From: Schnarfr Subject: Nerd perhaps you are the most wrong person I have ever seen. Jar Jar although repetitive is histerical and amazing ... are you some kind of mental reject or something that you have it in for star wars that bad you reallly are a nerd nerd nerd and ill say it a gain really big dumb profanity nerd. thanx for your time sincerely you dumb NERD

If nothing else, at least the pro-Gungan faction has passion.

Interaction with other anti-Jar Jar site owners egged me on further. I conspired boycotts with them, attempted to form a "Jar Jar Stinks!" Web-ring and gave theological advice to a youth starting a new religion based around Jar Jar ("I've converted to Jarism. Have YOU?"). A representative of a Detroit rapper named Stormtroopa asked me to link to his boss MP3 tune, "Jar Jar Binks Must Die!" I was even planning to make good on my phony online promise to forward e-mail to Lucasfilm.

What had been fun mischief was quickly becoming reduced to earnest zeal on my part. Fortunately, I regained a sense of perspective after reading a note from a Binks hater going by the handle of Solrac1970. He described a video he was making with life-size cut-outs and assault weapons to depict the murder "in a most foul way" of Jar Jar. More than one visitor to my Delete Jar Jar! site had told me to "get a life," and after seeing how Jar Jar Sux and Solrac1970 were turning out, now seemed like the time to follow that advice.

I'm through with Bink-ism, though I believe there's a strong chance the community will prevail in eradicating the dreaded character from the "Star Wars" series. After all, it's not like Jar Jar is under contract. Rumor has it that the script for "Episode Two" won't be finalized until September, leaving a whole summer of bitching to change Lucas' mind. The director is said to be hurt by the racist accusations, and his spokespeople are sounding a little defensive. One Lucasfilm representative defended Jar Jar by huffing that "Star Wars" is only a "fantasy movie" and to deconstruct it is "absurd."

But the Internet's power to rally like-minded individuals is not absurd -- it should be respected and feared, especially by entertainment companies like Lucasfilm that heavily market their products through the medium. You give an audience interactivity and it will interact. Hollywood received a lesson in the new rules of the game last week when "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fans, miffed after the season finale of their favorite show was pulled, posted a digitized version of the episode online for downloading. The otherwise Net-friendly WB network, which runs the show, has been unable to stop the bootlegs.

There's no telling what the greater number of Wars-heads could pull off if they set their obsessive imaginations to it; their kvetching alone has already caused a media sensation. Whether it reshapes the course of a billion-dollar entertainment enterprise or not, the Jar Jar resistance front heralds a future in which Internet crusades affect change. And maybe then, Internet campaigners will fight for an issue dedicated to something a little more substantial than a soulless string of computer code from the planet Naboo.
salon.com | June 8, 1999

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

  Get a printer-friendly version

  E-mail a friend about this article

  Backflip this article to find it again

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon