Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks actor): "There isn't very much for the kids anymore in Star Wars"

cowbanana · Apr 9, 2020

Not sure who the Star Wars films are for these days. I've rarely watched anything so complete and utter shite as the sequel trilogy, especially the last one. Even fucking Jar Jar Binks and Kid Anakin were in better movies than the trash Disney movies.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 9, 2020

cowbanana said:
Not sure who the Star Wars films are for these days. I've rarely watched anything so complete and utter shite as the sequel trilogy, especially the last one. Even fucking Jar Jar Binks and Kid Anakin were in better movies than the trash Disney movies.

Not for you it seems

mikeamizzle · Apr 9, 2020

cowbanana said:
Not sure who the Star Wars films are for these days. I've rarely watched anything so complete and utter shite as the sequel trilogy, especially the last one. Even fucking Jar Jar Binks and Kid Anakin were in better movies than the trash Disney movies.

lol.

On topic, he's wrong though. He just needs to go to Galaxy's Edge (whenever it reopens..) to realize that. Why even argue over something like this? Lol

Elegant Weapon · Apr 9, 2020

A New Hope was always more scary than kid friendly, to me. That's how I felt in 3rd grade when Luke's family was shown burned to death. C3P0 was funny though.

I feel like making things ostensively "for kids" like the space horse chase in TLJ is not the way to go.

MadLaughter · Apr 9, 2020

Also important context for this is that he's going to be hosting a Star Wars gameshow for kids on Disney Plus, so he's probably talking about why his new project is extra meaningful.

CannonBallBob · Apr 9, 2020

I'm not even sure 4, 5, and 6 were for kids.

In A New Hope and you have Vader choking people through telekinesis, implied torture through robots, active scenes of people dying in spaceship explosions with cockpit shots, etc.

In Empire Strikes Back you have a long and lengthy romance subplot, studies on the core tenets of Buddhism in a swamp, someone getting frozen alive, friends betraying friends, etc.

In Return of The Jedi you have a father and son battling to the death, an evil demon shooting lightening out of their fingers, more cockpit shots of explosions with death, etc.

Not sure he knows the content of 4, 5, and 6 all that well...

Deleted member 23381 · Apr 9, 2020

He's not wrong, none of the kids I know are interested.

Slayven · Apr 9, 2020

Star Wars always been THE White male geek power fantasy, others outside the demo enjoying was always a side thing. There is a reason Marvel has Transcended it in popular culture

thecouncil · Apr 9, 2020

Yeah, Phantom Menace is a kids movie but was even Revenge of the Sith, really? Things are getting kinda dark by the end of that movie.

thermopyle · Apr 9, 2020

phanphare said:
as an uncle of a 2 and 5 year old I can anecdotally say that this couldn't be further from my experience, those kids fucking LOVE everything Star Wars including the new ones. they will geek the fuck out by literally identifying the main characters in the movies like Poe and Kylo. literally just saying their names in acknowledgement of their existence in the movies.

and, I mean, BB-8 brah

Curious, did they watch the OT/PT first?

Maximus · Apr 9, 2020

Musubi said:
Eh? The clone wars show was VERY much geared to a kid friendly audience

I'm rewatching it now and I think it's a good mix. There are a lot of dark themes, a lot of violence and death and then there are the more lighthearted episodes. I think it has a good balance for different age groups.

Wrapped in Black · Apr 9, 2020

Kids these days claim to have engaged in sexual intercourse with my mother while playing an M-rated war game that allows you to literally nuke people.

I'm sure they ain't stressin over lack of friendly cgi aliens in their space battle movies.

Deleted member 2145 · Apr 9, 2020

thermopyle said:
Curious, did they watch the OT/PT first?

I think they watched A New Hope first and then The Force Awakens. I don't believe they've seen the prequel movies but they've got the kids books for them

DoubleDribbler · Apr 9, 2020

CannonBallBob said:
I'm not even sure 4, 5, and 6 were for kids.

In A New Hope and you have Vader choking people through telekinesis, implied torture through robots, active scenes of people dying in spaceship explosions with cockpit shots, etc.

