This guy gets it... (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Friday, April 17, 2015, 17:49 (3511 days ago) @ General Vagueness

He's an anti-hero! He's supposed to be a reluctant good guy! That's why he got the girl!

Good thing too. *shudders*

Han lived a life of crime. He was a smuggler, packed a gun, and dealt with gangsters. No goody-two-shoes is gonna be like "well, it would be awful unsportsmanlike to shoot you while I have a chance at freedom. Darn, better lower my weapon and come with you!"

Someone who lives a dangerous life of crime is going to be dangerous, or he's going to be dead. He was a self-serving crook, who had no stake in the good guys' fight, and he let them know that before leaving... but he came back anyway, sticking his neck out for something greater than himself. That's character development. That's good stuff.

I specifically said it was good character development, and I could maybe be persuaded to see that as how it happens, I just reject the idea that he's permanently that person, and I'd prefer to think he never was, because this is make-believe and I want to make believe that he and Luke and all of the rebel side are my version of good people. The option to do that (because in both versions we're talking a difference of a few frames IIRC) makes it a stronger story, to me.

Permanently being someone is NOT good character development. Lucas forgot that somewhere along the way, and just about ruined the universe as a result. Han's actions were in line with a certain kind of character in Westerns in a certain kind of dangerous setting, which had been one of Lucas's original inspirations. Along with forgetting his source material, he forgot what actually made characters interesting.

This static view of characters informs several key "revisions" to the mythology, from the Greedo crap (Greedo didn't shoot at all in the original--we're not talking about a few frames) to the Midi-chlorian malarkey, the movies became more about WHAT people were rather than what they could BECOME. That's one reason why the first few movies were so inspirational, and the last ones mostly stunk.