Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace, reflects on how America builds people up and tears them down, then celebrates their comeback. He talks about redemption narratives and how perspectives shift over 25 years.
We as people who love stories and storytellers, we love redemption stories. We go through these cycles, and as we get older, we realize the follies of our youth, our thought processes are completely different from when they were as younger people or as people, you know, a week ago, two weeks ago, a month ago, a year ago. And we get to sit and look at and listen to and read a perspective that we didn't necessarily have. And that generally brings about a change of mind, change of thought processes. So I think unless you're truly awful there, there is always redemption. America's very, very prolific at destroying someone, especially when they're at the height of their powers. But it's also very good at recognizing redemption when it comes and celebrating it.