In Empire Strikes Back you have a long and lengthy romance subplot, studies on the core tenets of Buddhism in a swamp, someone getting frozen alive, friends betraying friends, etc.

In Return of The Jedi you have a father and son battling to the death, an evil demon shooting lightening out of their fingers, more cockpit shots of explosions with death, etc.

Not sure he knows the content of 4, 5, and 6 all that well...

Eh I think you need to put it into context of other kids media. Nothing about the violence in the sequel trilogy seems comparable to the more 70s era slap stick violence of the OT. Kid's media also had a lot more adult themes as well up until like the 2000s. I was used to every kid's movie starting with loved ones being blasted by over-the-top villains by the time I first watched Star Wars. Like NeverEnding Story seems way less kid friendly than Star Wars.

Netherscourge · Apr 9, 2020

I grew up watching the OT in the 80's as a pre-teen.

People's definition of kids shows these days bother me.

Stranger Things feels like a kid friendly show to me.

Jurassic Park is a kid movie to me too.

Tragicomedy · Apr 9, 2020

This is the "old man yelling at clouds" stage for the franchise, I guess. He's wrong, naturally.

I know he's dealt with a lot of anger and resent from fans. Compound that with the difficulty of being famous for portraying a bumbling, racist caricature in a franchise that now features female and minority leads.

Duane · Apr 13, 2020

Hobbes said:
When have the live action films ever been geared towards children? Revenge of the Sith literally has implied child killing lmao.

That's one of the prime reasons I've always hated Revenge of the Sith and always thought it was waay too dark for Star Wars.

ClickyCal' · Apr 13, 2020

"Kids movie"

Border · Apr 13, 2020

Yeah, those movies where the hero murders children were far more appealing!

If kids love anything, it's being reminded of their own mortality and vulnerability.

kiguel182 · Apr 13, 2020

Kids love trade disputes, that's for sure

Dreamwriter · Apr 13, 2020

CannonBallBob said:
I'm not even sure 4, 5, and 6 were for kids.

...

Not sure he knows the content of 4, 5, and 6 all that well...

It was created for kids right from the start, described as a "high adventure film for children" - it's not like this is some ret-con. This is from a 1979 interview:

George Lucas said:
I researched kids' movies, and how they work and how myths work; and I looked very carefully at the elements of films within that fairy-tale genre which made them successful. I found that myth always took place over the hill, in some exotic, far-off land. For the Greeks, it was Ulysses going off into the unknown. For Victorian England it was India or North Africa or treasure islands. For America it was Out West. There had to be strange savages and bizarre things in an exotic land. Now the last of that mythology died out in the mid-1950s, with the last of the men who knew the Old West. The last 'over the hill' is space.

Sure, violent and dramatic things happen. But guess what, kids can deal with it, and it's normal. Ever read Watership Down?

Fj0823 · Apr 13, 2020

stealthyfrog said:
He's right. Jar Jar was not the right way to try to appeal to the children but the modern Star Wars movies are very much made for the adults that grew up with Star Wars first.

Yep, there's zero interest in giving this generation of kids their own Star Wars. It was all about glorifying their grandparents'

Vic Damone Jr. · Apr 13, 2020

Mediking said:
Good. Let the kids enjoy something else. Not everything has to be age-friendly

This.

inner-G · Apr 13, 2020

When I was a kid I loved R2D2 and the Ewoks

Tuorom · Apr 13, 2020

jaggies said:
Kids are more sophisticated an audience than adults give them credit for

Kids are smarter than people in general give them credit for. Adults treat them like they're stupid when kids are pretty intelligent, they just aren't very knowledgeable so might not pick up on things they literally haven't experienced yet in life.

Ziltoidia 9 · Apr 13, 2020

The saddest Disney Plus series in the world would be what happens to Jar Jar.

Dragoon · Apr 13, 2020

Hobbes said:
When have the live action films ever been geared towards children? Revenge of the Sith literally has implied child killing lmao.

They haven't. THis guy is off his rocker. Also when you pander to literally everyone, you will end up with something generic and completely forgettable.

admiraltaftbar · Apr 13, 2020

mikeamizzle said:
lol.

