Musings on Star Wars

When I was thinking of writing about Star Wars, my first draft involved childhood memories of first hearing about the “clone wars,” and trying to get into how fantasy worlds are created, but I found myself falling into the same trap that I was trying to write about in the first place. The biggest problem I have with Star Wars is that no one (including George Lucas, apparently) want to judge original triology of Star Wars for what they were really were.

To illustrate this point, I am going to look at the famous/infamous scene were the smuggler Han Solo meets bounty hunter Greedo. In the original version, it looks like Han Solo shoots first and kills Greedo, but in newer version of the movie, it looks like Greedo shoots first. This little change has fans of Star Wars in a tizzy, because it changes the arc of the Han Solo character. The idea is that Han Solo starts as a unlikable rogue, but at the end of the movie (and the at the end of trilogy) he redeems himself. George Lucas says that he always intended for Greedo to shoot first because he didn’t want Han Solo to be a killer. Both points of view seem to ignore that it actually makes more sense that Han Solo just shoots slow; not because of whether or not Han Solo is a killer who may or may not need to be redeemed, but because Han Solo is a doufus. Han Solo is a slow shot because he is both at bad at shooting, and a lot of other things.

It is not hard to find evidence of to support the “doufous-ness” of Han Solo all the first three Star Wars movies. Han Solo starts as someone who messed up smuggling some cargo (which is his profession), all the times he bumbles through the Death Star (running gun first into a hallway, and then having to run the other way because he is outmatched), being captured in Empire Strikes Back, having to be saved by the teddy bear-esque Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, and many other times that make me wonder how in the world Han Solo not only survives, but is considered such a “badass” by Star Wars fans. If he isn’t foolishly going headfirst into something he shouldn’t be, he is probably then escaping from something he bumbled going into.

Though, it is this “bumbling” that actually makes Han Solo a fun character to watch, and in turn, makes the first three Star Wars movies fun to watch. It is about Han Solo and his crew of underdogs managing to save the universe. It is a fun adventure, as the audience is just as clueless as the protagonists are. Contrast that to the prequel movies, which are about people who are supposed to be the smartest people in the universe, end up being nitwits and ruining everything. Han Solo ends up being a metaphor of why the the original Star Wars still is fun to watch today. Star Wars may not be the epitome of badassery that fans want it to be, neither is it a legendary tale of morality that Lucas seems to want, but Star Wars is the bumbling underdog that stumbles into universal success.

That is why no matter how many times Geoge Lucas “messes” with his past movies with CGs, editing, or whatever, I am okay with it, because it just fits the theme of Star Wars just fine. Maybe one day Star Wars will tumble, fall down, and mess up in a way that I find endlessly entertaining again one day.

Extra Note: My favorite thing about Han Solo being a doufus is how that also reflects on the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Fans love Boba Fett because of his cool outfit and his mysteriousness. As far as I can remember, the audience never actually sees Boba Fett actually do anything. With Han Solo being a bumbler, this turns the tables on Boba Fett completely, and maybe he isn’t a cool assassin after all. Maybe he is as much as a doufus as Han Solo is. That could explain why, when Boba Fett has to defend his life in Return of the Jedi, he ends up falling in a man eating hole monster, despite that Mr. Fett has a jet pack. It would also explain why Jabba the Hut imprisoned Han Solo in carbonite. If Han Solo was really a threat wouldn’t Jabba the Hut just kill him? Not only that, but if Han Solo was a real threat, wouldn’t Jabba the Hut at least not imprison him in a carbonite apparatus that can be disabled? Man, I have already spent too much time thinking about this.