Han Solo is the secret sauce of Star Wars. Support ScreenPrism on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7792695
The Harrison Ford character’s natural vitality, moral ambiguity and enduring humanity make it all the more compelling when he takes us by surprise and acts like a hero.
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Transcript provided by Youtube:
00:00
“What are you going to do?”
00:01
“Same thing I always do — talk my way out of it.”
00:04
“Yes I do, every time!”
00:06
Han Solo is the “secret sauce” of the original Star Wars trilogy.
00:11
He’s that extra ingredient that, on paper,
00:13
might not seem as necessary to the story as Luke or Leia.
00:17
But without Han, Star Wars wouldn’t be Star Wars.
00:21
Harrison Ford’s roguish performance leaps off the screen,
00:24
even when he’s delivering what could have been unforgivably cheesy lines.
00:28
“Don’t everybody thank me at once.”
00:30
“He is my friend.”
00:31
“I hope she’s alright.”
00:32
We’re drawn in by Han’s swagger, free wheeling personality, and off the cuff lines.
00:37
“Come on, lets keep a little optimism here.”
00:39
The way that he acts tough and uncaring but always does the brave, generous thing.
00:44
Unlike the other main characters, Han isn’t a paragon of virtue.
00:49
“Scoundrel?
00:50
I like the sound of that.”
00:53
He’s not royalty or specially “chosen.”
00:56
He doesn’t have a special connection to the Force.
00:59
But above all, he’s viscerally human.
01:02
“Your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!
01:06
Then I’ll see you in Hell!”
01:07
And his natural vitality, moral ambiguity and enduring humanity
01:10
make it all the more compelling when he takes us by surprise and acts like a hero.
01:15
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01:24
When we first meet Han the smuggler in a New Hope,
01:26
his last name, Solo, says it all.
01:29
This is a guy who’s used to going it alone.
01:31
“Look, Your Worshipfulness, let’s get one thing straight.
01:34
I take orders from just one person: me.”
01:37
Han’s main concern is saving his own skin.
01:40
He only helps Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi
01:42
because he has to pay off the debt he owes Jabba the Hutt.
01:45
“This could really save my neck.”
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And the fact that he works for Jabba at all makes him morally questionable.
01:50
“Jabba, you’re a wonderful human being.”
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Han’s behavior is totally practical and survival-oriented.
01:56
“Take care of yourself, Han.
01:58
I guess that’s what you’re best at, isn’t it?”
02:00
The “Han shot first” scene with Greedo paints Han like a classic cowboy out of a
02:05
Western.
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He’s uncivilized, brave, and lives by his own rules in a wild society
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that has very little organized law enforcement.
02:13
His clothes are a mix of black and white in a story
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where the bad characters start out wearing black and the good ones wearing white.
02:20
So visually we’re told Han is could go either way.
02:23
Like us, he has both good and bad in him.
02:26
“Of course I have to replace it.
02:29
Here, Chewie!”
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He does not like to be wrong or admit mistakes.
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“I think we better replace the negative power coupling.”
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But we come to admire his plucky ability to keep getting by
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when his luck seems to have completely run out,
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or to take risks when most people would give up.
02:44
“Never tell me the odds.”
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There’s something inspiring about how the self-made Han
02:48
determines his own fate.
02:50
But from the start of the story,
02:51
Han does have two relationships that hint at his true character:
02:55
with his first mate Chewbacca — and with his ship, the Millennium Falcon.
02:59
“You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?”
03:01
“Should I have?”
03:02
“It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.”
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Chewbacca is essentially his soulmate and life partner.
03:10
He represents Han’s inner nature —
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big, hairy and intimidating at first,
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but deeply loving, loyal and protective when you break through that outer shell.
03:19
And the Millennium Falcon also represents who Han is.
03:22
It might look a little ramshackle and not so special at first.
03:26
But it’s capable of a lot more than first meets the eye.
03:29
Han’s faith in the Falcon teaches us that while it might seem like
03:32
we should always be upgrading to fancier versions of everything in our lives,
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we can be most powerful and effective by staying true
03:39
to who we are and what we love.
03:42
And that’s how we find the diamonds in the rough.
03:47
“You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark.”
03:49
“Thanks to you.”
03:51
At first Han seems to be there to be a classic foil character for Luke —
03:55
someone who emphasizes certain qualities in the protagonist by being the opposite.
03:59
Luke is naive, selfless and optimistic, motivated by a noble cause.
04:04
Han is worldly, arrogant and rough around the edges,
04:07
and he won’t do good deeds for free.
04:09
“Listen if you were to rescue her, the reward would be…”
04:13
“What?”
04:14
“More wealth than you can imagine.”
04:16
“I don’t know, I can imagine quite a bit.”
04:18
After following earnest Luke around, we get a dose of cynical realism from Han.
04:22
“Watch your mouth, kid, or you’re going to find yourself floating home.”
04:25
So Han doesn’t just challenges Luke’s dreamy outlook —
04:28
he challenges our romantic view of the Star Wars universe as a place
04:32
where people only think about the light and dark side of the Force.
04:36
In these characters’ reality, like in ours,
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most regular people have to think more often
04:41
about how to make a living and get by,
04:43
while the Force is an abstract thing that seems removed from their everyday lives.