On topic, he's wrong though. He just needs to go to Galaxy's Edge (whenever it reopens..) to realize that. Why even argue over something like this? Lol

Galaxy's Edge is basically a good show of how much kids into star wars (which not all kids are) love Star Wars. I saw so many kids super excited to see Rey, Kylo and Chewbacca there.

Box · Apr 13, 2020

Anakin saw to all the kids anyway.

Hero_of_the_Day · Apr 13, 2020

I loved the OT as a kid. I didn't need it to be more childish. It was accessible to everyone.

For the sequel trilogy, I had a huge group of friends and family ranging in age from gradeschool nieces and nephews to my father in his 60s who all saw them opening night. The kids enjoyed them just as much as the adults. Sure they might not grasp all the plot points, just like I didn't as a kid watching the OT. Who gives a shit!? My youngest nephew walked out of Force Awakens freaking out (in a good way) about the evil dude with the laser sword killing his dad.

Lifejumper · Apr 13, 2020

Kids love them trade taxations.

mikeamizzle · Apr 13, 2020

yuoke said:
"Kids movie"

kiguel182 said:
Kids love trade disputes, that's for sure

Nobody is claiming it's a good kids movie.

Blader · Apr 13, 2020

Adults seem way more preoccupied with what kids do/don't like and what is or isn't appropriate for them than kids.

As a kid I watched the movies and Clone Wars cartoon, read the books and comics, played the video games. They were all aimed at relatively different audiences and I enjoyed them all the same. The only thing that ever impacted my enjoyment of Star Wars so much as to drive me away from a part of it was the New Jedi Order, which I distinctly remember making me feel at the time that the EU just wasn't fun anymore.

Tagyhag · Apr 13, 2020

Outrun said:
Disney has fashioned SW so that it is nothing for everything sadly.

That might be true as well, it feels like they tried to reach out to as much people as they could.

But the truth is, this new trilogy is not going to be looked as fondly as the last two, even if it was better than the prequels.

Anth0ny · Apr 13, 2020

Of course, if animation isn't their thing, they can always go for The Phantom Menace instead. "They do like Phantom Menace," he added. "Phantom Menace is very much a kids movie."

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.

Meows · Apr 13, 2020

He isn't entirely wrong. The sequel trilogy banked hard on the returning cast (as well as the nostalgia of millennials, gen-xers, and boomers) and seemed to go out of their way to avoid easy toy designs outside of Captain Phasma and masked Kylo Ren. It is a lot to ask little kids to be so invested in at least three (if not more) Star Wars movies to get a good grasp of why they should care about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, or Han Solo. They still tried, just look at the kiddy banter with BB-8 and Canto Bight, but that wasn't where their emphasis was.

PanzerKraken · Apr 13, 2020

Im a 501st member, one of those fans that makes costumes and dresses up and does charity events. Really it does feel overall that kids in general really aren't recognizing us much anymore. We used to be really popular anywhere we went but really it's the teens and adults that get a kick out of us, want pics, and interact with us. While with little kids, they don't know what star wars is more and more. I do lot of childrens hospital visits almost monthly and really it's getting amazing how many kids we visit don't know what SW is, I can say maybe 60-75% sometimes have no clue what we are. Hospital staff would mention how the kids don't know SW that well but go ape shit when they bring in Marvel characters to visit the kids. I know it's just my view but this is something I do almost weekly interacting with kids as SW characters and the level of interest for Star Wars to me has clearly gone off a cliff

RecRoulette said:
Respectfully disagree

This is you know paid advertising by LFL right? Like all these big SW events that went on at sport arenas for major NBA and NHL teams before the movie, it's largely paid for and partnerships made with LFL to essentially advertise.

Sloth Guevara · Apr 13, 2020

Wish someone would tell my pupils this.

WillyFive · Apr 13, 2020

It is weird how all the movies are PG-13 now.

mavericktopgun · Apr 13, 2020

Baby Yoda? BB-8? Porgs?

ThatMeanScene · Apr 13, 2020

I disagree. I've seen my godson become engrossed in this stuff. Kids like media that is more mature than they are; that interests them as they're always thinking about growing up and wanting to be more like adults. Same thing happened to when I was a kid - about 7 years old - and found comic books and stuff like the original Star Wars trilogy, Batman animated series, and the X-Men animated series to be super awesome.

