A Fourth Low on Enthusiasm

[krpalmer]

Ever since happening on the period "making of The Empire Strikes Back" book, contemporaneous with the movie itself, in a nearby used book store, I've known "May the Fourth be with you" was proclaimed outside of "fannish" contexts (or at least, I halfway want to think, before the bundle of arch attitudes that seem tied up with them but just happen to leave me uncertain about embracing them too tight had filtered into those wider contexts) back when just one Star Wars movie was complete. Telling myself that, though, doesn't seem to be helping all that much as the phrase is invoked once more in the arch tones I've already alluded to and, more than that, posters go up in nearby bus shelters for yet another new-era Star Wars movie. It may be opening in the month the original six all premiered in, but I am now contemplating breaking a pattern of "keeping my first reactions all my own" (even if that's come to mean holing up newsless well past opening weekend), with the distinct possibility of not seeing Solo: A Star Wars Story at all.

The feelings feeding into this preceded noticing uneasiness from some over just how far Han's love interest in this movie might be built up over Princess Leia herself (as I heard an old novel trilogy I didn't read also did with its own new character) or the subtler irk of having to suppose from the trailers the dirt on the Millennium Falcon's corridor padding all accumulated in however many years the ship was Han's. (Lando did call the Falcon "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy"; I was quite content with supposing the style of Cloud City marked him having become more respectable than his old friend.) They preceded the movie being handed to another director in the middle of filming, placing one more shadowy alternative not seen in the background of a new-era movie. (Ron Howard having worked for George Lucas as an actor and director might yet seem a rejoinder to some of the subtle positioning and gleeful reactions that followed the creator of Star Wars being edged out the door in the months after the sale, anyway.) They also preceded the certain amount of disgruntled questions I noticed about just how much Alden Ehrenreich resembles Harrison Ford in this latest appearance of a younger version of a character he made famous. (I can admit Alden can look a bit "squashed" in comparison to me, but I'll also admit to wondering how far further refinement of the "synthespian" effects used in Rogue One might tamp down "uncanny valley" accusations past inevitable contrariness; by that point, though, building up from late-1960s and early-1970s bit parts might be the least of things to worry about what with so many people around here and now to concoct video footage of...) Rather, I suppose I was ambiguous from the moment I first heard about this movie, already weary of Han Solo being pushed as the swaggering be-all and end-all of Star Wars; to me, there were rogues much like him before in similar stories, and perhaps even more like him afterwards. I'll even admit to having got to the point of toying with interpretations of Star Wars itself that try to see Han not as "the necessary tough realist" but as a sometimes obstacle to Luke's journey who has to be steered towards providing help until he accepts a larger cause at last, and take more interest in seeing him grow from there into a leadership role. Now, though, the problem there might be what happened to him in the particular continuation given the boost of appearing on the big screen, a descent towards lonely, disreputable old age and futile self-immolation for perhaps no clearer reason than a shrugging "bad stuff happens..."

At this point, it's all too easy to imagine swift rejoinders like "you just resent effortless charm and success!" In recent months there might have been modulated additions along the lines of "this is a subtle meditation on bad stuff happening; you're just too quick to take offense now," and of course there's always space for "my personal reaction was..." Given hand-wringing in different contexts, I am aware I might only be looking at particular commentaries to be pushed along troubling paths, although it did seem sort of unfortunate when the person who runs the "Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society" swung all of a sudden to latching on to the hopeful speculation pairing Rey and Kylo Ren and shut down the weblog comments. (Put as simply as I can manage, I'm not sure either extreme left open appeals to me after the bad stuff happening in the first place didn't appeal to me to start with.)

After all of that, though, I did think there might yet be a narrow path for Solo: A Star Wars Story to steer its love interest along that would seem more acceptable to me. As much as I've long supposed there's a danger to setting nonnegotiable demands of your entertainment, I can't say at this moment any resolution to avoid the movie is set. At the same time, I'm aware I'd imagined from the worries of others a "worst case scenario" for The Last Jedi that didn't come to pass, and yet afterwards, neither "burning with anger" as some seem to have embraced nor able to make a great show as at least a few seem able to of fitting the new era in with all of the original six, I happened to think "I don't know how they'd have got out of it, but at least it would have seemed interesting." In the end, "seven and so on" do seem easier for me to shrug off following "four to six" than I can suppose "one to three" preceding were for others. I also know I built to a studied indifference of the novels and comics meant to follow Return of the Jedi in the two decades around the (temporal) millennium; even if the visual reality of the new-era movies is a lot more inescapable than the old covers and drawings were, there are plenty of other movie franchises I already bypass.

Comments

[matril]

I like your points about Han Solo. Something really stood out to me as I've been working on my (admittedly silly) One-Woman Star Wars videos, and that was the parallels between Episodes IV and VI. The Death Star stuff is obvious, of course (and not merely a lazy retread, but I won't go too deep on that tangent here). But there are also long sequences near the beginning that follow the hapless droids as they wander the wastes of Tatooine and are then given to a new master -- though it's flipped from being sold to Luke's family to being given away by Luke....anyway, I'd better get to my main point.

My new realization was that Han Solo's role, in terms of Luke's character development, is the same role that Vader plays in Return of the Jedi! However people might call A New Hope Luke whiny and immature, his character has always been an idealist who wants to see the best in people. On the verge of the Battle of Yavin, that idealism makes him deeply disappointed when Han doesn't want to help the Rebellion, and then delighted when he returns -- "I knew you'd come back; I just knew it!" He is much more mature in Return of the Jedi, sadder and wiser, and yet he's still fundamentally that soft-hearted idealist, telling his father, "I know there is good in you." Han and Vader and their subsequence reformations are proof that Luke's faith in people is not misguided or naive. That's Han Solo's role in the first film. After that he's Leia's designated love interest. He's a great character, but he is only ever an appendage to the main character's journeys. That's why I seriously doubt that I'll have an interest in a movie focusing entirely on him before his truly important character reform in the original trilogy. Honestly, I'd rather see how Lando transitioned from a "scoundrel" to a "respectable" administrator of a city. But it looks like he'll in turn be an appendage to Han.

[krpalmer]

I was generally aware of how some certain complaints can be turned around by insisting "Return of the Jedi is a deliberate reprisal of and extension upon the original Star Wars," but your comment about Han mapping onto Vader was quite a revelation for me to consider. Anyway, I am a bit aware now that "the development that would appeal to me more in Solo" might seem to involve Han winding up resentful and more convinced than ever he shouldn't trust anyone but Chewie, which might still have problems to it from some directions.

[matril]

That's a good point -- Han is at the height (or depth?) of cynicism in ANH, so the logical trajectory of a "prequel" story would need to lead to that point. And a downer ending like that would probably just feel like a pale imitation of Episode III.