10 Star Wars Controversies That Divide Fans
8. Jar Jar Binks
Each Star Wars trilogy has had their controversial alien species. The original movies contained the Ewoks. The sequels contained the the Porgs. And the prequels contained Jar Jar Binks.
When the prequels dropped in the early 2000s they were bombarded with criticism. Jar Jar became a central target of the ridicule. He was described as clown-like, silly, and even accused of playing into racial stereotypes.
While Lucas denied the racial implications, it was obvious the comedy character was included due to his appeal to kids. For those who were old enough to to see the original trilogy when it came out, the childish aspects of Jar Jar simply trivialised the Star Wars universe. For those who were children during the prequels, Jar Jar was a favourite; he was the comic relief in a story that became very dark. The divide in opinion simply comes down to an age thing.
The backlash received by the character actually led Lucas to discard a plot point that gives the 'Darth Jar Jar' theory some credence. Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar, admitted that the character was actually supposed to have a much more sinister story arc. There was even a scrapped scene in which Palpatine confided in Jar Jar about his plans for the Empire.