Joeyjoejoeshabadoo · Apr 13, 2020

Anth0ny said:
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.

I was going to post the same thing. That entire opening crawl is something:

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.

Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict....

wenis · Apr 13, 2020

Hobbes said:
When have the live action films ever been geared towards children? Revenge of the Sith literally has implied child killing lmao.

kids have always been in peril in cinema. look at every movie in the 80's that has wrought the future we live in now.

Schreckweg 5000 · Apr 13, 2020

Stinkles said:
I mean, apart from spaceships, aliens, lore, weird planets, stories, action, explosions. No matter what you think of the series critically, it's silly to think kids want kid stuff. Like, the reason we loved Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, etc, wasn't on the nose kid stuff - it was often the opposite and even when we didn't "get" the subtext or subversion, we sensed it and made our own stories in those universes anyway. Arguably the movies have more for kids than they do for adults.

The fact that there are young adults on this site who, with a straight face, claim the prequels are better movies than the recent three, is a fantastic example of how kids fashion their understanding of and attachment to movies. Some of the shit I loved when I was a kid bears no resoimblance to what I understood about it as an adult.

Ahmed is maybe making a good broader point, but Jar Jar, thanks to Lucas, was a perfect example of what not to give kids either as art or as instruction.

Thing is, Skywalker panders in particular to an audience who saw the old movies. The participation trophy, the fleet leader, the return characters, the family relations.. it is not the type of kids are not supposed to see this, it is "Remember those movies? We surely do".

Return of the Sith was for example clearly geared towards a older audience, but sans the appearance of one cameo, did not ask you to have seen the OT.

King Kingo · Apr 13, 2020

Ehoavash said:
There's a reason why more kids are into Marvel.

I don't think Marvel is comparable here. Their library of characters and stories have been around for so long that it appeals to everybody by default. You have your child-friendly animated series, the teenaged geared Marvel Cinematic Universe and your adult Marvel Netflix shows.

The Star Wars universe does not have the character or locale diversity that Marvel does.

Magic-Man · Apr 13, 2020

Umm, the movies are rated PG-13. They're not aimed at a younger audience.

Deleted member 48897 · Apr 13, 2020

Star Wars is one of those pulpy serial stories with all the boring parts edited out. The prequel trilogy is an interesting story but especially with Ep II it's almost the opposite, nearly everything in those movies is a matter of logistics. At least Episode I had podracing, and I do give them some credit for the kind of story that they were trying to tell. Kids tend to be more interested in the action bits than the connective tissue.

Ryan. · Apr 13, 2020

I disagree. It reads like some of the posts here that say kids just aren't interested in the newer movies or relate to characters like Rey yet so much on social media says the exact opposite.

I also think that people need to remember that Star Wars isn't the only top dog out there anymore. Of course Marvel is going to be bigger. The amount of media they have put out compared to Star Wars is insane.

mikeamizzle · Apr 13, 2020

Ryan. said:
I disagree. It reads like some of the posts here that say kids just aren't interested in the newer movies or relate to characters like Rey yet so much on social media says the exact opposite.

I also think that people need to remember that Star Wars isn't the only top dog out there anymore. Of course Marvel is going to be bigger. The amount of media they have put out compared to Star Wars is insane.

Yep this is a good post. Any visit to a Disney park will give you a different perspective too, but yeah, i find it kind of strange to be arguing that it's not kid friendly anymore.

Of course Marvel is more popular, it's probably the most popular franchise in existence right now.

mikeamizzle · Apr 13, 2020

Lintemuth-Studios said:
Umm, the movies are rated PG-13. They're not aimed at a younger audience.

Wait a second, what? They're still aimed at (edited; all audiences I'd say outside of young children) Ratings have also changed with time. the OT would probably get a PG-13 rating if put out today I'd guess.

Edit: just because they're not G or PG doesn't mean they're not aimed at a younger audience lol.

Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks actor): "There isn't very much for the kids anymore in Star Wars"

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