George Lucas
Star Wars: Episodio I - La Minaccia Fantasma

There's nothing to be done: there are certain films you watched as a child and became attached to that will always have a special place in your heart. It's just the way it is.

Here I am today, enduring the fever of lightsabers, space ships, and Jedi in anticipation of the release of yet another Star Wars film, tasked with introducing yet another trilogy. Is it really worth getting interested in all this? Rationally, I'd say no, but unfortunately, the heart wants what it wants. So, it happens that suddenly, under the effects of the aforementioned fever, I start informing myself and looking for news here and there about old Luke Skywalker with a beard, the chubby Princess Lei(l)a, and the new villain with the evil crusader sword of the Dark Side. It is during this useless (and even harmful) messing around that I find an interesting article about "Episode I - The Phantom Menace."

The reputation surrounding the film is well-known: probably 98% of the world's population thinks it sucks. Among the causes of this almost universal rejection is mainly the presence of an odd character, irritating to most, whose role is not clear at all. In short, we're talking about the infamous Jar Jar Binks, who has caused so much irritation to the old fans of the saga. Those who have seen the film know that this being is truly idiotic, but the article I read suggests a dark perspective that would completely overturn the nature of his existence. Essentially, it is said that the title "The Phantom Menace" does not actually refer to that poor soul Darth Maul, who is immediately cut in two by the script with Obi-Wan looking like a drug addict just out of "Trainspotting," nor to Emperor Palpatine, because everyone knew very well that he was just bluffing since twenty years before he was there frying Luke on the Death Star. The real menace was actually that bumpkin Jar Jar, who, pretending to be an idiot, would deceive everyone by hiding his true nature as a wicked adept of the Dark Side of the Force. The suspicion arises from the comparison with Yoda. In "The Empire Strikes Back," when our greenish friend is introduced, one immediately thinks he's just a senile old indigenous wanting to pester Luke a bit, until he snaps, and then Yoda reveals himself as the mighty Jedi master. It's like appearances are deceiving. And so here's the asymmetry with the "friendly" Gungan, asymmetry because in the new trilogy the bad guys win in the end.

There are even proofs to demonstrate all this: that is, Jar Jar is not as feeble as he pretends to be. He performs indeed improbable super jumps, but especially he practices drunken kung-fu! This is how indeed he gets rid of battle droids by pretending to fall and roll randomly here and there. Furthermore, he would be a wicked manipulator, in fact, he would practice the Jedi mind trick to advantage himself on various occasions: to get promoted to general by the fat Gungan leader and in episode II to convince the babe Amidala to speak in the senate in his place and then to persuade the whole assembly to give special powers to the evil chancellor/Dark Lord of the Sith. This can be affirmed since in the mentioned scenes Jar Jar gestures conspicuously and waves his little hand as good old Ben Kenobi did with the dumb imperial soldiers.

Essentially, Jar Jar would have fooled the whole world, and consequently, George Lucas would have fooled the whole world. The same Lucas who has always fiercely defended the annoying biped.

However, Jar Jar's role remains a bit obscure, as apparently the hatred he stirred in fans was so immense that it pushed Lucas to almost entirely cut him from the continuation of the story and to introduce thus a new useless villain in episode II: the boring Count Dooku. Who knows what impact it would have had to see him reveal his malignity and duel with a fiery red lightsaber against Yoda. What would have been his real purpose? Was he a simple disciple of the Emperor or even a conspiratorial ally? And why in one of the very few scenes he appears in episode III, is he in Palpatine's suite? Why would the most powerful politician in circulation drag behind such a brainless being? I'm afraid we won't have answers to these questions...

In any case, may the Force be with us!