04:48
We might not all have Luke’s or Rey’s greatness ahead of us,
04:51
but we can aspire to be brave, ballsy and roll with the punches like Han.
04:56
Meanwhile, after the story has set up Han as the man who always goes it “solo,”
05:00
his journey becomes about letting others in as he gains a new family.
05:04
Over time, Luke starts to rub off on Han —
05:07
Han gets friendlier and less dismissive.
05:09
“So you got your reward and you’re just leaving then?”
05:11
“That’s right, yeah.”
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But he fully transitions from antihero to hero when he decides to return
05:16
and help the rebels destroy the Death Star.
05:19
“You’re all clear, kid.
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Now let’s blow this thing and go home.”
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He’s admitted how much he genuinely cares.
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He starts to earn a new reputation as someone
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who goes to great lengths to protect his friends.
05:31
“Han, we need you.”
05:33
“We need?”
05:34
“Yes.”
05:35
“Well, what about you need me?”
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She’s a princess and he’s the bad boy —
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but they meet their match in each other.
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“You think a princess and a guy like me–”
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“No.”
05:44
They’re both so stubborn and strong minded that every interaction
05:47
is a battle over who supposedly hates the other person more.
05:51
This is what makes their flirtation so fun to watch.
05:53
And we’re using the term “flirtation” loosely here.
05:57
“Half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf-herder!”
06:00
“Who’s scruffy-looking?”
06:03
But we know that Han’s grouchiness comes from
06:05
his confusion over his attraction to Leia
06:08
and his trouble expressing his new feelings.
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“I’m going to kill her or I’m beginning to like her.”
06:13
It’s satisfying that he and Leia never give us the mushy romance
06:16
we’d expect from a space opera.
06:19
“I love you.”
06:20
“I know.”
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The two are always testing and challenging each other.
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“I love you.”
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“I know.”
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Han needs a partner who really challenges him.
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He’s not just a mindless space cowboy,
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but someone who’s stimulated by intellect and strong spirit.
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Sometimes Han’s defensive side gets the best of him.
06:40
“I can’t tell you.”
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“What, could you tell Luke?
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Is that who you could tell?”
06:44
But he keeps making the effort to better himself, trust and open up.
06:50
“Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other.
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I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe
06:58
there’s one all-powerful force controlling everything.”
07:02
Unlike the other main characters in the original trilogy,
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Han is openly skeptical of the Force.
07:08
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.”
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It’s telling that he refers to it as a hokey religion.
07:14
In his view the Force is abstract, fanciful, and hypothetical —
07:19
Han is a Force atheist.
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At the time of A New Hope, the Jedi are supposedly extinct.
07:25
“Now the Jedi are all but extinct.”
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So Han’s view shows us that the majority of people in this time are skeptics
07:32
who think more about their material world than a spiritual one.
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And it also represents the skepticism many viewers of Star Wars might have
07:40
about faith and religion in our world.
07:42
But Han comes to rethink his view of the Force.
07:45
He says goodbye to Luke with a send-off that might have once made him gag.
07:50
“Hey, Luke.
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May the Force be with you”
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And by the time we get to The Force Awakens,
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it’s Han who schools someone else in the ways of the Force.
07:59
“Solo, we’ll figure it out.
08:01
We’ll use the Force.”
08:03
“That’s not how the Force works!”
08:05
In this scene, Finn thinks that by just acknowledging the Force,
08:09
he’ll be able to wing it.
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But Han knows that the Force isn’t just some Santa-Claus helper
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that makes things work out if we blindly trust.
08:17
The Force is complex and mysterious,
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and it has to be used in tandem with our own concrete skills, resources and efforts.
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If Han’s skepticism of the Force initially makes us question it too,
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his coming around reaffirms its existence.
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Because Han’s a hard sell — and if he can be won over, so can we.
08:36
“Okay, you guys got yourselves a ship.”
08:38
“My son is alive.”
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“No.
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The Supreme Leader is wise.”
08:46
In The Force Awakens, all of the original Star Wars characters
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have taken a hit in some way.
08:51
But Han’s situation is maybe the most heartbreaking.
08:53
We’ve thought of him as someone who always lands on his feet
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and has a witty comeback ready.
08:58
“Is that even possible?”
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“I never ask that question ’till after I’ve done it.”
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But his life hasn’t worked out the way we thought it would
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after the original trilogy.
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Han’s special power has always been his humanity,
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and we see this in the way he reaches out to his son.
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“Luke’s a Jedi.
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You’re his father.”
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He confronts Kylo as a father, not as some kind of powerful Jedi.
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“Will you help me?”
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“Yes.
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Anything.”
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And the betrayal that follows is especially devastating
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because Kylo uses his father’s humanity against him.
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Humanity is the key to why we love about the original Star Wars —
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the droids C3-PO and R2-D2, and the newer BB8, all feel lovably humanized to us.
09:40
While the Storm Troopers (until we meet Finn) we can dismiss
09:43
because they seem like only machines,
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without any humanity at all.
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So what we root for throughout Star Wars is for the human
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to triumph over mindless, destructive machines.
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And nobody in Star Wars is more human than Han.
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“Take off that mask!
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You don’t need it.”
10:00
“What do you think you’ll see if I do?”
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“The face of my son.”
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This post was previously published on Youtube.
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