Jar Jar Binks or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Politician

The prequels are about many things, the most important of which is politics. It is a study on how governments become corrupt and how freedoms are quickly and easily stripped away in the name of ‘security’.

It is easy to ignore that there are actual points deliberately written into these movies amongst all the Lucas-haters and prequel-bashing that goes on. Lucas works in a symbolic world. Consider the amount of duality in the prequels – Anakin to Vader, Obi-Wan taking on his dead master’s roll (who up until his death he disagreed with) and he does so by picking up Qui Gon’s lightsaber and cutting down Darth Maul; Padme the handmaiden to Amadala the Queen, Chancellor Palpatine to Sidious, and so on). Admittedly it is a hard world to navigate through.

This brings me to Jar Jar Binks. Personally I prefer him over Ewoks, but I am of the minority in this. Jar Jar – the bumbling, careless, brainless (“I spake!”), clumsy, and clearly full of tremendous luck (God loves the stupid). He constantly needs to be saved from something and when he is in the thick of things he gets results by being a coward. He becomes a success, not through his competence, but through sheer luck.

Yet so many people are quick to point out that he appears so little in Episodes II & III, that they forget the role Jar Jar is given.

Jar Jar Binks has become a politician. Which to me in this symbolic world, his character represents a very harsh, but not altogether inaccurate, portrayal of true politicians. Bumbling. Careless. Brainless. Clumsy. Lucky. How do governments become corrupt? Through politicians who have these very qualities. Jar Jar is the one who gets Palpatine his wish for vast emergency powers, and thereby paving the way for the Empire. It is also a dark commentary on how society simply accepts these appointments with hardly any uproar. Jar Jar gets a battlefield promotion to General, not because he has years of experience, but because he was in the right place and right time. Yet there are no objections from the other Gungan military leaders, or any of the soldiers.

So keep in mind when listening to, or even spreading, the hatred over Jar Jar Binks that you are in fact strengthening Lucas’ reasons for having him in the trilogy to begin with - a harsh commentary on politicians. To hate Jar Jar is to hate what he symbolizes.

Douglas Adams once wrote:

“Anyone who is capable of getting

themselves made President

should on no account be

allowed to do the job.”

So for anyone thinking of a career in politics (or for that matter writing), please remember that “the ability to speak does not make you intelligent”.