Space.com has posted an interesting editorial analyzing Jar Jar based on the folklore patterns in Joseph Cambell book, "Hero's Journey" and some possible clues as to what will happen in Episodes 2 & 3. Here's some of Space.com's conclusions:

If mythic structure can be trusted, Jar Jar is more than just the luckiest Gungan in the universe. He's following the path of one of George Lucas's favorite obsessions: Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey".

Campbell suggested that most of the important heroes in myth and literature undergo a common sequence of experiences and changes. So far, Jar Jar's adventures fit that sequence perfectly.

In many ways, Jar Jar Binks is the Luke of Episode I: he’s the annoying bumpkin, the farmboy who makes good. Anakin, the most obvious candidate for that role, turns out to be something else.

No other character in The Phantom Menace follows the Campbellian pattern as clearly as Jar Jar. Obi-wan and Anakin come close, but Obi-wan is already well-advanced down his own path, and Anakin's precocious eagerness to launch himself into adventure hints that he will follow a more twisted path to villainy.

For the full article, click here

Thanks to ST-321 for the alert!