Daily Napkins: Star Wars Politicians

Showing posts with label Star Wars Politicians. Show all posts

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Happy New Year 2021

One last incendiary image for the year, badly drawn on an absorbent paper product.

Our most inflammatory napkin was the pairing of Trump and the Star Wars prequels buffoon, Jar Jar Binks, back in the pre-end times of January 2016. At the time, I wrote something about how my sons, despite knowing little about politics at the time, had an irrational hatred of Donald Trump, which was possibly only exceeded by their irrational hatred of Jar Jar.

We had just watched “The Revenge of the Sith,” so I was thinking about the fanboy theory that George Lucas had originally intended for Jar Jar to be revealed at the end of the saga to be the top Sith Lord, the ultimate bad guy. My title for the post was “Could Idiocy Mask an Evil Master Plan?”

There’s definitely been enough idiocy and genuine evil to go around this year, (and the four years that preceded it) but I don’t think the two have been conspiring in quite the way I was suggesting back in 2016.

As I mentioned, it was definitely our most vehemently protested napkin post. Unsurprisingly, no one spoke up to support Jar Jar. I had not considered that we had many followers who would be so offended by this pairing. One irritated commenter memorably suggested that I needed to draw Barack Obama with Satan to even the score.

Poor Jar Jar. At least he presumably lives long ago in a galaxy far, far away.....

Here’s to hoping that 2021 will not be so frequently described as a container of burning trash.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Ted Cruz and Tusken Raider Celebrate Victory in Iowa

After the Iowa caucus, I gave some serious thought to what Star Wars character would go best with Senator Cruz.

I finally settled on a Sand Person because Ted Cruz is not a believer in climate change, and is strongly against gay marriage and a women's right to abortion. These seemed like positions that the Tusken Raider community could also embrace.
...particularly that bit on climate change denial, as Sand People are uniquely well prepared for an increasingly difficult environment.

As you may have already gathered, I am not a supporter of Ted Cruz, or the Republican party in general. However, I do try to accurately represent other points of view so that my kids can make up their own minds.

And if you are a supporter of Senator Cruz's presidential candidacy, do not think my choice of Star Wars character to be overly snide: My sons like the Sand People. And they are fun to draw.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bernie Sanders

Star Wars with Politicians #4

Old Ben and Bernie discuss the wretched hive of scum and villainy...or perhaps just which finger is best to use when gesticulating.

Nope, our kids didn't know who Mr. Sanders is. While I tried to explain, my older son kept circling back to talking about Trump. There is clearly something that really seizes the imagination of the 12 year old mind there. Bernie, not so much.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Clinton/ Organa 2016

Who would not enjoy seeing Han Solo as first spouse?
(of the Galactic Republic, of course)

Here I find myself risking antagonizing those whom I have not already annoyed with the Obama/Yoda or Trump/Binks napkins. Perhaps I should first issue the disclaimer that this napkin does not necessarily constitute an endorsement for Hillary Clinton for the presidential seat.

Nevertheless, whatever one thinks about Ms. Clinton, I feel confident that most people would join me in supporting the idea that my sons ought to know who she is. With some prodding, our 8 year old allowed that he was aware that "there is a girl who wants to be president." I hope we can do a little better than that.

And I think we might all agree that if we are looking at the Star Wars universe for Hillary analogues, she does have some things in common with General Organa (played by Carrie Fisher- formerly known as "Princess Leia" for those of you blissfully ignorant of the latest Star Wars movie)...

Leia and Hillary share a few attributes including gender, age, a charismatic, if morally problematic spouse, a position of power within a contentious struggle, and a large group of people within her universe who would really, really prefer that she not gain any more power.

There are so many incendiary possibilities here in the "Star Wars Meets American Politicians" topic":
Chris Christie and ?.... Bernie Sanders and ?..... With very little effort, I could probably manage to piss almost everyone off...including my sons.

My younger son requested a drawing of an animal that is a combination of an owl, pig and unicorn for the next napkin.

Sounds safer.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Obama and Yoda on the Late Night Jedi Temple Talk Show

Yobama:

After inciting some hostility with our "Trump/Binks 2016" napkin, where could we go from there?
I seriously considered pairing Bernie Sanders with Yoda, but my kids are not very familiar with Mr. Sanders, so I went for something more obvious.

But perhaps this is a way to get my kids more informed about various politicians. I just have to figure out which Star Wars character should be paired with each. One of the less pleased Facebook commentors on the Trump napkin suggested that the appropriate follow up would be Obama and Satan.

I think I might stick with Star Wars characters.

And before I inspire further fury, undeserved or not: I am not trying to suggest that President Obama is a candidate for 2016....nor that my kids would vote for him if he were running....and they could vote. At the moment, I am just campaigning for a bit more conversance with contemporary politics at our house.

President Obama has worked hard to appear in many televised contexts including hiking in "Running Wild" and submitting to a satirical interview on "Between Two Ferns." So why not visit the Jedi Temple for a Late Night style chat with Yoda?

My kids were happy to watch Obama hike with Bear Grylls. I am sure they would watch almost any politician talk to Yoda.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

What do Jar Jar Binks and Donald Trump Have in Common?

Could idiocy mask an evil master plan?

Our kids are sadly not particularly politically informed. (I will admit my guilt here, although I am still working on conveying some basic concepts like their excruciatingly over privileged status as well fed and educated, white male Americans)

But despite their lack of interest in politics, they have somehow acquired a violent dislike of Donald Trump. While my feelings about the man who I still think of as "The Donald" are definitely not positive, we have done our best to ignore his recent ridiculous antics, so my sons' loathing of the man did not come from anything I or their father have said. Their hatred of Trump is total and visceral, yet does not seem tied to any political positions he holds, anything specific that he has done, or statements that he has made.

The only other individual who might be equally reviled by my sons is, of course, Jar Jar Binks.

We watched "Revenge of the Sith" last night. And while it was more tiresome than I remembered, the movie reminded me of the fanboy theory that Lucas had originally intended for Jar Jar to be revealed at the end as the top Sith Lord- the ultimate bad guy. Some hypothesized that Jar Jar's dimwitted behavior in the first two prequels was supposed to be a diversion from his evil machinations, but that the fans' violent hatred of the character prompted Lucas to lose his nerve and change the ending.

It is appealing to think that there was a reason for the Jar Jar character to be so very annoying, but I fear the theory does not seem very likely to me.

It is not so appealing to consider that Mr. Trump is intentionally deflecting our attention from serious issues with his annoying and idiotic statements...and it seems extremely likely that is an accurate description of the situation.

My younger son was frantically concerned that I not post this image because someone might mistake it for support of Mr. Trump's campaign. He made me pledge that I would add: "Jar Jar and Donald Trump: Separated at Birth?" just in case anyone might be confused.

Or perhaps "Trump/Binks 2016" ?

Daily Napkins