Society & Culture

The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks

by TED

Society & Culture

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Episode 3: A Web of Hate

July 12, 2023 · 36 min

The reviews for The Phantom Menace are in. And they’re… not great. Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning. Taking on a life of its own, the anti-Jar Jar backlash bounces from the acid pen of film critics, to the pixelated grain of early…
Episode 2: Becoming Jar Jar

July 5, 2023 · 36 min

Meet the real man behind the iconic role. Before fan forums, prequels, and motion capture catsuits, Ahmed Best was just a young Star Wars superfan growing up in the South Bronx. But after traveling to his top-secret audition at the…
Episode 1: The Internet’s First Main Character?

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Introducing: The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks

May 4, 2023 · 2 min

As the man behind one of the most divisive characters in cinematic history steps forward to tell his side of the story, host Dylan Marron goes back to reckon with the online hatred Jar Jar inspired, and what we can learn from it today…

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About the show

Jar Jar Binks became one of the most polarizing figures in cinematic history when he made his debut in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace in 1999. He was even named "the most annoying movie character of all time" by Complex Magazine. After the release, Ahmed Best, the man who played Jar Jar, was hit with the full force of the backlash — and it nearly destroyed him. The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks is a six-part journey through the early internet to understand how one of the first-ever online hate campaigns began, and to right what we got so wrong about Jar Jar the first time around. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.