“West-Indian accent”? I though Jar Jar was supposed to sound Creole. And previously in this thread his accent was described as resembling Jamaican. This is really why the Jar Jar criticism confuses me so much. People can never agree on how exactly he is offensive. Also this is literally the first time I’ve heard mention of Jar Jar’s “buttocks”, and what does that have to do with Indians?
Also when was “crafty Japanese trade villains” ever a thing? I’ve heard people make ‘yellow peril’ comparisons, but apart from the accent (which the voice actor based on Philippino I belive) there’s not much about them that resembles any Asian cultures. Not that I’m aware of at least.
LoL
Well, sure but the point is that Jar Jar sounds decidedly stereotyped in that fashion. Be it Caribbean or Jamaican they all have a very noticeable trait that is very much human being of color. The trade federation have very obvious, thick Asian accents with large slitted eyes…they walk around like Geishas with their hands folded in front of them. I took the “crafty” in that phrase to just illustrate they were stereotypes that were cast as villains. Nothing more. Yellow peril certainly would fit that stereotype.
Watto and Jewish is ( I hope) not in need of an explanation?
Large slitted eyes…that’s a contradiction in terms if I ever saw one.
Obviously Asian…
The alien on the right is definitely Asian in facial characteristics but that is not the only trait I’m talking about. At any rate it is not important for my basic premise to be true. Many thought similarly, including the persons in the piece I linked. All my friends felt this way at the first viewing. They also bow a lot, mix up their I’s and R’s. Sound familiar? C’mon guys.
Most characters in the prequels bow a lot, including the Jedi and the senators, so the Neimoidians are hardly unique in that aspect (they bow very little, and not very far down, compared to the humans overall). And quickly scanning through their scenes in TPM I couldn’t find a single moment where they mix up their J’s and R’s.
I’m not saying that there’s not vaguely Asian characteristics to the accents. Their tone of voice has similarities to traditional Samurai, or Edo period characters in general. Some of the enunciation are also similar. But to say that they walk like Geishas, have Asian-looking eyes,Asian facial features, that they represent duplicitous yellow peril stereotypes despite their made-up alien look and behavior, is just plain odd to me. If they had long nails and fu-manchu mustaches, then I’d agree that they were blatant stereotypes.
Like I said, there are some Asian similarities, or rather influences when they made the accents, but I have to agree with DreDre that the extent to which people go to compare them to Asians, or specifically Japanese (or in some cases Chinese), seems to be quite a stretch. I have the same problem with how people perceive Jar Jar. He’s become a perceived amalgamation of several contradictory stereotypes; based on very different cultures and accents.