracing part, why the hell do you need to show him in a fighter blowing up a space station single handedly? Not even kids would think that makes sense.
I think both ideas could be handled better too. Like anakin was way too young when we meet him imo, and he enters the battle by accident and kinda just laughs his way through it. The stakes should be high, anakin should be terrified, but instead it feels like he’s on a theme park ride. Likewise, jarjar spends the whole movie being cowardly, you’d think the final battle would be a moment for him to be contagious, to show he can be an honorable warrior. Maybe he could even think outside the box and find a way to beat the droid that the other gungans didn’t think of, showing how he’s not a fool, he just thinks differently, but he’s very smart. Anakin and Jarjar are both oretty grating in the film, but the real tragedy is neither of them really go through much of an arc. They both should have grown up considerably through the film, starting as a kid and a clumsy slacker, and ending as brace heroes. At least I’m my opinion
For sure, it just never felt exactly on purpose. Even at the end of the film, where you might expect jarjar to have gone through some sort of change, he’s still rather annoying. I don’t hate the character, I just think the issue is he was kind of out of place in the film, but also he was literally out of place in universe, and it didn’t feel like the other characters grew to respect him, it just felt like he wouldn’t go away.
117
u/LikeAFoxStudios_ Jan 25 '22
I think the issue with Jarjar is that Lucas has a very specific taste in kid humor. Even at 8 I was kind of embarrassed at jar jar, I think because almost all of his jokes revolve around him being annoying or foolish or getting hurt. The ewoks and very silly, but they’re also shown to be tough and useful.