If there’s anyone really worried about what could happen if Jar Jar Binks is set to appear on the upcoming Obi-Wan series it would be Ahmed Best since his first outing with the character drew the ire of the fans in a way that’s not often seen in the movies to such a degree. If anyone remembers the backlash from the first episode it was bad enough to the point that Ahmed was actually considering suicide for a while due to the number of people that had such a massive issue with the character. There are likely many people hoping that Jar Jar doesn’t make his way back to the Obi-Wan series, though there might actually be a few people hoping to see him in a cameo at the very least. This is what Ahmed Best had to say as per Kevin Fraser of Joblo:
“The thing about what I did as Jar Jar as motion-capture, you know, Lucasfilm still has all that data, so they could put him in whatever they want to put him in, and it will move like me, they don’t actually need me for that. But if there was a rumour that I would be Jar Jar in Obi-Wan, then there’s no truth to that, I haven’t been asked. I just don’t know, to be completely honest I think Jar Jar is something that Lucasfilm is trying to move away from, I’m not going to hold my breath for a Jar Jar cameo in Obi-Wan, but you know, who knows.”
The downside about the data that Lucasfilm does have on Jar Jar is that without the motion-capture the movements are likely to appear a bit less realistic since Ahmed was actually on the set back in the day. Another downside of course is that the talk of racism might return if Jar Jar is included in the Obi-Wan series since that was a huge issue with The Phantom Menace. How anyone looked at Jar Jar as a caricature of a black individual though is still hard to figure out since really the number of species in a Star Wars movie offer up a lot of diversity and skin color wasn’t really one that tended to matter quite as much as social status and species. Of course the inclusion of more women in the story was bound to make things a little better, depending on several factors of course, but overall the Star Wars saga is one that a rational person might not really connect with many racial issues, if any. There are many people that would gladly disagree with this notion and do on a constant basis, stating that Star Wars enforces racism, colonialism, and even misogyny on a level that can be toxic if one really takes notice of it. But all in all, Star Wars is a story, much like any other, and reading so much into it is the province of those that feel the need to enforce reality upon fantasy. Gregory Kane of The Baltimore Sun wrote about this and made a pretty good point in the process.
Taking the racism out of it at this point isn’t just wise, it’s the intelligent thing to do since it’s a story, a movie, and nothing to get bent out of shape about. If Jar Jar was picking cotton and being sold at the market then yes, there would be a massive problem and one that would scream racism, but maybe people forgot that apart from being the comic relief he was also a crucial if somewhat accidental part of the final battle against the Trade Federation, and eventually became a senator, so he couldn’t have been that dumb. Seeing him in the Obi-Wan series however might not make the most sense unless Obi-Wan is going to be leaving Tatooine at some point during the show, since there’s not a lot of reason for Jar Jar to make his way back to the arid planet. As Ahmed said it’s hard to say whether Disney will do this or not. It might actually be a risk for the Mouse House since in the era we currently live in, where everything from racism to sexism to misogyny to pretty much anything negative is bound to be called out, it might harm the show more than help it. People will still watch, don’t ever think they won’t, but they’ll watch under the premise that they’re going to be ‘researching’ the show to point out whatever they can think of might be wrong with the program so as to make sure that people understand and see from their point of view just how ‘dangerous’ it is. So maybe keeping Jar Jar out of the mix on this one would be the best idea, if only because it would save those in charge from another headache.
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