It’s interesting to think of all the people that threw so much hate at Jar Jar Binks that might now be wondering why he’s not returning to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but that appears to be the case. Ahmed Best, the man that was almost driven to suicide thanks to the unrelenting hate that was heaped on Binks over the course of the prequels, has had a long road to where he’s currently at, but it would appear that he’s in a good spot at this time and is happy to see that the casting of the upcoming series has managed to pull in some great people. But he’s been adamant that his character won’t be making his way back into the fold, which again is surprising when it comes to the reaction of the fans, who in many cases had nothing but scorn and scathing rebuke for the wily but accident-prone Gungan. For quite a while it was seen that Jar Jar was considered a racist character in the Star Wars franchise, and it’s still believed by some people that this is the case, when in truth if people would simply stop to enjoy the characters for who and what they are without feeling the need to see racist caricatures at every angle they might actually enjoy life a little more. Jar Jar is no more racist than any other character, but the fact that he was played by a man of color appears to be one reason why so many individuals who are focused on calling out perceived racism have been so bent on proving that Jar Jar and the Gungans are a racially offensive stereotype. That doesn’t say much for the franchise since if one were to apply this line of thinking to every alien in the story they might find that things are too uncomfortable to continue watching.
The truth is that Jar Jar is in fact a very goofy character, but being identified as a racist caricature is stretching things in a big way since upon looking at the rest of the Gungan society he’s something of an oddball among his people, the outcast and perhaps one of the worst examples of the Gungans since the rest of them, apart from Boss Nass, appeared to be pretty well-adjusted. So really, taking one example of a race as what they’re all supposed to be like is sadly kind of common, but over the years the general attitude towards Jar Jar has changed. Part of this is due to the sequels that came out starting in 2015, which angered a lot of toxic fans in a lot of ways and gave them another list of scapegoats to target and a whole new list of gripes to focus on, which is enough to make a person shake their head since the toxicity of the fanbase, at least part of it, is enough to make a person think that being a casual fan might be safer at times. As a dedicated fan of Star Wars though I can state with all honesty that while Jar Jar was never one of my favorite characters, he was still part of the story and a funny individual at times that didn’t feel racist in the least bit. For those that want to argue, and there are plenty of them, looking at Jar Jar as a racist character without taking into account the rest of his species is a fallacy that many have made simply because they’re following the same line of thought of those that had the mind to be offended by a FICTIONAL character that wasn’t meant to be racist in any way, shape, or form. Even likening Jar Jar’s ear flaps to dreadlocks is a major stretch.
But for those that never liked Jar Jar, they can rest easy knowing that the character will not be showing up and that he won’t be making a comeback just yet. If he does ever come back it might only be for an animated series, or it might be a brief moment in one show or another since the fate of the Gungan has been theorized but never shown throughout the history of the franchise. There might be a few reasons for this, perhaps because those in charge didn’t want to deal with the backlash, or perhaps they didn’t want to deal with the character overall. But if Jar Jar does come back it’s very likely that we’ll hear more about his ‘racist’ appearance and speech from those that can’t allow such ideas to die down, while the rest of us will just accept that he’s back and deal with it however we can. All in all, Jar Jar isn’t a bad character, nor is he annoying to the point of wanting to see his demise. He’s just, well, Jar Jar.
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